Do you use a line on your ball to aim your putt?

Backsticks said:
Removing your ball from someone else's sight is just another bad habit, time wasting affectation, that has crept into the game from people aping professionals. There is no good etiquette in that at all. You only remove your ball if you wish to clean it, or to remove it if in a band likely to be hit by another player. Not because they dont want to see it.
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Lol.
Walk on the the green, mark it, clean it, put it back when it's your turn, unless it's behind someone else who's putting and they can't see it, or you're all miles from the hole. Been doing that for 30 plus years, no affectation, just the way it's done.

Can't remember the last golfer I saw who never marked his ball.
 
Imurg said:
I'm sure one of the US websites, may have been MGS, did a test with people lining up lines and not lining up lines and figured out that it actually makes bigger all difference to the average golfer, indeed they actually holes more putts without lining up........
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I've found in the past that focusing on getting the line rolling over itself takes away the feel of just trying to hit the ball into the hole.
I think it's worth trying, but as you suggest, can't see how anyone can say it's better or worse across the the board, just down to personal taste, and variable from putt to putt.
 
Manufacture's logo or the little arrows some put on their balls does fine for me, although I won't get a protractor and setsquare from my bag to ensure millimetre-perfect alignment.

Have one mate who is meticulous lining up his drawn on line which can be tedious sometimes.
 
Three said:
Lol.
Walk on the the green, mark it, clean it, put it back when it's your turn, unless it's behind someone else who's putting and they can't see it, or you're all miles from the hole. Been doing that for 30 plus years, no affectation, just the way it's done.

Can't remember the last golfer I saw who never marked his ball.
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Fancy a game? :D
 
KenL said:
I would like the rules to only allow the ball to be replaced once. Once on the ground it's in play. That would stop people wasting time trying re-line up their line.
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Agree with that, with the caveat that you can move it if it interferes with another ball.

I don't use a line. Tried it before, made eff all difference and took longer.
 
I usually use the manufacturers marking to get a rough idea where I want to hit the putt, never been one to over analyse it though, too many players take ages lining up 5 and 6 footers only to miss.
 
I do like to use a line or logo on the ball for putts. Can just concentrate on hitting down the line and helps me to see whether I'm adding side spin to the ball too. Some balls have a decent line or logo already, but if not I use one of those plastic clippy things and a sharpie.

No need to take ages to align a putt, but I think taking some degree of care is part of the game. Less so in social games, but if playing in a comp it's silly to treat shortish putts as tap-ins.

Outside 10 feet, I'm not expecting to drop them all in the cup, so for me there's less pressure. Inside 10 feet, there is much more pressure to make the putt and find the 4 to 10 footers so easy to miss, proper knee tremblers in a tight match on fast greens.
 
I draw terrible lines and it puts me off.


Sometimes use the logo. Other times I will flip the ball over so all I can see is white.

If you haven't tried it then go for it. Don't spend all day.
 
I never line up anything on my ball. Purely because I don't believe it would help. I can't read a green in the first place so pointing a little line on the ball at the hole or on what I reckon the line is isn't going to help with that.

On the side-discussion about marking the ball - when I play with mates and people I know we only mark it if it's near their line, or if they request it. In competitions playing with people I don't know well though, I always mark my ball, just because it removes any doubt over etiquette or whatever, and it's no skin off my nose to mark it each time.
 
I always mark and give my ball a clean

I line my ball up just so I can see if the ball rolls truly when I do putt, line over line as it rolls. It lets me know if I hit the putt like I intended or not.
 
Dasit said:
I always mark and give my ball a clean

I line my ball up just so I can see if the ball rolls truly when I do putt, line over line as it rolls. It lets me know if I hit the putt like I intended or not.
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Every single putt ? How about from a foot or six inches?
 
Liverpoolphil said:
Every single putt ? How about from a foot or six inches?
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When your putting is as dodgy as mine Phil, it can get to that point!

I see it as being quicker to quickly mark, line up and putt, then to not line up and miss a couple of times.
 
No. I choose to remove anything that will cause me to faff about when lining up my putt - and aligning a line on my ball with any 'aimpoint' just means I'd have to tweak my ball (first marking it) any time I change my mind. And if I change my mind and I don't tweak my ball then I introduce uncertainty in my mind around the fact that I haven't tweaked it.

No. I just plonk my ball down any old fashion and so don't have to worry about how anything on the ball is aligned with the line of my putt or sits relative to my putter face.
 
Imurg said:
Never have, never will.
And anyone who does......no problem with you doing it unless you take a week making sure it's lined up exactly the way you want it.
Played a Club Match years ago against a guy who took upwards of 20 seconds doing this on every putt..even tap ins.
Lost the will to live but won the match......
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Exactly this...^^^ I see folk I play with faffing endleessly trying to get the ball sat 'just so' - and then when they change their mind then back to the ball they go. Mark and faff.
 
Hobbit said:
What line? I rarely even mark the ball unless its in someone's way or has dirt on it. Can't be bothered with all the faffing about. I pick a spot a foot in front of the ball, on the target line to the hole, and aim to knock the ball over that.
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Ah - this is another matter though. In my eyes and my learned practice you should always mark and lift if is not you to play as you do not know whether or not the payers to putt before you might want you to. So I always mark and lift my ball as soon as I can whilst the player to putt is prep'ing.
 
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