Make More Putts With Good Alignment

Every average golfer knows that the best chance to improve his or her average score is to cut strokes using the club in the bag that is used most often, the putter. A small number of average golfers are excellent putters and should spend their practice time on ball striking, but for the overwhelming majority there are opportunities to cut strokes by improving putting.

If you have ever placed a club down after having aligned a putt or another shot and noticed that your feet were pointing well away from the target, you know that very few people can accurately line up golf shots just using eyesight alone. Pros are naturally better at this than average players, but even many of them cannot get alignment correct just using visual means.

When putting misalignment occurs the brain and body combine to try to compensate, and this is done subconsciously. So if you are not aligned properly on your putts, you are probably hitting the ball with a putter face that is open or closed just a bit without realizing it, and you are also probably not hitting the ball on the putter sweet spot which is on the club face just in front of the center of gravity of the club head. Hitting the ball on the sweet spot is one of the most important factors in making putts, according to Dave Pelz, the short game expert who is often hired by touring professionals to help them with their putting. In fact, he claims that from a distance of 8 feet, 95% of putts will miss the hole if hit more than on an inch from the sweet spot of the putter.

Is there a solution for the average golfer, who is the player who typically averages about 100 strokes per round? The best and most simple solution is to draw a line on your golf ball, and point that line to the target you are aiming for. If you don't understand how to accomplish this, just watch Tiger Woods or other top pros. If this technique helps him, it is probably a good idea for you as well. At this point line your body up using the line on the ball, and swing the putter along that line.

Golfers should also realize that even more significant than alignment in avoiding three putt greens is distance control. Dave Pelz has proven that the proper speed to his a putt is a force that will make the ball stop 17 inches past the hole. This applies to any lie on any green. More putts will go in with that speed than any other. If your putt is longer than 30 feet, just try to die the ball at the hole. Even top pros don't make many 30 foot putts, and you won't either.

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