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Making a good back swing in your putting stroke is crucial if your are to accurately start the ball along your aim line. Making sure that your putter face remains at 90 degrees to the arc of your stroke is the only way to consistently make this happen.

Some putting strokes move straight back and straight through while others move in to square to in, and you will see the start of the back swing triggered slightly differently depending on the arc of your stroke.

Straight Back/Straight Through

To make a stroke keeping your putter face square to the target at all times will need to see you become more dominant in the lead arm and hand. When you take your set up and are ready to start your stroke, you should feel your lead hand smoothly pushes the putter away from the ball, keeping the face square at all times. The lead hand will keep the putter head moving back the required length for the distance of the putt.

In To Square To In

To keep your putter face at 90 degrees to your arc, with this type of stroke you must allow the face of your putter to feel like it is a door opening and closing. Once you are in your set up position, you want to start your back swing with your shoulders rocking slightly, having the feeling that your left shoulder rocks down towards your ball as your right shoulder moves upward. It is important to keep the speed of the movement smooth and slow to enable you to maintain the putter faces relationship to the arc.

Regardless of the arc of your stroke, keeping the start of your back swing slow and smooth will increase your chances of starting your putts along your chosen aim line, giving your a greater chance of holing more putts.

Even if you are trying to keep your stroke moving straight back and through, you want to avoid lifting the putter up off the ground too much. If your angle of attack becomes steep, you will hit down on the ball at impact. This will result in your ball jumping up into the air and bouncing quite a lot at the start of its journey toward the hole.

The more speed you have at the start of your back swing, the more likely you are to lose the 90 degree relationship between your putter face and the arc of your stroke. Losing this relationship will only result in you starting more of your putts off line, while increasing the chance of your putter wobbling around rather than reducing it.

If you turn your chest away from the ball in your back swing, you will see your putter travel back and inside by quite some way. Trying to get your hands and arms to work against this move at the same time is not only difficult but will also result in your putter face looking away from your aim line at impact.