Struggling to perfect your putting skills? Want to putt it like the pros? Improving this important skill helps you sink more putts and helps you card more birdies and pars. If 33% of your score is the number of putts you hit, cutting that number can help you break 80.
Being able to read the green is a great challenge for many. Why is this? It is because no two greens are alike. Some can be flat and some are cut close. Others are undulating and cut higher.
These differences make being able to putt successfully very tough. Learn how to become a better putter now with these 7 easy to follow tips!
1. Find The Big Slope
Golf architects design greens so that water easily runs off them. To find the big slope, imagine a large bucket of water running off the green and this will be the green’s lowest point. Factor this in when choosing your line.
2. Go To School On Your Playing Partners
Study your playing partners closely if they are playing before you. You can learn a lot by doing this, especially if they are more experienced.
3. Walk Around The Putt
This technique will teach you a lot about how putts will roll on the green. Ensure you are paying attention to what your feet tell you and take time to view the putt from all angles.
4. Feel Your Putt
How hard you hit the putt is a big factor in sinking the shot. Begin to feel the pace with your practice strokes. Make a decision on if you want to hit the ball hard or let it die in, depending on the green.
5. Choose Your Line
Focus on the green closely and decide on the line. Then stand behind the ball and find your spot-a blade of grass or imperfection in the green.
6. Split Long Putts Into Smaller Ones
Break longer putts into smaller ones. Then look closely at the last three feet of the putt. This will tell you the angle the putt needs to come in from.
7. Read Greens Starting At 100 Yards
Begin to read to the green as you are en route. You want to look at how the green’s features impact putts. Additionally, try to hit the spot where you can get an uphill putt on approach shots. This will pay off.
As well as these techniques being easy to learn, they’re also proven. If you’re serious about being a competitive golfer, you will keep them in mind the next time you can go out.
They’ll help you not only become a better putter but also cut your putts per round. In next to no time, you’ll be one of the best putters around.
6 Putting Myths That Will Help Improve Your Score
Do you have a putting style that is unique? If this is the case, then you are not alone. In fact, the majority of many PGA and LPGA players have putting styles unique to them. Take Zac Johnson for example. He’s a great putter with a putting style that is very different from the rest.
Despite the unique style, Johnson’s putting style still works. This is because it fits today’s greens, which are slicker and faster than ever. They require a gentle touch and a smooth, flowing stroke.
However, it can be hard to develop a flowing stroke if you let putting myths rule your game. Listed below are six commonly known putting myths. These have been around for years, but this doesn’t make them true. The list will also show you what to do instead so that you do not make the same mistakes.
1. Grip The Putter Along The Lifeline Of Your Palms
If you grip your putter along the lifeline of your palm, this will lessen the feel, encouraging your left forearm to rotate under you. It will also prevent you from moving the putter along an arc. None of these things help your putting.
As an alternative technique, grip the putter more in your fingers. This will provide more feel than using your palms, It will also boost leverage, provide better control and prevent your wrists from breaking down.
2. Set Your Eyes Over The Ball
Setting your eyes on the ball does not necessarily work on today’s greens. It will trap your hands beneath your chest, forcing you to use your wrists to make the putt. This will cause your hands to move outside the target line on the backstroke, which isn’t good.
Instead, you need to set your eyes just inside of the ball. This will free your hands to swing and rotate smoothly, eliminate the need for your hands to be more involved, and provide a clear view of the putting line.
3. Putt Straight Back And Through
Although going straight back and through is good on short putts, it is not so good on long putts. As you stand on the side of the ball when putting and the shaft sits at an angle to the ground, taking the putter straight back and through may throw off the putting stroke on long putts.
This technique also requires more practice time and more coordination in order to master. Instead, you should use a putting stroke that has a slight arc to it. This technique will suit almost all of today’s greens to a tee.
Additionally, if you use a stroke with a slight arc, this will be more consistent with the putter’s design, will maintain the putter face square to the target line and keep the ball on target without forcing you to twist the clubface square at impact.
4. Play The Ball Forward In Your Stance
Your stance will determine the position of the ball. That, in turn, ensures you have perfect vision along the putter face. However, if you place the ball too far forward, this can lead to pulled putts. For example, a player that’s right handed and is right eye dominated.
This player would be prone to sighting and setting up inside the line with a slightly closed putting face. This can lead to missed putts-especially over long distances and when under pressure. Rather than this technique, you should position the ball slightly ahead of the center of your stance.
5. Topspin And Upward Stoke Keeps Ball On Line
If you fail to set the line of aim correctly and then set up with a perfectly square putter face, you will miss a ton of putts. Therefore, set your putter face square to the line and then deliver a straight through low blow. This will boost your accuracy. It will cause the ball and putter face to stay on line longer during the follow through.
6. Draw A Line Across The Ball For Perfect Aim
If you decide to draw a line across the ball but don’t account for the correct sighting line, you’ll miss a lot of putts. That’s because you may be looking across the line on the ball. Learn to sight the ball correctly on the sighting line when standing or crouching and you will not need a line across the ball.
Conclusion
If you learn to perfect the first seven techniques and dispel these six myths, you will be on your own path to perfecting your own putting style and taking your golf game to the next level.
After failing to hit a curveball, Ryan turned to golf more seriously as a teen. He played in high school in and around Scottsdale, Arizona before taking a break through college and his 20s. Today, Ryan spends his weekends playing Torrey Pines as a San Diego resident, working to chip away at his single-digit handicap.
While he's had great mentors along the way, much of Ryan's game improvement has been from study of the game itself. Ryan hopes to give these keys to success to other golfers through his work here at Better Golf Online.
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