PORTALPUTTING
PUTTING TRAINING AID
The best part of putting practice is you can practice almost anywhere.
You can practice putting on the carpet in your home. Buy a golf putting mat or go to the extreme and install a putting green in the backyard.
Granted, your carpet is not the same as a golf green. But what you are practicing is just your overall putting stroke and your aim.
When you practice putting, you need a target.
Check out the custom-made putting aid from Portal Putting. This putting aid provides you with a target to focus on.
Whether you are putting a 3-foot putt or a 50-foot putt, you need to imagine the line your golf ball is going to travel to the hole. After you have your path, you should pick a target on the green closer to your ball.
That is your target. If you can hit that target a few feet in front of you, then you have put your golf ball on the path you chose to the hole.
Portal Putting offers 2 styles.
- The Portal
- The Portal Pro (smaller hole)
- Hand-finished American hardwood (walnut or hickory)
- Snug fit tee holes so your Portal won’t budge when practicing
- Compact and lightweight to carry in your golf bag
- Weatherproof finish
- Customizable with engraved initials or logo
Putting Tips
Check out some tips on putting to help lower your score.
Golf is different than most sports
When golfing, you are not looking at the “goal” like you do with all other sports.
- In basketball, you aren’t looking at the ball when you shoot, you are looking at the hoop.
- In baseball, you aren’t looking at the bat, you are looking at the pitcher and then the ball as it is released.
- In archery, you are looking at the target, not your fingers.
- If you hunt, you’re not looking at the trigger, you are looking through the scope or at the animal.
- In golf, you are looking down at the ball, not at the fairway, or the green, or even the cup.
Before you hit any shot in golf, you need to align your clubface and your body to your target. Be it the fairway, the pin, or the green.
Putting is no different. You need to align your body and the face of your putter along the path you want the ball to travel to the hole.
Every putt is straight
Yup, you read that right. Even if you see a gradual slope or a major slope to the hole.
When you line up your putt, you need to find the line you think the ball will travel and then let the contour of the green and the pace of the ball do the rest. Click the image to the left to see what we mean.
Then you need to putt the ball along that line. Let the slope of the green and the pace of the ball take over.
Depending on the slope and speed of the green, you may have to aim anywhere from 1″ to 6 feet (or more) outside of the cup.
Now in order to do that, you need to pick a spot on the green that you will aim straight at. Before the green slopes to the hole. You aren’t aiming at the hole anymore.
Finding a spec on the green, a discoloration, or something off in the distance to give you your target line.
Lining up your Putt
One of the best things you can do is draw a line on your golf ball.
There are 2 things to consider when you are putting.
- The aim or direction of the putt, and
- the speed of your putt
Drawing the line on your ball will help you line up your putt. You need to crouch behind your ball and adjust the ball so the line is in the direction you want the ball to go.
Now all you have to concern yourself with is the pace you will putt the ball.
By drawing the line on your ball and lining it up, you have removed one aspect of the putt. Now when you stand over your ball to putt, you only have one thing to consider, the speed of the putt.
Add a line on your ball for alignment
If you start to keep track of how many putts you take when golfing, you will soon see that somewhere around a third of your strokes are putts.
If you don’t cheat and take mulligan shots off the tee or elsewhere on the course. Then you will have an accurate account of how many strokes you take over 18 holes.
You will have 18 tee shots, that’s a given. Then you will have however many shots you need to get on the green.
The better you get at golf, the fewer shots it will take to get from tee to green. But also, the fewer putts you take, the more your score will go down.
Check out the chart to see how many putts you need to make to score lower.
