As you know, I recently taught a three-day golf school in Holland with our newest Swing Surgeon certified instructor, Leo van Bennekom. When we got to the putting section of the agenda, Leo and I discussed the importance of having the putter strike the ball on an ascending path so that you impart top spin. This will do several things for your putt. First, your ball will immediately begin to roll smoothly rather than skip a couple of times as it does when you punch or hit down on the ball with your putter. You will find that your ball will track much better when you hit up. Secondly, when you put top spin on your putt you'll find that the ball will literally dive in the hole and your chances of lipping out are significantly reduced.
I will admit it does take some practice to be able to effectively hit up on the ball. Jack Moore, my long-time student, has an extraordinary putting stroke that incorporates this concept. When Jack practices, he will often tee up his ball on the putting green so that he can accentuate the upward motion and reacquaint himself with the feel of applying top spin to a putt. As Jack has said to me many times, "It doesn't matter how much you come up on the ball as long as you do come up."
As it turns out, Leo also believes top spin is essential to getting consistently good putts to drop from anywhere on the green. He has his own drill to teach this skill. Rather than teeing up the ball, Leo places his golf pencil right behind the ball. His objective is to hit up on the ball without striking the pencil. I've tried it my self and it works quite well so now you have two drills that will help you learn this secret to great putting.
Keep it vertical!
The Surge