Optimum speed for a putt as it reaches the hole on a flat green is 1.5mph, best thought of as the ball hitting the back wall of the cup.
This week’s putting tip is an excerpt from our new book, The Fundamentals of Putting.
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franklygolf 
Perhaps Dave Pelz is a name that shouldn’t be on here, but he claims that the speed of an ideal putt would end up about 18″ past the hole. And 20-24″ past would be better than 8-12″. It gets the ball through the “lumpy donut”, which is the area around the hole where we all end up. We stand/walk there to pull the pin and get to our ball after we putt (because we don’t take gimmes, right? ha ha). The footprints cause lumps/bumps and the ball has to travel through it. If the speed of the putt ends up dieing at the hole, the bumps/lumps have a greater effect on the ball’s path. If it’s travelling at a slightlly greater speed, the bumps/lumps have less of an impact on the ball’s path. It means you have to have confidence in your stroke because using that speed means the comebackers are not always simple tap-ins, but you can’t putt scared – that doesn’t work either. I don’t think lag putting would use this theory. You’re just trying to get it close.