Compiled weekly by multiple-award-winning PGA Professional Brendon R. Elliott, PrimePutt’s Director of Instruction and Lead Writer.
Golf fans often talk about courses in terms of what they see first.
Water. Wind. Ocean views. Forced carries. Famous bunkers. TV-friendly finishing holes.
But for anyone who truly loves putting, the more interesting question is often quieter: What are the greens asking players to do?
This week, the professional golf calendar gives us a fascinating mix. The LPGA heads to El Camaleón Golf Course at Mayakoba for the Mexico Riviera Maya Open. The PGA TOUR returns to Doral’s Blue Monster for the Cadillac Championship. The PGA Professional Championship is underway at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, using Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes as its championship stages. El Camaleón is a Greg Norman design known for jungle, mangroves, canals, Caribbean coastline, paspalum grass and its famous cenote. Doral’s Blue Monster brings back a historically demanding championship venue. Bandon Dunes brings firm, exposed, links-style golf where imagination around the greens is never optional.
That is a pretty good putting classroom.
Not because all three places ask the same questions. Because they do not.
Mayakoba: Paspalum, Patience and Tropical Precision
El Camaleón is one of those courses where the setting can almost distract from the task. The course moves through tropical jungle, mangroves, limestone canals and oceanfront sections, giving the LPGA a venue that changes personality throughout the round. Its paspalum greens are part of that tropical/coastal identity.
For putting, paspalum can create a slightly different visual and feel than the surfaces players see at other stops. It is common in coastal environments and often presents a clean, consistent look, but adjustment still matters. Players have to settle into the speed early. They have to understand how the ball reacts on approach shots. They have to trust what they see once they get on the greens.
That last part is huge.
When a course is visually busy, a player’s attention can get pulled everywhere but the putt. Water over there. Mangroves behind the green. Ocean breeze. A hole framed differently than the one before it. On surfaces like these, the best putters are not just reading greens. They are managing their focus.
For everyday golfers, Mayakoba is a reminder that a good putting routine should travel. The more visually interesting the course, the more important it becomes to narrow your world down to pace, start line and commitment.
Doral: The Pressure of a Familiar Monster
The Blue Monster is not new to big-time golf. That is part of what makes this week interesting. The PGA TOUR’s Cadillac Championship brings a Signature Event back to Doral after a long absence, and the course has decades of history as a demanding professional venue.
For putting, the challenge at a course like Doral is not just green speed or slope. It is pressure.
A difficult golf course has a way of making every par putt feel heavier. When players know big numbers are available, the four-footer after a poor approach matters more. The 25-foot lag from the wrong tier matters more. The putt to keep a round from sliding away matters more.
That is what separates great putting weeks from decent ones. It is not only the putts players make for birdie. It is the way they reduce damage.
The best putters at Doral will likely be the ones who control speed from long range, handle uncomfortable mid-range par putts and avoid letting one bad green turn into three bad holes. On a stern course, putting is often less about fireworks and more about survival.
That may not sound glamorous, but it wins tournaments.
Bandon Dunes: Where Imagination Meets the Ground Game
The PGA Professional Championship at Bandon Dunes is a different kind of putting test altogether. The 2026 championship is being played on Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes, two courses regularly recognized among America’s top public layouts.
Bandon is not about decorative golf. It is about ground, wind, firmness, creativity and acceptance. Around the greens, players are asked to make decisions that do not always look like standard target golf. Putt it? Chip it? Bump it into a slope? Use the contour? Take the medicine?
For PGA Professionals, that is a beautiful test. These are players who teach, run golf operations, fit clubs, manage members and still compete at an exceptional level. At Bandon, their short-game judgment gets put under a microscope.
Putting from off the green can become a serious weapon. So can choosing the lower-risk shot. So can understanding that links-style golf often rewards the player who is willing to be practical instead of pretty.
That is a PrimePutt lesson if there ever was one. The putter is not just for perfect greens and ten-footers. It is often the smartest club in the bag when the ground allows it.
Three Venues, Three Different Lessons
Mayakoba asks players to adjust to a tropical surface and stay focused amid visual change.
Doral asks players to handle pressure, protect pars and control damage on a big-stage venue.
Bandon asks players to use imagination, ground-game awareness and a willingness to putt from places where some golfers automatically reach for a wedge.
Together, they remind us that putting is never one-dimensional.
Good putters do not just have good strokes. They adapt. They notice surfaces. They manage speed. They understand when a putt is really a defensive play, when it is a scoring chance and when the smartest option may be using the putter from off the green.
That is the difference between practicing putting and learning how to putt.
PrimePutt Practice Takeaway: Change the Surface, Change the Goal
This week, build one practice session around adaptation.
Do not hit the same ten-footer over and over. Instead, create three different putting stations:
Station 1: Speed control
Putt from 25, 35 and 45 feet. Your goal is not to make it. Your goal is to finish inside a three-foot circle.
Station 2: Pressure cleanup
Hit 20 putts from four feet. Go through your full routine on every one. Keep score.
Station 3: The off-green option
Find a collar or tight lie just off the practice green. Putt three balls, chip three balls and compare the results. Learn when the putter is the smarter choice.
The best players in the world adjust to the greens in front of them. So should you.
This week, Mayakoba, Doral and Bandon will all ask different questions. The players who answer them best with the putter will have a chance to turn good ball-striking into great scoring.
That is where putting always proves its value.
‘The Greens This Week’ drops every Wednesday and looks at the putting surfaces the best in the world from the PGA TOUR, LPGA Tour and DP World Tour will face in the coming week. Got a putting question or drill request? Drop us a line.
