There’s nothing in your game that can make up for a cold putter. No matter how far you hit it off the tee or how solid you hit your irons, if you can’t putt effectively, you’ll never maximize your full potential.
Conversely, if you are a good putter, you can cover up a lot of flaws elsewhere in your game. When the ball is rolling in the cup on a consistent basis, it gives you a certain confidence to score that is impossible to replicate elsewhere.
That’s why I decided earlier this year to get my first-ever putting lesson. After a start to the season in which I was rolling the ball inconsistently (at best), I decided it was finally time to enlist the help of an expert.
In this case, that expert was PGA Tour putting consultant and GOLF Top 100 Teacher Stephen Sweeney. During our lesson, Sweeney got my setup fixed up, taught me how to practice reading greens and shared a putting drill that helped me dial in my stroke.
Check out the full lesson below or read on for more on a drill that helped me immediately start making more putts.
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When practicing your stroke, it’s important to find a dead straight putt. That way, if the putt misses, you know that the issue had to do with mechanics rather than a misread.
After finding this straight putt, push a tee into the ground until it is almost entirely submerged under the surface of the green. You should be able to see it, but make sure it doesn’t interfere with your stroke. This will serve as you reference point where you will putt from — and you’ll know it’s in the same place every time.
Next, take two tees and build a gate a little wider than a golf ball about a foot in front of your tee submerged in the ground. Then, your only goal is trying to roll your ball on line through that gate with every putt.
“I’ve given you a very clear target quite close to the golf ball,” Sweeney said. “And that helps you line up the putter better and gives you a visual of where you want to start the ball.”
After doing this drill repeatedly, I found that I took a similar strategy out on the course. On every putt, I chose my line and then focused on a spot on that line about a foot in front of the ball.From there, my only goal was hitting that spot with the proper speed.
Ever since I’ve started using this drill and adopted that strategy, I’ve busted out of my putting slump and am holing more putts than ever before.
