Missing putter sweet spot, how much does it matter?

[Zeph]

I've read about people that keep missing the sweet spot of their putter. Some like one putter over another because it's more forgiving. My question is, how much does this matter? You line it up and make the smalles of swings in the sport of golf.Only the upper body moves, should be easy to find the same spot again, or am I mistaken here?

How much does missing the centre matter to the stroke? On a putter with an insert I understand that a miss outside or on the edge of the insert will affect the feel greatly, but for solid mass putters, will a mishit be that much different?

It's very possible that I miss it too, but I've never thought of having a problem with it. If I miss it right or left, I'm aiming wrong, opening or closing the clubface. If I'm far off the centre, the putter will of course deflect to either side and turn the clubhead. Is better forgiveness essentially weight distributed more equally across the clubface so a mishit doesn't have as great chance to turn the clubhead?
If I hit it long or short, my speed is off. I'll try to put some tape on the face to see if I hit the centre.

[Leftygolfer]

It makes it really hard to make putts. First is speed control will be bad if you miss hit and also direction will suffer.

[lumpuckeroo]

It makes it really hard to make putts. First is speed control will be bad if you miss hit and also direction will suffer.

I agree, I read an article about putting from one of the short game guru's. He said that average handicappers will have a spot the size of a nickel on the face of their putter, low handicappers the size of a dime, but the pro's have a spot the size of a pencil eraser.

He said this is one of the main reasons that the pro's are so much better putters then the average player.

[cody west]

if you are actually hitting the center of the face as often as you say you should have less than 30 putts a round. putting isnt all about hitting the center either. i play downhill putts off the toe of the club because it will keep the ball from rolling as far. theres much more to a good putting stroke then hitting the center.
does your ball ever skip off the club face?
does your ball ever seem to not break?
does it feel like your ball ever stops sooner than it should, only when you swing at it, i dont mean you left it short but like you really hit it but it went no where?

putting isnt all hitting the center of the face, its a mix between ballance, club path, how high you take the club, how much forward press you putt on the ball, the right read, your tempo, and much more

plus when you miss on a scotty its not going to be that bad because that putter is so well ballanced its hard to miss.

[golf_junkie27]

I watched Charley Hoffman on "Playing Lessons" speak about this very issue. He stated that it does not matter as much as long as you are making consistent contact somewhere on the putter face. This will allow you to have the consistent ball speed, feel and roll. He averaged 28 putts per round so he just might be onto something.