When you think about ball striking, you probably think first about your full swing.

After all, one of the biggest challenges in golf is learning how to strike the ball cleanly with both your woods and your irons. Beginning golfers tend to struggle in this area, as it takes some time to build up quality full swing mechanics. To be sure, learning how to strike the ball properly is one of the biggest hurdles you need to clear on your way to becoming an accomplished player.

But did you know that striking the ball properly with your putter is important as well? This aspect of the game tends to be overlooked since the results of a poor strike with a putter are not nearly as ugly as a bad strike with an iron. For example, if you miss-hit your seven iron from the middle of the fairway, the ball might not get off the ground at all. Everyone in your group will be able to see the mistake you’ve made, and it will probably be a little embarrassing. On the other hand, striking your putter poorly is not going to result in nearly the same kind of ugly outcome. Sure, the putt will probably miss the target, but it’s still going to roll up somewhere near your target. Misses with the putter tend to be rather subtle, meaning the others in your group might not even know anything was wrong. You will probably feel that you didn’t hit the putt quite right, but nothing will seem out of the ordinary to anyone else.

Since there isn’t embarrassment or anything like that to worry about here, most golfers will never bother to work on the way they strike their putts. And that is a shame. Improving your ball striking with the putter can help you produce a smoother roll, and a smooth roll will go a long way toward helping you hole out more frequently. Not only does a smooth roll make it easier to keep your putts on line, it will also make it easier for you to control your speed. If you aren’t happy with the way your putter is performing currently, consider working on the fine points of your ball striking to work toward better results.

All of the content below is based on a right-handed golfer. If you happen to play left-handed, please take a moment to reverse the directions as necessary.

Creating a Smooth Roll

From your perspective standing over the ball, most of your putts look more or less the same when they leave the face of the putter. It seems that the ball starts rolling right away, and that it simply stays down on the grass, rolling along until it either hits the cup or runs out of steam. That might look like what is happening to the naked eye, but a closer inspection will reveal a different story.

If you were to record a video your ball leaving the face of your putter, and then play that video back in slow motion, you would discover that the ball is actually hopping along the ground quite significantly in the first stage of the putt. It can take a while for the ball to ‘settle down’ and begin to roll more cleanly. The amount of time it takes for the ball to settle down will depend both on the length of the putt and the quality of your stroke. If you can make a great stroke, it is far more likely that the ball will settle into a clean roll shortly after leaving the putter.

So, what is it about a putting stroke that is likely to create a clean roll? Let’s look at a few keys.

• Hitting up on the ball slightly. This is the biggest key when you are in pursuit of a clean roll. If you can hit up on the ball at bit through impact, the ball should begin to roll sooner than if you hit down at impact, or even moved the putter through on a level plane. You don’t want to hit up dramatically, of course, but even swinging the putter up by a degree or two can work wonders for the quality of the roll you produce. If you are used to hitting down on the ball with your putter, you’ll need to be willing to put in plenty of practice if you hope to break that habit. It’s going to feel awkward at first when you try to create a stroke that hits up, but you should find that you get more and more comfortable as time goes by.
• Find the center of the putter. Another key to a good roll is simply striking the ball on the sweet spot as often as you can. You already know that it is important to hit your full swing clubs on the sweet spot, and the story is exactly the same here. Not only will hitting the sweet spot help you to achieve a nice roll off the face, but it will also allow you to control your distance with greater consistency. Later in this article, we will offer up an idea for a quick drill you can use to improve your ability to strike your putts on the center of the face.
• Stay smooth with the stroke. You don’t want to have any sudden changes in speed during your putting stroke. Ideally, you’d like to keep the putter moving as smoothly as possible from start to finish. It’s necessary to change directions, of course, so the tempo can’t be perfectly even all the way through, but do your best to avoid anything sudden or rushed. Take your time, let the stroke develop in a natural way, and swing freely through the ball and towards the target. Many golfers get into the bad habit of using their hands right at the moment of impact to give the club a little extra push through the ball. Don’t make that mistake. Trust that your stroke is going to do the job on its own and resist the temptation to get your hands involved at the last possible moment. Not only will using your hands in this way make it hard to control the speed and produce a clean roll, you might also end up sending the ball in the wrong direction.

It is not as easy as it might look to produce a smooth roll when putting. Of course, is anything as easy as it looks in golf? This is a game full of challenges, and you will find a challenge here just like you’ll find one on the other parts of the course. To create the kind of roll you need to produce consistent results on the greens is going to take plenty of hard work and focus on your technique. In the next section, we will offer some tips on how you can improve your mechanics and take a big step closer to the kind of putting stroke that allows for great outcomes.

