Putting · Technique

Play the ball an inch ahead for a natural up-strike

The speaker says that in a good stroke the ball should sit about one inch ahead of center, so the putter naturally strikes slightly up on it. He stresses the up-strike is not a deliberate effort to hit up; it happens because the ball is ahead of the low point of the pendulum (the sternum). He compares the slightly up, slightly de-lofted contact to topspin in tennis.