An easy way to check your putter aim — and make more putts

Pros make putting look easy, but anyone who has stepped onto a green knows that making putts is no simple task. To get the ball to the center of the cup, you must marry line and speed while avoiding imperfections that can send the ball off line.

As you get closer to the hole, controlling the putter face becomes increasingly important. On putts that are makeable, you need to start the ball on the precise line you intend, and that is determined largely by the face angle at impact.

When the author's putting was struggling, he visited GOLF Top 100 Teacher and PGA Tour putting consultant Stephen Sweeney. During the lesson, Sweeney showed him a simple trick for seeing exactly where the putter face is aimed at address.

How to check your putter aim

Many measurements in golf require sophisticated technology or training aids. But when it comes to putting, you can check your face aim with something you almost always have with you: your phone.

“If I go ahead and set the back of my phone up to your putter face, and you come back and look down that line, you can see [the face aimed] on the right edge,” Sweeney said.

It can be difficult to understand exactly where you are aimed in golf, especially when you have built bad habits into your game. But using a straight edge on the ground makes it much easier to see where you are aimed when you feel as though you are aimed “straight.”

“If you have a friend with you at the golf course, have them put a square edge — a scorecard or something like that — down against your putter face, and then get into a position from there,” he said.

With a straight edge on the ground lined up directly along your putting line, it becomes much easier to feel where your putter face is aimed at address — and it should help you make more putts.

The 2026 GOLF Top 100 Teachers Summit will take place Nov. 1–4 at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.