Second, make sure the length of your putter is right for your height and stance. Take a look around the pro shop or on the practice green the next time you’re there. Almost all the putters are the same length. Are the golfers all the same height? Of course not. But it’s cheaper to make putters all the same length, and easier for golf shops to only have to stock one or two lengths of putters (men’s length and women’s length). If a putter is too long or too short, it makes it difficult to comfortably address the ball.

The third thing to look at in your putter is the lie angle that it has. Some golfers are stout while others are slender. Some putt with their hands held out away from their body and others keep their hands in close to the body. Whichever might be the case, a different lie angle is probably right for you. The right lie angle allows you to bring the putter head back and through level to the ground, and this makes it easier to see your putting line as well as to make solid contact on the sweet part of the putter head.

The fourth aspect of your putter to look at is the loft angle. When a golfer addresses the ball, his position will cause one of three things to occur. Either he (or she) will have their hands pressed forward, delofting the putter face, or they will have their hands slightly back, adding loft to the face, or they will have their hands in a neutral position, which maintains the loft on the putter. You may need to change the loft of the putter to fit your setup position. If you putt on faster greens you probably need about 3 degrees of loft on your putter face. Assume for a moment that your putter has 3 degrees of loft. What are you doing to the loft with your hands? If you forward press 4 degrees (as I do), then your putter actually has a negative loft on it when you hit the ball. You’re driving the ball into the ground every time you putt the ball! To accommodate your hands, you need a putter with at least 7 or maybe even 8 degrees of loft on it. When the loft is wrong for your stroke, it can make the ball skid along the ground, or maybe take a tiny hop and either of these can cause the ball to start spinning off center - producing a side spin that will push the ball off line. Improper lofts also make distance control difficult for many golfers.

Does all of this mean that the putter you bought is no good? Not at all. But you need to make sure that it is set up properly for you...not for the "average golfer" that the manufacturer sets it up for. Most putters can be lengthened or shortened, they can be bent upright or flat and they can have loft added or reduced, all depending upon your own unique needs.

After you have a properly fit putter, all that is left is to practice with it...the best fit putter in the world won’t sink a putt all by itself, so you do need to do a little work yourself. But the right putter will make your work easier.