I just changed putters from a light, very cheap blade style to a cheap but very solid and heavy mallet style. ($28ish)
The difference is that it has enabled me to feel the weight of the shot much more with a short swing. I try to limit by backswing as much as possibe, 18 inches back from the ball seems right to me but still as smooth as possible. The shorter it is the less there is a tendancy for me to lose the desired line or twist the head too much (the mallet makes twisting much easier to detect).
With the short swing in mind I've been really tring to aim just past the hole (thanks to some recent threads on this site
). I didn't make it everytime but when short was only short by 1-2ft rather than the 6-15ft short that had been plaguing me.
My putting last round was improved 100%
Out of 9 holes 3 putted once (25 ft). One putted once (3 ft). 2 putted 7 times from all over the green inlcuding one lip out from 12ft so I cant complain really.