The Putting Track Drill

Pulled and pushed putts are almost always caused by an exaggerated putter path through impact. An out-to-in stroke — where the putter head moves left of the target line through the hitting zone — pulls the ball left of the intended line. An in-to-out stroke pushes it right. Because the path error happens in milliseconds at impact, most golfers blame their read or their nerves rather than identifying the mechanical root cause. Stef's drill makes the path visible, which is the first step to correcting it.

The pathpal alignment stick holder positions an alignment stick along your target line on a relatively straight putt, creating a physical and visual reference for where the putter head should track. You focus on keeping the putter head following that reference line through impact and just after contact. Because the guide is fixed and external, you get unambiguous feedback every rep — either the putter tracked the line or it didn't — without needing a training partner or camera.

Some arc is normal and expected — it's a natural result of the body's rotation around a fixed spine angle. Stef explicitly acknowledges this in the drill: "we'll have a little bit of natural arc to it." What this drill corrects is arc that has become exaggerated in either direction, turning a subtle natural curve into a pronounced loop that takes the putter well off the target line. The goal is a stroke that is "a little bit straighter back and through" — not robotic, but controlled.

Both drills use the pathpal alignment stick holder, but they target completely different dimensions of the putting stroke. The Low-to-Low drill addresses the vertical plane — correcting a putter that descends into the ball or lifts too early, causing putts to bounce. The Putting Track Drill addresses the horizontal plane — correcting an exaggerated putter path that pulls or pushes the ball off the intended start line. For a complete putting game, both faults need to be checked. Many golfers benefit from working through both drills in the same practice session.

On a breaking putt, the target line and the hole are not the same thing — you have to aim along the intended start line, which curves away from the cup. Introducing that complexity while also trying to retrain your putter path creates two moving variables at once. Starting on a straight putt eliminates the break variable entirely, so you can focus entirely on tracking the alignment stick and ingraining the correct path. Once the stroke is more consistent, the same mechanics transfer naturally to breaking putts.