How to Putt it Straight

For putting, you don't usually hook the ball or slice the ball on purpose. So the most important thing is to hit it straight. It sounds easy, but it's not true most amateurs. They struggle to hit it straight. So even ef they read green perfectly, there is good chance that they will miss it.  So how can I putt it straight? Let's start with short putts.

 

To practice short putts, you should draw a line from the ball to the hole. There is training equipment that let you do that. You can practice at home as well. You can buy putting mats or use the line on your carpet. At address, set your putter face perpendicular to the line from the ball to the hole. The angle of the putter face determines which may the ball goes. The angle of the putter face is more important than the path of your putter head.

 

So focus on your putter face angle. At impact, make sure your putter face faces the hole. Dave Pelz said that the face angle determines 83% of the starting line while path direction determines 17%. So he says square face is five times more important than swing path. Don't try to guide the ball to the hole. Don't even worry about where the ball goes. Just focus on your putter face. You will do much better this way.

 

Hold Your Finish

When Dave Palz was younger, he had a chance to play with Jack Nicklaus. Pelz had no chance against Nicklaus even on the greens. When Jack was putting, Pelz noticed that Jack was holding his finish. Jack was seeing the ball roll toward the hole while holding his finish. That's a good way to avoid peeking too soon.

 

Hit putts with Your Sand Wedge

It's a good drill to hit putts with your sand wedge. When you set up, hover your sand wedge above the ground and hit the ball with the leading edge of the club. It's hard to hit it straight with leading edge of the sand wedge. You have to focus on the angle of leading edge when you hit it. When you switch your sand wedge with a putter, focus on the face angle of the putter.

 

The Secret to Rolling it Straight

The research was done to find out how pros were putting. Among the results they found, it was interesting to see that the pros were adding 1.7 degree to the loft at impact. This means that they are hitting the ball slightly past the lowest point of the swing. If you hit down on the ball when putting, the ball tends to bounce off the line.

 

But if you hit it slightly on the upswing, your ball has a good chance to stay on the line. Some pros hit it slightly on the downswing, but they seem to use putters with more loft than normal.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/putt-it-straight.htm