Weird Putter Significantly Improved My Putting

[Big Lex]

On 6/10/2021 at 4:48 PM, Shorty said:

A truer statement has never been made about putters and ball alignment markings.

I would urge every player to try the following experiment:

Mark a line on your ball and prepare for  straights putts from say 6 and 10 feet. 

Now, lie on the green and line up the line with the hole perfectly.

Now, stand up and address those putts in your normal putting stance.

In many cases you will be absolutely shocked at how off-line it now seems. In my case, from six feet it would appear to be 1 foot to one side. At least.( I do wear glasses).

What is just as amazing is how your brain can compensate for this optical illusion/issue/reality.

I make a point of having no ball markings visible when I putt. Unless in the experiment I mentioned  it looks perfect at address, don't use lines on the ball and prettty much  ignore alignment aids on putters. FWIT I consider myself to be a very good putter.

 

Totally agree. I place the ball so all I see is white. And I like a putter which is as plain looking on the top as possible. I remember when the "ball" putters came out, I thought that would be a great design to help alignment, but it didn't seem to make alignment any easier for me. So many variables effect visual perception such that what we see from one position is often very different than what it looks like from another position. I missed short putts for a while because I couldn't get lined up. I even went to a SAM Putt Lab in NJ and had my stroke analyzed to make sure I wasn't doing something weird in the stroke (I wasn't). What seems to work for me is 1) fewest possible lines and markings, 2) line it up from behind, choosing an intermediate target close to the ball, 3) address the ball with putter aimed at the intermediate target, 4) focus on the ball and trust it, 5) stay still and make a smooth stroke. 

Regarding what someone said about short backstroke and accelerating, I have never seen someone putt this way where it looks "athletic" to me. It always looks wrong to me for some reason. When I've tried this, I found it made me have a tendency to direct the putter offline when trying for the acceleration. I just try for smooth back and through. 

[Shorty]

On 6/12/2021 at 5:32 AM, Adam C said:

 Shorter back stroke with more acceleration is usually going to help more golfers than it would hurt.

Great way to push jab your short putts!!!!!