Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you play smarter, better golf.
There are hundreds of training aids out there that can help you improve your golf game. No matter what ailment plagues your game, there’s sure to be a training aid that claims to be the cure. With so many options, though, it can be hard to find the right fix.
In my experience, the best training aids are the simplest. They don’t need any sort of deciphering to understand. If you do something wrong, you’ll know immediately.
Which brings us to the simplest training aid of them all — a battery. With its cylindrical shape and small, compact size, it’s the perfect training aid to use to smooth out your putting stroke.
As shown in the video above, place the battery on its side parallel to your putter and facing the target. Then all you need to do is make your typical putting stroke.
You can tell a lot about your stroke based on the way the battery rolls. If it veers off to one side or the other off the face, you know that your blade is not square when you make contact. However, if the battery rolls straight toward the target, you know you’re making contact with a square face.
A battery might not be the flashiest training aid you’ll ever use, but if you’re in a pinch and need to iron out your putting stroke, it can be a great tool.