Reason for that is, you simply have the best chance seeing your ‘line of putt’ to the hole, better chance to see if your clubface is square and swinging your putter on the straightest possible line.
Ball position should be closer to your front foot. Don’t think that having the ball in the middle is pretty much the same position, it’s not. Even though we talk about swinging the club straight back and through and keeping the clubface square, there is the ‘opening-closing-door’ effect.
What this means is that the club head does move slightly to the inside and the clubface opening a fraction during the back swing. We are talking about very small amounts. When your putter face returns to a ball in the middle of your feet, there’s a slight chance that the face will still be open and coming from a slight angle, because it hasn’t reached the middle of your center line yet. Having the ball just slightly forward allows your putter to connect the ball square.
One more reason is that you will strike the ball on an upward path, having the ball slightly forward, which rolls the ball better to the hole.
Surely when you align yourself with your feet and shoulders square or parallel to the target, you just have that much better chance putting straighter.
Do yourself a favor and place two clubs on the ground like railway tracks when you practice your putting. This will definitely help your alignment and putting stroke and simply that much better practice than just putting a few balls to various holes.
Tip by Carlo Kok, KeNako coaching team
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