Some Technical Keys

Now that you have an idea of what it is that will cause the ball to roll nicely off the face of your putter, the next step is to understand the techniques required to make that happen. How do you organize your stroke in such a way that a smooth roll will be the natural result? It’s not easy, to be sure, but it can be done. A great putting stroke looks extremely simple when you see it executed, but the reality is that such a stroke usually takes many hours to build. If you are a golfer who tends to ignore the practice putting green in favor of the driving range, you’ll need to change that habit if any progress is going to be made.

The list below highlights the key mechanics you want to have in place in order to produce a great roll time after time.

• Weak left-hand grip. Before the stroke even gets started, you can do yourself a big favor by placing your left hand in a weak position on the putter. By ‘weak’, we mean that your hand should be turned to the left on the grip as you are looking down from above. Try playing your thumb directly on the top of the putter grip and then wrapping the rest of your fingers around the club from there. Once your left hand is in place, you can add your right hand to match (palms should be facing each other). The reason a weak left-hand grip is desirable is because it takes much of the control over the grip out of your hands and places that control in your shoulders instead. This way, you should be able to simply rock your shoulders back and through without your hands getting too involved in the action. Too many golfers use their hands actively while putting, and that mistake can lead to a variety of problems. Try a weak left-hand grip during your next practice session and you may be impressed with what it can provide.
• Ball near the front of your stance. Another important key if you are going to hit up on the ball and create a smooth roll is to place the ball up in your stance at address. If the ball is too far back, which is a common mistake, you are likely to hit down on the ball and send it bouncing for a foot or so before it settles into a roll. The right ball position for you will depend on the specifics of your technique, so feel free to experiment in practice until you find a spot that feels just right. For most players, that spot will be somewhere forward of center but short of the left foot.
• Slow tempo. For the most part, the golfers who use a slow tempo in their putting stroke are the ones who find the greatest deal of success. Sure, there are a few players who are able to roll the ball successfully with a quick stroke, but those are usually the exception. If you use a slow, smooth tempo, it’s more likely that you’ll be able to keep your hands out of the action – and that is a big key when trying to hit up through impact and produce a smooth roll. Do your best to take the putter back slowly away from the ball and maintain that tempo all the way throughout the rest of the stroke.
• Left shoulder moving up through the ball. If you feel like you need to focus your mental energy on one specific point during the production of your stroke, consider thinking about the left shoulder and how it is moving. If you can get your left shoulder to move up away from the ground while the putter swings through the ball, it’s nearly certain that the putter head will be moving up as well. When that happens, you should be able to get the ball rolling quickly. So, while something like moving your left shoulder up through impact might not seem like a big deal, it can have a huge impact on the quality of your roll when all is said and done.

The list above contains four points, so you have plenty to work on when you head out to the practice putting green to work on your technique. Rather than trying to tackle everything at once, consider working on these points one at a time until they become comfortable. Sure, it will take a while to work through them this way – you may need to spread the work out over a few practice sessions – but allowing yourself to focus on a single point at a time is the best way to make real progress.

Correcting Mistakes

In the previous section, we highlighted the points that you should focus on when working to improve your mechanics. In this section, we are basically going to take the opposite approach – we are going to look at the mistakes that you need to fix. What are you doing wrong in your stroke currently that is causing you to produce a poor roll? If you can take away the mistakes, it’s almost certain that you will be moving in the right direction for a brighter putting future.

• Active right hand at impact. This is one of the most common mistakes made in the putting stroke. If you use your right hand actively as the club swings forward, a number of things can go wrong. As it relates to this article, you may cause the ball to skip and hop a bit before it manages to settle into a roll. That’s going to make the distance tough to control, and the ball may hop off line as well. Along with the issue of a poor-quality roll, you will also be likely to struggle when putting under pressure, as it’s hard to execute a ‘handsy’ putting stroke when you are nervous. One of the best things you can do for your overall putting performance is learn to keep your right hand quiet as the putter swings toward the target.
• Playing the ball too far back in your stance. In the previous section, we pointed out that it would be a good idea to play the ball forward in your stance when putting. Since that is the case, it only stands to reason that playing the ball back in your stance is going to be a problem. It might seem like changing your ball position would be an easy thing to do, but that probably won’t be the case. Sure, it’s easy enough to make the change, but getting used to that change and having the confidence to use it on the course is another matter. Ball position is something that you can comfortable with over time, so your current ball position probably feels right – even if it is not serving you well. Be patient as you work on changing your ball position and eventually you’ll get comfortable with the idea of putting with the ball up in your stance.
• Rushing. It’s easy to understand the urge to rush your way through a putting stroke. You are probably a bit nervous when getting ready to hit a putt, especially if it is a short putt that you feel like you should make. If you do feel those nerves setting in, you may be tempted to rush through your stroke, just to get it over with. The pace of your stroke will pick up, the length of the backstroke will decrease, and you’ll force the putter through the ball before it is really ready to hit the putt. Rushed putting strokes look ugly, and the results that they produce usually aren’t much prettier. Don’t let yourself get into the habit of rushing your strokes, even when you are nervous. Build a great tempo during practice and do your best to maintain that tempo on the course.

