The Two-Ball Putting Drill That Actually Works
I've been coaching amateur putters for years, and I keep seeing the same mistake on the green. Players align their stance and aim, then take a stroke that drifts off-line before they even realize it's happening. The two-ball method forces you to confront that before it becomes a habit. Here's how it works. You set up your normal putting stance, but place a second ball about two inches to the right of your regular ball (for a right-handed golfer). Your putter head sits behind the primary ball as usual. Then you stroke out and try to hit both balls at the same time on the same line. The goal isn't just contact. It's straight contact. If your stroke path is closed, the second ball will feed offline. If your face is open at impact, same thing. Both balls end up separated, not rolling together. When they roll out in parallel, your stroke face was square to your path.
Putter 2 Ball Revolutionizing The Way We Play Mini Golf
Mini golf courses, especially the more ambitious ones with artificial surfaces and banked transitions, tend to hide bad strokes because the courses themselves are unpredictable. A slight mis-hit on a green at a standard mini golf venue might still make it in because the terrain is forgiving. But when you introduce the second ball, you can't hide anything. The feedback is immediate and physical. This is why the drill has gained traction in mini golf training circles recently — it strips away the luck factor that usually masks poor fundamentals. I started incorporating this into my teaching about three years ago after watching a student who consistently missed left-to-right putts by a foot or more. He was convinced his aim was fine. We set up the two-ball drill, he struck out, and both balls rolled apart immediately. He laughed, then tried again, and again, until he got them together. That moment of proprioceptive awareness — feeling what square actually feels like — changed how he approached every subsequent putt. The setup is straightforward. You need a flat putting surface, a standard putter, and two golf balls (or mini golf balls if you're on an artificial green). Place the primary ball where you would normally address it. Set the second ball two inches to the right of it, touching the first ball. Stand behind the putt to pick your line, then step in and set your feet. Make sure both balls are on the intended starting line. If you're on an uneven mini golf green, find the flattest area you can — this drill loses its usefulness on a slope because gravity becomes a variable you don't want to deal with yet.
Stroke the ball normally. Don't try to force both balls to move. Just make your stroke, and let the result tell you the truth. Repeat until both balls roll out together in the same direction. That rhythm and face control is what you transfer back to single-ball putting. One edge case I ran into recently: a student brought this drill to an indoor mini golf venue with a synthetic carpet that had a distinct grain. The second ball, being slightly lighter and with less mass than a real golf ball, was rolling slower due to friction on the surface. Both balls appeared to separate even though his stroke was actually square. The workaround was simple — I switched him to using two real golf balls instead of a mix of a regulation ball and a lighter mini golf ball. Same friction, same behavior, honest feedback. It's a small thing but it matters. There are a few things most people miss with this drill. First, don't chase perfect consistency right away. The point isn't to make every attempt roll both balls straight. The point is to recognize the difference between a good stroke and a bad one. You'll miss. A lot, at first. That's the data you're collecting.
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Second, the distance between the two balls matters. Two inches is standard, but if you have a wider putter head or a pronounced arc in your stroke, you might need three inches. Too close and the balls interfere with each other's roll. Too far and the drill stops testing face control and starts testing width. Find the minimum distance where both balls can roll freely without touching. Third, and this is the part nobody talks about, the drill only works if you're actually looking at where the balls go. Not at your putter head. Not at your feet. At the target line. Your brain will try to steer the putter based on what it sees. If you're staring at the clubface, your stroke becomes mechanical and stiff. If you're looking at the line, your body self-organizes around the target. The limitations are real. This drill doesn't teach distance control at all. It only addresses direction. If your lag putting is off, this won't fix it. It also doesn't help with broken putts on complex mini golf courses where the ball needs to bank or curve. The drill is a fundamental calibration tool, not a comprehensive solution. For those situations, you'd need to combine it with green reading practice and speed work.
I'd also say it's not ideal for players with extremely aggressive inward or outward stroke paths. If your putter swings far inside and comes sharply back through, the two-ball setup might feel awkward at first because the geometry of your arc doesn't naturally intersect both balls. That doesn't mean the drill is bad — it means you need to spend more time adjusting your setup position before you can use it effectively. A neutral or slightly inside-square path fits this drill naturally. Practice time per session: ten minutes is plenty. More than that and you start overthinking and the feedback loses its value. I usually have people do three rounds of five attempts each, with a brief rest between. That's enough to build the feel without creating fatigue-related errors. If you want to practice this on mini golf courses specifically, look for the flat, straight holes first. Save thebank shots and the broken putts for another day. Once you can consistently roll both balls together on a straight putt, try it on a slight curve. The drill still works but you'll need to adjust your setup angle to match the curve you're aiming for.
The real takeaway is simpler than most people expect. Bad putts often happen because we haven't calibrated what square looks and feels like. The two-ball method removes guesswork. It gives you a binary result — the balls stay together or they don't — and that clarity is what makes it useful across all levels of play, from casual mini golf to competitive putting.
