Justin Rose knows how to handle a flatstick. (Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports)

4. Dial in the loft

When golfers think about loft, they usually think about their driver, fairway woods and wedges because those clubs have lofts prominently displayed. Despite their typical appearance, putter faces have loft, too, which helps lift the ball from a small depression created by its weight on the green’s surface and get it rolling quickly. The trick is matching your putter’s loft with the way you deliver the face to the ball at impact.

Putting with a club that has too much loft will turn putts into mini chips and impart backspin, making the ball bounce and hop after you hit it. And if a putter does not have enough loft, the ball will be driven down at impact and then pop forward, leading to inconsistency and a poor roll.

Standard lofts vary by brand, but most putters come with between 2
and 4 degrees of loft. Golfers who have a forward press and make impact with their hands well ahead of the ball or who use the arm-lock putting method will need more loft, because their motion de-lofts the club. For example, Matt Kuchar uses an arm-lock style Bettinardi putter and requires 5 degrees of loft.

Golfers who contact the ball while their putter shaft is perpendicular to the ground, or those who tend to hit putts on an upswing, need less loft. Zach Johnson won two majors using a SeeMore putter that had just 2.5 degrees of loft.

The loft of nearly every putter can be changed easily, and fitters can use high speed cameras and different fitting devices to determine the precise amount of loft your putter requires.