I was doing a bit of putting around the house today trying to get my alignment issues fixed, and sort of stumbled across a technique that feels very comfortable to me. My typical putting stance/stroke is pretty conventional, eyes over ball, stance inline with the intended start line of the putt. My problem has always been that when I'm over the ball I have no feel for my line. It's like when my eyes are parallel, the line disappears in my head. So I end up starting everything right. I can compensate, but the bottom line is that I have no feel for the direction of the putt, and it really hurts my score.
So I started messing around with a very open putting stance, and playing the ball off my back foot. Something akin to a side saddle stance, but with a conventional putting grip. The stance is about 45 degrees open to the line, just enough to let me use my binocular vision for gauging distance and direction. I started sinking putts left and right. I could see the starting line in my head, and while I don't have the technique down quite yet, my confidence on each putt was way up. Now I know I'm just putting around on a carpet in my house (that's hopefully level), and from inside of 12 feet or so, but I've never felt this comfortable putting. Once it stops raining here I might take it to the practice green and see how it goes
I'm pretty sure the stance is legal, but has anyone good (past or present) ever used a putting stance like this? I know I'm going to look like a fool if I end up sticking with it, but if I can sink putts I don't care what it looks like.















