Although it is important to ensure that you are accurate on your golf drives, the part of the game that requires the most precision and accuracy is putting.
If you can’t get your putts to go towards the target the way you want them to, you will struggle with your overall consistency and results in the game.
Even missing a putt by just an eighth of an inch on a club face can cause a completely different roll.
If the putts you are hitting don’t get started on the proper roll, expect that you are going to miss that putt.
Golf putts can be missed left, right, short, or long.
If you have noticed that you are starting to miss putts to the left, there could be some simple fixes.
Let’s take a look at all of the reasons you could be missing putts left and some basic cures to help you get the ball rolling straight again.
Missing Putts Left (Causes, Cures)
The majority of fixes that can help you get the ball rolling straight are quite simple.
Most of them will only take a few strokes to figure out and then you can be well on your way to draining more putts.
1. Alignment
The easiest and most common reason that golfers miss their putts left is that they are lined up to the left.
The alignment is such an important part of your golf putting stroke.
When you are not lined up properly to a hole, you can expect that you will have a hard time making the putt.
Even though some great players can feel that they are not lined up properly and make stroke adjustments as they come through the ball, this is not a great way to play.
The alignment in putting is something that golfers need to practice.
If you don’t work on lining up your putter, you will not know if you are on the right track.
Golf is a challenging game in that you don’t get to see your target when you are playing.
Other sports like basketball allow you to look right at the basket as you play.
With golf, you are parallel to the target line, and it takes some time to get used to this concept.
Cures
The best thing about having a putting alignment issue is that your stroke may not be all that bad.
If all that you need to fix is alignment, the cure is simpler.
The best way to work on your putting alignment is to create a putting pre-shot routine.
Essentially, you will have to make sure that your club face is heading towards the target but also that all of your body lines are properly lined up.
Check to see where your feet are aimed, your shoulders, your hips.
The putter that you are using likely has a line on the top of it that is used to help you line up to the hole.
Make sure that this line is perfectly pointed to the target.
It’s a good idea to consider the alignment lines on these putters anytime you are working on your alignment routine.
If your putter is more of a traditional blade style and the lines are shorter on the top of the putter, you may want to consider switching to a mallet putter design.
2. Ball Too Close During Setup
It’s a very good idea to get close to the ball when you are putting.
When you are close enough that your eyes are over the golf ball, you should easily be able to see the line that you are putting down.
When the golf ball is not close, your arms and even your body can get more involved in the golf swing than you need them to be.
When the ball is too close during setup, you may also feel uncomfortable with your putting stroke as you come through the golf ball.
There is no perfect distance that you can be from a golf ball during your putting stance.
The more you work on putting and setup, you will find that perfect spot that allows you to hit the ball on the center of the club face.
Cures
Distance from the ball in putting can vary from one player to another.
The best way to determine the proper distance that you should be from the golf ball is to test it.
If you find that you are hitting putts to the left, try moving back from the ball just a bit.
You have to think about the putter head when you make this move.
As you move away from the ball by a few inches, you are now going to have to reach a bit to the ball.
To keep a putt from going too far to the left, simply adjust the putter head just by a half-inch or so and see how that helps.
When we talk about moving further away or closer to a golf ball, don’t get too over the top in the movements you make.
Subtle changes are the best kind of change in the golf swing and putting stroke.
3. Deceleration
When you decelerate on your putting stroke, sometimes the ball is going to go toward the left.
The deceleration will cause other issues in the putting stroke as well, and overall, it is a mistake that you are going to want to fix sooner rather than later.
Deceleration in the game of golf is never a positive.
Many golfers make this mistake when they are hitting wedge shots and when they are putting because it becomes a bit scary to hit the ball past the hole when you get close.
Many players are so worried about hitting their ball too far past the hole that they end up decelerating and causing the miss to the left.
Cures
One of the major reasons that a golfer will decelerate during their golf swing is that the backswing is just too long.
If you take the club too far back when you putt, by the time you get to the golf ball, you may realize that you have to slow your putting stroke down.
Therefore, it can make much more sense to take the club back just a short way and then accelerate through the golf ball.
The more you can learn to accelerate and push through, the better your chances of hitting the golf ball towards the hole the way you would like to.
When you are practicing on a putting green, put a tee not far behind where your putter’s head lines up at setup.
Set the tee in the ground so that it restricts how far back you can take the putter.
This will help you see the benefit of a short putting stroke that has a long acceleration through impact.
4. Outside-In Putting Stoke
An outside-in putting stroke is another reason that you can miss putts to the left.
With an outside-in stroke, the club is going to be on an outside path, and then as you rotate through, the path cuts across the line and pulls to the left.
Most golfers will feel this happen right away, and they will even say something like, “I pulled it.”
