Lining up a putt

[Foxholer]

I found lining up with line or label introduced more doubt than it reduced (was it really pointing at where I wanted it to point; was it actaully at an angle to vertical...), so now only use the line on my putter to aim - and putt to a point. Normally left or right of the hole, but on big slopes I put to a specific point.

 

[Region3]

I found lining up with line or label introduced more doubt than it reduced (was it really pointing at where I wanted it to point; was it actaully at an angle to vertical...), so now only use the line on my putter to aim - and putt to a point. Normally left or right of the hole, but on big slopes I put to a specific point.

This is me ^^ too.

 

[sev112]

What Pelz says in his putting bible book is that you draw a mental straight line between the ball and the hole

you then imagine the path of the putt to the hole, and find the point that is maximum distance away from the straight line.

you then mentally draw a parallel line to the straight one through this point

that gives the distance at the hole of the maximum break

you then TREBLE this distance, and that is your AIM POINT to start your putt off on.

He spent thousands and thousands of experiments working this out - it is surprisingly good .


Lots of pros disagree and go on the "aim at a point and then hit it straight there and then break thereafter"
Whatever works for you - i find the Pelz method quite consistent, although (as mentioned above) i tend to work on 2 to 2.5 rather than 3 on slow greens through trial and error.

 

[North Mimms]

What Pelz says in his putting bible book is that you draw a mental straight line between the ball and the hole

you then imagine the path of the putt to the hole, and find the point that is maximum distance away from the straight line.

you then mentally draw a parallel line to the straight one through this point

that gives the distance at the hole of the maximum break

you then TREBLE this distance, and that is your AIM POINT to start your putt off on.

He spent thousands and thousands of experiments working this out - it is surprisingly good .


Lots of pros disagree and go on the "aim at a point and then hit it straight there and then break thereafter"
Whatever works for you - i find the Pelz method quite consistent, although (as mentioned above) i tend to work on 2 to 2.5 rather than 3 on slow greens through trial and error.

That would take me hours to calculate!

 

[RGDave]

..you then TREBLE this distance, and that is your AIM POINT to start your putt off on.

I wonder what sort of greens and courses he plays on.
If I read the putt as being 2 foot right 2/3rds of the way along the full length of the putt (say 20 foot), then I need to aim 6 foot?

Scary.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Going to have a putting lesson this summer(?!) and really want the guy to talk me through reading putts properly. I only tend to look behind the line and then wonder why its gone 4 feet past when its on the crwon of a hill and downhill after the cup.

Of course the balance is trying to see the putt from all around without holding up play. I know you can see the general contours as you come to the green but I want to know how I can see and understand the borrow more without stalking it from all over

 

[kid2]

Did away with lines also mainly because i dont think it suited the way i Putt.....
Thats the great thing about the 2 ball....Its very easy line it up....Far away or close in....

The thing with putting is that there are 2 types of people....Those that see putts in curves and those that see straight lines.....
I fall into the latter.....
A player that sees in curves usually visualizes the putt from where the ball is and the curved line it takes all the way before it drops into the hole.....
To me i treat the hole like a clock face and imagine at what point on the clock face that the ball will enter the hole...Then its just a matter of picking a point 6" in front of my ball and commit to hitting the ball over this point....I just trust my line and commit.
I wont hole all the long ones but i get em pretty close......

Those that see in straight lines usually visualize a point on the line from the ball to the hole and hit the ball straight to that point....Like its a second hole that they are putting to...Then they let the break take the ball....

For me drawing a line on the ball hinders my natural instinct to look at putt in a curve and makes things too mechanical.

 

[JustOne]

During a round the other week in the rain my mate told me his 12ft putt was left edge, maybe a ball outside the left at most.... he holed it with a stout "told you so"..... until I showed him the line of his putt that you could see shining in the damp grass.... there was over a foot of break on it and he had started it 2 1/2 ft left of the hole

There's a huge difference between feel and real when it comes to putting..... unless you take the 'feel' part out and start believing the 'real' part.


I used to line up the line on the ball just to give me an idea of where I'm hitting it in case I get distracted

I still use that line when playing with Smiffy....... :rofl: