A pure putt is a putt that rolls head over heel all the way to the hole. It is easy to see if you are hitting a putt that rolls pure, by drawing a line around your golf ball.
With a line drawn around your golf ball, place it on the green with the line aimed along the target line of the putt. If you roll the putt pure, you will see that the line stays upright on the ball and continues to aim along the target line, without wobbling off it. If the putt is not pure you will see that as the ball rolls along the target line, the line wobbles over and no longer appears upright, but tilted over.
Pure putts see the ball rolling directly head over heel so that they are rolling over a horizontal axis. This is an indication that your putter face was square, or aiming down your target line and that the putter head was travelling along the target line as the ball was struck. Achieving this is extremely important, as it means that you are hitting straight putts along your intended line and this means you will be a highly accurate putter.
Pure putts also hug the line on the green that they are struck down. They bobble less and jump less as they are struck at the correct speed from the centre of the putter face, or the sweet spot. As you swing the putter head away from the golf ball on your back swing, the putter head rises from the ground. The more that the putter head rises off the ground on your back swing, the more it will need to drop back down towards the ground as the putter head moves back towards the golf ball. So with this action as the putter head strikes the golf ball, it will make the ball “jump” and rise off the ground through the downward striking action that will push the ball into the ground initially, so that it will rises up out of it as a result, causing the putt to “jump” and bobble along the surface of the green.
This action can also cause you to mis-strike the golf ball with the putter head, as if the putter head is travelling downwards from a high position, then there is a chance that the putter head will strike the upper part of the golf ball on the lower area of the putter face, rather the centre of the golf ball being struck from the centre of the putter face, the sweet spot. Mis-hitting the ball in this way will result in a loss of distance on the putt and the ball will not travel as far as it usually would if it had been struck from the sweet spot. As a result, the ball will fall short of the hole.
Keeping the putter head low on the back swing and as a result low on the follow through, will create a more solid contact with the golf ball, as the centre of the putter face will connect with the centre and side of the golf ball, due to the fact that the putter head is approaching the ball from a lower angle.
A great drill to work on to create this lower club head position as the putter swings through the putt is to set up a putting string. All you need for this is two small thin rods – knitting needles are ideal – with one piece of string attached between them. Push one stick/rod into the putting green and then stretch the string out so that it is tight, with no slack, to the other stick/rod. Push the rods in to the green so that the string is about three inches above the green. Set up to putt with your putter head underneath the string. Work on swinging the putter head back and forth under the string, without the putter head touching the string and this will ensure that the head remains close to the ground during the stroke, ensuring a low angle for the putter head to approach the golf ball at.
