How to Roll Your Putts for More Consistency on the Green

Making putts isn’t an option when it comes to shooting good scores, it’s a requirement.  While there are a number of different ways to get your ball from tee to green, once on the green, you simply have to hole out consistently if you want to perform well in this game.

If you lack the ability to knock in your putts on a regular basis, you will never live up to your ability from a scoring perspective.  Standing over the ball on the green while filled with confidence in your putting ability is a great boost to your game, but very few golfers ever enjoy that experience.  More commonly, golfers stand on the greens with fear, hoping to sneak the ball into the corner of the cup.

If you are tired of fearing even the easiest putts, you need to work on improving your ability to roll the ball.  While elements like green reading and handling pressure are important for putting, much of your success or failure simply comes down to how well you roll the ball when you execute your putting stroke.  Can you roll the ball smoothly along your intended line time after time?  If so, you can putt well on just about any green.  If not, you will always be hoping for the ball to fall in, rather than expecting it to do so.

Remember, it’s Not a Hit, its a Roll

One of the major mistakes that is made by the average amateur golfer is hitting at the ball while putting.  You shouldn’t be trying to ‘hit’ your putts – you should be moving the putter head smoothly through impact so that the ball rolls off of the face beautifully.  Proper putting technique makes the contact between the putter head and the ball look gentle and delicate.  Incorrect technique, on the other hand, makes it look like a violent collision.

So how can you soften up your impact with the ball?  The first step is to lighten your grip pressure at address.

With a light grip on the putter, you will have a better feel for the club head and you won’t feel compelled to hit at the ball so aggressively.  It is often your right hand (for a right handed golfer) that is to blame for an aggressive hit in the putting stroke, but it won’t be able to get in the way if you keep your grip light and relaxed from start to finish.

Start Small

To get started on improving the way you roll the ball, set up a few golf balls about three feet away from a practice hole.  This hole should be located on mostly flat ground so that you don’t have to deal with break while working on your stroke.  Aim for the dead center of the cup and roll five putts in a row as smoothly as possible.  Hopefully you will make them all, but don’t worry if one or two happen to miss.  At this point, you should be focused on making soft contact and getting the ball rolling as early as possible.  It will be easier to hit these putts with soft hands than it will be when you are dealing with a long putt (at least for now).

Continue to hit as many short putts as you would like, always staying within a few feet of the hole.  Once you feel like you are doing a good job of keeping your hands soft on the grip of the putter, there is one other fundamental you can add in to the mix.  While keeping your hands soft, work on allowing the putter head to naturally rise slightly through impact.

Putting is the opposite of your full swing in many ways, and this is yet another.  Rather than hitting down as you would with an iron shot to create backspin, you want let the putter face hit up slightly in order to promote top spin and a smooth roll.  To do this, use your left shoulder to lift up through impact while keeping your head and eyes down on the ball.

Moving Out

After a period of time spend working on soft hands and an upward hit from close range, go ahead and move farther away from the hole on the practice green.  Putt back and forth across the green, picking out different targets and remaining focused on your technique at all times.

Photo via Flickr

You should notice that your speed control has improved now that you are using good fundamentals, and the ball should be bouncing less off the putter face on your long putts.  Now that you are somewhat comfortable with these basic techniques, your regular putting practice routine should include both short and long putts to keep your performance sharp all over the green.

Speed Rules

You always want to hit your putts with perfect speed.  While that might seem like an obvious point, plenty of golfers ignore the importance of speed while trying to get the line just right.

As you are reading the green prior to hitting a putt, focus your efforts on understanding how hard you will need to hit the ball in order to leave it right next to the hole.  Getting the speed right, especially on your long putts, means that you will never have a very long putt remaining if the ball doesn’t fall in on your first try.

While you would love to make every putt you look at, avoiding three putt greens is even more important.  Master the skill of rolling your ball the correct speed and three putts will mostly become a thing of the past.

Good putting isn’t a matter of just aiming at the hole and hoping for the best.  By learning how to roll the ball smoothly toward the cup, you will be able to hold your target lines better and your will start to see your share of putts fall to the bottom.  There is no mystery to putting, regardless of what anyone may tell you – invest time on the practice green to refine your technique and your results would show for themselves.

Cover Photo via Flickr