How To Use The Club 95% Of Amateurs Should Add To Their Bag

When it comes to your equipment, there’s one particular club that gives you more options than any other – the putter. Finding the right clubs for your game has a huge impact on your ability to fulfil your potential and shoot the lowest scores possible, so making the right choice is vital.

Shot Scope data has shown that golfers of every standard can benefit from using a mallet putter rather than a blade. Put simply, wielding a mallet makes it more likely that you’ll hole putts from inside six feet and less likely that you’ll three-putt. That’s a pretty handy combination when it comes to improving your scoring.

That Shot Scope data reveals that for the average 15-handicapper make percentage from six feet and in increases from 75% with a blade to 82% with a mallet. That extra 7% equates to about one extra putt holed per round and becomes a very significant increase over the course of a season. Plus, the average number of three-putts drops from 2.6 with a blade to 2.3 with a mallet.

In this article and video, Top 50 Coach Adam Harnett explains why using a mallet can make you a better putter, and shares some brilliant tips and drills to help you drain more than your fair share on the greens.

1. Holing out short putts

Alignment is so important on short putts, and the larger head of a mallet putter has more room for alignment aids. I like to use a line on the golf ball, as well, so lining those two up together will really help you set up aiming where you want the ball to go and get it started on target.

There are a lot of different alignment aids available on various makes and models of the best putters, and they’ll all influence different people in different ways, so find what works for you. I’ve got a really simple drill to help you get the ball started on-line.

Put a coin or a ball marker about a foot in front of the ball on the green and try to get the ball rolling over the top of it. It builds confidence and you get great feedback on if you’re pulling or pushing your putts off the clubface.

2. Avoiding three-putts

A mallet is a bigger head, so it’s more forgiving on off-centre hits, which become more common as you have to move the putter head further on longer putts. Mallets are also more stable, so that all helps with becoming more consistent in terms of strike location, start line and distance – and giving you more margin for error when you don’t get it quite right.

Distance control is a lot down to strike. If we don’t hit the ball in the middle of the face, then your distances won’t be as consistent - the tech in a mallet can only do so much! I like a drill that Tiger Woods used to do with two tees set up just outside the putter head at address.

The aim is to putt through those tees without hitting them. If you aren’t hitting the ball out the centre of the face, either the toe or heel of the putter will hit one of the tees. This gets harder the longer the putt is, so start at mid-range and increase the distance you’re hitting the putts to really test yourself.

You can also build feel with a ladder drill. It’s always better to hit different putts when you’re practicing rather than the same putts one after another. That variety replicates what you would be doing on the course and helps you build feel. Hit a series of putts at steadily increasing distances from the hole. Start at the closest and focus on increasing the length of the stroke – while maintaining the same tempo – to hit the ball further.

3. Green reading

There are three elements to putting. We’ve covered the first two – starting the ball on-line, and with the correct pace – but the third element of the trio is green reading, so you know what the optimum combination of line and speed is.

A lot of golfers read a putt by just looking from the ball to the hole, and don’t look further afield. I ask them to look as far as they can to the left and the right to see which side is higher. Greens are built for drainage so there’s going to be an overall slope in some direction.

You can also be looking for that as you’re walking up to the green. I like to have a walk around the hole to really feel the slopes, especially if I’m going up or downhill between the ball and the hole. If you’re still unsure, you can try straddling the line and feeling the slope under your feet like AimPoint.

Putting with a line on your ball also gives you great feedback that you can learn from to improve your green reading. If the line is wobbling, then it indicates a poor strike. But if the line is rolling end over end, it shows you started the ball where you wanted. If it has the correct pace, but it doesn’t go in, that shows you’ve misread it.

Monitoring that can often reveal trends like under or over-borrowing certain types of putts. You shouldn’t be disappointed in yourself if you’ve hit a good putt, but it was a misread. Take the positives and use all the information you gather from that feedback to help you become a better green reader.

4. Which mallet putter is best for you?

Different types of strokes require different putter set-ups. If you’re someone who putts with a lot of arc in your stroke, a heel-shafted putter is designed to help that opening and closing of the face through the arc and will likely suit you best. If your stroke is more straight back and through, a centre-shafted putter will help your stability on that straighter path.

You can also have the shaft attaching further away from the face of the putter to help reduce the torque. Feel is a massive part of putting, and it’s a big reason why a lot of golfers prefer using a blade. But modern face technology like milling, grooves and inserts offer a lot of different feels, so some mallet putters feel amazingly close to a blade putter.

You can also get putters with interchangeable weights in the head, which will impact the feel and performance. It’s important to explore all your options when it comes to alignment aids, shaft type, feel, and overall looks. The right combination will make you a better putter.