Nothing is more frustrating in golf than missing 2-foot putts. ARGH!!! Probably the best advice I ever got on making more short putts came from a guy who actually had a higher handicap than I did at the time. This guy’s swing was a real mess, but he made dang near all of his putts inside 3 feet. So I asked him one day what his secret was. He grinned like he’d been wanting to tell me for a long time. His reply was so simple it made me mad at myself for the rest of the round - but I did make more short ones!

He told me to take the putter back only an inch or two, then accelerate through the ball. His rationale was that it’s much easier to keep the putterhead square (less time to turn it either way). And, as we all know, you have to start the ball out on the right line if you hope to drain it. With a short putt, line is much more important, because on longer putts, your speed determines the line. With short putts, it’s much more often a straight shot to the hole, and the speed is much easier to get right. So, keeping the putterhead square will definitely put more balls in the cup on those short ones. Just be careful not to overdo it or you’ll pop the ball too hard into the back of the cup and risk bouncing it right over. Practice this new short back stroke until you can do it with the correct speed to drill it in the cup, but not past it.

That guy took a good two or three strokes off my handicap, for which I still thank him to this day (7 years later). Funny how good advice in golf can come from the most unexpected sources, isn’t it?