In what is sure to be the most hotly debated topic in golf (lol I doubt it)… Should you or should you not use your line on the golf ball to aim your putts?

This question is asked almost every time I give a putting lesson to someone new. And every time I give the same answer: it depends.

So what does it depend on? After all, when using the PGA or LPGA Tours as examples or a place to find best practices on stuff like this, there doesn't seem to be a clear answer.

Before we go head first in settling this debate, it is important to understand exactly what the three skills are that makes a great putter:

Speed Control
Direction Control (ability to make the ball roll on your intended line)
Green Reading

Please note that Aim is not listed above. This means that it is entirely possible for you to be a great putter but not necessarily be very good at pointing your putter precisely on your intended line. Now, that doesn't mean that I would ignore poor aim in the middle of a putting lesson. I believe that it is always better to know where grandpa’s gun (aka the putter - I stole this from putting guru and Flatstick Academy founder David Orr) is pointing. But there are some cases throughout history of some excellent putters that did not point the putter on their intended target line.

Tiger Woods may be the most famous of these putters, as he was notorious for aiming his putter about 2-3 degrees to the right of his intended line (although not necessarily on purpose). In Sam Putt Lab terms, that is a lot.

So now that we know it isn’t a big deal if you aim precisely on your intended line, should we even worry about using the ball to help us aim?

I tell my players the following if they are considering using the line or logo on the ball to help aim:

Use the line or logo IF…

You can accurately point the line or logo precisely on your intended line in two attempts or less. In other words, you can set the ball down, check the line, then fix it one time. If it takes more attempts than that you are running into a pace of play issue and you should not be wasting time using the line!
- This doesn't mean you need to give up ever using the line of logo. Just simply get to a practice green and rehearse using the your ball to help you aim.
You can make the line on your putter match the line or logo of the ball. It drives me crazy when a player goes through the trouble of setting the ball up only to abandon their work and aim somewhere else. Even worse, you must be able to see if the line on the putter matches the ball or not (this happens way more often than you might think).
It does not affect your ability to control your speed or hit your line. I’ve seen too many players (me included) that get so caught up in their initial line that they lose their feel or try to steer the ball precisely on the line, versus being an athlete and stroking the putt.

It is the last bullet point that I believe needs more conversation. Currently I have developed a hybrid model in determining whether to use the line or logo in my own game. I will use the logo on the ball for any putt inside 8 feet, which is when I am less concerned about getting the speed correct. Personally, I felt myself lose the ability to feel good speed control when getting locked in on my line for longer putts.

That being said, now that I am AimPoint certified and my green reading confidence is at an all time high, I may extend how far back I use the logo (or line) to closer to 20 feet. Why this distance? Anything inside 20 feet is considered a makable putt. Outside 20 feet and the goal is to get it close and avoid three putts! And the more confident I am that my line is correct, the more energy I can direct to making a good stroke with good speed control.

So what should you do? The answer is experiment! Just make sure you are following the three guidelines above and you are good to go on using the line!

Do you need help deciding or just need to get better at one of those three skills required to be a good putter? Contact me and click here to learn more about my programs and how I can improve your putting. Specifically, click here to learn about green reading with one of my upcoming AimPoint Express Clinics!

If you're going to use the line, I recommend the tool below to make sure you are getting the most accurate line you can possibly draw on your ball.