Form & Technique

Putting Form

A repeatable putting stroke for circle 1.

Why it matters

Putting is the one throw where everything that makes a drive long makes the shot worse. There is no run-up, no weight shift to time, no big rotation — and the single biggest putting fault among people who drive well is importing drive mechanics into a stroke that does not want them. This lesson is about what to strip out; the Putting path covers the stroke itself in depth.

How to do it

Keep the motion short. The disc travels a fraction of the distance it does on a drive, and anything longer adds variability for no range.
Keep the shoulders square to the target rather than turning away. Rotation is the drive’s engine and the putt’s enemy.
Take what little power you need from the legs, pushing up and forward, not from a bigger arm swing.
Move the hand in a straight line at the aim point and extend through it, finishing with the hand pointing at the pole.
Stay balanced and upright. Inside circle 1 you must demonstrate control of balance after the release, so a putt you fall out of costs a stroke.

Common mistakes

Reaching back and rotating the shoulders as if driving.Square and short. If your putting motion looks like a small version of your drive, it is still too big.

Adding power with the arm when the putt is long.Bend lower and push up with the legs. The arm’s job is the line; the legs’ job is the distance.

Different power on every putt from the same distance.Pick an aim point and a stroke size that go together, and repeat them. Consistency of effort matters more than the exact amount.

Falling forward on circle-1 putts.If you need to fall forward to get there you are outside your range. Lag it, or build the range in practice first.

Key points

Square, stable stance you can repeat every time.
Push toward the chains with your legs and core.
Follow through toward the pole, not up.

The drill

Drill · Square shoulders — 20 putts from 20 ft with your back against nothing but your shoulders kept square. Twenty putts from twenty feet with one rule: the shoulders do not turn. Have somebody watch from behind, or film it — most people are rotating far more than they believe. Taking the rotation out usually costs a little distance on the first session and gains a great deal of consistency within a week.

Watch: Ricky Wysocki's 5 tips to get better at putting! | Disc Golf Beginner's Guide — DynamicDiscs