Pushing Putts right

[inthecup]

I got a velvet putting loft board.  It allows you to easily see if the loft of your putter is correct.  It also allows you to see the putt path for a few feet.

I am putting inside and I push most putts right with multiple putters.  I know this is my miss, I am wondering how to go about correcting it?

Any suggestions?  I tried opening my stance and that does not seem to help.

[RH31]

Keep fiddling with your setup. Try to get your eyes directly over the line of the putt.  Also make sure you sole the putter very lightly before you take it back.

Two key setup flaws I have are;

 1-standing so tall that my eyes are inside the line of the putt which sometimes leads to a push.

2- soling the putter too heavily which leads to the putter moving outside or inside my correct backswing line....pushes or pulls are the result

[nycgopher]

Just like a full swing you probably need a video to get accurate help. I know that for a while I actually opened my stance and intentionally hit a push and it worked out really well for me as it was very consistent on hitting my start line. Post a video and see if someone can offer advice.

[Patch]

Have you tried having the ball a little more forward in your current stance to give your putter face time to square up a little more?

Perhaps a little stronger putting grip?

[Hacker James]

my putts seem to finish left. The distance is dialed in pretty good though. One handed seems to help. I have mentioned before about a visual problem I have and I am able to control one handed very well. Its just that the misses are about a 1/4 cup left, or if a high side break, then short.

[inthecup]

Great suggestions guys.

 

I have been fiddling with things.  The loft of my putter is dialed in pretty well, I don't want to change where it is in my stance if I can avoid it.  I tried opening my stance and it did not help?

I was trying to putt "straight" back, when I allowed a more natural shoulder rock and allowed the club to come inside a bit it seemed to straighten things out.  I only saw this over one day so I'll continue to experiment.

[Hacker James]

another thing. Although contrary to what many have said, I find that hitting slightly down gives me better roll than hitting slightly up. 

[inthecup]

I have a velvet putting loft board.  It makes it clear if the loft of the putter is correct.  Mine is.  I suspect yours is not if you feel you need to hit down on it.  Probably too much loft.  If it works though it works.

Here is a video that explains the board.

 

[Hacker James]

10 minutes ago, inthecup said:

I have a velvet putting loft board.  It makes it clear if the loft of the putter is correct.  Mine is.  I suspect yours is not if you feel you need to hit down on it.  Probably too much loft.  If it works though it works.

 

Here is a video that explains the board.

Velvet Putting Board

well, yes I understand that. It;s not so much the loft of my putter(s) as it is the idea of putting top spin, that is to get the ball rolling immediately by hitting very slightly down above the equator. As you say,  if it works, it works.  I do like the idea of a velvet board, you can clearly see any skipping.

edit: I can also see the reasoning of hitting upwards to achieve the same thing, it would depend on where on the ball you make contact.

Edited February 10, 2017 by Hacker James

[dchoye]

Pulling and pushing is a common problem for me  My solution is different for pulls vs pushes 

For pulls I tend to turn my head prematurely and want to watch the ball go to the hole   I try to hold my head steady and track the ball with my eyes listen for the ball go into the cup

For pushes my alignment is too open   So I try to use an alignment aid in the putter and/or line on ball to help align my eyes so they are along the ball-target line   

This requires a minimum pre putt routine 

 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Hacker James said:

another thing. Although contrary to what many have said, I find that hitting slightly down gives me better roll than hitting slightly up. 

It doesn't. So either:

• You're not actually hitting down on it.
• You're putting better by hitting down on it, but you still stand to improve quite a bit by correcting that.

Hitting down adds backspin. Backspin isn't great for your distance control OR keeping the ball online. You're also likely pushing the ball slightly into the ground causing it to effectively bounce out of the depression in which it sits. None of that is good.

1 hour ago, Hacker James said:

well, yes I understand that. It;s not so much the loft of my putter(s) as it is the idea of putting top spin, that is to get the ball rolling immediately by hitting very slightly down above the equator.

That doesn't work that way. The only way to hit above the equator (with the face of the putter) is to have the face pointing down (negative loft). Then it won't matter what your "attack angle" is - you'll hit above the equator. Consider this graphic which shows simply "hitting the inside part of the ball."

Where you strike the ball (if it's with the clubface and not the bottom corner or something) is entirely a function of the loft at impact.

Hit down on the ball with any loft higher than that (i.e. AoA is -3°, loft is -1°) and you get backspin. You can hit down on the ball (-1°) and have -5° of loft, which would hit the ball above the equator, but then you're just punching the ball into the ground, and that's not good either.

Ideal numbers tend to be: 2-3° AoA, 1-2° loft.

1 hour ago, Hacker James said:

As you say,  if it works, it works.

Feel ain't real.

1 hour ago, Hacker James said:

edit: I can also see the reasoning of hitting upwards to achieve the same thing, it would depend on where on the ball you make contact.

Again, where you make contact with the ball is purely a matter of loft. Good putts are struck ever so slightly below the equator (i.e. with a little positive loft).

[Groucho Valentine]

This was a particular quirk to me back in the day, but perhaps it can be useful here. I used to push alot of putts out to the right too. I found out i was moving the club head out and away from the path i was aiming down, and closing the face at the same time. Back through impact i used to cut across the ball and flare my hands open in some kind of lame attempt to square it at the last second..  Wow.. 

For me, i cured this with focusing in on something on the ball to get me set, ( a dimple, piece of dirt, whatever) and using a simple forward press that functioned as the trigger for getting things going.  Then i just rock my shoulders back and though. No hands, no forearms. It was a simple fix, and it just seems to work. Putting has been a strength of my game ever since.  Now when i miss putts, it seems like i almost put hook spin on them.