You're Correct!

Controlling the distance of your putts is one of the most important ingredients to becoming a good putter. Whether you face a putt from 10 feet of 60 feet, having the ability to get the ball into an area were you can hole the next putt, and not hitting the ball five and six feet past it so you avoid taking three putts is vital, especially if you want to lower your scores and reduce your handicap.

In your putting stroke, the length of your back stroke will determine how far you hit your putts, as long as you have a constant tempo in both directions. For you to be able to create the desired length of back stroke to hit your putt a specific distance, you need to go to the practice putting green and do the following:

Take a metre rule, find a level area on the green and lay it down, and with a marker draw a line on the ruler at 12 inches. This is your starting point. Now draw lines at 18, 24, 30 and 36 inches. Now set up with your putter face on the line at 12 inches and slowly make a putting stroke. Take the putter back, stopping your putter head at the 18 inch line and then through past the start point and beyond your lead foot. Do this a couple of times to get used to the length of the back stroke.
Now repeat the drill for each of the remaining lines on the ruler, taking care to keep the tempo of the stroke at a constant speed in both directions and not speeding up through your impact area. Take a ball and place it inside the ruler at the 11 inch mark so that your putter face is at the 12 inch mark at address. Make your back stroke to 18 inches and hit the putt, making sure not to accelerate your putter through impact and see how far your ball rolls.

Do this six times and then pace out to the centre of your little group. This will tell you how far your putt will travel with a six inch back stroke and make a note of it. Repeat this for all four of the markings on the ruler so you know what length of back stroke will hit your putt the distance you need.

You will hit most of your putts short of the hole if the length of your back stroke isnt long enough for the distance of your putt. Although there are occasions where you might hit your putt too far in an attempt to not leave it short, this is caused by you hitting at the ball rather than swinging the putter head through the stroke.

If you dont hit the ball in the centre of your putter face then you are more likely to see your ball pull up short of the hole rather than run on beyond it. Off centre hits are common causes of a missed putt, so check if you hit it in the centre by drawing a line on your ball with a marker and hit the line with your putter face. The line will be transferred on to the putter at impact to show you.

If you are using a putter with a very light head then you may struggle to consistently get the ball up to the hole. This can be due to the fact that your stroke will vary in both length and speed. As you hit one putt short, you will invariably follow that up with a faster and longer stroke on the next green in an attempt to avoid a repeat of your previous hole.