There takes a bit of imagination to be a great putter in golf. Understanding who our ball will react to the conditions of the green is something gleaned through experience. I have played golf for 50 years and I still find it challenging sometimes on the short grass. I often wonder why after all this time I still find it challenging to hit my ball into the hole from a relatively short distance. Often my misses are a result of choosing the wrong aim point. I make solid contact and my ball rolls over where I chose, but it still misses the hole. Why is that and can it please stop!

As we all know there is a raging argument in all golf circles between speed or line for who is king. I feel into this rabbit hole a few years back and selected line first, then flipped to speed. Well, I have flipped again to decide that both are important and you cannot really conclude which is more important because they are so intertwined. Each player has to decide for themselves which is the most important for their game and work from that premise. Additionally, we all hit our putts differently, therefore what I see for break and what others will see are different because we putt differently. As an elder statesman of golf once said to my friend Blair and I “just putt what you see!” This is great advice!

No that we have determined that line and speed are not mutually exclusive, how do we pick our aim point for each putt? This skill comes down to one thing: reading the green to fit your putting speed. We all should know what our putting speed is and how the ball should react to contact. In my case, I try to putt the ball 8 inches past the hole for all putts outside 5 feet. I know that is the speed I try to achieve and therefore try to figure out the line I need given the speed I am going to use. I try to consistently use these metrics and for the most part it works out very well. Once in a while I mess up, but that is the nature of being an amateur golfer.

Here is a great video by Brad Faxon on how to read a green. This is basically what I do:

Once I have determine the line of my putt, I find an spot about 3 to 5 feet away that I need my ball to roll over in order to track on the line I chose. If I hit my speed correctly, the ball should drop or leave me a tap in on the hole. This whole process only takes about 20 to 30 seconds if you walk to both sides of the hole. If it takes longer, I would suggest you speed up a bit and have confidence you are doing the right things.

Selecting the proper aim point is a bit of a challenge. Understanding how you putt the ball will help remove many stressors of putting. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on your outlook that day) all aspects of putting are intertwined. There is not one definitive aspect of putting that if you concentrate your efforts on that will lower our score. The holistic approach is definitely the way to go when learning to pick the proper aim point.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!