Bringing putter back in a straight line

**svchiefs19** · February 15, 2009

when i begin my putting stroke, i have a tendency to bring my putter back off line. so as i bring the putter back it gets a little closer to me or a little farther away from me. anybody have any drills to help with this?

**squaddie** · February 15, 2009

Assuming you have a pendulum stroke, if practicing outdoors you could put some long tees in the ground along either side of the path you want to swing back and forward on and around the ball, so if you go off the path you will hit the tees. Four tees might be sufficient, two immediately off to the sides of the ball and two more about two inches behind.

If indoors perhaps you could place some small, empty golf ball boxes on the carpet or putting matt in place of tees.

The idea is to have something your putter will contact with if you get off the path. You should practice with the constraints until you no longer hit them, which signifies you have "grooved" the putter stroke.

***iacas*** · February 15, 2009

Figure out whether you putt in an arc stroke (most likely) or are one of the very, very few people who can putt straight-back/straight-through.

Tips change based on that.

**ryohazuki222** · February 15, 2009

Figure out whether you putt in an arc stroke (most likely) or are one of the very, very few people who can putt straight-back/straight-through.

Written like that........ are their really so few people that putt straight back and straight through?

**Jenks465** · February 15, 2009

I've got a big block of wood that I place on the putting green when working on the shorties (2-8ft)! Works the same as the tee drill, i put it by the toe if i'm taking the putter outside and by the heel if coming too much inside! Helps with alignment as well. In my experience most of the best putters (should say holers out!) do take the putter pretty straight back and through on putts of inside 6 or 7 feet but longer than that and it gets v. difficult!

***iacas*** · February 15, 2009

Written like that........ are their really so few people that putt straight back and straight through?

Don't want to get too far off topic, but yeah. It comes down to two things:

1) A lot of people think that they putt SBST when really they putt in an arc. 2) I personally believe, partially based on my own experience but primarily based on simple geometry and talks with Scotty Cameron, Stan Utley, Dean Thompson, and many others who know putting that for 99+% of people, an arc stroke makes sense for every putt. In other words, if you putt SBST you're either kidding yourself or likely hurting your ability to putt well.

**kfowler** · February 15, 2009

One drill I like is to take a wedge and stick under your arms across your chest just above your elbows. Now putt. This will keep everything in sync.

**aedoue** · February 15, 2009

...I personally believe, partially based on my own experience but primarily based on simple geometry and talks with Scotty Cameron, Stan Utley, Dean Thompson, and many others who know putting that for 99+% of people, an arc stroke makes sense for every putt.

From experience, I know this is true for me. I am interested to hear the reasoning you have learned for why it is so. Do I need to start another thread?

***iacas*** · February 15, 2009

From experience, I know this is true for me. I am interested to hear the reasoning you have learned for why it is so. Do I need to start another thread?

We've had threads discussing this already... Let's keep this one on the OP's topic, please.

**Stacey_E** · February 16, 2009

I have to agree that we don't take it SBST like we think we do. But I do believe that inside a certain distance (8 feet for some, 3 feet for others) SBST can help keep the ball on line. I find that with my stroke, to concentrate on this "feeling" is a good idea on those shorter putts.

I'd say do these two things:

1) Lay down a string, club shaft, newspaper (if indoors) or whatever to evaluate your putter head's path relative to a straight line.

2) Play around with your grip "ad infinitum" until you get the path you want. Since putting is quite an individualistic aspect of the game, don't be afraid to try any and all grips that get the club head going in the direction you want it to go without any manipulation on the part of your hands and wrists.

Good Luck!

**DaveLeeNC** · February 17, 2009

when i begin my putting stroke, i have a tendency to bring my putter back off line. so as i bring the putter back it gets a little closer to me or a little farther away from me. anybody have any drills to help with this?

If you try to achieve SBST (at least for shorter putts) with anything other than a pure shoulder rocking motion, you are probably doomed to failure.

But from a drill perspective, Mel Sole at the Ritson-Sole Golf School has a very specific methodology that he suggests. http://tinyurl.com/cg3qe5 dave

**CPHoya** · February 17, 2009

Two things.

1) I noticed, for me, that when I had a full-offset Anser-style putter (Newport 2 for me) I had a harder time taking it back on the proper path than I did with a half-offset Anser-style putter (Mizuno BC1 for me - Scotty makes the 1.5 in half-offset, I believe). I was told this had something to do with my being right-eye dominant.

2) I also noticed that my putting improved when I improved my putting setup, alignment, and grip. The grip, above all else, is key in putting. Interestingly, I'm still more comfortable with half-offset putters, but I don't jerk full-offset putters around anymore.

