Nose putting

[Hacker James]

Techniques are usually subjective and personal. Some sheer voodoo.  I find that I tend to spend too much time frozen over a putt and it usually just misses on one side or the other and rolls about two feet past the hole.  Lately I've been experimenting with a method that seems to relieve tension. Standing over a putt, I might make two practice swings,  line up the putt. Then I turn my head towards the target,ascribing an imaginary line i wish to take with my nose. I then retrace that line back to the ball and when my nose is directly over the ball, I take the putter back and make the stroke. No time to think about it, no hesitation, just follow the line, make nasal contact (figuratively) and execute. My nose does not extend back beyond the ball however.  I know, sounds ridiculous, but seems to work.  I seem to recall reading something similar years back where the player looked twice to the target, and executed immediately during the second "look" as a trigger move.

Edited October 22, 2016 by Hacker James

[boogielicious]

8 hours ago, Hacker James said:

Techniques are usually subjective and personal. Some sheer voodoo.  I find that I tend to spend too much time frozen over a putt and it usually just misses on one side or the other and rolls about two feet past the hole.  Lately I've been experimenting with a method that seems to relieve tension. Standing over a putt, I might make two practice swings,  line up the putt. Then I turn my head towards the target,ascribing an imaginary line i wish to take with my nose. I then retrace that line back to the ball and when my nose is directly over the ball, I take the putter back and make the stroke. No time to think about it, no hesitation, just follow the line, make nasal contact (figuratively) and execute. My nose does not extend back beyond the ball however.  I know, sounds ridiculous, but seems to work.  I seem to recall reading something similar years back where the player looked twice to the target, and executed immediately during the second "look" as a trigger move.

Try not taking any practice swings. I don't. I tested this a few years back at a practice green. I found my accuracy and distance control was better without a practice swing. I find it just distracts me. If I do take any to loosen up, it is while others are setting up to putt.

I pick my line and start direction from behind the ball, walk up, line up, settle my feet, look down at my ball, do a small forward press and putt. All I focus on after looking at the ball is the start direction. Try it.

[Ernest Jones]

I like to "see" the line. I don't use my nose, but I do like to trace the line with my eyes and "see" the putt travel the line and drop. I have played so infrequently this year that I can't say I have a routine, which is bad, I used to have a very consistent putting routine. 

[Hacker James]

Yep. In practice I make about five in a row from four feet into the bell end of a piece of cut off grey PVC which is just barely larger than a golf ball. It's only four feet owing to the small bath carpet I have.  I may buy one of those commercial putting practice strips with ball return for outside (or walk about four blocks to Reidy Creek executive course and use their putting green).

[Ernest Jones]

Luckily, due to my aim point knowledge and understanding of the proper acel/decel profile, I'm still typically the best putter in my group even with the very infrequent play this year. 

[Patch]

I have an orange golf ball that I putt to instead of using a hole. The smaller target seems to help me. The idea is to hit the orange ball. I just drop it on the green, walk a few steps away, and drop my practice balls in various places. Then practice my reads. 

This works especially well when the practice greens are crowded, and I also use it for chipping practice. 

[Hacker James]

@Patch  Had to do a double take on your post. At first I thought you had said "Orange whip".Now that would definitely require some finesse.

[natureboy]

6 hours ago, Hacker James said:

Yep. In practice I make about five in a row from four feet into the bell end of a piece of cut off grey PVC which is just barely larger than a golf ball. It's only four feet owing to the small bath carpet I have.  I may buy one of those commercial putting practice strips with ball return for outside (or walk about four blocks to Reidy Creek executive course and use their putting green).

Could be just that your focus on the details of the new method has you in a tighter routine and more tuned in to process and less focused on the outcome?

[Hacker James]

@natureboy  Probably. Like nearly everything, usually short lived.

[natureboy]

11 minutes ago, Hacker James said:

@natureboy  Probably. Like nearly everything, usually short lived.

Don't get me wrong, potential value in tracing / being conscious of the arc has potential value and it sounds a bit like you're applying a version of 'the quiet eye'

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/11/what-athletes-see/416388/

 

[Hacker James]

42 minutes ago, natureboy said:

Don't get me wrong, potential value in tracing / being conscious of the arc has potential value and it sounds a bit like you're applying a version of 'the quiet eye'

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/11/what-athletes-see/416388/

 

Hmm, never head that before. I can relate to that somewhat. Also, there is "zen" golf whereby you visualize the outcome of a specific action as a dress rehearsal in the mind's "eye". 

[No Mulligans]

8 hours ago, Patch said:

I have an orange golf ball that I putt to instead of using a hole. The smaller target seems to help me. The idea is to hit the orange ball. I just drop it on the green, walk a few steps away, and drop my practice balls in various places. Then practice my reads. 

This works especially well when the practice greens are crowded, and I also use it for chipping practice. 

It only looks like a smaller target. If you miss or barely knick the ball that putt probably wouldn't have gone in a golf hole. It takes about the same amount of precision to putt into a hole as it does to hit a golf ball as a target. As such, I agree that it makes a good substitute when the practice green is crowded. 

[dchoye]

On October 22, 2016 at 0:43 AM, Hacker James said:

Techniques are usually subjective and personal. Some sheer voodoo.  I find that I tend to spend too much time frozen over a putt and it usually just misses on one side or the other and rolls about two feet past the hole.  Lately I've been experimenting with a method that seems to relieve tension. Standing over a putt, I might make two practice swings,  line up the putt. Then I turn my head towards the target,ascribing an imaginary line i wish to take with my nose. I then retrace that line back to the ball and when my nose is directly over the ball, I take the putter back and make the stroke. No time to think about it, no hesitation, just follow the line, make nasal contact (figuratively) and execute. My nose does not extend back beyond the ball however.  I know, sounds ridiculous, but seems to work.  I seem to recall reading something similar years back where the player looked twice to the target, and executed immediately during the second "look" as a trigger move.

In the world of putting if it works I would just carry on 

I don't think I can "nose " putt like that 

I do something similar.  I trace the line with my eyes and set my set along the target line. My rear eye is dominant and as my eyes are tracing the line from my AP to the ball I like to keep my eyes behind and beneath the ball 

Then once me eyes trace back to a the line behind the ball then I automatically start my backstroke.  This seems to work well with my odessay #9 putter or when belly wedge .