You're Correct!

One of the most common causes for missing putts is body movement. Most of the time this is due to you wanting to see where the ball is going. When you turn to look to see where your ball finishes you will close your putter face and drag your putt to the low side of the hole.

Holding your finish position is vital. It helps you to keep your body still, and you should hold it all the way until your putt has finished rolling. You will also see the consistency of your stroke get better and better. The one thing that you must do is allow your head to turn slightly so you can look towards the hole. Listen for your putt to hit the bottom of the cup, but to be able to learn how to control the speed of your putts, you need to watch some of the roll of the ball.

Controlling the speed of your putts is a skill that you learn by watching as well as feeling, so its important that you rotate your head towards your target a little whilst keeping the rest of your body still to watch the roll of your putt. Get used to keeping your body still during your stroke and practice the following drill either on the practice green or at home:

Set up a putt of around 10 feet and place a coin on the ground. Place your ball on top of the coin and take your set up. As you make your putting stroke, keep your eyes on the coin for a few seconds after you hit your ball and then turn your head slightly towards the target so you can watch the ball roll out. Make sure you hold your finish and keep the putter in the follow through position until your ball comes to rest.

The finish position of any stroke tells you a lot about what happened leading up to and at the point of impact. If you do not hold your finish position you will not be able to see the position that the putter face has finished in, or how far the putter has travelled in the follow through. It is this feedback that can help you understand why you missed your putt.

Hitting your putts on target is second in importance only to getting your speed right, but if you dont hold the finish of your putting stroke then the chances of you hitting your putts on target are greatly reduced. You need to practise your putting stroke while keeping your eyes on a fixed point in the centre of your stance if you want to hit your putts on target.

As important as it is to hold your finish on short putts to keep your body stable, it is just as important to do the same on longer putts. If your dont hold your finish on your 20, 30 or 40 feet putts then the body movement will cause you to miss hit the putt. This has a detrimental effect on your speed control and will result in more three putts.