In golf, the putter is the most important club in the bag. It allows you to get a positive score if you play well from tee to green. It's what makes all the difference if you don't have a good balance of irons and woods in one day.
Learning the correct putting technique is essential if you want to play a good game of golf. Here are a few tips to help you do just that.
What should you watch out for when putting?
When putting, you should pay attention to the following:
- You are standing relatively straight and your upper body is bent forward.
- The ball is slightly left of center so your left eye is directly over the ball.
- You execute the swing with your shoulders and arms (pendulum movement without using your wrists).
- With well-played putts, you will save strokes and achieve lower scores.
The putt: technique, alignment, grip, and stance
Let's start with the position of the ball. If you want to know how to play the putter in golf, the first thing to remember is to keep your eyes straight on the ball. In this way, the motion is more linear and the face stays square longer during the swing.
It's also helpful to keep your hands upright and higher than usual to avoid injuring your wrists or locking the movement. When it comes to posture, the most important thing is that you feel comfortable.
Putting position is very individual and you need to find a position that gives you confidence. The same goes for the grip, although we generally recommend feeling the putter in your palms rather than your fingers.
Proper putting technique: Movement and rhythm
When putting, it's good to keep your swing symmetrical, both on the upswing and off the tee. This way you gain more control over the strength.
The ideal is to find a steady pace, accelerate through impact, and increase movement on each side if you want to cover more distance. Practice swings can serve as a guide, for example using our feet as a reference.
Reading the green for proper putting technique
Although many people think the hardest thing about golf is seeing the ball land, the really complicated thing is calculating the perfect strength. So the pre-impact part is the most challenging.
In addition, the fall of a ball always varies depending on the force: the more speed a ball has, the less it is affected by the sideways fall and vice versa. It is advisable to watch the putt from behind, drawing an imaginary line between the ball and the hole, taking a starting reference point that is close to the ball and square to that point to visualize the starting line.
Reading the greens requires a certain amount of experience and you always have to watch the ball. You learn a lot more by practicing the same putt on the putting green and executing it with different intensities.
Some tips and exercises for putting training
- Hold the handle with little pressure
- Start with the racket in the air, hovering a few millimeters off the ground
- Try to put 24 balls in a row in a 1-meter putt. If it doesn't work, don't give up and keep trying.
- Look at the putt behind the ball and draw a line between the ball and the hole to correctly interpret the trajectory.
Good putting technique in golf is not achieved in two days. It takes a lot of effort, patience, and training, but with perseverance, this moment will come and we assure you that it will be worth it.