Working the ball..with the Putter??!!!

[jonanthans]

I got a neat tip yesterday while practicing some putting drills. An older member who is a very good player was watching me lag some long, breaking putts on the practice green. These putts broke about 3/4 of the way to the hole, to the right, breaking about 4-5 feet. He asked me if I knew how to work the ball with the flatstick. I thought he was pulling my leg. He pulls out his putter and showed me that if I closed the face on the putter, but still hit the ball on the same line, the small bit of spin on the ball helped it hold the line better. The break went from 4-5 feet to 18 inches-2 feet! I have never thought of closing and opening the face of the putter to induce any spin. It worked great though! It works really good for putts that are uphill and break to the right, you can spin the ball and actually keep it from drifting downhill and help cozy the ball up close to the flag. He said Trevino was the first person he seen do this..Anyone else heard of this??

[Archie]

I have thought about this a few times but never tried it. Curios to read the posts on this one.

[PiKapp23]

Have I tried it? Not in play.

I have a friend who hits every putt with a bit of right to left spin and he's a good putter. It definitely imparts top spin quicker. The problem I have with it is that is just one more thing to think about when putting. In chipping many players often play a 'hook' chip with that spin because it helps the ball roll out a little bit. I also hit knock-down shots from under trouble with hook spin to allow it to roll more. In putting, though, I just can't see why I would want to do it. I have tried hitting putts that way when practicing my putting, but I've not had much success. I think it's like other methods of putting - stick to one thing and do that the same way repeatedly.

To each his own...

[bigoak]

Bobby Locke hooked all of his puts. Supposedly he was among the best of putters. BUT I don't know if hooking and slicing putts will work with the huge putter heads of today as opposed to the blade putters of the past.

[JaY_B]

I'd stay away from this, the most commonly accepted way to putt consistently is with a square face at impact, imparting the quickest and truest roll possible.

'Working' the ball with your putter will bring too many variables in to a putt, you want to worry about line and speed, nothing else.

However if you ever find yourself bored during a practice session it would be something to try, just for a laugh.