At what distance will a one-degree change in direction cause a putt to miss the center of the hole?

To understand how a one-degree change in direction affects a putt, it's important to consider the geometry of the situation. When a putt travels towards the hole, even a slight deviation in its trajectory can lead to significant changes in where the ball ends up, especially as the distance to the hole increases.

With a one-degree change in direction, the ball will deviate from its intended path. At a distance of 10 feet, this deviation will result in the ball missing the center of the hole. The geometric relationship shows that as you extend the distance, the impact of that one-degree angle grows larger, making the ball miss the target more significantly. This dynamic means that at 5 feet, a one-degree change is less impactful, while at 15 feet or 20 feet, the change is still larger, but 10 feet is the threshold where the deviation is closely aligned with the diameter of the hole.

By realizing this, we can conclude that a one-degree directional change will cause a miss at 10 feet, making this the correct choice.