Golf Drill: Putting Plane

Instructor: Charlie King

The putter is a club that’s angled at least 10 degrees, so you need to make sure you’re swinging the putter the way it was designed to be swung.

First, get a feel for the angle of the club by holding the blade flat in your palm (photo 1). Compare that with holding the shaft perpendicular to the ground (photo 2). See the difference? The angle of the club makes it necessary for you to swing the putter with a slight arc. Too many players take the club straight back and straight through.

Using an arc board can help you get a feel for this. With that slightly angled piece of metal as your guide, the putter gently goes back up and in (photo 3), and after impact, it gently goes back in again (photo 4).

One danger: don’t exaggerate the motion. Don’t go from one extreme — straight back-straight through — to the other.

The Putting Plane I’m using in the photos is available at eyelinegolf.com

Charlie King is the director of instruction at the Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga.