Artificial Putting Greens
If you are a keen golfer, but would love to improve on your putting performance, then the best way to go about it is to purchase one of the many different artificial putting greens, according to your preference and then start practicing at home. There are many tips you can try, which should dramatically improve your overall game. Firstly, you will need to make use of the putting green in such a way as to figure out the speed you need to have and how far away you need the ball to go. If you are close to the hole, then obviously you need to just gently tap the ball, whereas if you are further away, you will need to hit the ball a little harder. Gauging your correct speed per distance is a very important tool to have when putting.
When you first start out with your practicing using artificial putting greens, it is always a good idea to rather try and put towards a specified golf ball marker, as opposed to putting directly into the hole, as this gets you to start focusing on a smaller object as your mark, so that when you do need to put into the hole, it is a lot easier. You should start out by just rolling the ball along with your club, to gat a feel for its dimensions and to clearly visualize the stroke to come. Then at a later stage, you can begin to actually put the ball, by centering it and taking the shot in a single motion, as opposed to many faulty tries. This will help you get the proper feel for how far the ball needs to go, the feel of the ball against your putter and how much pressure you need to apply to the hit according to the varying distances from the hole.
Artificial putting greens are ideal in that they have the same unique feel as grass and thus give you a good idea of how it will actually feel when putting on the course, without you having to redo your garden to create an authentic putting green at home. You can practice distance control exactly as you would on a real green, by placing the ball markers at an array of different points and distances from the actual hole. Try to place a separate marker every ten feet from the hole, to practice putting from up close, as well as a lot further back. This will give you practice hitting at all distances, as you never know where your ball will land in a real game of golf, so it’s always a good idea to be prepared for all types of situations.
Another good way to get real practice with putting and improve your game would be to putt from different sides of the artificial putting greens, as your ball will not always land directly in line with the hole. Try practicing long putts from these alternative angles, and just attempt to get the ball as close to the hole as possible, not necessarily in the hole to begin with, just until you get better with long distance putting techniques.
