If you practice putting at home, it’s probably confined to short putts–eight feet or so at most.
While those are important putts to practice, longer ones need your attention, too. By that I mean, 20, 30, and 40-foot putts. But who has a living room that is 40 feet long?
You can still get it done. Set up on the carpet with a rubber “hole” about six feet away, and with a backstop behind it.
Instead of making a stroke for a six-foot putt, make a stroke for a 20-foot putt, say.
The putt should roll directly over the center of the hole. A bit off to the side won’t do. Dead center.
This drill teaches you to acquire a long putting stroke that is just as controlled and reliable as your shorter six-foot stroke. That might be an unappreciated skill. It is an important one.
The length of an approach putt stroke can get your putter out of whack directionally, both with its swing path and the orientation of the face.
You should also practice hitting the ball on the putter’s sweet spot, which is key to consistent distance control with long putts.
There’s more.
At the range, do The Number One Approach Putting Drill, and remember what those different distance strokes feel like.
Then you can practice actual distance control at home, even though the ball only goes six feet, by folding those memorized strokes into this drill.