Most people who get involved with the game of golf automatically assume that the secret to success is being able to hit the very first shot as far down the fairway as possible. When you stop and think about it, that sort of makes sense. After all, we typically see professional golf players on television hitting balls straight and far down the fairway. Those are usually the shots that stick in our minds and that help cultivate a belief system within us that silently tells our bodies that we need to be ready to hit incredibly powerful drives down the fairway. However, would it surprise you to discover that putting is actually the most important stroke in the entire game?

Some people might argue that putting, while important, isn’t necessarily the most important stroke. What many people tend to overlook is the fact that the average golfer will usually accumulate a substantial percentage of strokes that are incurred at the putting green. That means that a greater degree of emphasis needs to be placed on incrementally improving one’s putting game. The secret to doing this successfully is to have a game plan in place.

You need to start thinking about how much you plan to improve your putting. You can then develop a weekly schedule that will enable you to practice until your level of play improves enough to meet the expectations which you have established. Once you have a clearly defined goal in place, you then need to think about the different things that you will have to do to help yourself reach that goal in a reasonable amount of time.

One strategy that a lot of golf players have been using is to have somebody record them while they make their pots. This provides you with a great deal of insight as to how you are setting up to hit the ball. One or two relatively minor adjustments that are based on observations made while watching a video like this can dramatically improve your ability to make more putts.

Finally, don’t let yourself make the mistake of assuming that you can have a great round of golf simply by hitting the ball far and straight down the fairway despite flubbing puts left and right. You absolutely NEED to work on your short game if you plan to be a successful golf player.