Putting is the simplest, yet most complicated part of golf to many but the goal for any golf shot, swing, putt, or round is always the same – get the ball in the hole. And that’s how you should think about putting as well.
There is no right or wrong way to put. This has been proven by all the different putting grips, styles, putters, and ways of getting the ball in the hole. What a golfer needs to understand is the basic fundamentals of putting, and then figure out what putting style works best for them and honing their stroke.
The Foundation of Putting
While knowing how to putt is only one part of the game, it is what I would consider the most important, since each golf hole often has a par value, where two putts are allocated to putting, and other strokes are divided up amongst themselves for teeing off and fairway shots. Most often, each hole, for par, is divided up as such:
Drive / off the tee shot: 1 stroke
Fairway shot: 1 stroke (2 for a Par 5)
Putts: 2 strokes (for all holes)
You can see from this simple break down, that putting is valued more than any other shot in golf. If we were to shoot par on a course that was a Par 72, using the proper number of shots for each of the three categories, it would look like such:
Shots off the tee: 18 shots
Shots from the fairway: 18 + (1 extra stroke * 2 par fives) – (1 extra stroke * 2 par threes) = 18 shots from the fairway
Putts: 18 holes * 2 putts per hole = 36 putts
Total shots = 72
A review of this shows that putts to tee shots, and putts to fairway shots are 2 to 1. For this reason alone, more time should be spent on putting than any other part of the game as it is given the most value according to the course itself.
However, this does not discredit the importance of knowing how to swing other clubs and swinging well. Nor does it mean, the driver, woods, irons, and other aspects of the game should be ignored or overlooked. It is likely that very few golfers will hit every shot according to how it should be played. We must account for the external variables, the inconsistency in swings, or the trouble we may face from the unknowns that occur from the game of golf itself.
As for putting, we now should understand why it is so important and must be a focus of your game of golf, in order to play well.
Why Practice Putting
Putting does not require excessive force or effort, in order to accomplish the stroke. The ball need not elevate off the ground, nor spin or travel long distances similar to that of a stroke from the tee box or the fairway. Yet, what seems so simple can be very complex.
Putting requires understanding speed, the surface the ball is rolling on, the type of grass one is putting on, and requires an efficient and solid stroke in order to achieve the ultimate goal of reaching the cup and hole.
Reading putts takes practice. Many have a difficult time reading a line due to poor eyesight, confusion, lack of general awareness, and/or just not knowing how to.
Many people will look at a putt from all angles. The front, the back, the side, up, down, kneeling, above, and some even use their putter as a compass and pendulum. Observing others read a putting line, can prove how complicated a golfer can make for putting, without even considering the stroke itself.