On each hole, putting is the culmination of all your efforts funneled right down to a single stroke. Putting is a science and has to be meticulously rehearsed again and again in preparation for those clutch situations on the green. It’s the most underestimated area of golf and can make or break a golfer.

The short game is a crucial part of golf, and it isn’t practiced enough. Putting can be aggravating, that is why a lot of golfers devote their time on the driving range. Nevertheless, every golfer knows the biggest step to improving their golf game is to practice their putting.

“Putting is like wisdom,” Arnold Palmer once said. “Partly a natural gift and partly the accumulation of experience.” For many of us, putting isn’t a natural gift. So, a practice putting green will help every golfer accumulate important experience.

Some practice putting greens are beneficial. The types you putt on in lawyers’ offices are useful for basic strokes on flat greens, but not all greens are flat. Every golfer knows greens have curvature: slopes, slants and breaks. Simple level putting systems that burp the ball back to you don’t quite capture the realism of actual putting.

However, modern practice putting greens are able to imitate the real thing. Adjustable practice putting greens grant you the chance to practice those tricky breaking putts. You can customize the topography of the green so that you can read the break and arc your putt flawlessly into the hole.

The goal of a practice putting green is to reproduce the putting experience you have on the course, so not only can the incline of the practice putting green be adjusted, but so can the pin as well. Additionally, the surface allows the golf ball to roll smoothly and accurately, as if on a real green.

Yet, to putt, you should first get on the green. How often have you hit what you believed was a good approach only to discover your ball has rolled just off of the green? I’m sure many. Now you need to get up and down to make par, or bogey. Developing a good chipping game can help save your round and provide you a lot of confidence, but it requires a lot of practice. Because of this, many practice putting greens currently include a chipping mat. You are able to chip your ball onto the putting surface and watch it break toward to the cup. This provides a great opportunity to learn how the ball interacts off the face of the wedge so you can practice making it skip, bite and release to the hole.

Most practice putting greens come in a number of different sizes so you can fit them inside or outside; in your basement, or in your workplace. So don’t let your short game ruin a long drive or an awesome approach. Practicing your putting with the proper tools can help you gain confidence, sink more putts and improve your handicap. Like the classic golfing proverb says, even God has to practice His putting.

If you are looking for more information on practice putting greens take a look these featured golf training aids.