Putting is such an important part of your golf score. It is the part of your golf game that is itself a game. To become a good golfer… you have to be able to putt well.

Think of your putter as just another club in your bag for a moment. In a normal 18-hole round of golf, let’s say you use this club we call a putter only twice per hole. That’s 36 times you and your putter will have a chance to affect your golf score! Are you going to hit your driver 36 times? Or your 7 iron 36 times? Is not difficult.

However, with such staggering statistics, most mid to high handicap golfers really don’t spend enough time working on their putt. In fact, it’s the fastest putter that can improve your game. Imagine, by improving your putting you could easily save yourself 10 strokes per round by making those 4-6 foot putts consistently and rarely three putts. That goes from a golf score of 100 to 90 or 90 to 80! That is very significant.

So, with a renewed focus and enthusiasm for improving our putting, let’s take a look at some tips we can use to do so.

Position the ball slightly forward (towards your front foot) in your stance. You want your eyes to be slightly behind the ball. From this position you will be able to get a good line of sight between your ball and the intermediate target on your line of putt.

The grip is the ‘feel’ you have for the putt and these days there are numerous variations of grips. The important concept here is that you realize that your grip (hands) should not be used to remove or manipulate the putter during the stroke. The putting stroke is originated and implanted through a pendulum-like motion provided by the shoulders. Not the hands. Find a grip that is comfortable for you and that you can keep idle during the putt.

Once you commit to your line of putt, choose a target on that line that is right in front of your ball. Now visualize an imaginary line running from your target line, just in front of your ball, back through the ball and right through the center of your putter. You want the face of your putter to be absolutely square with your line. Once you’ve done this, don’t adjust your grip, body position, or anything, otherwise you risk losing perspective.

The putting stroke, like all of your golf swings, is one of rhythm. It is achieved through a pendulum movement of the shoulders. The key is to minimize all other body movement and not follow the putter stroke with your head. Any movement of the body or head will greatly increase the chance of the putter face going off square from the line.

And finally, always work to achieve the same swing distance and pace through the golf ball that you had when walking away from the golf ball. His putt should be the same length back and forth.

Consistently allocating a portion of your practice time to your putting stroke is, without a doubt, the easiest and fastest way to start cutting strokes off your golf score. If you only remove one putt for each hole, you will immediately remove 9 strokes from your score…not a bad return on your putter at all.