Throughout the years every golfer will try many different strategies to improve their game of golf and over that time the different tips and thoughts can become confused.

Here are a summary of the five best putting thoughts to improve your putting technique and improve your game.

1. Soft hands

This simply means holding the putter nice and lightly throughout the putting stroke. Holding the putter tightly increases tension and creates a jerky movement through the ball that can cause inaccuracy and poor distance control. Holding the putter lightly lets the putter head swing using its own momentum and creates a nice, straight motion allowing the golfer to swing shorter or longer to control distance rather than hitting harder or softer. To hold the putter lightly, imagine holding a tube of toothpaste with no top on. Your goal is to be able a swing that tube of toothpaste without any toothpaste coming out of the tube.

2. Mark the line of the putt

Make sure you read the putt correctly and get down as low as possible behind the ball to do so. When you have picked the line of the putt, imagine a spot on the green, on that line, approximately six inches in front of the ball. When setting up to the putt, aim the putter at your spot and imagine a line connecting your putter, the ball and your spot on the green. Make this line your favourite color to make it stand out in your own mind and then be sure to swing down that line with the putter head rolling the ball over your spot. Doing so will increase confidence and make you commit to the putt in hand and the line that you have chosen thus increasing your chances of hitting a solid putt.

3. Keep the club face under control

Controlling the club face controls where the ball goes and so it is important to keep the club face pointing to the target throughout the putting motion. To do this, take two golf clubs and lay them on the floor parallel to each other so that they are approximately the head of a putter's width apart and pointing at your target. Putt a ball from in-between the two clubs making sure that the putter head does not touch them. Also, more importantly, keep the club face at 90 degrees to the two clubs throughout the putting motion. As an additional point, check your finish position after you have hit the putt. When held at the end of the putting swing, the putter face should still be pointing at the target and at 90 degrees to the two clubs on the floor.

4. Consistent tempo

Poor tempo means poor control and an inability to control how far the ball will go on a consistent basis. Imagine your putting stroke to be the pendulum of a clock with the putter swinging backwards and forwards the same length with the same speed. It often helps to maintain the correct rhythm by saying out loud the words 'tick, tock' as the putter swings backwards and forwards. An extra point that is important to note is that the length of the back swing needs to be the same length as the forward swing in the putting motion. This provides balance to the swing and so when swinging the putter backwards and forwards try to notice where the putter starts and ends in relation to your feet. For example, a short putt would swing from the inside of the back foot to the inside of the front foot while a long putt would swing from three inches outside of the back foot to three inches outside of the front foot. Maintain the length and rhythm of the putting swing for consistent tempo.

5. Eyes over the top of the ball

When the eyes are over the top of the ball the putter can swing straighter through the golf ball. This is because positioning the body in this way means that the putting motion is powered by the shoulders rather than the hands and wrists which gives control and consistency of the putting line. To situate the eyes over the top of the ball, get a CD and place it on the floor shiny side up. Put a golf ball in the middle of CD and set up to the golf ball. Look in the reflection of the CD and re-position yourself until you can see your eyes in the correct position directly over the top of the ball.

These are without doubt the five best and simplest putting tips and you can put them into practice. Focus on just these five and become a better putter.