Sinking more putts comes down to a simple, repeatable process that removes guesswork and builds confidence. Forget everything you’ve heard about having a magic touch on the greens, consistent putting is a skill built on a solid foundation and a clear plan. This guide breaks down that plan into six straightforward, actionable steps you can start using today to lower your scores and turn putting from a source of frustration into a strength of your game.
You wouldn't build a house on shaky ground, and you can't build a reliable putting stroke on a flawed setup. Your address position dictates the path of your stroke and the quality of your strike. Getting it right every single time is the first major step toward consistency.
Think of your putting grip as the steering wheel for the clubface. Your primary job is to keep that steering wheel from turning unintentionally during the stroke. While there are many styles (interlock, overlap, reverse overlap, claw), the one non-negotiable principle is that your palms should be facing each other. This "neutral" position quiets the small, twitchy muscles in your hands and wrists, preventing you from manipulating the face open or closed.
Here’s a simple way to find a neutral grip:
Great putting posture is athletic and stable, yet relaxed. You need to create a solid base that allows a simple rocking motion of the shoulders. To do this, bend from your hips, not your waist, and let your arms hang directly underneath your shoulders. This creates the aformentioned pendulum.
A great checkpoint is to get into your setup and take a golf ball in your right hand (for a right-handed golfer). Let it drop from right underneath your eye. It should land on, or very near, your putting line. If it falls inside the ball, you're too far away. If it falls outside the ball, you're too close. This eye-over-ball position makes it much easier to see your line correctly and start the ball on it.
For ball position, a good starting point is to place the ball slightly forward of the center of your stance - about one to two inches inside your lead foot’s heel. This ensures you make contact with the ball on a slight upswing, which promotes a better roll and reduces skidding.
The best putting stroke in the world is useless if it’s aimed in the wrong direction. Green reading is often seen as a dark art, but it’s a skill you can learn by paying attention to a few things. Remember this: on any breaking putt, there are two components you must get right - the line and the speed. And they are completely dependent on each other.
Don't just look at the hole. Instead, identify the "apex" of the putt - the highest point of the curve where the ball will start to turn back toward the hole. Your real target isn't the cup itself, it's that spot on the apex. For a right-to-left putt, you might identify a spot three feet to the right of the hole and two-thirds of the way there. This becomes your aiming point. Visualizing starting the ball over this specific spot is much more effective than vaguely aiming "somewhere outside the hole."
Your eyes can sometimes be deceiving, but your inner ear and your feet rarely lie. A great way to get a feel for the slope is to stand straddling your line, halfway to the hole. Close your eyes for a moment. You’ll be able to feel which foot is carrying more of your weight - that's the low side. What you feel is the real slope of the green in that section of the putt. Do this from behind the ball and from below the hole to confirm what your eyes are telling you. This multisensory approach gives you a much richer understanding of what the ball is going to do.
If there’s one secret to eliminating three-putts, it's this: speed is more important than line. A putt with perfect line but terrible speed will never go in and can leave you with a treacherous second putt. But a putt with perfect speed, even if it’s slightly off-line, will almost always finish just a few inches from the cup, securing an easy tap-in. Your goal on every putt longer than 15 feet should be to die the ball into a three-foot circle around the hole.
To develop this tour-level touch, practice lag putting with a focus on distance, not accuracy. One of the best drills for this is the "Ladder Drill":
The most reliable putting stroke is one with the fewest moving parts. We’ve already quieted the hands with our grip, now it’s time to create the motion itself. The putting stroke shouldn't be a "hit" or a "jab" at the ball. It should be a smooth, rhythmic motion like the pendulum of a grandfather clock, driven by the rocking of your shoulders.
Your arms, hands, and the putter should move together as one single unit. Imagine a triangle formed by your shoulders and hands at address. The goal of the putting stroke is simply to rock that triangle back and forth, with your chest as the center point of the rotation. There should be almost no independent wrist or hand action.
So how do you control distance? By adjusting the length of your backstroke. For a short putt, you’ll need a short, compact backstroke. For a long lag putt, you'll need a much longer, more flowing backstroke. Critically, the pace or tempo of your stroke should remain the same regardless of distance. Trying to "hit" a long putt harder is what causes inconsistency. Instead, let the length of the backstroke naturally create the power you need, then just release the putter through the ball with the same smooth tempo.
Every great putter has a consistent pre-putt routine. A routine is not a superstitious ritual, it’s a mental and physical checklist that switches you from "thinking mode" to "performance mode." It quiets the noise, focuses your attention, and frees you up to make a confident stroke. Your routine can be your own, but it should contain these core elements and be performed in the same order, every time.
Here’s a simple, effective routine to start with:
Mindlessly rolling putts on the practice green for 30 minutes is better than nothing, but it’s not truly effective practice. To see real improvement on the course, you need to practice with a plan that builds both skill and confidence under pressure. Great practice habits focus on performance, not just mechanics.
Short putts are all about confidence. To build it, place 8 balls in a circle around a hole, about one putter-length away (around 3 feet). Work your way around the "clock," trying to make all 8 putts in a row. If you miss, you start over. This drill not only forces you to hole out but simulates the pressure of having a must-make putt on the actual course. It also gets you used to seeing putts with various tiny breaks.
For lag putting, stop trying to make every putt. Instead, use a few headcovers or towels to create a "zone" that is about 3 feet wide extending just behind the hole. Pick a spot 30 feet away and hit three balls. Your goal isn't necessarily to hole one, but to get all three to stop inside that safe zone. This shifts your focus from an impossibly small target (the hole) to a manageable one, which is exactly the mindset you need on the course to eliminate three-putts.
Improving your putting isn’t about discovering a hidden secret, it's about diligently applying these six steps. By building a solid setup, learning to read greens, controlling your speed, grooving a pendulum stroke, trusting a routine, and practicing with purpose, you create a system that takes the pressure off and lets you make your best stroke time after time.
We believe that smarter practice and better on-course strategy can dramatically improve your performance. My team and I designed Caddie AI to act as your personal golf coach for this very reason. Whether you need a second opinion on a tricky breaking putt or practical advice on how to practice more effectively, Caddie AI provides instant, expert-level feedback to help you make more confident decisions, so you can focus on simply rolling the ball and loving the game.
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