I'd pick up The Art of Putting by Stan Utley and take it to heart. It will definitely help you. As a secondary solution, check out different putters until you find a comfortable one.

Keep in mind that it's okay for the putter to move a little closer to you on the back swing, because that's the first half of a "gated" or arcing swing path (nothing wrong with that). It just shouldn't be a dramatic inside move. So don't try to make a perfect straight line, but instead try to make a consistent slightly arcing path.

Straight Back Straight Through ("SBST") putting is a total joke IMO, both because almost all adamant supporters of SBST don't even putt SBST and because it requires path correction with the wrists and/or hands.

**DaveLeeNC** · February 18, 2009

Two things.

IMHO, that just isn't an accurate statement. If you can rock your shoulders up/down then you can putt SBST without compensations.

Depending on how aggressively you accelerate through your stroke on long putts you can end up with a a stroke length that might feel awkward as a pure SBST putting stroke. So most SBST putters do 'gate it' a bit on longer putts. dave

**TommyD69** · February 18, 2009

1) I think your putter is too light... Get a putter that is heavier so centrifugal force will keep your path more on line.

2) STOP looking at your putter head while you are putting... Look at the front of the ball.

3) Swing path doesn't matter as much as you think. Take a look at Billy Mayfair swing a putter. It has more moves in it that Jim Furyk's golf swing.

4) Just put the ball in the hole

***iacas*** · February 18, 2009

IMHO, that just isn't an accurate statement. If you can rock your shoulders up/down then you can putt SBST without compensations.

I disagree, unless either:

a) your neck is horizontal, so you can rotate about your spine and produce a SBST stroke. b) you work in "backwards shoulder shrugs" as part of your "rocking". Rocking your shoulders implies you're rotating them about an axis. The only real axis you've got is your spine (between your shoulder blades). If that's not horizontal, you've got to compensate in order to make a SBST stroke. The most natural stroke is just to rock your shoulders about your spine (between the shoulder blades), which will produce an arc stroke unless, again, your neck is horizontal. There's a teeny bit more on this here . Also, I think the fact that everyone putts in an arc eventually is more proof that the arc stroke is best. At what point do you switch from SBST to arc in the stroke? Why should you have to do that? And what do you do: swing back SBST for the first 18" and then suddenly arc inside?

**DaveLeeNC** · February 18, 2009

I disagree, unless either:

It really isn't hard to rock your shoulders up/down. Take a 4' dowel rod, hold it across your shoulders, and stand in a door way (in your putting stance) and use the movement of the dowel relative to the doorway to 'measure' your shoulder movement. You can get any angle you want (including up/down).

That is both the good news (it can be done without hand/wrist compensation) and the bad news (you can do it wrong quite easily). dave

***iacas*** · February 18, 2009

It really isn't hard to rock your shoulders up/down. ... You can get any angle you want (including up/down).

It is difficult. To putt SBST you have to manipulating your shoulders by not only moving them "up and down" but also by pushing them backwards (towards your spine) and forwards (away from your spine), or moving your head, or compensating in still other ways (i.e. with the wrists to keep the face square).

Good luck doing any of those compensations consistent. The consistent, easy way to putt is to rotate your shoulders about the axis of your spine.

I disagree, unless either:

Watch these two videos. Dean's fit a lot of pros and knows what he's talking about. 99% of the pros he's fit use an arc stroke. I think he said he can count the pros that use SBST inside of 30 feet on one or two hands, and even those few pros arc outside of that.

http://tinyurl.com/bq9ocq (specifically about 2:50 in to about 4:00) http://tinyurl.com/bs2lvf (from 1:35 or, even better, from about 2:27 to the end) This discussion's been had elsewhere . If you want to continue this, please revive that thread. No more "arc/straight" discussion in this thread. (This goes for me too, of course.)

**Stacey_E** · February 18, 2009

when i begin my putting stroke, i have a tendency to bring my putter back off line. so as i bring the putter back it gets a little closer to me or a little farther away from me. anybody have any drills to help with this?

To get back to the original post.....

I can't disagree with or disprove any of the statements made previously. Why is that? Two very important reasons.... 1) as I stated before putting is very individualistic 2) JMHO putting is a FEEL stroke. If you are over thinking, evaluating angles, disecting the putting stroke, etc...you miss the point of the putting stroke....to get the ball in the hole. I completely understand the need and want to match the full swing, chips, pitches (whatever) to whatever model you prefer to follow. But the putting stroke is the only shot where you expect that you might actually put the ball in the hole. The best putters I have seen, regardless of their intended path, all have 2 things in common. They can read a green and putt that line either into or very near the hole. Just a quick thought.

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