How useful is it to practice your putting at home? Personally, I’m convinced that it does help — with one big caveat. You need to practice with intent.
What do I mean by that, exactly? That simply grabbing a few balls and putting them aimlessly across that carpet isn’t going to do much good. If that’s your idea of practicing at home, you might as well not bother at all.
Practicing with intent means you’ve got a specific purpose in mind that helps structure your practice. It could be anything: Maybe you’re working on your putting stroke technique, or perhaps you’re focused on making putts of different distances.
It doesn’t matter what your goal is, but it does matter that you have one. And one of the best products to help bring structure to your at-home practice is the Perfect Putting Mat, the putting mat endorsed by Dustin Johnson that became something of a sensation during quarantine.
I’ve had a chance the chance to try this mat myself and there are a few things I like about it: First, and most important, is the smoothness of the roll itself. The surface feels like a carpet, in a good way — thicker and heavier, which makes it practically impossible for the mat to get creased.
The lines on the mat make it easy to focus on starting your ball on the correct line — a vitally important element of good putting — and the slight uphill feature has two added benefits: First, it trains you not to leave putts short; And second, it allows the ball, once it does drop into the hole, to roll directly back to you.
See for yourself how the design works:
The Perfect Practice Mat retails sells for $169.99, and you can buy it at Fairway Jockey — a sister company of GOLF.com — below.
PERFECT PUTTING MAT
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