It is easy in golf to hyper-focus on mechanics and swing thoughts. While having a good putting stroke is important, it's important not to lose sight on the fundamental principles of putting.
Published on October 15, 2023 by Will Wagner
putting theory
9 min READ
Working on your putting mechanics is important, but don’t lose sight on these 3 principles of putting
To be good at golf, you need to be able to get the ball in the hole. The vast majority of the time, that means pulling out your putter and rolling it into the hole. To be a good putter takes the pressure off other parts of your game. Conversely, to be a poor putter puts unrealistic expectations on your iron play and your chipping. But what does it mean to be a good putter?
Fundamentally, to have a good putting stroke, you need to be able to consistent repeatable putting stroke that hit the face pointing at the target and that you can put the right amount of force on the ball for it to go the correct distance. Other than that, you hold the putter the way you want, align the putter the way you want, and use your wrists and upper body the way you want. While some ways are better than others, there are many ways to get the job done. This is not to sayyou shouldn’t work on mechanics or take putting lessons from a teaching pro, but there is no single best way to putt.
So what elements of a putt are important beyond repeatability and distance control? At it’s core, a good putt is one that roll the right direction, at the right speed, and has the right read such that it rolls into the hole.
If you want to be a consistently good putter, you need to be able to aim the putt where you want it to go and have it roll in the proper direction. It sounds simple, but most amateurs could improve on hitting the ball on its intended line. The most important aspect of hitting a ball online is the face angle at impact of your putter.
According to the research, 90% of the contributing factor is getting the club face squared up at impact, while only 10% is related to club path. Read that again carefully because it’s important. Club path, whether it’s going inside out or outside in really doesn’t matter at all except when it comes to getting your putter face square at impact. Club path can influence face angle, but the face angle is the most important thing you can do to putt online.
If a putt is 1° offline on face impact, you will miss a 10’ putt no matter how well you read the putt. Most good putters on the PGA can consistently putt within a narrow range of 1/2° of their target line. That should be the goal for your own stroke.
There are a few tools available for measuring face angle. I personally love the Blast Mostion Swing Analyzer, there are other competitors who have recently hit the market. The Blast Motion, which can measure other parts of your golf game besides putting, is a great device. You put the device on the end of your putter and download the smartphone app, and it will tell you your face angle at impact and how much you open and close your putter face in your back and down swings. For indoor putting, I find the feedback very useful.
A cheaper option anyone can afford is a simple dime that you use on the practice green. Take 5 balls and distribute them around a hole between 8 and 10 feet away. Then for each ball, estimate the break and pick your aim point, and then placea dime 18” away from the hole along that aim line. Now putt those 5 balls and record how many of those putts hit the dime. If you can’t hit at least 3 of the 5 (4 of the 5 is much better), than I’d recommend working on direction control.
The second most important principle is getting the right speed on the putt to got the appropriate distance. Many people have tried to determine the right speed of a putt to maximize the chance for it to go in the hole. It’s clear that the physics of putting dictates that the slower the ball is going when it reaches the hole, the more of the hole the ball can enter and still go into the hole. Conversely, the faster the ball is rolling, the more “on center” the putt needs to enter the hole for it to go in.
Does that mean each putt should end up exactly the distance of the hole and fall in with the last bit of speed? Not necessarily. First, that gives you very little margin of error on putting the proper distance so likely many of your putts will end up short. Also, because of wear from footprints, over time the hole will have an uneven donut style depression around the hole – as your ball slows down, those micro depressions will have a bigger impact and cause the ball to go offline.
All in, most research suggest the best speed to get the ball in the hole is to aim to roll it 12 to 18 inches past the hole. That will allow for some margin of error in case you get the speed slightly off, and is optimal to reduce footprint displacement and maximize the chance the ball if fall in.
Assuming you have at least average mechanics, you can get better at speed control. Like any other skill, it just takes practice and of all of practice, I think most amateurs spend the least amount of time practicing speed control. Even when amateurs do go to the practice green, I see far too many practicing mechanics and shorter putts over lag putting.
A simple drill is the ladder drill. Start 10’ away from the hole (or better yet, just a tee, car keys, or ball mark), and try to roll it beteen the hole and 12”-18” past. Every time you putt it in that zone, step back one large step or 3’, and repeat. When you get to approximately 50’ reverse direction. This simple but effective drill will undoubtedly make you a better putter if you do this 1-2 a week for around 15-20min. I do it before every round to help me calibrate the speed of the greens.
To test your distance control, find a place on the practice green that doesn’t have too many undulations and put two tees 40’ apart. Start on one end 10’ away and putt one ball from 10’, 15’, 20’, 30’, and 40’ away and count the number that reah within the distance of the tee and past it 18”. Switch directions, and do the same going the other direction. If you can’t get 7 out of 10 putts, then you shhould work on distance control.
The final element, after putting the right direction and the right speed, is making the right read for the putt. For the most part, this takes experience and time to improve upon.
There are various systems, like AimPoint, that can help you read the putt better. One key element of systems like Aimpoint is determining the slope of the putt and from that deducing the proper start line. One good way to determine slope is to use your feet as a judge – it’s a learnabale skill and why you see AimPoint practiciners straddling the line behind the ball to feel which leg has more pressure.key element of systems like Aimpoint is determining the slope of the putt and from that deducing the proper start line. One good way to determine slope is to use your feet as a judge – it’s a learnabale skill and why you see AimPoint practitioners straddling the line behind the ball to feel which leg has more pressure.
Regardless of the method, it all comes down to understanding the slope of the putt and then finding which line you need to aim for it to curve into the hole. That line will be impacted by both how well you stroke the ball in the right direction, as well as the distance you hit the ball. The faster the ball is going, the less the ball will break. Uphill putts break more than downhill putts (read that again because it’s counterintuitive and most people think the opposite).
An easy way to determine break? Watch other putts (and chips) that can give you a clue including your own first putt so you are more likely to make the comebacker.
While this is more difficult to test, one way to do so is the first test I gave. Putt 5 balls down 8’ away from the hole in a circle, and read them, mark the start line with a dime, and then see how many of the balls hit the dime and go into the hole Do this twice for 10 balls total. If you missed a putt but hit the dime, your read was off. If you missed the dime but made the putt, things get more complicated (eg did you just get lucky?, did you subconciously compensate because you under-read the putt?) but in general, I believe finding the right start line and hitting that start line is the key to improvement. The PGA tour average from 8’ is 50%. If you get less than 3, it’s worth working on, and trying to average 4 would put you ahead of your friends.
In reality, while those 3 principles hold to become a better putter, golf is more complicated than the physics we use. Things like AimPoint assume the slope is eeven between the ball and hole which is unlikely. The way the grass grows can impact speed. Most modern greens have a lot of unudulations that make both speed and aim more complicated. The grass grows throughout the day as your round continues and the water on the green evaporates throughout the day when it’s sunny. No green is perfectly smooth, and the speed of greens are different on every course.
That being said, the more you play, the more experience you gain and the better you will become.