Decent Putters Don't Read This ...

For a while now I've been thinking about my putting, because when it's on I score very low. The problem is that more often than not, its pants and miss with the ball hanging on the lip, left or right. So you start to think that you've got the weight correct, but just missing the line. So this weekend I'm going to record where my ball finishes and then try something crazy ..... I'm going to aim to miss. My theory is that I'm obviously missing the line slightly, so if I do it on purpose, it should drop.

Stupid?, Worth a try?, It can't hurt trying?

Couldn't resist reading this
So you are deliberately aiming to miss; what will you learn when you miss? Either that your aim is good or that you are still missing either left or right. This achieves nothing but I like your style

I'm just a bit frustrated at lipping out too many times, and suspect that it could be my eyes. The weight is correct but they're just not dropping, so start thinking that there's more to it. So if as I suspect that most of these putts are just missing left, its not going to harm if I change my line slightly and go for a putt on the 'wrong line' on purpose. If I'm still just missing no harm done, but if it works, I may have to get glasses that will hopefully allow me to see the correct line in future.

I'll try anything once

Move the ball to be directly below your stong eye.

This will help your line.

SetupDeterminesTheMotion wrote:Move the ball to be directly below your stong eye.

This will help your line.

How do you know I have a strong eye, my eyes may be ok and I'm just a shart putter. I don't think theres anything wrong with my action, as I get a nice roll on the ball and it seems to run true, and the weight is never that bad, even from distance. Clutching at straws ...

If in a round of golf you see a dozen putts lip out, and it happens constantly, I think the only thing thats wrong, is the line. So slightly changing the line to something you think is wrong, can't be worse than missing on a line you think is correct. Its an experiment in desperation

If the ball is hanging on the lip, then you may be putting well but the imperfections in your greens are stopping the ball going in. Try hitting your putts so that they are rolling hard enough at the hole such that, if they miss, they'll end up 18 inches past. That's hard enough to keep the line over spike marks, hole crowns and other bumps.

It also means you don't have to study the line so hard - less borrow will do.

Strong may have been the wrong word.

Move the ball below your dominant eye.

Most people have one eye that is stronger, in my case its my left, but most people its their right.

Unless of course you are perfect & have full 20/20 in both eyes.

agreed with George. at this time of the year theres so many imperfections particualry around the hole. the ball tends to tail of its line as it comes to rest. if your puts are stopping on the edge it means you arent hitting them quite hard enough

Doc,

That's a brillient idea!

I normally spend £80 on a new putter. This could save me a fortune!

Doc,

Have you tried drawing a line on your ball to line up your putts with? I find that the line I pick when standing behind the ball is not the same as the line when I'm standing over the ball. It's obvious really as your perception changes from being behind the ball to over the ball.

When I started doing this, it felt weird, I lined the ball up and then when I stood over it, it looked like I was aiming down the wrong line, but in fact I wasn't. It doesn't really matter on long putts, but it has improved my holing out immensely.

Try this: find an area on the practice green with no break. It can be uphill or downhill, but must be straight. Put a pencil or tee in the ground as your target (much more precise than aiming at the hole), and then another tee or ball marker as your starting spot, say 15 feet away. Then simply try and hit the target. If I use the line on my ball I will hit the pencil, if I just use feel / eyesight, I'll miss the pencil by an inch or two.

Some pros use putting with their eyes closed as a practice drill; one or two even carry that method on to the course with them. Helps focus on the stroke rather than the hole.

My playing partners think I putt with my eyes closed but the results just make it look like that. I have my eyes wide open; "I'm trying, boys, I really am".

I spent a season putting by looking at the hole the entire time. Really helped with getting the weight right, and it helped take your mind off the stroke, however like many putting techniques it lasts for a certain amount of time before you get diminishing returns, or a duff leads to a change of mind.

Raycastleunited,

I have a big alignment problem. When I draw a line on the ball and line the ball up, say from 5 feet, when I stand over the ball the line on the ball appears to be aiming 2 inches wide of the cup (to the left) which is actually 4.25 inches from the centre of the hole. Regardless how much I practice with a line on the ball this never changes.

