6 FEET
PGA Tour percentage: 70.21%
Context: Drew Brees holds the NFL’s all-time record for career completion percentage among quarterbacks at 67.3%. I’m guessing most of you, dear readers, would rather face down a six-footer than complete an NFL pass — but I haven’t seen your putting strokes.
7 FEET
PGA Tour percentage: 60.6%
Context: Serena Williams, who made the Wimbledon final again this summer, has gotten 61% of her first serves in this year. Roger Federer is similar, at 62%. Of course, they’re hitting the ball a bit harder…
8 FEET
PGA Tour percentage: 52.86%
Context: Steven Adams was the worst free throw shooter in the NBA this season, staring down 292 tries from the line and converting 146, exactly half (50%). Bad news for Adams in his current profession, but if he did that on 8-foot putts, he’d be Tour-ready!
9 FEET
PGA Tour percentage: 46.38%
Context: Brooklyn Nets sharpshooter Joe Harris led the NBA in 3-point percentage this year at 47.4% — not too shabby. But the wildest part of this point in the proceedings is that it takes this long for Tour pros to get under the 50% mark when putting. A coin toss from 8-9 feet should be all the reminder you need to keep practicing those shorties.
10 FEET
PGA Tour percentage: 41.25%
Context: Ted Williams was the most recent baseball player to hit the .400 mark for a season — and he did so with a .406 mark in 1941. Over the last 100 years, the highest single-season batting average belongs to Rogers Hornsby at .423. Both numbers are eye-popping now, some 78 years removed from a .400 hitter. There’s a little more variability in 10-footers on Tour, though. Consider that Jim Furyk has drained 19 of 27 (70.4%) from 10 feet this season.
11-15 FEET
PGA Tour percentage: 30.1%
Context: At last, to the rink! In the NHL, skaters make 29.4% of their shootout attempts. That’s a serious contrast to soccer’s PKs or NBA free throws — but it’s right in line with a mid-length putt.
15-20 FEET
PGA Tour percentage: 18.3%
Context: Now we’re starting to get deeper into longshot range. Since 2000, NFL kickers have made exactly 20 percent of their field goal attempts outside of 60 yards. Granted, a made 17-footer on Tour feels rather routine, while a 61-yard field goal feels like a triumph of mankind. But those stats don’t lie.
20-25 FEET
PGA Tour percentage: 12.47%
Context: In the last decade, NFL teams have converted onside kicks at just a 12 percent clip. That number dropped further last year after more restrictive rules were put in place. Either way, this is the comparison that seems most apt — in each case, the 25-footer or the onsides kick, you’re hitting the ball and hoping for a lucky roll.
25+ FEET
PGA Tour percentage: 5.45%
Context: Yeah, I realize that “25+” is a bit vague, but that’s the way the Tour keeps their long-range stats. Either way, the chance of a Tour player making a bomb is most similar to the chance Albert Pujols, MLB’s active leader in career home runs, has of hitting one. Pujols has gone yard at a 6.18% clip over the course of his 650-homer career.
