Natalie Adams – PGA Teaching Pro

Here we’re going to have a look at whether an Arc Putting Stroke is going to be the best method for you to use to become a really good, consistent Putter when you’re out on the greens. And obviously being a great Putter is going to help you reduce your scores. So having a look at what the theories are on putting, you can either have a method where you take the Putter straight back and straight through and keep the club face square or you can arc.

So if you look at what arcing means, as you set the Putter up, straight back and straight through would see the club travel directly along the target line, and then come straight back along the target line to the golf ball and then move straight through. And the Putter face just stays aiming at the target all the way through. If you arc your Putter straight though, we tend to see that you just rotate the forearms and the club face so that you have a slightly inside back swing. So that means that the Putter had just moved slightly inside the target line. You then arc back towards the ball, hit the ball, and arc through again. So again slightly onto the inside as you swing through.

Now, this suits a lot of people, because if you think how you swing your full golf swing, it does have an arcing nature. It isn’t straight back and straight through and naturally as your shoulders rotate, your forearms will want to rotate and the club face will rotate as well. So an Arcing stroke would take the Putter head back on the inside of the target line, but the club face will remain at a 90 degree angle to the movement of the Putter head and that gives you a really nice, consistent stroke.

So great drill to see if that suits you or not is I’ve just put another club on the floor here, and as I swing the Putter, I just want to say if naturally I take the Putter straight along the club, or if I tend to just arc slightly onto the inside. If I notice that the toe of the club is just coming away from the club on the floor as I swing the Putter, then that’s going to mean an arcing style will suit me a lot better as I putt.

So the next time you’re on the practice Green have a look doing that. Just put another club along the floor, set up so till the toe of your Putter is touching that club on the floor, set yourself up ready to putt, and then just look at naturally how you want to move the Putter. If you notice that the toe of the Putter had come in away from the shaft of the club on the floor, you’ve got an arcing style swing, and you just want to allow your shoulders and your arms to rotate through the shots, you’ll be hurling putts in no time.