Dear David,
Read the break, aim the putter at a spot on the fall-line above the rim consistent with the break, then putt straight where the putter aims with the right touch.
That's the "what" -- here's the "how":
You miss probably not because you can't read these putts or aim the putter accurately. It is more likely that you can't perform the other two things in a smooth, integrated way: Stroke straight where the putter face aims, with good touch. So either the touch gets left out or the straight stroke turns to a "guiding" stroke (most often a pull on right-to-left putts or a decelerating stroke on left-to-right putts for a right hander).
To get BOTH of these problems fixed at the same time, get the straight stroke fixed first: Resolve ALWAYS to putt wherever the putter face aims, once you've finsihed messing with the aim. Doing this will very quickly narrow the problem down to the single issue of touch. At this point you will likely miss putts because you don't have smooth, consistent "touch" so that the ball "takes the break" and finds the bottom of the cup.
Stick with the read, aim, and straight stroke that you usually have at this point, and NOW just count your stroke back and thru with a "one ... two" count, with one being the start of the takeaway to the top of the backstroke, and the ... being the downstroke, and the two being impact. Then pull the trigger and see what happens without making the slightest effort to "get the touch just right" and instead just focusing on a nice, smooth counting.
Now you have a read, an aim, a start line to a spot on the fall line, and a count that rolls the ball straight at the spot and not short and not long (so you also have the final ingredient "touch" that makes the ball "take the break" correctly, not too fast blowing thru the break and not too babyish falling short amateur side).
To experiment with this, set a ball down straight below the hole on a modestly tilted slope about 3 feet out (on the 6 o'clock position of a clockface around the hole), then set other balls in a counterclockwise spiral pattern 1/2 foot further out at each position: 5 o'clock (3.5 feet out), 4 o'clock (4 feet out), 3 o'clock (4.5 feet out), 2 o'clock (5 feet out), 1 o'clock (5.5 feet out), noon (6 feet out), 11 o'clock (6.5 feet out), 10 o'clock (7 feet out), 9 o'clock (7.5 feet out), 8 o'clock (8 feet out), and 7 o'clock o'clock (8.5 feet out). As you read, aim and stroke straight these putts, just count your stroke back and thru for touch.
When they start dropping, then examine and notice that you are aiming at the same point on the fall-line for all of these putts, a certain number of inches above the rim. That is because all of these putts have the same aim spot on the fall-line since the surface is flat but tilted without any extra contour between your ball and the cup. So the "read", "aim" and "stroke" is all the same on all these putts. So dig a trench (mentally) from ball to aim spot so the ball can't get out, like a "gutter" in a bowling alley.
With this trench or gutter, now just putt with the count and see what happens. Start your balls down the gutter and bowl a gutter ball with no hope of coming back up out of the gutter.
The image of the gutter helps avoid guiding the stroke. The count synchronizes the instinctive touch with the read and the stroke dynamics for line. Line and distance integrated.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
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