My name's Stephen Dai, I'm an ace member with the First Tee, the director of sales with the Junior Advisory Board, and a part-time volunteer coach!

My lowest round was a 67 in an AJGA tournament down in Oregon a couple years ago at the Ridge course of Eagle Crest Resort.

I can't remember a specific round with my fewest putts, but I've definitely had a couple rounds around 26 or 27 putts. These rounds I probably wasn't hitting the ball all that great, but I was able to rely on my short game to keep bogeys off of my score card.

Because the putting stroke is so short and less technical than the full swing, mental game is a much bigger factor. Of course, the first thing you want to do with your putting is ensure that you can consistently get the ball to roll on the line you want. No matter how off your stroke seems, as long as the result is there and it happens consistently there is no problem. This is when mental game comes into play. Having confidence in your own ability when standing over the putt is pretty much the deciding factor of if you're going to make the putt or not. If you know and tell yourself that you can hit this putt on your line and you have chosen the perfect line, this putt is guaranteed to go in.

When I get behind the ball I like to squat down a little bit and make myself pretty close to the ground. This way I can see any undulation on the green between my ball and the hole. It's important to note that there can be different slopes at different sections of the putt. I kind of like to divide my putt into three main areas. The first area is just around my ball, and when standing over the ball I should be able to feel the slope with my feet. The next area is most of the putt, whatever area separates my ball and the hole. To scope this area out, I might walk around towards the hole. The final area is around the hole. I think the easiest way to determine the break around this area is just by seeing which side of the cup is higher. If you're on a golf course that properly puts in the holes, this should be a pretty accurate indication of the slope.

For me, as a feel player, distance control only comes to me after practice and repetition. Only because I have practiced putting and played golf so much do I develop this sense for speed. When I go to different golf courses with different greens, it is important that you putt on the practice green to reestablish my speeds. Once I get on the course, the only speed considerations I should need to make has to be with slopes. Hitting uphill putts is simple enough; just hit the ball harder than you would if this same putt were flat. What is more interesting is determining the speed for downhill putts. Instead of seeing the hole as my target, I like to choose a spot between my ball and the hole that I would want my ball to stop at if the putt wasn't downhill. I think a lot of amateur golfers tend to only see the hole as their target, which is why they end up blasting their downhill putts way by the hole. In my mind, as long as I get my ball to barely reach this spot, the slope will take care of the rest of the putt.

I use lines that I draw onto my balls, and line up the line on my putter with the line on my ball. As long as I see the line on my putter perfectly extend the line on my ball to create one long line, then I'm lined up square.

This is the perfect read and this is the perfect line.

I think lining up your putts doesn't matter too much. As long as you are completely comfortable with the line when standing over the ball, you basically already made the putt in your mind and you now have a higher chance to make the real putt.