A Common-Sense Approach to Putting

We spend most of our lives missing putts – careful what you remember.

This may be an unusual way to begin an article about putting, but as golfers we spend much more of our lives missing putts than making them! We remember the putts we miss more than the putts we make. We replay the short miss, question the stroke and carry it to the next hole. Both Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods became famous not only for making important putts, but also for leaving bad ones behind. A missed putt can provide valuable information. It does not have to become emotional baggage.

Our expectations may be part of the challenge. PGA TOUR professionals make only about half of their putts from eight feet, and they compete on perfectly manicured tournament greens. Regular golfers often stand over an eight-footer on an everyday surface and for some reason, we expect to make them all and treat a miss like a personal failure. That is an unfair standard. A putt can be well read, well struck and not go in. You can also hit a bad putt and it falls in! Go figure, but don’t think about it for too long.

Every putt counts (but not every putt goes in)

Mark Broadie’s Every Shot Counts and the now widely accepted Strokes Gained concept changed how golf measures performance. The value of a shot depends on where it begins, where it finishes and what it leaves next. The same is true on the putting green. A first putt that does not fall can still be a very good putt if it leaves a simple second one. Distance, difficulty, slope, green speed and proximity all help define the quality of the result.

That means the first putt starts before you hit it. Your approach shot determines where you putt from. Walking allows you to feel the terrain and notice elevation changes as you approach the green. Your eyes, feet and brain begin calculating the path and speed before it is your turn to putt. However, none of that matters if you cannot consistently find the center of the putter face!

A better PATH

Golfers often become locked into finding a perfect line. That degree of precision can induce tension, anxiety or stress whereas a PATH gives the golfer a broader picture combining the read, starting direction, break and speed. On a breaking putt, choosing the high side—the traditional ‘pro side’—allows gravity to participate. The hole may be 4¼ inches wide, but the speed and catch point of the ball into the hole determine how much of that opening is going to be used and/or is truly available. (any putt that starts below the intended line regardless of path has no chance to go in)

A successful putt needs four connected pieces: a useful path, the appropriate face angle, a suitable speed and centered contact. The center of the putter face—the sweet spot—usually produces the clearest sound, the best feel and the most predictable roll. Moment of inertia, or MOI, is different. It describes how much the putter resists twisting when contact is off center. MOI can add forgiveness, but it does not replace the value of finding the center of the putter face.

This is also where feel and real meet. What a stroke feels like and what the ball actually does are not always the same. Good feedback—sound, roll and outcome—helps the golfer connect the two. Putting does not depend on strength, muscle or power. It rewards neither age, size nor gender. With the appropriate read, path, speed and stroke, every putt has a chance of going in.

Practice with a purpose

Putting practice should move from control, to variety, to competition. Start with straight putts from one, two, three and four feet. The first goal is not simply to make them. Strike the center of the putter face. Listen to the sound, notice the feel, see the ball roll and hear it fall into the cup! Your goal should be to build a reliable, consistent stroke before adding more variables.

Next, work around the hole from the same 4-6 foot distances. Now you will face uphill, downhill, right-to-left and left-to-right putts. Most golf courses are not flat, so practice should not be 100% flat either. The hole is close enough to build confidence, while the path and speed continue to change. Finally, take one ball and play nine different holes on the practice green. Choose different lengths and breaks, play every putt out and keep score. This is no longer repetition; it is rehearsal. Like the Short Game Par 18 exercise we discussed in an earlier article, one-ball practice creates decisions, consequences and honest feedback. It prepares your mindset for putting on the course and holing out! I have looked closely and there are no “gimmes” in stroke play.

Can you take your putting to the course?

A dependable routine helps transfer practice into play: Read. Assess. Choose. Commit. Roll it. Accept the outcome. Read the surface. Assess the distance, slope and speed. Choose the path. Commit to the decision. Roll the rock. Accept what happened and prepare for the next putt.

Green-reading concepts such as Vector and AimPoint may help golfers organize what they see, but a method should lead to a quick decision—not a delay. Ryan Fox gave us a memorable example at the 2026 Open Championship. Only 22 seconds passed between Sam Burns retrieving his ball and Fox striking the championship-winning putt. He was prepared, decisive and ready. Bad golfers can play fast golf, and good golfers should not play slow golf!

Par-ting thoughts

We will all miss putts. The real questions are whether we prepared properly, chose a useful PATH, controlled the speed, found the center of the putter and left ourselves ready for wReframe from previous article: (if necessary or appropriate to my comment re: previous articles)

Tempo is critical when it comeshat comes next. Every putt counts, and every new putt deserves a clear mind and a better PATH.

The late Jerry Anderson, Canadian Golf Hall of Famer, once told me that if he had to do it all over again, he’d get really good inside six feet. And if I had to do it over again, I’d work on tempo first and get really good around the hole! Thanks, Jer!

As it relates to good tempo, “constant acceleration through” the ball is better than deceleration.

Think Better. Putt Better. Score Better.

Play well, my friend!