A big part of improving at the game of golf, no matter what part of the game you are addressing, comes down to taking away mistakes. As you pull the mistakes out of your technique, one by one, what you are left with will be a simpler, more effective way to play the game. This process isn’t easy, and it usually isn’t fast, but it can be quite rewarding over the long run.

Other Important Putting Keys

We would like to wrap up this article by touching on a few more important putting keys. These keys are not directly related to making the ball roll smoothly, but rather they are simply pieces of advice we think you will find useful as you continue to work on making more putts.

• Play more break. This is a great tip for amateur golfers to receive. The typical weekend golfer does not play enough break on his or her putts, and the ball misses to the low side on a regular basis as a result. Also, if the player senses that not enough break has been played for at address, he or she may hit the ball harder in an effort to hold the line. Obviously, that can lead to the ball racing past the hole, and a three putt may be the end result. During your next round, or even just during a practice session, try playing a little more break than you see on all of your putts. You just might be surprised at how dramatic the results can be.
• Long putts are about speed. When putting from long range, your main goal should be to two putt and move on to the next hole. It would be great to make the first putt but getting too aggressive will bring the three putt into play. So, what’s the key to successfully two putting? Speed control, of course. Focus first and foremost on getting the speed of your long putts right and you’ll be in good shape more often than not.
• Prepare properly. Before each round, do your best to carve out at least a few minutes of time to practice your putting prior to walking to the first tee. This is important because the green speeds you face are going to change from day to day, even on the same course. You don’t want to work on your putting technique while warming up, but rather you should be focusing your efforts on getting comfortable with the way the greens are rolling.

If you are able to get the ball rolling quickly off the face of your putter time after time, you will be in good shape on the greens. Doing so is not an easy task, so consider the tips we have offered and spend some time working on your technique during an upcoming practice session. As your roll improves, you should see more putts start to fall in. Good luck!

Here is a question for you then how can you control that ball so it doesn’t bubble and skip too much as you hit it with your putter? Now it is quite noticeable on this putting green that I’m on today because the surface is very poor it’s being treated for its annual winter maintenance so it’s actually quite bubbly anyway. But if you are noticing that on good smooth greens everybody else is able to roll the ball beautifully down towards the hole but when you hit it bubbles and it skips and it’s consistent with its roll, you can almost hear it bouncing and bubbling as it comes through the putt.

What you have to consider here is how is the club delivering the loft of the club face into the back of the ball. And there is two major issues here either you are hitting down on the putt with no loft or not enough loft or you are hitting up on the putt with too much loft. So I could consider this I’m going hit side on to the camera I’m going to knock it off the edge of the green here. Now the first putt would be ball is to far forward, hands are too far back, the putter already has a bit of loft on it. A lot of people don’t understand but a putter has about four, three to four degrees of loft on it already.

So Putting Secrets are as I set up here hands back ball forward I have actually added more loft, if I then had a lot more flick in my stroke I’m going to deliver this up in to the back in the ball and the ball is going to skip forward with too much of a jump. So I can hear it as it jumps off and it probably clears the first three or four feet in a couple of bounces a couple of hops. Now if I over compensated for this and I went too much the opposite direction I would have the ball too far back in my stance, my hands could be too far forward negating all the loft that’s already on that putter.

I then hit down into the ball effectively I’m jamming the club down on to the top of the ball, the ball squeezes into the floor and then jumps back up, it kind of bounces out of the floor. So I’m here and I hit down and it jumps forward too much. So if I have got a putting stroke that’s descending too much or ascending too much I’m probably going to get the ball bubbling and skipping as it comes of the club face.

So we could consider the perfect position to strike the ball better we would have the ball just slightly ahead of the centre like a six side ball position. We would have the hand sitting pretty much on top of or just a nudge ahead just one or two degree ahead which still leaves a bit of loft on that club face remember. As I then make a normal straight back straight through smooth stroke the ball rolls of the face much better, doesn’t bubble doesn’t skip, doesn’t jump sounds better to my ear, looks better to my eyes it rolls away.

So consider if you are hitting up or down on the putts that’s probably making the putt bubble and jump too much on nice smooth greens we want the ball to be rolling as quickly as possible that’s the best way to make more putts and get better distance control. Putting secrets from the pros.