If you are already excellent at making short putts, then you might not want to watch this. I don’t want you “thinking” about your short putts with new info that you don’t need.
If you are a firm believer in the “Open door, close door” putting school of thought, then this won’t apply to you either. I could never make that work for myself.
But, the bottom line to sending a golf ball along a chosen target line is still physics: make the putterface perpendicular to the line of travel at the moment of impact. I find it much easier to do that when I have a follow-through that continues that perpendicular position of the putter a short way PAST the point of impact.
Putting track gadgets help you FEEL and repeat the proper motion for muscle memory to recall it later. Unfortunately, unless you do this a zillion times, it’s so easy to LOSE that feel from practicing with the track at home to the course.
On the other hand, you WILL ALWAYS be able to bring your same EYES to the course as your TRACK GUIDE. Watch the video and then scroll below for more:
The most important thing to remember about all of this, is to CONTINUE TO FOCUS ON THE PUTTER as you strike the ball and during the follow through. Your target line below the putter (represented by the ruler line in the photos below) will be fuzzy but visible enough to line up the line on your putter with your target line.
Notice how the line on my putter is parallel to the target line at impact. I am focused entirely on the line on my putter, not the ball. THIS IS THE ESSENCE OF A STRAIGHT PUTT. And since we don’t have to worry about distance on short putts, we can put all of our mental energy on just this.
I am still focusing on the line on my putter. The ball just gets in the way. I can see the target line just in front of the line on my putter.
I was actually quite surprised when I took this freeze frame of the video and saw how I was still lined up with my target line this far after hitting the ball. Look how the line on my putter is still parallel to my target line.
Here’s part 1 of hitting short putts:
http://golfshortcutsecrets.com/how-to-make-all-your-3-foot-putts/
Here’s part 2 of hitting short putts:
http://golfshortcutsecrets.com/2-drills-you-can-do-in-your-living-room/ (half way through the video)