Golf Putting Tips For Becoming A More Solid Putter

One of golf's lasting truisms is, "Drive for show, putt for dough." Solid golf scores come from solid—not spectacular—putting. Learning to control your putts during short- and medium-range tries will help you become a more consistent putter.

Even Swing

The most oft-given tip in golf putting is to keep the takeback the same length as the forward swing. This will provide an even tempo during the swing and provide more control.

Keep it Low

Keeping your club low to the ground decreases the chances of hitting the ground before you hit your ball, which is most often caused by the club moving from up to down. Since the putt is not a swing, there is no reason to lift the club during your takeback, or raise it up during your follow through. Keeping the club on an even plane with the ground will keep your club low and prevent you from hitting the green, instead of your ball.

Follow Through

Another reason golfers hit the ground before they hit the ball, generally losing control of their putts and causing the ball to jump up, is because of their focus on hitting the ball, rather than hitting through the ball. If your sole goal is to hit the ball, you will likely stop at contact. In order to stop at contact, you'll need to begin decelerating the club prior to contact. This often results in a downward motion, instead of the necessary forward motion. Don't hit the ball when you put, but hit past the ball for a smooth motion and correct deceleration after the shot.

Break Your Elbow

If you take your putter back with locked arms on longer putts, your club head may come off the ground, preventing you from keeping a low, even plane during takeback and forward swing. To compensate, some golfers break their wrists backward in order to get the club head back into position during the forward swing in an attempt at proper alignment. This can cause the club to hit the ground prior to contact and create a loss of ball control. Experiment with a slight bend in your trailing elbow to allow you to keep your club head low during takeback without losing control of your putt during the forward swing. Breaking your leading elbow may cause a pronounced rise in the club head off the ground.

Pass the Ketchup

On shorter putts especially, shifting your weight from front to back to front, or even from back to front, may be unnecessary, and it can create angular momentum (rotation around an axis) instead of the linear momentum (movement in one direction) needed for a put. Imagine that you are at dinner and someone across the table asks you for the ketchup. If the bottle is on a Lazy Susan, with the bottle directly in front of you, you'll spin the circular piece of tableware and the ketchup will rotate around until it gets to your dinner companion. This is angular momentum. If the bottle is sitting directly on the table, you would slide the bottle straight to your friend. This is linear momentum. Keep your weight steady during putting to avoid the angular moment that can move your ball from left to right, or vice versa.