Draw a line on your golf ball with a permanent magic marker to help make it easier to see a straight line. (.)

To make more short putts, aim the putter face perfectly

By Kellie Stenzel, PGA,
Special Contributor

Noted PGA professional and author Kellie Stenzel offers golf tips for GolfInstruction.com readers on all aspects of the game.

The most important fundamental for being a good short-putt putter is the ability to aim your putter face properly. With a little preparation and a little practice golfers can make more short putts and improve their confidence.

Let's face it: It takes an eye for detail to be able to aim perfectly. The fact that golf is a side-saddle sport where you play from parallel to the target line and not directly behind it makes it that much more difficult. Think about when you aim your camera: You place it right on your eye line. How much harder would it be if you had to aim the lens with your arm out and away from you, pointing sideways? You would never do this for the simple reason that it is that much less exact.

Here's a three-step tip for restoring some of that exactitude to your short putting:

1. Exaggerate the line of the wording on your golf ball. Take a permanent marker and extend the writing on your golf ball to be a more noticeable line. You will use this line by pointing it where you want your golf ball to travel.

2. From directly behind your ball, aim this exaggerated line to your target. From behind the ball you will see the true perspective and be able to aim more accurately. When you walk around to the side of the ball this will be a reference to perfect aiming of your putter face.

3. Use this line to set your putter face perpendicular. Once you have aimed your line on your golf ball where you want it to travel - straight for a straight putt or slightly left or right for breaking putts - set your putter face perpendicular to the line. Many putters these days also have an aiming line that you can match to the line on your golf ball. You may also use this line to help you to set your body so that the line through your toes is parallel to the line on the ball and your putter.

By being more particular in aiming your putter face on short putts, you will find it much easier to make those putts and develop confidence over time.

June 28, 2006

- Kellie Stenzel, PGA, has been named by Golf Magazine as one of the Top 100 Teachers in America, and has been a Golf For Women Top 50 teacher since 1999. She has published three books: "The Women's Guide to Golf: A Handbook for Beginners," "The Women's Guide to Consistent Golf," and "The Women's Guide to Lower Scores." She is also rated by Golf Digest as one of the top teachers in New York.