Do you hover or ground your putter at address?

[Ernest Jones]

I have been playing around with my new Yes! putter and have found that I have a much more fluid back swing when I don't ground the putter at address. So what's the consensus here on the Trap?

[namkrats]

I ground my putter it helps with alignment and it's what I feel comfortable with.

[GaijinGolfer]

I ground my putter.  Ive played around with hovering it and got better results with grounding it.

[Kieran123]

Ground it. Helps me 'lock it in' with the starting line of my putt.

[Danattherock]

I rest the sole of the putter on the ground. Then I do something most folks don't. A few small taps on the ground. Putter goes up and down, 2-3x, up and down maybe 1/4" each time, pretty quickly, then I take the putter back.

Read this for a bit more on that: http://puttingzone.com/MyTips/bounce.html

It is about tapping the ground with the putter and is one of the many excellent articles in his "tips" section. For me, this tip gave me the smooth take away I never had. It also serves as an excellent trigger. I learned it during a lesson with David Orr in NC. Great tip and many pros have done it as referenced in the article.

[Cracker24]

I ground my putter. I'm guessing that what you have found is that when you have your putter on the ground at address when you start your backstroke the putter can jump in a direction because of the sudden movement after having your putter resting on the ground. Whereas when the putter is hovering you feel the weight of the putter better and am able to take the putter back smoothly.

I have suffered from this as well so am curious to see some of the responses here, however i don't think hovering the putter is the answer as like a previous poster stated it is extremely difficult to accurately line up your putter. Two things that have worked for me as opposed to hovering the putter at address are:

1. Keeping my wrists really firm on the way back to keep the head under control, a problem i have encountered doing this is that it tends to encourage a straight back-straight through stroke as opposed to an arc stroke which is what i'm going for.

2. Not getting tense and stiff over the ball, you can do this by either standing over the ball for a very short amount of time e.g Aaron Baddely, this should stop you from getting tense over the ball. If this doesn't work you could try having a sort of movement over the ball such as bobbing the putter up and down e.g. Charlie Wi (i think?)

Hope that helps.

[B-Con]

I ground it. I've experimented both ways, but my setup and initial take-away don't feel as solid and set if I'm only hovering. Recently I've experimented with grounding and then lifting by a millimeter-ish to some sort of hybrid grounded-hovering state. Not sure what I think of it yet.

[Wingover718]

I've tried both ways, but currently ground my putter. I find it helps me to keep my hands tension free. I also eliminated all practice strokes per David Stockton's Putt to Win. The two together have helped me get off the green quicker with less putts on the card.

[glock35ipsc]

Originally Posted by Danattherock

I rest the sole of the putter on the ground. Then I do something most folks don't. A few small taps on the ground. Putter goes up and down, 2-3x, up and down maybe 1/4" each time, pretty quickly, then I take the putter back.

I do this exact same thing.  After I have the head aimed where I want it, I'll then check my grip pressure, then a a few taps, and go.

[Mr. Desmond]

I ground it, tap it, keep on moving my body subtly until I'm ready to take it back -- then I hover it and make the stroke.

And yes, I've gone without a practice stroke as Stockton advocates. Of course, the purpose of all this subtle moving and no practice strokes is to reduce tension and have a relaxed stroke.

[Gioguy21]

with my 35" putter, i tap...with my 50" long putter, i ground it. helps me lock my body in place, then pendulum away.

[Titleist695mb]

i ground my putter as well but now that you guys mention it ill have to try on the practice green with hovering!? grounding it like alot of others said just helps with alignment really. never had ball problems with ball movement after address so... never thought there would be a need to change? will let you know what i think when i try it

[Zeph]

I have always grounded it, but since I struggled with wobbling putting head for some time I tried hovering it and had good results with that approach. A combination is perhaps the best. The problem was that I used to let the entire club rest on the ground without much support. So when I started my backswing, I often wobbled the clubhead in that transition from letting the club rest on the ground and picking it up. Once I got the clubhead moving, the wobble affected the entire stroke. I haven't played golf for some time now, but one of the things I'll be working on at the green is to find the best way to hold the club at address. It'll either be hovering it or barely lifting it off the ground to avoid the transition issues.

[MiniBlueDragon]

I'm a tapper. I tend to ground the club behind the ball, lift it a little, ground it again, lift it a little and then swing. It gives me the feeling of knowing how high above the ground the putter is and therefore make a truer strike. Psychology is everything with putting.

[ohiolefty]

I ground it to set up, then I hover it before I make the stroke. My whole putting routine is very quick so you might not even notice it if you played with me.

[tshapiro]

I hover it. In my mind, if I ground it then I need to lift it to start my swing and I could hit the ground on the foward swing. If I hover it, than its just a push back and a swing through.

[Dylanl]

I ground my putter. I played around with both last year and I seem to putt better when I ground it.

[nututhugame]

Ground it. Otherwise I build up too much tension. I do all my aligning and such while it's grounded so that I can keep my hands relaxed until it's time to go.