Putt Better with a Piece of String

One of the best tools I have in my golf bag is a piece of string. (Actually it's two crochet needles and an elastic string that stretches out to 15 feet or so).

I believe that the three commonalities of the game's greatest putters are simply:

1. they read greens well
2. they start the ball on the line they want
3. they control the speed of the ball (distance)

For the first, obviously, I recommend you learn AimPoint. Find the instructor nearest you , learn it, and learn to love it.

But for the latter two, a piece of string is almost all you need.

Start the Ball On Line

1. Find a breaking putt.

2. Determine the proper starting line (AimPoint helps).

3. Put the string down just along the high side of that line.

4. Putt. Observe that the ball should never get closer to the string, and if anything, should move slightly away from the string as it begins breaking towards the hole.

The string is best placed six inches or so "down the line" from the ball because you don't want it to affect your stroke, but it should be close enough that the ball hasn't broken much.

Control the Speed (Distance)

1. Place a string down 15 feet away from you across the slope (a sidehill putt - not uphill or downhill).

2. Putt to it, trying to stop the balls on the strong.

You can also leave the string in place (turn it 90°) and putt uphill to it and downhill putts to it.

Learn to control your distance and you'll become a better putter.

Additionally, if you always putt to the string at 15 feet, you'll develop a good feel for a 15 foot putt on your home course. Then when you go to a new course (or your course on an odd day), you can quickly calibrate your senses for the day - the new course will be "faster" or "slower" or "about the same" as your course. By putting to a string at 15 feet, you'll be able to calibrate yourself in no time.

That's it. With a simple piece of string you can improve these two pieces of your putting.

Their software is for the putting line on TV. Or the iPhone/Android software. It won't teach you to read greens.

This topic isn't really about AimPoint at all. It's about start line and distance control.

I too use elevated aim lines. They work well, but you also have to set them up and your ball - unless you pick a perfectly uphill or downhill putt - will break away from the line.

No on the video. Wouldn't work at all.

And F is "Fundamentals" I believe, but I'm pretty certain everyone teaches a two-hour class these days. Well, our two-hour class is often 3 hours or so, but still.