Putting

[Diggitydog]

I was putting in my basement on a mat last night. I have been working on the putterface square to the arc method that Stan Utley was talking about in his Golf Digest article a couple months back.

I made a gate with 2 balls for the putterhead to pass through. I was hitting the outside ball consistently meaning that I was coming in to out on my swing.

Suggestions?

[iacas]

I was putting in my basement on a mat last night. I have been working on the putterface square to the arc method that Stan Utley was talking about in his Golf Digest article a couple months back.

Why does hitting the outside ball mean you were coming in to out? Maybe you were coming out to in? A gate won't tell you much about the arc of a putting stroke unless you had little gates set up all throughout the arc, not just at impact.

[Diggitydog]

I agree the gate alone won't confirm the direction of the path, but once I started hitting the outside ball I paid attention to what was happening.

The reason I setup the gate was to figure out why I was pushing putts to the right, and I was hitting the putts on the heel side of the sweet spot. Then I paid close attention to the path when I was hitting the gate and could tell I was coming inside to out.

Since then I have putted for about 2 hours on the same mat, and have been able to improve my putter path and keep the face square at impact. I will give it a try on the course but I felt I discovered some things while practicing those straight putts on a truely flat surface. I sometimes second guess myself on the practice green if a putt broke or it was my stroke. Makes it difficult for improvement.

My feelings are to move the putter with my shoulders and to feel like the putter is going straight back. I think I overdid the arc theory of the putter moving Inside to Square at the ball back to Inside on the follow through. It feels like that is still happening but ever so slightly and my best putts are when I feel like I'm coming straight back and straight through.

Did anybody else read that Stan Utley article in Golf Digest 2 or 3 issues ago?

[mgresh]

I read the article and from it gathered that the movement is still in the shoulders (no forearm rotation) but because of the angle from the shoulders, down the putter shaft, to the ball the face opens and closes relative to the target. The only way to truly keep the putter square to the target line throughout the stroke would be if the swing plane were perfectly perpendicular to the ground or if some funny manipulation of the wrists and forearms took place. From experience, I agree it is easy to get caught up in what Utley's technique insinuates and over-emphasize the action but in a short stroke you really will not see much difference in the Ultey method as opposed to, say, the Pelz method. My 2 cents would be to ensure sound fundamentals and keep your head as still as possible. Too much more thinking than that and I lose my focus.

[Rafcin]

putting is one thing in golf where I've really hard time getting mechanical. It's 99% feel. Of course if I have an obvious swing flaw that will prevent me ever to put the ball on the intended line - I might see a teaching pro (or two... or three).

[Diggitydog]

Good points on the previous 2 posts.

One other thing that I've noticed is that I have trouble hitting solid long putts using the Utley method. I feel like I have to take a 1/4 full swing to get any power on the putts that are 40 or 50 feet.