Distance control is one of the biggest problems amateurs face on the putting green. Most players can read the line reasonably well, but — especially on longer putts — controlling how far the ball travels remains a persistent challenge.
Ideally, even when you miss, you leave yourself an easy tap-in rather than a tester coming back. One of the most effective ways to develop this feel — and one that many golfers overlook — is to practice hitting putts with the trail hand only.
Most golfers, especially right-handed players, are significantly more coordinated and possess a much finer sense of touch with the trail hand. When you practice stroking putts with just the trail hand, you develop an even more refined awareness of the club head weight and how it moves through the ball.
That heightened awareness is a major source of your distance control.
When you bring the lead hand back into the stroke, it serves primarily as a stabilizer — guiding and squaring the club face. It contributes very little to the feel and touch that control distance.
Visiting a New Course? Try It Out!
Whenever you arrive at a new course and want to get a feel for the green speed, spend a few minutes rolling trail-hand-only putts from different areas of the practice green.
Don't limit yourself to flat putts. Find uphill lies, downhill lies, and sidehill breaks. On grainy greens — particularly in Florida — you can experience dramatically different speeds putting with or against the grain, and uphill versus downhill.
Simply step up and make a few trail-hand-only strokes to calibrate your sense for the speed and distance of each surface.
Roll about 10 putts with just the trail hand until you feel confident in the pace. Once that feel is established, bring the lead hand back onto the club — but focus on maintaining the sensitivity you just developed.
If you bring the lead hand back with a death grip, you'll immediately lose all the feel you just worked to build. You need to be able to sense the weight of the club head in your trail hand at all times.
Maintain that trail-hand awareness, then step up and make the same stroke with both hands on the club. The lead hand is present for stability, but the trail hand retains the greatest sensitivity — and that's what drives your distance control.
Don't Lose Your Good Form
To be clear, we're not recommending that you start getting handsy with the putter. You're still not manipulating the stroke with your hands — you're developing sensitivity and using your natural sense of feel to judge and control distance more precisely.
You're still rocking your shoulders. You're still keeping your hands quiet. But you're paying attention to the weight of the club head and how your trail hand perceives it during the stroke.
The next time you're on your home course, dedicate some warm-up time to trail-hand-only putting.
You'll see tour professionals doing exactly the same thing. When elite players prepare on a new course, they'll roll putts with just the trail hand, watching breaks, feeling speed — developing their touch before adding the lead hand back in.
Hit 10 to 20 putts with the trail hand only. Work on it until your distance becomes fairly consistent. Then bring the lead hand back, make the same stroke, and see if your distance control doesn't improve dramatically. For the same kind of immediate feedback on your full golf swing, try a free AI swing analysis that breaks down your mechanics. To practice with real-time coaching, check out a free AI golf lesson.
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Watch part 2 now to see how you're moving your body in the opposite direction of the pros!
Practice putting with the right hand only to get a feel for the green
Once the right hand has a feel for the green, bring the left hand back into the stroke
