Every golfer misses short putts from time to time. When you start to miss three-and-four-footers on the same side of the cup regularly, it’s time to find out why you’re missing and address the problem.
According to our research conducted and data we take weekly at our Dave Pelz scoring Game Schools, most short putts are missed because the golfer has the putter face slightly closed at impact, which leads to missing along the edge of the hole.
Frequently, I see amateur golfers swing the putter face slightly open (relative to the line of the putt) on the backstroke and rotate the face slightly closed on the through-stroke. Add a little anxiety or pressure—say when you need to tie or win a hole or your match—and the face rotates more quickly, meaning it is ever so slightly closed at impact. But that “ever so slightly” closed face is enough to cause many misses.
Many golfers swing the putter head along a path from slightly outside the putt line to slightly inside the line, while the putter face rotates from slightly open to slightly closed. To most players, this stroke looks good, and they assume the path is on-line and the face is square at impact. But they still miss too many short putts.
Our tests have proven that face-angle errors are most costly (cause a greater degree of misses) than putter path errors. For example: On a three-foot straight putt, making a stroke with the face-angle shut 30 degrees, closed, with the putter path essentially perfect, results in a putt that misses dramatically wide to the left of the hole.
Meanwhile, making a stroke with just the putter path exaggerated 30 degrees to the left of the desired putt line (on the same three-foot, straight putt), and a face angle held perfectly square to the putt line, results in a putt that misses only slightly to the left of the hole. The amount of error—the degree to which they deviate from a perfect stroke—is the same in both strokes, but putts roll more closely to where the face angle is aligned at impact than to where the putter path is heading. Mistakes in face angle are much more serious.
To get a good feel for the proper face angle, address putts with the back of your left hand square to your intended putt line, then keep it square throughout the stroke. The putter face aims where the back of your left hand aims. If you can keep the back of your left hand perpendicular to the intended line all the way—from address, in the backstroke, through to the finish—your putter face should be square at impact, and you’ll make more of those testy short putts.
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