Simple Tips To Improve Your Putting

In a round, roughly half to a third of the shots you play are going to be with your putter, so it makes sense to work on it to make putting a strength. But where to start? Here are a few simple tips to make you a better putter.

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Simple Tips To Improve Your Putting

Where would you want to hit your next putt from?

Statistically, we are not going to make many putts outside of 8 feet, so the sooner we accept this the better. If we know that we aren’t going to make many putts, then it would be wise to think about where do you need to leave the ball to give ourselves the easiest next putt. The easiest putt is always straight uphill, so it’s a good idea to try to leave the ball there. This might mean leaving uphill putts short, downhill putts long, and breaking putts on the low side which sounds counterintuitive, but if after every putt outside of 10 feet you have an uphill putt you are much less likely to 3 putt.

The best way to work on your pace control is through random practice, hitting putts of varied lengths constantly, never hitting the same putt twice. This helps build up a library of shots that you can recall on when you have similar putts in the future.

Putting tips: Nail your start line

Once the ball is within 5 feet of the hole, starting the ball on the correct line is the most important skill. a great way to improve this is a drill created by putting tees in the ground to create a gate for the ball to run through on the correct line. This is ideal for some block practice and challenge yourself to see how many you can make in a row.

Create a green reading routine that works

Green reading is an art that some people are naturally good at, and others just can’t see the slopes clearly. It is a skill that can be improved by having a solid routine that includes both sight and also feel. Here’s a great routine we like:

Start off by walking the length of the putt, trying to get a feel of how the ground feels under your feet and how it affects your balance. This is a huge indicator of the slope on the greens. Next, drop down to the low side of the slope and take a look at the putt from a side-on angle. This shows a full picture of what the ball is going to run down and gives us more information about the putt. You should now have created a pretty good idea of what the ball might do as it’s rolling to the hole. Finally, we can now look at the putt from behind the ball, just to confirm our thoughts and find a good point to aim at.

Putting a tee in the ground halfway down the line to hit your putt around gives you great feedback as to if you’ve over or under-read the putt.

We hope these simple tips to improve your putting have been helpful, let us know on X (formerly known as Twitter) if you have tried them out and how you got on!