Starting your ball on your intended line is one of the most essential skills in putting. I’d say it’s perhaps the most essential skill in putting, but there’s also green-reading. Even that, in-and-of itself, is dependent on your ability to start your ball on line.
Regardless, the point remains that if you can’t start your ball where you’re aiming, you can’t do much on the greens. It’s why pro golfers work on this more than anything else — especially before tournament rounds — and it’s a skill amateur golfers tend to struggle with.
The good news is that it’s easier to check than you might suspect, and just as easy to work on, as our friends over at GOLFTEC explain.
Working alongside professional golfer Hannah Gregg, GOLF Top 100 Teacher Nick Clearwater explains there are three ways you can check your start line:
- Draw three dots on the floor spaced in one-foot increments on a straight putt. Your ball should be rolling over each of them.
- Place a putting gate — or two tees — about a foot in front of your golf ball and again, roll your ball through it.
- Putt down a yardstick, making sure it rolls off the end, not the side.
It won’t take you long to notice if you have a bias to one side or another. And the good news is that checking whether or not you do is also the cure: simply keep doing any of the above drills, and you’ll quickly start adjusting in a good direction.
You can watch the full GOLFTEC video below.
