Most golfers would be shocked to learn that you can strike a putt with perfect speed and a perfect line — and still miss.
We're not talking about 40- or 50-foot lag putts. We're talking about 8- to 10-foot putts — the ones that determine whether you win or lose a tournament, a weekend match, or your local Nassau.
Putts get thrown off line when the ball starts bouncing on the green and tiny surface irregularities kick it away from its original path. It's essentially like putting through a pile of pebbles.
You can see how that kind of ball behavior would be devastating to your scoring and prevent you from making the putts that actually matter.
It used to require a $30,000 high-speed camera producing crystal-clear images at thousands of frames per second just to see whether your ball was getting a proper roll.
Fortunately there's now a simple training aid that allows you to diagnose and perfect your roll in just a few minutes. We'll also give you some stroke adjustments that produce an immediately better roll.
If you're serious about making more putts, this lesson is essential.
What Is a "Good Roll?"
First, let's clarify exactly what "good roll" means.
Imagine a giant golf ball sitting in your front yard. It's heavy, so it presses down into the turf. A regular golf ball does precisely the same thing on a smaller scale — it nestles into the grass under its own weight.
Your putter is designed with a specific amount of loft. Most putters carry approximately 4–5° of loft.
When you swing perfectly level through the ball with a couple of degrees of forward shaft lean, you're left with about 1–3° of effective loft on the putter face — just enough to pop the ball up and out of the grass so it begins rolling smoothly on top of the green immediately.
Problems arise when you have too little effective loft and end up hitting down into the ball. You smash it into the ground, and then it pops up and bounces wildly.
Too much loft causes a similar problem because you're effectively launching the ball into the air. Once again, it bounces on landing.
What happens every time the ball bounces?
A putting green is obviously not a perfectly smooth surface. It's covered with blades of grass, tiny twigs, sand particles, and countless microscopic imperfections.
When your ball is airborne and lands on the green, the right half of the ball might strike a surface that's slightly harder or higher than the left half. That kicks the ball left.
It bounces up again, lands on another irregular spot, and gets kicked off line a second time. The ball doesn't begin a true roll until it finally settles — sometimes six or seven feet past impact.
That's the critical concept. If your ball achieves a smooth, forward roll right away, it holds its line dramatically better than a ball that hops and skips across uneven surfaces.
Hitting Down on the Ball
Let's examine more closely what happens when you hit down into the ball during your putting stroke.
You already know that driving the ball into the green causes it to bounce up and launch, but what causes that downward strike in the first place?
The number one culprit is the loft on your putter face.
We mentioned that a standard putter should carry around 4–5° of loft. However, we've tested many putters and discovered some with as much as 12° of loft, while others had 1–2° or essentially zero.
Putters are checked during manufacturing to verify proper loft, but they can get banged around during shipping, tossed into a bag, or slammed against your shoe after a frustrating miss — and suddenly the putter no longer has its designed loft.
That's the first thing to check: measure your putter to confirm it has approximately 4–5° of loft.
If your putter isn't the problem, then you may be generating too much forward shaft lean at impact.
As you know, leaning the shaft forward delofts the face. Anything more than 1–2° of forward shaft lean risks taking too much loft off the club. The ball won't hop up on top of the grass and start rolling if you're driving it straight down into the surface.
You want a slight amount of forward lean, but excessive lean combined with a descending blow will produce a terrible, bouncing roll.
Get Instant Feedback With the Putting Mat
Fortunately you don't need expensive high-speed cameras to diagnose what's happening with your putts.
A specialized Putting Mat reveals the exact roll of your ball after every stroke. At left you can see the path Clay produced by deliberately hitting down into the ball.
There's a clear indentation where the ball initially smashed into the surface, then a gap where it flew through the air, and another mark where it finally landed farther down the mat.
The ball bounced several more times before finally settling into a true roll about six or seven feet from the impact point. That's six to seven feet of unpredictable bouncing on every putt.
Once you've studied the results, simply rake the nap of the mat back with your putter to erase the marks. Then take another stroke and experiment with adjustments to produce a cleaner roll.
Launching the Ball
Launching the ball into the air is the opposite of driving it down into the ground, but the results are surprisingly similar.
As mentioned earlier, we once tested a putter with 12° of loft — that's essentially the launch angle of a driver.
If you're swinging perfectly level into the ball with 12° on the putter face, you're going to produce a terrible roll. Start by testing your putter to confirm it carries the standard 4–5° of loft.
If your putter face checks out, the problem is either a wrist flip through impact — which adds loft dynamically — or you're catching the ball on the upswing. Either habit produces the kind of bouncing roll shown at left.
You can see the initial indentation where the ball sat, followed by a long gap where it was completely airborne, landing about 15–16 inches in front of its starting position. It bounced several more times before finally settling.
Now that you understand what causes a poor roll, let's discuss the adjustments that produce a perfect one.
Using the Putting Mat
The Putting Mat shows you exactly what kind of roll your current stroke produces — no guesswork required.
Two tricks for getting the most accurate readings from your Putting Mat:
- Place it on a hard surface. Laying the mat over grass or fluffy carpet can create slight undulations that affect accuracy. Set it up on concrete or hardwood flooring for the most reliable results.
- Strike the ball firmly. Short 4–5 foot putts won't reveal roll problems because the ball is moving so slowly that everything looks acceptable. Hit the ball as if you were rolling a 20-foot putt for much clearer diagnostic results.
Start by rolling several putts to check your ball roll. If you see skipping patterns like the ones described above, follow the adjustment instructions below to achieve a clean, true roll.
Get the Perfect Roll
If the Putting Mat reveals that your putts are hopping into the air, the fix is straightforward: move the ball approximately one inch back in your stance.
Launching the ball results from hitting up through impact, and moving the ball position back steepens your angle of attack just enough to correct the problem.
Shift the ball slightly farther back than normal and roll a putt to see if the pattern improves.
If the new position makes things worse, you were probably already hitting too far down on the ball. In that case, rake the mat and move the ball one inch forward of your normal position instead.
Experiment with small adjustments. Fine-tune your ball placement and you'll start producing the best roll of your life.
When you hit one properly, the mat should show a nice, even, consistent line with no thick or thin spots through the first three or four feet. That means the ball got on top of the grass immediately and began a true, smooth roll.
If you're ready to start rolling the ball better than ever, pick up a Putting Mat from our Training Aid Shop. And for the same kind of instant feedback on your full swing, try a free AI swing analysis that diagnoses your swing mechanics in seconds. To work on your full swing with real-time coaching, check out a free AI golf lesson.
Watch part 2 now to see how you're moving your body in the opposite direction of the pros!
Bouncing kicks the ball off line like putting through rocks
The putter should have 4-5° of loft
Test your putter's loft
Forward shaft lean delofts the putter
Too much forward shaft lean: The ball is smashed down and hops up off the green
Hitting down on the ball leaves this path
Hitting on the upswing leaves this path
The ball launches when hit on the upswing
A good putt leaves a uniform path
Move the ball forward in your stance about an inch if you're hitting down on the ball
