Adding sight line to putter

[colin007]

On 10/7/2017 at 8:49 PM, MarvChamp said:

How does one use a laser, please? Eg, is it attached? And is it the kind of laser used as a pointer available at office supply stores? -Marv

Yup, cheap laser pointer $5 or so.

Take a small piece of mirror (I used a piece I cut from a compact folding makeup mirror) and tape it to the face of your putter. Have a friend point the laser at your putter as you try aiming at the putter as you would for a putt. The friend should be next to the wall and you can stand ten feet away. Don't peek. The laser will be reflected back either square to the laser, or if you don't aim correctly, the laser will appear on the wall behind.

[1puttit]

Auto pinstriping is the easiest way to go and is removeable. Technically this makes the putter non-conforming but if you aren't playing competitively then I wouldn't worry about it. 

[WUTiger]

If anyone wants to put a permanent groove in a putter head as an alignment aid, go to a machine shop and let someone do it with a precision lathe.

Years ago I asked the clubsmith who made a putter for me to put an alignment line in it. He put the putter head in a vice, and used a hack saw cut an alignment line. Unfortunately, the free-hand notching was about 3 degrees off from perpendicular to the clubface. Had to have someone else widen the groove more precisely to square things up.

(Note: This likely won't work on a Spider)

[iacas]

On 10/7/2017 at 8:47 PM, Hacker James said:

You could probably find some at stores like Circuit City

Seems to me that it'd be a helluva lot easier to find a putter he can aim instead of building a time machine to go back to 2008 or so in order to actually shop at a Circuit City.

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Realistically speaking, @samrej, "sight lines" may actually make you aim a putter worse.

One of my college kids had an Odyssey blade with a single line on "top." He aimed it about 10" right of the hole.

With a dot there, he aimed it about a cup out.

Without anything there - same hosel, same head shape, same shaft length, etc. - he aimed it dead center.

[dennyjones]

My sight line was more to aid in depth and visual perception, but it didn't work.   I had my daughter use automotive touch-up paint to add a straight line to the top leading edge but after a few holes, it started to wear.   

@iacas how far is it to Erie, PA?

[samrej]

This has turned into a really interesting conversation. I actually ended up selling the putter for what I had in it, so the sight line question is kind of moot at this point. Sticking with a blade. I seem to have some block in my head with a mallet-style putter that I never feel like it is square. I was thinking a sight line might help with that, but I actually took out my old Ping G2i Craz-E (that my wife now uses) and tried it out and still felt like something was off even though it has tons of alignment help.

I do love the idea of having a machine shop do it and would definitely consider that if I needed a line added in the future.

Edited October 11, 2017 by samrej

[billchao]

1 hour ago, samrej said:

I actually took out my old Ping G2i Craz-E (that my wife now uses) and tried it out and still felt like something was off even though it has tons of alignment help.

As @iacas mentioned, sight lines and alignment aids can actually make your aim worse.

My putter had a bunch of lines and dots on it, part of their gimmick to help you aim it better. I aimed it 4° open. After playing around with various combinations, I altered it to just one single dot. I haven't been on a SAM PuttLab since, but my laser shows I'm a lot closer to aiming it true, if I'm not there already.

[MarvChamp]

Okay, I added pinstripe as an alignment/squaring aid. I will try to give it a bit more testing, BUT I don't think I have solved the problem. I still putt much better with the old Ray Cook Nugget with its heavier head and perpendicular slots. I line it up much better than the blade putter. -Marv

[Hacker James]

25 minutes ago, MarvChamp said:

Okay, I added pinstripe as an alignment/squaring aid. I will try to give it a bit more testing, BUT I don't think I have solved the problem. I still putt much better with the old Ray Cook Nugget with its heavier head and perpendicular slots. I line it up much better than the blade putter. -Marv

I am not optometrist, but it seems to be that since you are looking at the putter head from an angle, there would be some degree of parallax vision (much like looking at a straw through glass of water). This distortion would be more evident if looking at a stripe or line as opposed to a dot. Head weight may also simply be a matter of confidence or perception. Other factors may be dominant eye e.t.c.   I putt much better with my cut down belly which is 400g.