Do you use the line on your ball?

mashleyR7

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Nope, I prefer to look down to a pure white surface. I've looked at the break and line i want to hit it on and made my choice of where the put is going.
I don't want to have the extra worry of lining up a line, to the line of the put, incase it's wrong and affects me making a good stroke at the ball. My putting is good so I don't see a line will help.
 

shortgame

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Surprised by the number of people who don't think they can accurately line up a ball with a line on it to a target yet think they can line the putterhead and ball up without it...
 

Roops

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I’ve recently started using it and it’s definitely helping me.

Pick the line. Line it up. Line the putter to the line and hit it.

It makes every putt effectively straight and stops me thinking about it over the ball.

Also gives a good indication of how the ball is rolling.

Exactly this. I don't take any practice strokes when I putt, so feel comfortable using that time to line up and go. Also, find that once I have the aim sorted then I am more comfortable letting the pace take care of itself. It's the putts that are hard to read that make pace much more difficult to judge.
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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Nope, After cleaning the ball on the greenm I replaceit with as much of a blank side of the ball facing me as possible.

I think those that have lines on their balls are one of the major contributing factors to slow play. Mark the ball clean it, find a line, replace the ball, few steps back check alignment, squat, move ball a barely noticeable amount, step back, check alignment, repeat process, once possible twice more, remove marker, change mind, replace marker, go through whole process again.

Okay that maybe slighlty exagerated, but the prinicple remains, up and down 2 or 3 times before actually hitting the ball.

No exaggeration - there are such obsessives in our Saturday rollup...
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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I always line up to a spot/mark a couple of feet or so away, if you can't line up your ball line to that then there is something seriously wrong with your eyesight. It should never needed multiple adjustments and that person must have a dozen other things that slow their game down .

Personally I've never seen anyone adjust their ball once they have put it down on the green, I'm either lucky to not play with these people or its another myth of the game.

You are lucky
 

Capella

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If that was how all 'liners' behaved - except some don't. With some there is serious faffing about

The problem is not 'liners' ... it's faffers. Faffers will drive you crazy, no matter what routine they choose. It's a character trait. If they wouldn't line the ball up, they'd faff over the putt in a different way, taking equally long.
 

ScienceBoy

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Surprised by the number of people who don't think they can accurately line up a ball with a line on it to a target yet think they can line the putterhead and ball up without it...

The next most viable method I would use if there was no line would be to just omit that step from my routine and line myself up with the spot I picked about 2-3 feet in front of the ball.

Using the line is just a way of making sure you don’t lose that point and makes it easier for some to focus on getting the pace right.
 

shortgame

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the problem is not 'liners' ... It's faffers. Faffers will drive you crazy, no matter what routine they choose. It's a character trait. If they wouldn't line the ball up, they'd faff over the putt in a different way, taking equally long.

👆👆👆this 👍👍👍
 

Green Bay Hacker

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I'm a crap putter. By drawing a line on the ball it has given me confidence that I am at least starting the ball on what I perceive to be the correct line.
 

HomerJSimpson

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Play with a couple of guys in the roll ups who are almost OCD in ensuring the line is perfectly lined up to the point where others have looked at their own putts and played and they are still lining it up. Words have been spoken as whatever they are doing it's taking too long. I did use the line but with my aimpoint (sorry) read I'll pick a starting point just in front of my ball on the chosen line and prefer to simply hit the ball over that
 

duncan mackie

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From responses here I'm clearly the only person who doesn't mark their ball at all, let alone try and align something somehow with something I'm not even sure about (the correct line of my putt).

Clearly there will be the odd occassion when I do mark my ball (as a I play a lot of 4bbb matchplay) but, in general, I will finish anything that interferes with another players stroke straight away.
 

Chisteve

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I add a line to my balls and line up for putting - however sometimes over ball will change my mind but would never change position of ball

Once I've lost one of my brought balls I use pick ups unless in a comp, these generally do not have lines
 

PIng

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I use the line on the ball for anything more than a couple of feet, unless I'm so far away that pace is more important than direction. I also do it on the tee as well!
 
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