Chances are the outside in putting stroke will miss fairly far to the left of the target.
Overall, a putting stroke that is outside-in just needs some work and practice, and it is something that can certainly be fixed.
Cures
The outside-in putting stroke typically needs to be worked on at the putting green to help you see that this is indeed your problem.
Our favorite way to work on this is to take two golf clubs and place them on the putting green so that they look almost like a road with two parallel lines.
Between the clubs, you want to leave enough room for your putter and a ball.
At this point, you will want to practice taking putting strokes between these two golf clubs so that you can swing forward and back with ease.
There should be a little room on the toe and heel of the putter where the club is not actually touching the shaft.
Then you will want to ensure that you take a putting stroke that stays within this guide.
The better you go get about staying within the lines of the golf shaft, the greater the chance that your putts are going to start heading a bit straighter to the target.
5. Closed Clubface At Impact
Golfers do all kinds of things that they shouldn’t do at their setup position.
For some reason, players adjust and then they make over adjustments, and the end results become a golf club that is likely closed at impact.
The great thing about the closed clubface at impact is that it is a quick fix to make.
Most players are completely unaware of the angle of their clubface at impact, and it will take a professional or a great player to bring this to your attention.
Cures
The angle of a putter face at setup and then again at impact should be 90 degrees and square.
Therefore, it is quite easy to test what your putter face is and whether or not you have it closed at impact.
Find any kind of straight edge, whether it is in a golf shop or at your home.
Take your putting stance and rest your putter up to the straight edge.
Do you have a hard time getting the entire putter to line up properly with the straight edge?
This could have everything to do with the club head getting a bit too closed at impact.
The closed club face is going to send a golf ball to the left of the target.
Always remember what your putter head looks like when it is at this 90-degree angle, and you should have no issues getting the ball to go much straighter towards your target.
6. Ball Too Far Forward In The Stance
A golf ball that is too far forward in the stance is another reason that you may miss your putts to the left.
The position of a golf ball in your stance has quite a bit to do with fundamentals, but it also takes personal preference into consideration as well.
If your ball is too far forward in the stance, by the time you get to it, your putter face may have already been closing.
This causes a golfer to hit a putt that curves a bit too far left of the target.
The perfect position for a golf ball in your stance can take a bit of trial and error to figure out.
Let’s take a look at some of the best ways to cure this issue in your golf game.
Cures
You will need to test different positions in your putting stroke and determine what will work the best to produce the most consistent results in your game.
One way to do this is to take a yard stick to the green with you.
Lay the yardstick down on the green and take your setup and your typical stance.
Take a look at where the golf ball is in relation to your feet. Is it right in the center, more forward, more back?
Sometimes just by having this visual representation of the measurement and number on a yard stick, you will be able to decide what is causing your putts to miss left.
The majority of golfers will do best when they have the ball positioned in the center of their golf stance on the putting green.
7. Wrong Golf Equipment
The golf equipment that we choose for our golf game is essential.
If you don’t have the proper equipment in play, you can’t expect to have a perfect day out on the golf course.
Therefore, it makes sense to choose golf equipment that is a custom fit for your game.
The putter fitting is something that tends to be underutilized by most golfers.
If your putter is not the right length or has an improper loft or lie angle for you, then it could cause the ball to go to the left of your target.
Missing to the left and the right is possible when you have a putter that is not a good fit for your game.
Golfers should love their putters.
They should take it out of the bag and have full confidence that the putter will perform to its standard.
If you have a putter that is not the proper fit for your game, sometimes you can have it adjusted, but other times, it will need to be replaced.
Cures
The best cure for a putter that could be the wrong equipment for your game is to go and get a putter fitting done.
Putter fittings are similar to regular golf fittings, but they take place on a putting green.
The putting green will have equipment set up and even a launch monitor to get some statistics about the putts that you are making.
This information may show that your putter is a perfect fit for your game, but it could also indicate that you need some work when it comes to putting.
Regardless of your custom putter fitting results, they will help you learn more about your golf game.
Conclusion
Hopefully, by now, you can understand why you are missing your putts to the left.
It should only take a few practice sessions to get these issues cleared up and get your putts heading straight to the hole again.
Overall, the time that it takes to learn to be a great putter is quite extensive.
You may spend years working on and perfecting a putting stroke that you find to be the most consistent.
Hitting a golf ball with a putter is not hard.
However, hitting the golf ball with a putter the same way every time certainly becomes more of a challenge.
To get more comfortable and start making more putts, your stance, equipment, stroke, and balance need to feel good.
Once you are in a position to repeat and maintain this great feel, you should have no problem dropping your scores.
Even if these tips help you to make three or four more putts on the course, the result could be the difference between shooting in the 90s or shooting in the 80s.
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