Practice Drills and Pointers for Perfecting Your Golf Putt by Guest Author, Malcom Johnson
Most of us know that we need to find a way of improving our putting, but knowing how to go about it is a different story.
You will never perfect your golf putt, even the professionals seem to struggle with that challenge, but you can definitely shave some strokes off your scorecard by using some practice drills and tips to improve your odds of dropping the ball into the cup first time around.
Here are some pointers to help you improve your putting stroke.
Practice with a chalk line
Get yourself a putter that has a very clearly defined line drawn on it to indicate the target line and then use this to practice with a chalk line.
Any hardware store should be able to supply you with a chalk line and as a training aid to improve your putting, it will be money well spent.
Locate a putt on the practice green that is as straight as possible and then snap a line down from about six feet away and lining up to the center of the cup.
As long as the entire length of the line on your putter is exactly in line with the chalk line you have laid down, you should be able to train your eyes to see this line more regularly on the golf course, without the chalk line.
Practicing using this technique should also allow you to spot when you are facing a putt that breaks to the left or right when you line it up.
Feel the putt
Sensitivity plays a big part in achieving a successful putting stroke and your aim should be to keep the pressure in your hands as soft as possible so that you can feel the putting stroke.
If your hands are gripping the putter handle too tightly, you will automatically be reducing your level of sensitivity and in turn, introducing the chance of developing a push, hit or any other variation of the sort of stroke that you really do not want to have.
Hands and arms as one
Your aim is to achieve parity between your hands and arms and get them working seamlessly together for a smooth and successful putting stroke.
There should not be any independent action going on with your hands and having successfully aligned the putter face using the previous suggested technique, the last thing you want to do is change the position of the face of the club because your hands and arms are not working as a single unit.
While you are practicing your putting stroke, take a moment to check if your hands are moving independently of your arms and shoulders. You can do this very easily by watching your hands rather than the ball a few times, it will soon become very apparent whether your hands have a mind of their own or you have managed to get them in unison with your arms.
Putting can be a frustrating part of your game but if you manage to grasp these fundamental concepts, you stand a great chance of getting a bit closer to achieving the perfect putting stroke, or something pretty close to it anyway.
Malcolm Johnson is a keen golfer and avid blogger. He likes to write about what he has learned in order to help others who love the game as much as he does. His articles appear mainly on golfing, sport and recreation websites and blogs. For more tips and tricks consider joining a golf school such as BirdGolf to improve your technique.