Using The Right Putter Sheds Strokes

By Jack Moorehouse

Improving putting is the fastest way of chopping strokes off a golf handicap—bar none. Anywhere from 30 percent to 40 percent of your strokes are putts during a round. If you can reduce your putts per round, you'll quickly lower your scores and your golf handicap. For most players, improving their putting means spending more time on the practice green than in the driving bay.

But to dramatically improve your putting, you need the right putter. Whether it's a traditional or an untraditional putter, you won't improve much if you don't have the right stick. That's why it's critical to find the right stick. Since that can be daunting, given all the putters now available, we've provided some golf tips below on choosing the right putter.

Find A Real Grass Putting Surface
Some people choose a putter based on hype. Others choose one based on cost. Or, they choose one because Tiger Woods recommends it. Those aren't the best ways of choosing a putter. Ultimately, selecting a putter comes down to a combination of physical and psychological factors. It also comes down to how the putter feels and how you feel about it. If a putter doesn't feel right, you won't improve much.

What you want is to find a putter that instills confidence—confidence in yourself as a golfer and in the club itself. So compare types and models. Many sporting goods stores or golf warehouses have putting surfaces you can test putters on. These in-door surfaces are good and they can help. They give you get a feel for a putter. But they're not the best way of testing putters.

The best way of testing putters is on real grass. We can't emphasize that enough. If you're looking for a new putter, find a store or a local club with a real grass putting green and spend the afternoon testing putters. If you can't find a location with a real grass putting green, see if the store will let you test it out on the course. Testing a putter on grass gives you the best chance of determining how a putter will perform over the long haul.

Factors To Consider In A Putter
Ideally, you want to choose your putter systematically. Here's a five-step method for doing so:

1. Take the look-see test. Review all the putters available. Examine the different types and models. Then, based on the "feel good-play good" theory, select a few to test. One factor to consider is heft. Another is alignment method. A third is putterhead type. Make sure your comfortable with all three. When you find one you're comfortable with, put it aside

2. Try each putter out. Take the putters you set aside and make a series of long and short putts of similar length with each putter.

3. Select two or three putters. Choose two or three you like the best and test those out extensively. Don't judge them just by how many putts you sink. Instead, judge them based on how the putter feels and how the ball rolls off the putter.

4. Make putts with your eyes closed. Hit a few putts with your eyes closed. This gives you a feel for the putter's weight and how it feels when it contacts the ball. Try narrowing it down to two putters.

5. Choose the best putter. Make the decision. Again, don't base your choice on cost or which player on the pro tour uses it. Base it on how the putter feels, how comfortable it is, and if it instills confidence.

Don't Look Back
After you're made your decision, don't look back. You've chosen a putter. That's it. You're done. Buyer's remorse never helped anyone. Instead, practice with the new putter as much as possible. Practice helps you get comfortable with it and develop confidence in the putter and yourself.

If you've chosen an untraditional putter, like a belly putter or a long putter, schedule some golf lessons with a local pro. He or she has a wealth of golf tips on grip and stroke. These will increase putter comfort and putting accuracy.

Improving putting reduces golf handicaps. Sometimes it improves a handicap dramatically. So take some golf lessons on putting, even if you have a traditional putter. But first, make sure you have the right putter. If you're looking for a new one, follow our five-step method above and take your time selecting one. It will pay off in the long run.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book "How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros." He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.