While everybody wants to hit the ball 350 yards off the tee, putting is where most of your strokes are taken.

Putting technique is a hot topic in golf today. The “curved stroke” method is starting to gain many converts. While this is nothing new under the sun, the method of using a curved putting stroke is being taught by teaching gurus on all the Tours worldwide. The Putting Arc is a teaching tool that has been invented to give golfers the feel for what the curved stroke is like.

Old timer Bobby Locke was probably one of the first pro golfers to use this type of stroke and gain great success. Ben Crenshaw is a modern legend that uses the curved method and is known as one of the best putters on the planet. While this approach is not for everybody, there is merit to the idea of a more natural curved or arc stroke in contrast to the widely used straight back and straight through method taught by other instructors and used by most golfers.

As the curved stroke method gains in popularity, instructors worldwide are starting to take notice. The great thing about being a PGA pro is that we have the networking power to immediately question and analyze any new method or so called innovation in golf instruction or golf technique.

PGA pros have the ability to call and use the Internet to talk with other pros and see what is really going on. Then we can pass any or all of this information on to our students as a way of helping them with their games. This is what happens when minds trained in the art of golf get together and share information, and dissect and analyze new golf ideas.

The people who benefit the most are those who really take the time and make the commitment to understand the technique in question.

For example, a few years back a driver came out that was made of composite materials. The driver was getting negative feedback, so pros started taking notice, researched the innovation with other pros, and almost immediately started steering customers away from a product that quite simply did not work.

There are currently at least six new teaching aids out there that are supposed to teach the proper arched path in the never-ending quest to get the ball into the hole in the fewest number of strokes.

While every golfer has individual needs in their golf swing, there are still fundamentals to be followed and it is always a good idea to get all these moves in sync to gain technique that mirrors a move that comes naturally to each individual golfer. Whether your putting stroke is straight back and through or curved, or someplace in between, a good understanding of what each type of stroke involves is necessary to succeed.

In golf, where the margin for error is so small, any misunderstanding of a new or traditional golf term in relation to the golf swing can cause monumental mistakes in any particular golfers' game. It's like the term “take the club back inside.” You can't believe the misconceptions that have evolved in golf swings because of this one simple sentence. I am sure the term “arched or curve putting stroke” will bring about the same type of reaction to those who attempt to self-diagnose their own swing faults.

A sage golfer once said to me that a key to success in hitting good golf shots, is to understand the proper fundamentals and then learn to repeat them over and over again. The proof is in the pudding.

See you on the links!

Lombardo, a PGA professional at Dutch Hollow, is The Citizen's golf columnist. He can be reached at lombo@pga.com