GOLF.com Review: A tour-proven tool to improve your green reading

If you want to improve your putting the same way the pros do, then you need to improve your green reading. To do that, look no further than the Perfect Putter. A previous version of this article appeared in 2018.

Background

The Perfect Putter started gaining steam around 2014, and every year since has grown in popularity — especially among the game’s elite. It’s one of those devices you see all over the putting greens at PGA Tour events without really knowing what it does. Some guys — especially the scientific types, like Bryson DeChambeau — seem to incorporate it into everything they do on the practice greens.

The Product

The product itself is so unlike other training aids you might be excused for not realizing it’s a training aid at all. In simple terms, it’s a collapsable, metal ramp that vaguely resembles a stimpmeter. You find a putt, then you roll balls down the ramp at whatever speed you’d like until you find the perfect line and speed. At that point, you take the ramp away and practice hitting putts using one of the various add-ons. A gate to roll your ball through, for instance, or a laser to double check your aim and ensure the putterhead is moving correctly.

Does it Work?

It’s not a traditional training aid because you don’t actually hit balls with it, but that’s not a bad thing — on the contrary. It almost serves as an experimental tool to help your game. People who struggle reading greens and understanding how the speed of a putt can affect the line would be well served to spend some time with The Perfect Putter. Buying the tool with a few add-ons, in my opinion, is essential though. And it’s well worth it. Once you begin rolling putts after you’ve found the perfect line and speed, it takes all the the second-guessing out of it. If you start missing putts, you’ve got nobody to blame but yourself.