5 Golf Putting Tips

As they say in golf, “It’s not how you drive, it’s how you arrive,” and knowing these 5 golf putting tips can help you improve your game and shave strokes off your score.

1. The green is an open book; read it. You can hardly stand over the ball and strike it with any hope of success without first taking time to read the green, one of the most important golf putting tips. Try to analyze which way your ball will “break,” based on where the slopes and hills on the green are. Gauging this break is an essential golf putting tip, and will help you to know where to hit the ball.
2. Choose your target and hit to it. Once you have an idea of where and how far the ball will break, choose that spot as your target and aim for it. Essentially, your putt always starts off as a straight line, and the break takes it where the green and gravity want it to go. A good golf putting tip is to hit the ball directly to the spot where the break will take over, hopefully sending your ball into the cup.
3. Know the speed of the greens. A good golf putting tip is to know just how far the ball is going to go after you strike it. If the greens are “fast,” the ball is going to go far and do so quickly; you therefore won’t need to hit it as hard. On slower greens, you need to strike the ball harder. A good golf putting tip is to spend some time on the practice green before your round, as the speed there is a good indication as to the green speed on the course. Also, observe how wet or dry the course is and how hard the green feels under your feet. All of these will help you judge the speed before that first putt.
4. Follow through. An essential golf putting tip is to follow through with your stroke after you hit the ball. This will help to ensure a nice, smooth stroke and to keep you from jabbing at the ball with your putter. Your swing should look like a pendulum, with an easy stroke back, and then a smooth stroke through the ball, with your follow-through about the same length as your backstroke.
5. Don’t try to make the long putts. That’s right, don't try to make them. One thing to absolutely avoid is the three-putt. You should never take more than two putts to get off a green, and your first putt, when you’re outside of about ten feet, should be to come close enough so that your second putt is relatively easy. Once you start trying to make putts from 40 feet away, you will hit the ball too hard or overplay your break or otherwise leave yourself with a challenging second putt. Just trying to putt your ball in the vicinity of the hole will take a lot of pressure off, and you’ll be surprised just how often you leave it within five feet.