has anyone heard of or tried this putting method?

After yet another poor putting performance yesterday, I went to the practice green this morning looking for a quick fix.

I'm watching another guy practicing and notice that he appears to be adjusting his stance based on the length of the putt -- on tap-ins his feet are about six inches apart, and on long putts his feet appeared to be 24 to 30 inches apart. I asked him what was behind the stance, and he said that when lining up the putt he estimates how far back the putter should go, then plays the ball just inside his left toe and places his right foot at the point where he wants his backstroke to end -- with the putter head covering his right big toe and then transitioning to the forward stroke and extending the same distance past the ball. It seemed to work for him -- he was making a lot of short and medium-length putts and his long putts usually stopped within a foot of the hole.

I've been putting so bad the last 6 months that I'm desperate to try anything. If I thought that drinking kangaroo pee would improve my putting, I would try that. But instead I spent about 30 minutes working on this man's method and it seemed to work. I didn't make as many putts as he did, but I didn't have the big misses like I do on the course (leaving 30-foot putts 5 feet short or running them 5 feet by, etc.).

Sadly, due to my changing work schedule I may not play again until mid-March. But I plan to practice maybe twice a week. I'm anxious to see if this will transfer onto the course in the spring.

Anyone else heard of or tried this method? Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

If you end up drinking some kangaroo pee and think it helps, let me know.

I don't know about the stance issue, but I'm going to try it.

It sounds like a decent "quick fix" if somebody is having severe problems with distance control, but I wouldn't stake my putting future to his method. For one, it's still basically guesswork. Do you know what feet 6 inches apart looks like? 12? 24? Most don't with any degree of precision. Any how do you account for slope, green speed, etc? Basically, you are trading "feel" for a rough guide. But if the guide isn't accurate, I'd argue it's no better (and probably worse over the long run) than a player with a finely tuned feel for distance.

Secondly, even if I take my putter head back the appropriate distance, there are still many other factors that affect how far the putt rolls. Speed of the putter head and centered-ness of the strike are two of the most important. Even if I take the putter head back the correct amount, it does me no good if I stub the putt off the toe.

Bottom line for me, is that if this technique gives you confidence, then use it for a few rounds. But don't be surprised if your putting begins to desert you again as quickly as it came.

Ummm....   Even if you go strictly by "feel", stubbing the putter, missing the center, having the wrong putter head speed, etc...  is going to result in a miss.

Since the distance the feet are spread apart is based on a "feel", I am not sure how this is really any different than a guy with a "finely tuned feel for distance."  Both methods rely on feels.  They really on differ in how that player uses the feel.

I probably didn't explain the "right toe" thing very well. It's obvious that the putter head would not be covering or obscuring the right big toe unless you had an extreme inside-out arc. What I meant was that the putter head would be even with the big toe. Since I have only a slight inside-out arc, the heel of the putter is just above or outside the right big toe. Anyway, I've been pleased with how this has worked in two sessions on the practice green. The trick will be to transfer it to the course in the spring.

I remember reading in a golf magazine many years ago a tip based on a mathematical formula -- a 12-foot putt calls for a 12-inch backstroke and 12-inch follow-through, 18-foot putt means an 18-inch backstroke, etc. Even though I was new to the game at the time,I thought this was the dumbest idea I had ever heard. Not only does it assume that all greens are the same speed, but it does not account for uphill, downhill, etc. I think the "right big toe" method would be easier to adjust for those factors. Plus, it doesn't involve math, which is a good thing.

I've been playing for 40+ years and the last year has been by far the worst for putting. I guess that the biggest reason has been lack of practice. The issues are distance control (leaving 40-foot putts five feet short or running them five feet past) and flinching on short putts (the yips). Many times I'm not even hitting the hole from three feet. I did change courses back in the spring and the greens are much faster than what I'm used to, but I'm not using that as an excuse.

I am thinking that the wider the stance, the farther back the putter can go with out opening up too much, although I am just guessing . This would also help the golfer stroke the putter a little faster as needed for the longer distance. Just the opposite with a narrower stance, when shorter distances are involved.

To me it's always been trying to hit the ball with the putter face square to the target line. I think the set up you are describing probably does this, or at the very least helps to accomplish a square hit.

I use the same width stance on all my putts, and use a grip I read about that helps to keep the putter face from opening too much on the back swing. My back stroke is the same up to about < 30' on a level run. Less on slower greens. The longer the putt, the faster I push the putter through the ball to get the distance I need.

My grip is one where I have both my hands some what open on the handle. This makes my hands work against each other, which in turn does not allow the putter face to open/close too much during the back/forward stroke. I even use this grip on my chip shots. It's very old school,  from around the 1900s.