Lining Up Putts - Perception Versus Reality
Online, March 25, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Everyone thinks that reading a green is the hard part of putting, and if they could just master that skill, their putting would be great. Well, that's not quite right. Reading a green is very important, but if you don't know how to line up a putt properly, being the best green-reader in the world won't be of much use.
The reality is that most people's perception of a putting line is different to the reality. This is due to a combination of things - the fact that we stand side on to the target; the fact that we all have different putting stances, which results in our eyes being inside or outside of the true putting line; the fact that most amateur golfers don't realise that we all have a dominant eye which we should use to identify the correct putting line.
The first article below is from Jerome Andrews at the Golf Channel. It explains how to find your dominant eye, and how to use your dominant eye when lining up putts.
The second article below is from the Golf Today website. It provides a simple way to compare your perception of a putting line to the reality. It then explains how to use this knowledge to make perception match reality by adjusting your putting posture, eye line, and possibly the length and lie of your putter.
Line Up Putts With Your Dominant Eye:
A large part of good putting comes from having consistent alignment. Just as people have swing tendencies, they also have alignment tendencies when putting. Most of the amateurs that I have worked with mainly line up to the right of the target when putting. In order for you to line up your putts more consistently you need to use your dominant eye.
Here is the process to go through to determine which eye is your dominant eye. Stand up tall and erect. Pick out a focal point to focus on. Put your hands together to form a 1 inch diameter circle. Raise your hands up and position the circle around your focal point. Close one eye. If you can still see your focal point through the circle with your open eye - - that is your dominant eye. If you can't see the focal point through the circle, then your closed eye is the dominant eye.
Now, stand behind your putt and close your non-dominant eye. Use only your dominant eye to choose the line of the putt. Walk yourself into your putting stance. Square up the face of the putter and aim it down the line that you saw with your dominant eye. Trust your alignment and make your stroke.
Using your dominant eye to line up putts will help you roll the ball more consistently and give you better opportunities for making more putts.
Original Article - http://electricgolftrolleysonline.co.uk/blog/putting/lining-up-putts
Perception versus Reality:
Try this simple test...
Before you can seriously work on the details of your set-up and stroke it's vital that you first have the ability to 'see' and relate to a perfectly straight line to the hole - and you'd be amazed at the variation in the perception of 'straight' that I find with leading tour players.
So the first thing I do with a new student is challenge his or her perception of a straight line with this simple test from up to six or 8 feet. This is something you can do yourself on a putting green (or at home on the carpet indoors) and it will very quickly reveal how closely your perception of a straight line matches up with reality.
All you have to do is create this dead straight line of balls, placing one last ball directly behind the hole. (To get the straight line on a green use a chalk line - indoors a builder's laser is perfect).
Once the balls are in place, set yourself up to the object ball (ideally within a Putting Alignment Mirror) and take dead aim at the nearest ball to you in the line of balls extending to the hole. Focus on squaring the putter-face to that near ball and then, once you are satisfied with your aim, look up to view the line to the hole. What do you see? Does the line of balls still appear straight into the middle of the hole?
It's no exaggeration to say that nine times out of 10 the answer is 'no' (and, yes, I'm including tour players in that analysis). The line of balls will either appear to curve either gently left to right or right to left into the hole - and if that's your experience then clearly your perception of what is 'straight' is at odds with the reality of the situation.
Visit the link below to learn how to correct this alignment issue:
http://electricgolftrolleysonline.co.uk/blog/putting/lining-up-putts