Two Types Of Golf Putting Stroke - Square Or Arc (Video) - by Pete Styles
Two Types Of Golf Putting Stroke - Square Or Arc (Video) - by Pete Styles

So, generally when we look at people’s putting and how to improve them, we look at a type of stroke that they are making. And what we generally see is it folds into two categories, two camps if you like. Some people are deliberately trying to make what we class as a straight back and a straight through putting method. Well it simply is, the club travels a straight back and the straight through as it possibly can be. Consider if you were throwing a dart, you would try and pull back and throw forward in the straightest line possible. Other golfers might fall into the arc type of putting stroke which is generally classed as where the club would start off next to the ball and would come in on a slight arc and open slightly, square and then come in again and close slightly. So, the arc type of putting stroke would be more in an open square and then in and closed again.

Now it’s difficult to really establish which is the best method, because we see even at the highest level of the game, played on the PGA Tour level golf, different golfers have different types of strokes, some straight back, some straight through, some have an arc, some have a blend and I think that’s probably the fairest assumption to make, is that very few golfers could make an accurate straight back and straight through type of stroke particularly when we get longer putts. Maybe if we were making little three and four footers, it would be straight back and through, but if we were trying to hit a ball let’s say across the green to where my bag is on the other side, to come exactly straight back the whole way, could end up looking like a bit of a manipulation on both side because the club would generally want to have some form of an arc as we do that. There is also the suggestion that different types of putters can help different golfers whether we have a putter that’s face balance, if you balance your putter, does it point to the sky perfectly level that would be a face balance putter or a putter that hinges toe down so a toe down putter is generally going to be considered better for an arcing stroke and the face balance putter generally considered better for straight back and straight through. So, you could consider whether your putter is suitable for your type of stroke as well. The next time you go to the practice green, just drop a cane on the ground and then try and putt along that cane with your stroke and just establish whether you are straight back straight through or whether you are an arcing type of stroke. 2016-04-15

So, generally when we look at people’s putting and how to improve them, we look at a type of stroke that they are making. And what we generally see is it folds into two categories, two camps if you like. Some people are deliberately trying to make what we class as a straight back and a straight through putting method. Well it simply is, the club travels a straight back and the straight through as it possibly can be. Consider if you were throwing a dart, you would try and pull back and throw forward in the straightest line possible. Other golfers might fall into the arc type of putting stroke which is generally classed as where the club would start off next to the ball and would come in on a slight arc and open slightly, square and then come in again and close slightly. So, the arc type of putting stroke would be more in an open square and then in and closed again.

Now it’s difficult to really establish which is the best method, because we see even at the highest level of the game, played on the PGA Tour level golf, different golfers have different types of strokes, some straight back, some straight through, some have an arc, some have a blend and I think that’s probably the fairest assumption to make, is that very few golfers could make an accurate straight back and straight through type of stroke particularly when we get longer putts. Maybe if we were making little three and four footers, it would be straight back and through, but if we were trying to hit a ball let’s say across the green to where my bag is on the other side, to come exactly straight back the whole way, could end up looking like a bit of a manipulation on both side because the club would generally want to have some form of an arc as we do that.

There is also the suggestion that different types of putters can help different golfers whether we have a putter that’s face balance, if you balance your putter, does it point to the sky perfectly level that would be a face balance putter or a putter that hinges toe down so a toe down putter is generally going to be considered better for an arcing stroke and the face balance putter generally considered better for straight back and straight through. So, you could consider whether your putter is suitable for your type of stroke as well.

The next time you go to the practice green, just drop a cane on the ground and then try and putt along that cane with your stroke and just establish whether you are straight back straight through or whether you are an arcing type of stroke.