Sam Putting Lab

[chrisd]

I spent about 90 minutes on a Sam Putting Lab this morning and am quite amazed at the depth of information about my putting stroke. I started by hitting 5 putts and we looked at the results. I did hit one wafty putt out of the 5 but the stats were still pretty good.

Face aim was. 0.0
Direction. 0.4 open
Putter path. 1.8 left
Impact spot Very erratic but 2.0 toe down
Loft and rise. Rise at impact 2.0 up
Launch and spin. Spin neutral, pred launch 3.0 up, rise angle 2.0 up

Anyone having done a Sam session will be acquainted with these figures.
The conclusion was that I need (with my current putter) to lower the shaft and hands a bit to be 0* flat lie angle, to be slightly more over the ball at address and to strike the ball more centrally on the club face. When I did those things the results were spot on!

Any comments?

 

[spongebob59]

Where did you have your session ?

I didn't have to make any adjustments to my putter just need to work a little bit on face and path.
I got some drills to do but the overall take I got was that I was a pretty good putter to start with.

I have got a back up putter that I tinker with but would never think of adjusting the Scotty

 

[SVB]

Chris,

From a quick look at those numbers - was the 2 deg up into the ball consistent? When I did my SAM session I agreed with the pro that (as I was consistently hitting up), a loft change was the best solution rather than tweak the stroke.

I was also not hitting the sweet spot - some evenings putting on the carpet in the lounge with two small blobs of blue-tac on the face slowly narrowing in onto the centre has solved that because anything off centre was immediately obvious.

Still, glad you had a good time and found it valuable.

Interested on your throughts, new putter shopping aside, I really see SAM as a once in a while health check / baseline tool rather than full shot launch monitors (trackman GC2 etc) that I could see adding value to every lesson, what was your thoughts?

Simon

 

[chrisd]

Where did you have your session ?

I didn't have to make any adjustments to my putter just need to work a little bit on face and path.
I got some drills to do but the overall take I got was that I was a pretty good putter to start with.

I have got a back up putter that I tinker with but would never think of adjusting the Scotty

I did it at HB Golf in Ashford, Howard Bonnacorsi has an indoor centre with a GC2 launch monitor and there just purchased the Sam. Decent guy and the charge was £45 for the hour but I was there 1.75 hours as it went through his lunch

 

[chrisd]

Chris,

From a quick look at those numbers - was the 2 deg up into the ball consistent? When I did my SAM session I agreed with the pro that (as I was consistently hitting up), a loft change was the best solution rather than tweak the stroke.

I was also not hitting the sweet spot - some evenings putting on the carpet in the lounge with two small blobs of blue-tac on the face slowly narrowing in onto the centre has solved that because anything off centre was immediately obvious.

Still, glad you had a good time and found it valuable.

Interested on your throughts, new putter shopping aside, I really see SAM as a once in a while health check / baseline tool rather than full shot launch monitors (trackman GC2 etc) that I could see adding value to every lesson, what was your thoughts?

Simon

Yes Simon, I agree with an occasional mot on the Sam is the way forward.

My 2* rise at impact was the average of 2.07, 1.12, 2.42, 1.76 and 2.40 in all he was happy with that as it made my spin neutral and my putter has an effective loft of 3.2 positive.

I have never been sure where exactly the sweetspot on my putter is but we worked it out with Sam and I was centring the strike much better afterwards.

I really think figures are the way to go, I'm doing a club fitting at Callaway next week where they will use Trackman and now I can go on Sam and have a go if I want and work out what I'm doing myself from the pictures and numbers. Funny that the pro suggested the blue tack drill as well!

 

[spongebob59]

I did it at HB Golf in Ashford, Howard Bonnacorsi has an indoor centre with a GC2 launch monitor and there just purchased the Sam. Decent guy and the charge was £45 for the hour but I was there 1.75 hours as it went through his lunch

Cool, didn't even know that was there.

 

[chrisd]

Cool, didn't even know that was there.

He has a decent set up in a barn almost opposite Ashford Golf Club

 

[spongebob59]

He has a decent set up in a barn almost opposite Ashford Golf Club

What other secrets are there in NE Kent ?

 

[chrisd]

What other secrets are there in NE Kent ?

NE Kent, dunno, I only go there to try and find my hubcaps from the last time I went there!