If your putts keep starting offline, the problem might not be your stroke, it could be how you’re looking at the hole. In the debut episode of The Lab with Stephen Sweeney, presented by Baird, GOLF’s Jake Morrow put his stroke under the microscope, and Sweeney revealed a simple adjustment that helped Morrow boost his alignment. It just might be the key to dialing in your aim on the green.
When breaking down the fundamentals to a proper putting setup, Sweeney explained that how you look at a putt before pulling the trigger can be just as critical to your alignment as aiming the putter face at your target.
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“I want you to make sure when you look down the line that you really trace your head this way [rotating slowly toward the target],” Sweeney says.
As Sweeney explains to Morrow, many amateurs tilt their heads back—or even shift their bodies—just to “see” the line. But this can subtly throw off your alignment and distort your perception of the green. A putt that’s actually straight might appear to curve, while a breaking putt can look weaker or more dramatic than it really is.
The difference becomes clear as Sweeney guides Morrow into a proper setup. In the before-and-after comparison, his alignment improves noticeably when he starts square and rotates his head to the target instead of altering his posture to find the line.
“You can obviously see a lot more symmetry to the body,” Sweeney says. “It doesn’t look like you’re kind of leaning back.”
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Another factor that could be shifting your alignment, Sweeney notes, is standing too far away from the golf ball at address.
“One of the things that I do feel a lot of golfers are very guilty of is trying to be too athletic in their putting posture,” he says, “I really like to get people generally a lot closer to the golf ball.”
Ideally, your eyes should be positioned directly over the ball—or just slightly inside it—when you set up to a putt. To check your position, have someone take a photo or video of your setup and compare the location of your eyes to the ball. You can also try dropping a ball from eye level to see where it lands in relation to your ball position.
As Sweeney demonstrates with Morrow, getting your eyes into that ideal position may require a few other adjustments to your setup. With your posture improved, you may find that your putter sits more upright at address, which could mean gripping down slightly on the handle to ensure the putter rests properly.
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That’s why sequence matters when making putting modifications.
“When I’m doing this, there’s a couple of little things that I have to make sure I do in order,” he says, “Always short putting before long putting, and it’s setup before stroke mechanics.”
By focusing on how you look at the hole, maintaining a proper setup, and following the correct sequence of adjustments, you can dramatically improve your alignment—and give yourself a better chance to start putts on line.
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