As the old saying goes… "Drive for Show and Putt for Dough." If one were to go out and play the "perfect" game of golf, hitting every fairway and every green in regulation, you would have 36 shots and 36 putts to shoot even par. This is a feat that is more rarely accomplished than the elusive hole in one. Therefore, the putting green is where we can make up for those poorly struck shots that seem to enter our game at the most inopportune times.

Putting is the most democratic portion of the golf game, young and old alike have the same chance of making a twenty footer. Strength and power do not enter the equation like they do on hitting a three hundred yard drive. All it takes is practice and a few solid fundamentals.

I am well aware that there are about as many styles of putting as there are individuals who actually play golf. Putting is the most individualistic technique in the game, but that is precisely why so many people have problems with their putting. With the appearance of "anything goes" on the green, golfers feel free to adopt putting techniques radically different from the rest of their game and ignore their fundamentals.

This approach, can and does, make the shortest, least complicated, and least exertive stroke in golf become the most frustrating. If asked, I believe that most golfers would state that missing a four foot putt is much more frustrating than hitting a tee shot into the rough.

I firmly believe you should think of the putting stroke as merely a miniature of the full golf swing, and therefore your fundamentals basically should be the same in both. When addressing the ball to putt, set your weight comfortably on the balls of your feet and spread equally between left and right. Flex your knees comfortably and bend at the waist, keeping your back straight.

Stand with your shoulders, knees and feet square to the line of the putt with the ball played slightly forward of center. Foot spread can change, just as long as you feel comfortable. You will obviously stand closer to the ball than on any other shot since you are using the shortest of all the clubs.

The ideal putting stroke is straight back from the ball and then straight through. The putter head should move as if a trough, the blade remaining square to the target the entire time. Deceleration is the biggest flaw in most strokes, so remember this simple practice when putting…however far back you take the putter you must follow through at least that far. You control distance with the length of the backswing, not the length of the follow through.