One thing did work a little. Peg a tight line of string, say 8 feet long, about 2 inches above the ground with one end behind the cup. Putt with the ball under the string. Over the ball the string initially looks bent but because the mid knows it must be straight it did slowly re-train the brain to see the proper line. I tried a similar method by drawing a straight line on the grass but it looked bent when over the ball and my mind just believed the line was not drawn straight.

Thanks guys, food for thought. But if my new theory works, I'll be re-scoring last weekends eclectic and claiming 1 birdie and 12 pars The new in is out.

ScottieD18 wrote:Raycastleunited,

I have a big alignment problem. When I draw a line on the ball and line the ball up, say from 5 feet, when I stand over the ball the line on the ball appears to be aiming 2 inches wide of the cup (to the left) which is actually 4.25 inches from the centre of the hole. Regardless how much I practice with a line on the ball this never changes.

Exactly. Same for me. You just have to learn to trust the line on the ball, even if it looks wrong.

Doc, if you aim to miss and you do (where you intended) then it will confirm that your aim is good (very positive). However subconsciously you'll probably still be trying to hole so there will be conflict in your stroke which can confuse the picture.

First check that your technique is right. Main point being that your putter is square at impact (some people arc more than others but the important thing is that the putter is square through impact). That will get the best roll and if youve picked the line right it will go in unless there are issues with the green (bumps crowns etc. The point made earlier about crowns is a good one especially at this time of year if the greens have been excessively wet (a crown develops within a foot/6 inches of the cup, sometimes it's just subtle but enough to throw a dying ball off.
With regard to lipping...and this goes back to the earlier check on square at impact, if you're not square at impact then the ball will have a certain element of side spin to it, if it hits the wrong side of the hole for the spin it has it will be much more likely to lip out.

raycastleunited wrote:

ScottieD18 wrote:Raycastleunited,

I have a big alignment problem. When I draw a line on the ball and line the ball up, say from 5 feet, when I stand over the ball the line on the ball appears to be aiming 2 inches wide of the cup (to the left) which is actually 4.25 inches from the centre of the hole. Regardless how much I practice with a line on the ball this never changes.

Exactly. Same for me. You just have to learn to trust the line on the ball, even if it looks wrong.

I am right handed and see the line on the ball aiming to the left of the hole. Interested in knowing if the line points the same way for you.

Jas cheers for that I'm going to give it a whirl in all seriousness, and am expecting a real conflict whilst stood over the ball. My brain/eye will pick out one line, and I'll be trying to take a very slightly different one - should be harder than I think. As you say, if I still lip out I'll know my original routine was ok. This would then mean either stroking the ball firmer, or some other issue.

I know it sounds crazy, but when you see the amount of putts that just miss left, you start to wonder. I can't even put it down to spike marks or green conditions as it's gone on a few months. A big % of flat straight putts drop, but its the others that mess the card up. Last weekend really highlighted the problem, because even though I wasn't striking the ball well tee to green, I was 2-putting almost everything, with the 2nd putt being a tap-in. Distance judgement, weight, and roll all seem fine.

One way or the other I'll know within a few holes tomorrow, if its a case of seeing the wrong line, by taking a slightly different route. I'll then need to think about getting my eyes tested ...

ScottieD18 wrote:

raycastleunited wrote:

ScottieD18 wrote:Raycastleunited,

I have a big alignment problem. When I draw a line on the ball and line the ball up, say from 5 feet, when I stand over the ball the line on the ball appears to be aiming 2 inches wide of the cup (to the left) which is actually 4.25 inches from the centre of the hole. Regardless how much I practice with a line on the ball this never changes.

Exactly. Same for me. You just have to learn to trust the line on the ball, even if it looks wrong.

I am right handed and see the line on the ball aiming to the left of the hole. Interested in knowing if the line points the same way for you.

I am right handed too, and when I am standing over the ball, the line aims to the left of the hole. So if I was to ignore the line and putt by feel, I would aim a tiny bit more to the right, and end up missing it to the right.

