The importance of putting in golf is often underestimated, but golfers who truly want to lower their score know that every choice, every touch, and every judgment on the green directly determines your score. For many high-handicap golfers, the biggest problem isn’t their tee shots, but their putting. Too many three-putts, inconsistent distance control, and significant line reading errors can turn what should be easy par holes into bogeys or even double bogeys.
Why Does Putting Determine Your Score?
In golf, putting typically accounts for about 40% of all shots. Even if your tee shots and iron shots are consistent, if you can’t quickly solve problems on the green, your overall score will still be difficult to improve. The root causes of three-putts generally include:
- Insufficient distance perception, resulting in an initial putt that is too short or too long.
- Weak line reading ability, unable to accurately judge slope, speed, and green direction.
- Excessive wrist movement, leading to deviation in shot direction.
- Inconsistent hitting rhythm, insufficient arm and shoulder coordination.
- Lack of systematic training, relying only on fragmented experience.
Therefore, the core of improving putting is not imitating the high-difficulty movements of professional golfers, but mastering scientific methods, cultivating a stable rhythm, and enhancing green judgment through proper practice.
Key Principles for Improving Putting Accuracy
To reduce three-putts, you must master three fundamental core putting techniques:
1. Develop a Consistent Setup
Your stance, grip, eye position, and clubface aim must be consistent. Any slight change will affect distance control.
Key Points:
- Eyes should be positioned directly above or slightly inside the ball.
- The clubface must be aligned with the target point before adjusting your body.
- Ball position slightly inside your left foot (for right-handed golfers).
- Weight slightly shifted to your left foot for stabilit
Lanifun’s putting alignment training aids can help you establish a stable aim and reduce clubface deviation.
2. Use shoulder-led pendulum motion.
Putting is not a wrist movement, but a smooth, pendulum-like swing controlled by the shoulder. Wrist movement causes changes in clubface angle.
Practice Method:
- Hands maintain a triangular shape.
- Wrists fixed; use shoulder movement to drive the clubhead swing.
- Focus on the clubhead moving in the same plane before and after impact.
3. Precise clubhead speed control.
Putting distance is primarily determined by clubhead speed, not the amplitude of the swing. Consistent rhythm = consistent distance.
Rhythm Formula: “1…2” The backswing is “1,” the forward swing is “2,” maintain a consistent rhythm.
Practical Methods to Effectively Reduce Three-Puts
Below are some training strategies commonly used by professional golfers, combined with Lanifun putting training products, allowing you to systematically improve your skills at the driving range or at home.
1. Improve Distance Control: Focus on "Long Putting" Training
Long-distance putting is a major cause of three-putts. Most golfers only practice short putts casually on the green, neglecting long putts of 30-40 feet.
Suggested Method:
- Choose three target points, such as 10 feet, 20 feet, and 30 feet.
- Put 10 balls at each distance and record the difference in distance.
- Control your speed, don't emphasize getting the ball in the hole, focus only on "zero distance difference."
Lanifun’s portable putting mat provides clear distance markings, helping you train your long-distance speed at home, ensuring your first putt consistently stops within the “OK putting” range.
2. "Circle Practice Method": Build Reliable Par Conservation Skills
The key to quickly reducing three-putts is controlling your first putt to a manageable distance.
How to do it:
- Place a 3-foot circle around the hole.
- The goal is to stop the ball within the circle.
- It's not about forcing your first putt into the hole.
With consistent practice, you’ll more consistently avoid long second putts, thus reducing the risk of three-putts.
3. Line Reading Training: Improve Green Judgment
Many three-putts stem from incorrect direction, which in turn comes from “not reading the slope” or “not understanding how to read the slope.”
Three steps to line reading:
- Observe the overall slope from behind the ball.
- Confirm the finishing direction from behind the hole.
- Walk around the ball to determine how speed affects the line.
Lanifun’s ball trajectory trainer helps golfers observe real rolling paths, more intuitively understand the relationship between speed and line, and improve their line reading skills in practice.
4. Putting Rhythm Training: The Key to Consistent Distance
The more consistent your putting rhythm, the easier it is to control clubhead speed.
Practice Methods:
- Use a rhythm trainer or a light swing aid.
- Control the backswing to frontswing ratio.
- Emphasize consistent rhythm rather than power.
Professional Advice: The putting rhythm of professional golfers is “short backswing + consistent acceleration,” which applies to golfers of all levels.
5. Using Aids to Improve Shot Consistency
Many putting training tools on the market can help golfers correct their swing, but the key is to choose scientific, effective, and quantifiable tools.
Lianifun’s putting training equipment has the following features:
- Helps establish the correct alignment line.
- Assists in stabilizing the wrist and shoulder structure.
- Provides stable roll trajectory monitoring.
- Suitable for home, office, and outdoor practice.
Whether you are a beginner or a low-handicap golfer, you can use aids to improve the quality of your training and reduce the accumulation of incorrect swings.
Effective Putting Training at Home
Modern golf training increasingly favors “practice anytime, anywhere.” Putting is characterized by its low dependence on environmental conditions, making it ideal for home practice.
Recommended equipment for home use:
- Putting mat (with slope markings and distance lines)
- Alignment aid
- Shot tracker
- Scoreboard
Lanifun portable putting equipment features a lightweight and clearly designed layout, helping you conduct professional training in limited spaces and significantly reducing three-putts.
Strategies to Improve Practical Skills
What truly reduces three-putts is not a single skill, but the optimization of overall strategy.
1. Don't put pressure on yourself to "go in the hole" with every putt.
The goal of your first putt is always to “get closer to the hole,” not to get it in one shot.
2. Read the green like a map.
Ask yourself three questions:
- Where is the ball going?
- What is the slope?
- Which path will avoid a large deviation?
3. Quickly develop a feel for the hole's speed.
Perform at least 3-5 minutes of speed testing before a match, putting towards the end of the green, the center of the green, and the hole to form a speed memory.
4. Use Your Own Training Rhythm
Don’t blindly imitate professional golfers’ rhythms. Find the rhythm that suits you best to achieve long-term consistency.
Lanifun: Making Putting Training More Scientific and Effective
As a brand focused on golf products, Lanifun helps golfers establish a systematic putting practice method through professional training equipment. The brand’s philosophy is to enable every golfer to improve their greens performance through scientific training, rather than relying on feel or luck.
Laifun Product Advantages:
- Portable design, suitable for home and office use
- Precise structure, quantifiable action and distance
- Provides training methods familiar to professional golfers
- Improves putting consistency and reduces three-putts
If you are looking for a reliable putting training solution, Lanifun’s golf training products can provide you with professional support.
Summary
Improving putting accuracy and reducing three-putts are essential steps for every golfer to improve their scores. By establishing a consistent swing, improving distance control, learning line reading techniques, and refining rhythm, coupled with scientific assistance such as Lanifun putting training equipment, you can see significant progress in a short period.
Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced golfer looking to improve your scores, putting practice is the most worthwhile area to invest in. Stick to scientific methods and remain patient, and you’ll find your greens shots steadily improving and your three-putts noticeably decreasing.
