Putting is half the game. On a par-72 course, 36 of those 72 strokes are expected to be putts (2 per hole). Most beginners take 40 to 46 putts — that gap of 4 to 10 strokes is the fastest path to a lower score without changing anything else about your game.
Address the ball and let your arms hang naturally. Your eyes should be directly over the ball (or just inside the target line). You can check this by dropping another ball from your eye socket — it should land on or very near your ball. Eyes over the line gives you an accurate read of your target and keeps the putter face aligned.
The putter face pointing at the hole at the moment of impact is 80% of direction. Stand behind your ball and pick a spot 6 inches in front of it on your target line. Aim the face at that spot instead of trying to aim at the distant hole. A square face at impact points the ball where you want it to go.
The putting stroke is driven by the shoulders, not the hands or wrists. Rock your shoulders (back and through) while keeping your hands, wrists, and forearms passive. The putter is attached at your sternum in this mental model — the chest rocks, the putter swings. Wrist movement is the enemy of consistent putting.
The speed of the putt is controlled by how far back you take the putter — not by how hard you hit through. A 5-foot putt needs a very short backswing; a 30-foot putt needs a much longer one. Practice pacing: on the practice green, try to make the ball stop on top of a tee at different distances using only backswing length adjustments.
Walk the full length of your putt and crouch down behind the ball to read the slope. Find the highest point of the curve and aim your starting line there — let the slope bring the ball to the hole. On a downhill putt, the slope is steeper and the break is more dramatic. Give yourself extra room on uphill putts where the ball loses momentum.
For putts over 20 feet, the goal is NOT to make it. Your goal is to leave the ball within 3 feet so the next putt is easy. Pick a target circle around the hole (not the hole itself) and try to land inside it. Three-putts come from aggressive long putts that miss badly. Lag well and you will rarely three-putt.
A consistent follow-through that mirrors your backswing keeps the stroke symmetrical and the face square through impact. If your follow-through is shorter than your backswing, you are decelerating — the most common cause of pushes and pulls on short putts. Trust the backswing to generate speed, and let it through.
Most beginners take 36 to 45 putts per 18-hole round. A score of 2 putts per hole (36 total) is the benchmark for average golfers. Professional tour players average about 28 to 29 putts per round. If you can get from 40+ putts down to 36, you would save 4 to 6 strokes per round — more than almost any other improvement.
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent. Bend from the hips so your eyes are directly over the ball or slightly inside the target line. Your arms should hang naturally. Keep your shoulders level and your weight slightly forward. The goal is a relaxed, stable base that allows a smooth pendulum motion — no tension in the forearms.
Most beginners do well with the conventional reverse-overlap grip: lead hand grips the putter normally, and the index finger of the lead hand overlaps the fingers of the trail hand. Alternatively, the cross-hand (left-hand-low for right-handers) grip keeps the lead arm straighter and reduces wrist movement. Try both — whichever feels more like a pendulum is the right one for you.
Walk around your putt and look at it from behind the ball toward the hole, then from behind the hole back toward the ball. The high side is where the putt will break from; the low side is where it breaks to. Look for the overall slope of the ground around the green — putts almost always break away from hills and toward low spots. A general rule: if you see a pond or drainage area, putts near it break toward it.
Distance control on long putts comes from the length of your backswing, not the force you apply through impact. A longer backswing produces more distance. Practice with a consistent acceleration through the ball — the follow-through should be the same length as the backswing. On long putts (30+ feet), focus purely on getting within 3 feet of the hole rather than making it.
Yes, and this is one of the easiest free improvements in golf. Since 2019, you may leave the pin in the hole while putting from anywhere on the course — and physics shows that a putt that would lip out often stays in when the pin is there to catch it. Never pull the pin for a putt unless you are asked to or prefer it out.
A lag putt is a long putt (usually 20 feet or more) where the goal is not to make it but to leave the ball so close that the next putt is a tap-in. Beginners waste strokes trying to hole every long putt instead of lagging. A good lag putt means: within 3 feet of the hole from anywhere. If you lag well, you convert your 2-putt bogeys instead of taking 3-putt doubles.
Three-putts almost always come from poor distance control, not direction. Practice long putts with the goal of getting within 3 feet — not making them. On the course, before you putt, walk up to the hole and back to get a feel for the exact distance. Slow down your pre-putt routine. Rushing long putts is the most common cause of three-putts.
Related guides: Beginner Tips · How to Break 100 · How to Keep Score · Grip Guide