How to Putt Better by Perfecting Your Aim

Nothing ruins a day on the course like constantly chasing your ball around the green.

If you know this frustration all too well and you’re looking for tips on how to putt better, here’s one:

Start by dialing in your aim.

Now, you may feel like you’re aiming as well as you can. But if you’re consistently three-putting (or worse), you may suffer from faulty perception. Many of us do.

Don’t worry. You can overcome it. I’m going to teach you the real secret to accurate aim. You’ll also learn a great setup routine you can take to the golf course so you can start sinking more putts immediately.

Get Todd Kolb's Cheat Sheet for How to Aim Putter

How to Putt Better: Key Takeaways

Here’s the short version of the secret to better aim (and therefore better putts):

Focus on aiming your putter before squaring your body to the target, and aim using your trail hand only, rotating your head to look down the line.
Calibrate your eyes for more accurate perception by practicing with an alignment rod as a visual representation of the target line.
Use the same setup routine before every putting stroke to ensure consistency and prioritize accuracy.
Check out The Easy Break to learn everything you need to know to master the green.

Now let’s get into the details.

How to Aim Your Putter

I know it sounds like obvious advice when I say better aim starts with focusing on the putter face, but seriously:

Better aim starts with focusing on the putter face.

We’re going to strip away all other distractions and make sure you’re set to maintain the perfect aim by doing these three steps:

1. Aim the Putter Face Only

Don’t worry about aiming your feet or shoulders yet. In fact, I recommend initially standing with your feet together.

Focus entirely on the putter face and get it square to the target. As you do this:

2. Use Your Trail Hand Only

You’ll add your lead hand and set your putting grip later. Right now, all your attention is on the putter face, and holding the putter in your trail hand only helps you do that.

3. Rotate Your Head to Look Down the Line

You have to look down the line to see where you’re aiming and ensure a square putter face, but the trick is to do it by rotating your head as your body remains in the same position.

No lifting your head. No popping up out of your posture. These things interfere with your perspective and face orientation.

Calibrate Your Eyes for Better Aim

Now, in executing those three steps, you’ll likely run into a major obstacle you’re not even aware of:

The limitations of your own perception.

Each golfer positions their eyes differently and perceives the target line differently. It may look like your putter face is square when you’ve actually got it a bit open or closed. (You run into the same problem when you aim your irons.)

Fortunately, you can train your eyes to read your aim more accurately. To do this, bring an alignment rod the next time you visit the practice green. Then:

Position the alignment rod on the front side of the golf ball, pointing directly at the center of the cup.
Set up as if you’re going to make a putt, using the three aiming steps you just learned and squaring the putter face to the path of the alignment rod. (This is even easier to do with the bilateral alignment guide on the G-Track putter. We always say this putter basically aims itself.)

Now, you might notice that when you look at the rod from your putting position, it suddenly doesn’t look centered on the cup anymore. It might seem like it’s actually pointing to the left or right of the cup.

This is why the exercise is so valuable. It shows you how difficult it is to judge your own aim from that perspective, and it calibrates your eyes so they learn what squaring the putter face really looks like.

Setup Routine for More Accurate Putts

So how do you turn all this practice into better putting when you’re on the course?

When you set up your putts, follow this routine:

Stand with your feet together.
Aim the putter face using your trail hand only.
Rotate your head to look down the line.
Once you feel confident that your clubface is square to the target line, step your feet into your regular putting stance.
Square your feet and shoulders to the target.
Add your lead hand to the grip.

Get Todd Kolb's Cheat Sheet for How to Aim Putter

This routine may seem simple, but it deliberately prioritizes and preserves your aim. That’s going to make a huge difference in your accuracy and consistency.

Learn How to Putt Better, From Setting Up Putts to Playing Plugged Greens

Improving your aim will do a lot to improve your putting.

But if you really want to master the green, you’ve got to check out The Easy Break: A Radically Simple System for Putting, Chipping, and Bunker Play.

This bestselling book reveals an amateur-friendly formula for better aim and distance control. You’ll learn how to read the green, overcome the yips, and succeed in a range of tricky situations.

Plus, you get a full tutorial on chipping and bunker play, plus images, checklists, drills, and practice plans to help you put what you learn into action.

Consider this my invitation to ditch all the overcomplicated tips that never served you and discover a technique you can actually do consistently. Grab your copy today and get ready to smash your handicap with a smarter short game.

About the Author

PGA Teaching Professional Todd Kolb is a five-time Golf Digest Best-in-State Instructor, Amazon Best-selling Author, and Minnesota PGA Teacher of the Year. In over 30 years of coaching, he’s worked with from newbies to an LPGA major champion. He’s currently the Director of Instruction for VLS Golf and USGolfTV and dedicates his efforts to helping the everyday golfer cut through overcomplicated traditional instruction to find solutions that actually work for them.