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Controlling the distance you hit your putts is the most important factor when it comes to putting. It is the number one way to stop you from three putting, yet most golfers dont think about the concept and just hit it harder the next time after leaving the last putt short.

To gain more control over the distance your putt travels, you need to learn how to control the length of your stroke and the tempo of your stroke.

Control Your Tempo

The tempo of your putting stroke is the first area you need to look at if you want to control your distance better. For the most part, golfers are trying to accelerate their putter head through the impact, but as it is extremely difficult to quantify the acceleration to be able to repeat it every time you make your putting stroke, you will never be able to truly control your distance. You must keep the tempo of your stroke the same in the forward stroke as it is in the backstroke. This way you will create a natural acceleration that you can trust will deliver the same speed into impact almost every time.

Control The Length Of Your Backstroke

The length of your backstroke will determine the distance your ball will travel as long as the tempo is constant in both directions. With this knowledge, you now need to find out how far your ball travels for different lengths of backstroke. Set up to a ball and move your putter head in the backstroke no further than the instep of your trail foot and then smoothly at the same tempo through impact and see how far your ball goes.

Hit another putt but this time move your putter head just on the outside of your trail foot, and make a note of how far your ball goes. Finally, hit another putt moving the putter head a couple of inches outside your trail foot. You should now have three balls at different distances. Pace out each one and this will tell you how far each length of backstroke will hit the ball. You are in a position to control your distance on the green and reduce the number of three putts you have.

If you hit your putts and they just die over the front lip when they go in then your distance control is not good. This is due to you under hitting the putt no matter what the length is and most of your putts will stop short of the hole. Potentially, you are decelerating your putter head into impact which can prove fatal in the quest to hole more putts.

If you hit a putt with the speed to keep it on the line you choose, there is a very big chance that you have hit the ball too hard. This will only result in your ball fizzing past the hole and leaving you with a lot of very tricky comeback putts to save pars and bogeys.

Many golfers believe that the line of the putt is the most important aspect, yet in truth, controlling your distance with the right speed is. The line of your putt is actually determined by the speed of your ball so its best for you to think about the distance of your putt and how much slope you feel before looking at your line.