Golf putting tips: see one straight line

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se one straight line

Golf putting tips: see one straight line - Golf Monthly Top 25 Coach Paul Foston gives his tips to mastering long, breaking putts

It's a trend among modern-day golf course designers to create large, heavily undulasting putting surfaces. And to putt well on vast greens, you need a solid putting technique. Facing a long birdie putt with six feet of break is not uncommon, but the situation will catch you out if you aren't thinking clearly.

The big mistake many people make is to get drawn into aiming too close to the hole. All you can ever do is hit a straight putt. You aim at the apex of the curve and from there gravity takes over. However, as the ultimate destination is the hole, it can be all to tempting to let your focus drift.

Read more top putting tips

To highlight this, I've placed four tee pegs in the ground just inside where I expect the ball to bend. In this instance, I'm looking to narrowly miss the last tee - what happens after that will depend on how accurate my initial read was.

This drill will help you focus on what you can control,  a single small point on the putting green that lies on a stright line away from you.

My advice is to think of this as not one long, breaking putt but a shorter, straight putt. Lock in your focus on that point and try to make as solid a stroke as possible.

Of course, to get the read and then putt right you'll need a good feel for speed control. But if you can develop that and see see breaking putts as straight ones, there is no doubt you will hole out more often on the greens and avoid dreaded three putts.

Tour tip: On the practice green, lay down two alignment sticks aiming parallel to the apex of the curve. This well help you commit to the straight-line putting theory by setting all the correct angles at address.

Neil Tappin
Neil Tappin
Editor

In July 2023, Neil became just the 9th editor in Golf Monthly's 112-year history. Originally working with the best coaches in the UK to produce instruction content, he went on to become a feature writer interviewing many of the biggest names in the game including Tiger Woods, Seve Ballesteros, Rory McIlroy and Arnold Palmer.

A 5-handicap golfer, Neil is a club member who takes a keen interest in the health of the game at grassroots level. You’ll often now find him writing about club-related issues such as WHS, membership retention and how best to bridge the gap between the range and the course.