Most golfers spend the majority of their practice time on the range — full swings, wedges, driver — and then wonder why their scores don't drop. The math is simple: nearly a third of every round is putting. And if your putting stroke is inconsistent, no amount of ball-striking improvement will show up the way you want it to on the scorecard.
Jacob Tilton makes this point plainly: you putt for dough. And he has a drill that simplifies the stroke down to its most repeatable form.
The drill
Jacob Tilton — Golf Digest Best Young Teacher in America (2024), 2023 Georgia PGA Section Champion, PGA Tour participant (RSM Classic, 2023), winner of the 91st Yamaha Atlanta Open (2024), and Director of Instruction at Ansley Golf Club — uses the TrueStrike pad held between the biceps to isolate the correct putting mechanics and eliminate every variable that doesn't belong in the stroke. See the full drill page here.
The setup:
- Place the TrueStrike between your biceps just above the elbows, level with your sternum
- Hold it in place with light elbow pressure and take your normal grip
- Rock the putter using only your upper chest, shoulders, and upper back
- Everything from the belly button down stays completely still
- Repeat until the isolated, shoulder-driven motion feels natural
The TrueStrike locks the arms to the body and makes the upper chest the driver of the stroke. Any wrist flip, hand manipulation, or lower body movement disturbs the pad — immediate, physical feedback that the wrong parts are working.
Watch the drill
Jacob demonstrates the full setup and feel in the video below. Watch on YouTube or play it directly here:
Why it works
Larger muscles are more controllable under pressure. The fine motor patterns that govern the hands and wrists break down when adrenaline kicks in. The gross motor patterns of the upper chest and shoulders hold up because they're less sensitive to tension.
On a five-footer to save par, on a slick downhill putt, on the final hole of a match — the shoulder-driven stroke is the one that holds up. The wrist-and-hand stroke is the one that falls apart.
Jacob's target is clear: keep it simple, keep it stable, and repeat the same motion over and over. The TrueStrike makes that objective physical — you're not trying to feel the isolation, you're enforcing it with every rep. Center contact and true roll become the natural outcome of a stroke that's being driven by the right body parts from the start.
Who this is for
- ✓Golfers who three-putt regularly due to inconsistent stroke mechanics
- ✓Players who feel their putting breaks down under pressure
- ✓Anyone who's been told their stroke is "too wristy" or "too handsy"
- ✓Golfers looking for a complete putting practice tool that works on any green or mat
Try it
Take the TrueStrike to the practice green and hit 30 putts from eight feet — 10 straight, 10 left-to-right, 10 right-to-left — focusing purely on keeping everything below the belly button still. Remove the pad and hit five more at each distance. The stroke you built with the TrueStrike is the one that will show up when it counts.
For the full drill setup and additional coaching notes, visit the Putting Isolation Drill page on pathpal.
- 10 putts straight — TrueStrike between biceps, lower body completely still
- 10 putts left-to-right — same isolation, same stillness below the belt
- 10 putts right-to-left — same isolation, same stillness below the belt
- 5 putts at each distance without the TrueStrike — carry the feeling over
Related drills
The Putting Isolation Drill is one part of a complete putting system available on pathpal. These three drills address adjacent aspects of a consistent stroke and pair naturally with Jacob's shoulder-isolation work.
Linear Putting Stroke Drill — Jason Kuiper
Jason Kuiper uses the pathpal at 70 degrees as a physical rail for the putter heel, training a near-zero path through impact — verified in real time with SAM Putt Lab data. Once your stroke mechanics are isolated with Jacob's drill, this is the next step for dialing in your path and start line.
Rail and Stroke Length Drill — Cody Carter
Cody Carter uses the pathpal as a putting rail to train both path and backstroke length in one setup — using the notches on the rod to calibrate how far back the stroke should travel for a given distance. Pairs directly with the shoulder-driven motion Jacob builds in this drill.
Putter Gate Drill — Cody Carter
Two pathpal units positioned just outside the heel and toe of the putter build a gate that trains centered contact on every rep — the same drill used by the best players in the world. The stroke Jacob builds in this isolation drill is the one that passes through Cody's gate cleanly.
About Jacob Tilton
Jacob Tilton is a Golf Digest Best Young Teacher in America (2024), 2023 Georgia PGA Section Champion, and PGA Tour participant (RSM Classic, 2023). He is the Director of Instruction at Ansley Golf Club and holds Trackman Level 2, V1 Level 3, Boditrak, and Plane Truth certifications.
Follow Jacob on Instagram: @tiltgolfer · Follow pathpal on Instagram
Frequently asked questions
Why is a shoulder-driven putting stroke more consistent than a wrist or arm stroke?
Larger muscle groups are less sensitive to tension and adrenaline than the small muscles that govern the hands and wrists. Under pressure — a short putt to save par, a downhill slider on the last hole — fine motor control degrades faster than gross motor control. A stroke driven by the upper chest and shoulders repeats more reliably because those muscles don't respond to pressure the same way the hands do.
How does the TrueStrike enforce the shoulder-driven stroke?
The TrueStrike is held between the biceps just above the elbows, level with the sternum. That position locks the arms to the chest, making the upper body the only thing that can move the putter. Any independent wrist flip, hand activation, or lower body movement disturbs the pad immediately — giving you physical feedback on every rep without requiring you to monitor your own mechanics consciously.
Should my lower body move at all during a putting stroke?
According to Jacob, nothing below the belly button should move during a putting stroke. Lower body movement shifts the arc of the stroke, changes the face angle at impact, and introduces a variable that can't be reliably controlled rep to rep. Keeping the lower body completely still is not a restriction — it's the foundation that makes everything above it repeatable.
Can I use this drill indoors or only on the practice green?
The TrueStrike isolation drill works on any surface — a putting mat, a carpet, or the practice green. The mechanics being trained don't depend on the putt going in the hole; they depend on the stroke feeling correct. Shadow swings and dry runs with the TrueStrike in place are a perfectly valid way to build the pattern before moving to live putts.
Build a stroke that holds up when it counts
The TrueStrike is part of the pathpal training system — an integrated, all-in-one tool used by PGA professionals to build better practice habits with immediate physical feedback.
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