Short putts are supposed to be easy.  Three feet?  Bah!  Except, try making 100 in a row and then say that.  Too many putts are missed in the two to five foot range, assuming you’re not picking them up as gimmes.

One of the common problems in this situation is a tendency to forget that a putting stroke involves a backswing and a follow through.

Often, a player will be intimidated on a short putt by a little break or touchy speed and will take the putter back a little and then pop the ball with little or no follow through.  Or, maybe the backswing will be longer than necessary and then the player is forced to slow down through impact.

These situations both lead to short putts not getting to the hole, or not having enough pace and taking too much break, missing on the low side.

At a minimum, the follow through during a putting stroke should be the same length as the back swing.  In fact, you’ll probably sink a few more putts if you make it longer than the back swing.

Here’s a technique I find useful.  On the follow through, I let the putter follow the ball along the aim line as long as I can.

Normally, I putt with a square to square pendulum stroke.  My intention throughout is to keep the putter face square to the aim line.  I try to keep hands and arms out of it and swing from the shoulders.

With these short putts, if I let the putter head follow the ball to the hole (or along the aim line if I’m playing any break), then I’m sure that I’m not going to leave the ball short because of deceleration through impact.  In fact, the only way I can go wrong is misjudging the distance and not taking a big enough back swing, or misreading the break altogether.

As a side effect, this helps me make sure I’m moving the putter face square to the line.  If I’m not, then I’ll feel myself compensating as I try and follow the line after impact.

A good player to watch do this is Phil Mickleson.  On short putts, he takes a short back swing, and then lets the putter follow the aim line so his follow through is longer than his back swing.

If you’re missing short putts, give it a try.  Take enough back swing to allow you to swing smoothly (no slapping or popping) yet still allow enough pace so that if the hole was covered, the ball would finish about 17 inches past.  On the follow through, let the putter follow the aim line as long as you can with the putter head.

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