Putting Alignment

[Mr. Desmond]

Not knocking what works for others. I said what works for me and why. I see the pros putting the ball down very deliberately on the green when putting. I assume they are lining up the ball with the line on the ball. I have heard some say that in fact.

I took the "shoot from the hip" statement as a knock.

It's not, You're just not comfortable with it.

[Brian W]

Don't do it. In our testing, virtually nobody can even line that line up very accurately.

I also agree with this.  Depending on the lines/dots (if any) on your putter, you are making it more difficult by adding another thing to line up.  Keeping it simple works the best for me.  I have a single line on the putter and use that to point where I want it to go.  The ball just gets in the way of my putting stroke

[inthecup]

By having them line up the line and then checking how well they aimed where they thought they were aiming.

The vast majority can't hit the same spot very well at all.

Also, adjusting how far to the left or right you put the ball in your stance (and an inch or two matters quite a bit) changes your aim because it changes where the ball sits relative to your dominant eye. So that's the "fix" if you aim poorly, yet you can't expect to be very consistent at that, either, particularly on various slopes.

I use a line and I am pretty good at starting the ball on my line.  I like the line because after I choose the line with Aimpoint, point the ball line at it the only thing I have to concentrate on is speed.

I'll do some testing but my thoughts are if you can't aim to that line you can't aim line or not.  I am always willing to learn so I will do some testing on my own.

[iacas]

I'll do some testing but my thoughts are if you can't aim to that line you can't aim line or not.

We've found that not to be the case. To be clear, we've found people who can't line up to the line on their ball very well (regardless of where it's aiming), yet who can aim (with a proper fit) to a spot 20 feet away.

Plus, again, you might not actually be able to line the line up on your ball to where you think you're aiming it.

[Jeremie Boop]

I use the line on the ball primarily as an indicator of whether I hit the ball straight/pushed/pulled. If I hit the putt and the line runs true then I know that I at least hit the line I intended.

[inthecup]

We've found that not to be the case. To be clear, we've found people who can't line up to the line on their ball very well (regardless of where it's aiming), yet who can aim (with a proper fit) to a spot 20 feet away.

Plus, again, you might not actually be able to line the line up on your ball to where you think you're aiming it.

OK I see what you are saying.  Beyond creating some elaborate testing rig how do you tell what you can and can not do well?

[Bman]

In my case, lining up the ball really helps my putting.  I've started lining the ball a couple of years ago and I've sunk a lot more putts since then.  However I only use the line on the ball to line up the putt for sinkable putts, like within 10 feet with reasonably straight line.  Longer distance I just pick a mark on the green in front of the ball as my line.

When I play casual rounds like going out with customers, I don't line up the putts and I miss most short putts (3-5 feet) and rarely ever sink 5-10 feet.  But when I line up my putts when playing competitive golf with buddies, I rarely miss short putts and sink a good percentage of 5-10 feet putts.

I can't recall where I heard from, but someone said that we all have a dominant eye which causes your aim line to be slightly off when  standing over the ball in the putting position.

In my opinion, it probably only takes an extra 15 seconds to line up the line on the ball to where you want to putt, but when you save an additional putt, then you save a lot more time time than 15 seconds, you're actually speeding up your time on the green.  But on the other hand, people shouldn't try to line up a 30 foot putt as there's usually no hope in hell to sink it, as I said earlier, I only line up the ball if I think that the putt is sinkable.

It also may just be the state of mind, because I'm more confident that I have the right line, the putting stroke is better, resulting in a true roll that gets the ball into the hole.  Either way, if it helps, why not.

[Ernest Jones]

Made the commitment to not use my line last night. Built up some confidence in choosing the right intermediate target. I putt quite well using the line but learning how to spot putt with an intermediate is really speeding up my process. My preshot routine on putts is a bit too lengthy to begin with so this is a nice change. Trying to putt more like Rory, at least in terms of process. Next step is to eliminate the practice strokes. I think my feel for weight is good enough that I can just go with my instincts. I've also been leaving putts short lately and I think it's because I'm over thinking the practice strokes instead of just stroking it down the line.

Took three rounds to fully make the change but it's done and I couldn't be happier with the results. Eliminated the use of a line completely and have eliminated the practice strokes on all but the longest of lags. Results have been great and I definitely feel like more of them are dropping. It helps that I have a putter I can aim now.

[dsc123]

I used to use the line all the time.  I would point the line to my aimpoint, then standing behind it I would use my putter to visually extend the line to my aimpoint.  When standing over the ball, I'd be sure the line on my putter matched the line on the ball.  It made me feel like my aim was "set" and I could focus entirely on speed.

Anyway, I don't use it anymore, except for an occasional short putt.  I stopped for two reasons.  First, sometimes I had to adjust the ball 2 or 3 times to get it right and that was annoying and time consuming.  This seems to be what OP was talking about and I really don't know how to fix that.  It seems like the pros can line it up correctly in one try in about 2 seconds.  Second, when standing on a side slope, the line often looked way off to me.  I think its because my eyes were vertically over the top of the ball but the line was opposite the slope, which is not directly up.

I've tried the method of using a spot a foot in front of the ball, but I have trouble keeping my eye on that spot when I move from behind the ball to over the ball and I prefer to focus on speed/distance.  Now I just line up to my aimpoint, and focus on a smooth stroke and the proper distance/speed.