Raycastleunited,

Yeh, the same as me. I wonder if this is more common? I'll start a new topic asking others to check.

You lot are reading too much into it, probably why you are struggling.

Look at the line, trust your initial assessment, line it up on that and putt.

Simple as that.

Super,

I agree with your point, but when the line is over 4 inches out from 5 feet its very hard to take aim that far wide of the hole from such a short range.

I had the same problem whan I used to play off scratch 20 years ago. I think I have the putter slightly hooded and probably close the face on impact a little which compensates for the initial aim.

The problem when I aim using the line on the ball is that I then have to change everything else which over 20 years has became my putting stroke.

My putting was very good and is still decent. I just have never figured out why my "eye" over the ball is out by so much.

Scottie/Doc

What you're describing sounds exactly like what's described by Paul Hurrion in a tip in Golf International a while back. Can get the PDF from link below:

http://paulhurrion.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/giopen_hurrion-july09.pdf

Super,

I am not struggling, far from it.

My natural alignment was out, but not by much. Enough to lip out more than I should have. Now I have got comfortable with trusting the line on my ball, I rattle the putts in.

Pretty confident I would beat Sergio Garcia in a putting competition!

The good thing is Doc at least it sounds like you're consistent, ok consistently left but at least consistent. If aiming slightly further right works for you then roll with it. If it doesn't or is inconclusive check your alignment. I don't know what your routine is but if you line up square feet and shoulders....what can happen (especially if you checking & double checking the line is that your left shoulder can drift back and your right one forward. All of a sudden your plane is....yup, slightly left of target!!! To check, go through your normal routine then just before you hit the ball get a mate to place the shaft of a club across your shoulders and see where they point.

JAS wrote:To check, go through your normal routine then just before you hit the ball get a mate to place the shaft of a club across your shoulders and see where they point.

Don't do that ... i've a friend who does this on every shot and its very time consuming!!! Actually it's an excellent tip from jas for when on the range.

I had an alignment lesson earlier in the year where my feet were pointing right of the target and my shoulders pointing left simple solution - set up naturally, then pull my right foot and my left shoulder a touch forward. might not be perfectly square but its better than it was

This time of year it would be hard to tell.Main thing is enogh pace to keep the thing on a true line.Be interested to hear the result

Clearly on the practice green, not the course, If I saw that on the course it would do my nut in. Besides being an artificial alignment aid it would be an activity to be penalised.

he does it himself with the club he's using:

sets up... 2 or 3 practice swings... checks his shoulder alignment... resets himself up... one last practice swing... and bangs it into the bundai.

I'm big on getting your eyes over the ball so that when you look down the line of the putt your eyes are on the same line. I had a similar problem
And had a lesson. My eyes were inside the line so I was looking on one angle and the ball line was another.

Also remember that club angle is what dictates where the ball goes, not the path of the head. I use a line on the ball and a putter with a line on it. If these are all in line and you connect that way, in it goes. When I did that (all part of the same lesson) I'm golden!

If it misses I know I closed or opened the face.

For those of you that have difficulty reconciling the line on the ball with where you were aiming once you are over the putt. How about getting rid of the line on the ball and picking a mark on the line of your putt and set yourself up to that? It won't matter how you set up as long as you can get the ball over or at the mark on the green you used to line yourself up.

picking a mark on the line of your putt and set yourself up to that?

This is exactly what I do. I hate seeing a line on my ball or anything for that matter when i'm over a putt, like to see just plain white golf ball from above.

I also don't buy into the eyes over the ball theory, whilst it works for some for others it's a totally unnatural way to putt. Many great putters over the years have had their eyes inside the ball some even outside the ball. It's an individual feel of how the set up feels comfortable.

I know when I set up my eyes are slightly inside the ball but this does not affect how I stroke the ball. As a junior I modelled my putting on Brad Faxon and still follow the drills he did and there was a good video he did where he said eye positon is only important for being in the same place consistently no matter where that is as long as its the same everytime is all that matters.

My theory is some days they drop, some days they don't. When they do i tend to post a decent score. That said, i can't remember the last time i sunk a 20 footer.