You're Correct!

The potential for improvement within your putting is one of the most under estimated areas of the club golfer. Over 75% of you believe your putting is ok, yet all club golfers use their putter for over a third of all their shots in a round of golf.

No matter whether you shot 70 or 100, the ratio of putts to swings is roughly the same. The main reason for this is that few of you may practise your putting, yet three quarters of you may spend time trying to hit the ball 300 yards with the driver or working on your swing mechanics.

Spending five minutes on the practice putting green before you step on to the first tee does not qualify as practising your putting, but if you were to spend 30 minutes a week working on the mechanics of your putting stroke then you will knock a greater number of shots off your scores on a consistent basis. One of the best ways to improve your mechanics is to practise three to five foot putts using a belly putter. Because the belly putter is anchored into the body, the hands have less influence on the stroke, allowing the shoulders to dominate the stroke and more importantly keep the putter moving on the perfect path.

If you were to improve your mechanics on the three to five foot putts you would instantly start to hole out much better but more importantly you will groove a constant path with a very slight arc that will help you start the ball on your intended line every time. It can be difficult to practise this as the majority of you will not have access to a belly putter, but if you were to take the handle out of the mop or yard brush at home then you would be able to anchor it into your body and practice the rocking motion back and forth with your hands and arms being very relaxed and passive. You will see the path that the handle takes become very consistent in a short period of time.

More and more tour players have adopted practising with a belly putter into their regular routine in order to improve their stroke mechanics and help them hole more putts, and this will help you hole more putts too.

With a conventional putter, the freely hanging arms help you to feel the length of the stroke required for your putt and this is extremely difficult to retain when using a belly putter because it is anchored to your body.

With the butt of the grip anchored into your body, the first thing you lose when using a belly putter is the ability to consistently control the distance of your longer putts. When facing a 40 footer, you will be more likely to see the ball finish between 6-10 feet short of the hole increasing the number of potential three putts per round.

Because of the difficulty in controlling the distance of your putts from distance, the need to hit the ball starts to creep into the stroke. Once this happens, the rhythm and tempo of the stroke is lost and the results become very inconsistent.