What Does "Putting on an Arc" Actually Mean?
Every great putter in the history of the game — from Jack Nicklaus to Tiger Woods, from Ben Crenshaw to Scottie Scheffler — strokes the putter along a gentle, consistent arc. This is not a stylistic choice. It's the natural result of physics: your putter is attached to your arms, which are attached to your shoulders, which rotate around your spine. Unless you force the putter to travel in an unnatural straight line, it will arc inside on the backstroke, return square at impact, and arc back inside on the follow-through.
Many amateur golfers have been taught the "straight back, straight through" method, but this approach requires constant muscular manipulation to maintain. It creates tension, destroys feel, and collapses under pressure. The arc method works with your body, not against it.
The Champions Who Prove It
You don't need to take this on faith. Study any slow-motion footage of the world's greatest putters and the arc is unmistakable. Here is a sample of elite Tour players whose strokes have been confirmed as arc-based:
- Tiger Woods — Slight to moderate arc, highly consistent face rotation through impact
- Ben Crenshaw — Pronounced arc, regarded by many as the finest ball-striker in putting history
- Brad Faxon — Slight arc, consistently ranked among the Tour's best putters for over a decade
- Jordan Spieth — Arced stroke with excellent tempo and rhythm under pressure
- Rory McIlroy — Arced, with a smooth shoulder-driven motion
- Scottie Scheffler — Arced, current world number one and among the Tour's most consistent putters
- Cameron Smith — Arced, led the Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting during his Open Championship season
- Annika Sörenstam — Arced, widely considered the greatest female putter in LPGA history
The pattern spans generations, equipment eras, grip styles, and nationalities. Every tour champion putts on an arc.
Bubba Watson: Two Masters Titles and the Putting Arc on National TV
Perhaps no moment better illustrates the Putting Arc's impact at the highest level than Bubba Watson — two-time Masters champion (2012, 2014) — being filmed using our Putting Arc on the practice green at Augusta National, broadcast on national television during Masters coverage.
For a player of Watson's stature to be seen with a training aid on the most watched stage in golf is a powerful endorsement. The Putting Arc is unmistakable in the footage, and it speaks volumes that a player who has slipped on the Green Jacket twice trusts this tool to keep his stroke dialed in.
The Problem with Straight Back, Straight Through
The straight-back, straight-through (SBST) method became popular because it sounds logical — aim down a line, move the putter down that line. But the human body is not a machine on a fixed track. Maintaining a truly straight putter path requires fighting the natural rotation of the forearms and shoulders at every point in the stroke. This creates muscular tension that increases under pressure, leading to pushed putts, pulled putts, and the dreaded deceleration that leaves makeable birdie putts short of the hole.
The arc method removes this tension because it doesn't ask you to fight physics — it asks you to work with it.
How to Train Your Arc
Stop fighting your natural motion
The first step is mental. Release the idea that the putter must travel in a straight line. Allow your shoulders to turn freely. When you do, the putter will begin to find its own arc naturally — because it always wanted to.
Use our dedicated putting arc training aid
The fastest and most reliable way to groove the arc is with a physical training tool that guides your putter along the correct path in real time. Rather than guessing at whether your stroke is on plane, you receive immediate tactile and visual feedback with every repetition. Fifty strokes through the correct arc teaches your body more than 500 unaided putts on the practice green.
Shop the Putting Arc by Golf Training Aids
Key features at a glance:
- Guides the putter on a proven inside-to-square-to-inside path
- Adjustable mirror checks eye position and shoulder alignment
- Lightweight and durable for indoor or outdoor practice
The Takeaway
The evidence is overwhelming and consistent across decades of professional golf: every tour champion putts on an arc. This is not a matter of preference or style — it is the natural result of rotating a putter around a human body. The players who fight this truth spend careers compensating. The players who embrace it, groove it, and trust it become the players who make the putts that define careers.
The next time you stand over a ten-footer, forget the straight-line mantra. Set up, take a breath, and let the putter follow the arc your body has always wanted to make.
