Poor alignment is a common mistake golfers with high golf handicaps make on the green. Golfers with high handicaps tend to line up slightly to the hole’s left when putting and then putt in the direction of their toe lines, causing the putterhead to cut across the ball-to-hole line and the ball to go left—a mis-hit that’s especially prevalent on short pressure putts.
To drain more putts—and cut strokes from your golf handicap—align your putter head and your feet square to the target line. Make sure all of your major bodylines are pointing parallel left of your start line. If you’re off even a fraction of an inch, your putt will be off as well. A golf tip that helps students taking our golf lessons is use the leading edge of the putter—not the top—to align the club square to the start line,
Two Alignment Drills
The String Dill is a training aid often used in golf instruction sessions to improve putting alignment: Tie one end of a piece of string to the flagstick (or a tee) and the other to a tee that you stick in the ground. Cut the string long enough so that the putt measures about five feet. Setup with the string right over the ball’s center and the alignment aid on your putter. You can see right away if you’re aligned with the start line. If you’re not, square yourself up. Hit straight putts with the string as your guide for a few minutes every day. You’ll be surprised how much you’ll improve you alignment doing this.
The Line Drill is another exercise used in golf instructions sessions to help students improve alignment. Take a marker and draw a straight line on the golf ball. Find a 10- to 15-foot straight putt on a practice green and aim the line of the golf ball toward the hole. Use that line to square the putter head to the hole and hit balls trying to hole them. The line on the golf ball will show whether your putter is square at impact. If the line on the golf ball wobbles to the right then the putter is open and if the line wobbles to the left then the putter is closed. Continue to hit balls until the line rolls straight toward the hole consistently.
Putter Acceleration Also Key
Another common putting mistake golfers with high golf handicaps often make is decelerating through the putting stroke. Decelerating into the ball spells trouble for golfers in both distance and direction. While putterhead acceleration on the down stroke is essential for accurate distance and direction control, it doesn’t mean that you have to speed up the putterhead on the down stroke. The putterhead’s mass on the down stroke is enough to send the ball the right distance provided your putting stroke is long enough.
There are three basic strokes you can use when putting:
- Long Back—Short Through
- Short Back—Long Through
- Equal Back—Equal Through
The Long Back—Short Through stroke lacks rhythm and leads to inconsistency. The Short Back—Long Through is better but not the best. It extends your stroke beyond its natural length and leads to an inconsistent tempo, causing you to mis-hit putts in terms of distance and direction.
The Equal Back—Equal Through stroke is the ideal type of stroke. It is managed entirely by the length of your backstroke. There’s no attempt on the golfer’s part to increase the speed of the putterhead through impact. It’s the stroke we advise students taking our golf lessons to use. A golf tip that will help you sink more putts with this stroke is to let your putter swing down and through on its own. You don’t have to interfere with the smooth acceleration of the putterhead that gravity provides.
The 7-iron Putting drill is a simple drill we use in our golf lessons to help students nail down their putting strokes: Take a 7-iron and place it across your chest. Hold it in place against your chest with your arms. Practice putting with the club against your chest.
The 7-iron ties together the movement of your shoulders and arms while putting. More importantly, the drill simplifies and unifies your stroke, producing the kind of stroke we like to sees students taking our golf instructions sessions master. The 7-iron putting drill is a great drill for players with high golf handicaps that want to drain more putts.