Ask most amateurs what they want to work on and they'll say distance. Ask where they actually lose strokes and the honest answer is almost always the same: inside circle one, aka 33 feet or less from the basket.
Here's the math. If you miss three 20-foot putts in a round, that's three strokes. To get those three strokes back with your arm, you'd need to add somewhere around 60 to 80 feet of accurate distance off the tee. One of those takes a season of form work. The other takes twenty minutes a day in your driveway.
Putting is the cheapest, fastest, least glamorous way to lower your score. This guide covers grip, stance, the two main putting styles, how to pick a putter that fits your hand, and a practice routine you can actually stick to.
Start With the Grip
There is no single correct putting grip, but there are three common starting points. Try each for a week before you decide.
Fan grip
Fingers spread out across the underside of the flight plate like a hand of cards. Maximum control and feel, less spin. Favored by players who push the disc toward the basket.
Power grip
Fingers stacked together under the rim, same as a drive. More spin and more velocity, which helps on long putts and in wind, but it's less forgiving on touch putts.
Stacked or two-finger grip
A middle ground. Index and middle finger under the rim, ring and pinky tucked or fanned. Most players end up somewhere in this neighborhood.
Whatever you pick, the rule that matters more than the grip itself: use the exact same grip every single putt. Inconsistent grip pressure is the most common reason a putt that felt good comes out low and left.
Stance: Straddle vs. Staggered
Staggered is the classic stance. Dominant foot forward, back foot behind for balance, weight shifting forward as you release. It generates more power, which makes it the better option for longer putts and jump putts outside the circle.
Straddle puts both feet shoulder-width apart, facing the basket square. Less power, but far more stable, and it's the answer when there's a tree, a bush, or an awkward lie between you and the chains.
Learn both. Staggered as your default, straddle as your problem solver. A lot of players discover they putt straighter from a straddle and never look back.
Push Putt vs. Spin Putt
Most putting styles fall on a spectrum between these two.
A push putt uses the legs and core to lift the disc toward the basket on a flat, floaty line with minimal spin. It's smooth and repeatable, and it's very forgiving inside 25 feet. It struggles in headwind because a low-spin disc gets pushed around.
A spin putt comes mostly from the arm and wrist, sending the disc in fast with a lot of rotation. It cuts through wind and stretches your range, but it demands more precision because small errors get amplified by the speed.
Neither is better. Push putters generally want a straighter, more neutral putter. Spin putters can handle a little more stability. Which brings us to the part everybody gets stuck on.
Beaded vs. Beadless Putters
Pick up two putters and run your finger along the bottom edge of the rim. On some, you'll feel a small raised lip or ridge running around the outside. That's the bead.
This is the single most underrated decision in disc golf, and almost nobody explains it to new players.
Beaded putters
The raised lip gives your index finger something to sit against — a physical reference point that's in the same place every time you grip the disc. For a lot of players, that's the difference between a repeatable grip and a guessing game.
Beads also tend to add a touch of stability. A beaded putter is usually a little more willing to fight wind and finish left (for a right-hand backhand thrower), which makes many of them excellent approach discs as well as putters.
Try a beaded putter if: you struggle with grip consistency, you putt in wind often, or your putts sail past the basket to the right.
Beadless putters
A smooth, uninterrupted rim. Nothing to catch on your finger, so the disc leaves your hand cleanly and quietly. Push putters in particular tend to prefer beadless, because a clean release is the whole point of that style.
Beadless putters generally fly straighter with less fade, and many players find them more comfortable in the hand — especially anyone with smaller hands who finds a beaded rim bulky.
Try a beadless putter if: you push putt, your putts consistently drift left, or a beaded rim feels like it snags on release.
And then there's the microbead
Some molds split the difference with a very small bead — enough of a reference point to feel, not enough to noticeably change the flight. If beaded feels too aggressive and beadless feels too slick, this is where you land.
The best illustration of all three sitting side by side is the Judge family. The original Judge has a pronounced bead and a dependable finish. The EMAC Judge is the same idea with a microbead and less fade, designed by Eric McCabe specifically for players who wanted the Judge without the pronounced lip. Holding those two back to back teaches you more about beads in thirty seconds than any article can.
What we carry
Our putters collection covers all three categories. On the beaded side we stock the Judge in several plastics along with the Latitude 64 Dagger. For microbead, the EMAC Judge. On the beadless side we carry the Latitude 64 Pure, the Discmania P2, and the Kastaplast Berg, among others.
Stock rotates constantly, so the collection page is always the accurate picture of what's on the shelf today.
Don't Overlook Plastic Firmness
Putter plastic matters more than driver plastic, because you're not trying to survive tree hits — you're trying to stick in chains.
- Soft and gummy: absorbs energy on impact and drops straight down instead of bouncing out. Excellent grip in cold and wet conditions. Wears faster.
- Medium: the all-rounder. Enough grip to putt with, enough firmness to throw on approaches.
- Firm: more consistent release, holds its shape longer, better for throwing. More prone to spitting out of the chains on a hot putt.
Most players end up with a soft or medium putter for the circle and a firmer one for approach shots. If you want the full breakdown of how plastic types work, we covered it in our beginner's guide to plastics and flight numbers.
Buy More Than One
This is the tip that changes people's practice more than anything else on this list.
If you own one putter, every practice rep means walking to the basket, picking it up, and walking back. You'll do fifteen putts and quit. If you own five of the same mold in the same plastic and weight, you stand in one spot and throw five, then walk once. You'll do a hundred putts in the same amount of time.
Five identical putters is not an upsell, it's the actual mechanism by which people get better at putting. Same mold, same plastic, same weight — the whole point is that every disc in your hand feels identical.
A 20-Minute Practice Routine
Do this four times a week and you will notice a difference inside a month.
- Warm up (3 minutes). Twenty putts from 10 feet. Not to practice, just to groove the motion and get your grip settled.
- The circle ladder (10 minutes). Five putts each from 15, 20, 25, and 30 feet. Then work back down: 30, 25, 20, 15. Same grip and same routine at every distance — only the power changes.
- Pressure putts (5 minutes). Pick a distance you make about half the time. You must hit five in a row to stop. If you miss at four, start over. This is the part that trains you for the putt that actually matters.
- Finish clean (2 minutes). Ten putts from 10 feet. Always end the session on makes so the last thing your body remembers is the disc going in.
Two rules. Run your full pre-putt routine on every single rep, including the easy ones — practice is where the routine gets built. And don't change putters mid-session chasing a fix. Give a putter at least two weeks before you judge it.
Since a lot of putting is confidence under pressure, our piece on the disc golf mental game pairs well with that third drill.
How Many Putters Belong in Your Bag?
Most players carry three to five: a soft one for putting, a firmer one of the same mold for approach shots, and an overstable putter for windy days and forced hyzer lines. If you're still building out your bag, our guide to building your ultimate disc golf bag walks through the rest of the slots.
Come Hold Them
Beaded or beadless is a hand-feel decision, and hand feel does not translate through a photograph. This is the one purchase in disc golf where 5 minutes in a shop beats any amount of online research.
If you're in or near Silverthorne, Colorado, stop by. Tell us how you putt and we'll hand you a beaded, a microbead, and a beadless putter and let your hands pick. Most people know within a few minutes, and a fair number are surprised by the answer.
Browse the full putters collection, or come see us at 200 Ryan Gulch Road.
Have a great round!