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from read to address

Posted in: General Golf Discussion

greenjacket13 Legend
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I was wondering what people's putting routines were and what works for them. I used to get my read and pick my line but when I walked up to address it, I sometimes lost my spot and ended up guessing or just aimed to the general area. I have a technique that I've been using for awhile that helps me align myself to my spot but I may just be overthinking things. Are you just locked in on a spot and draw a line back to a spot in front of the ball and aim for that or do you have another technique?
greenjacket13 Legend
# 16 3/3/2011 1:02:06 PM
i understand what you are saying smatoska with how you place it and i think i'm just taking an extra step that isn't necessary. i'm basically doing the same, i'm just aligning my putter to the spot instead of the line on the ball. I completely understand what you are talking about. I used to do the same thing, I think. Once I lined up the toe of my putter to the line I wanted to hit, I would spin my putter perpendicular to the ball, but sometimes I didn't place the putter properly when I was over the top. That's why I would recommend when setting your ball, place the ball's line on that spot, that way you know it's correct because the ball doesn't move around once place...that is until you hit it, LOL. Your putter will change once you square up to the ball in your stance. I hope you can understand what I'm getting at? i never really saw anyone else do that but exactly, once i address it, i just spin it around and square that to my stance. maybe, i'll start using the line more and still do what i was doing and see if i notice a difference. i honestly used to place the ball with the line pointed at the hole and got lazy for some reason, then started aligning it with my putter. not sure why.
greenjacket13 Legend
# 17 3/3/2011 1:24:28 PM
The hardest part I've found is keeping true to your line. I'll place the ball and when I get over the top I'll start to second guess myself and hit if a little higher or lower....MISTAKE! Almost everytime. You'd think I'd learn! sometimes that works for me but more times than not it hurts. the one that throws me off is when i pick my line and my feet tell me something else and i compensate for what i think may happen and it never turns out good. i gotta pick my spot, figure my speed, and commit. that's all i can do. bradley894 was talking a lot about putting the other day and all the second guessing.
bradley894 Legend
# 18 3/3/2011 4:02:09 PM
i have no imput what so ever on putting. i just dont do it anymore. walk off the green , give myself a one or two putt depending on what i think i would have done and just go off to the next tee box. made room in my bag for another club.. putters are not worth investing time or money in.. part of my new game improvement plan for 2011 . if it doesnt save me a few strokes a round nothing will..
Mark Simmons Legend
# 19 3/3/2011 6:27:44 PM
then i walk to the hole and check out the last few feet and see if my toes are above my heels or the opposite or pretty level. I find this is one of the most important (and often overlooked) keys to reading a green. If more people read the green with their feet there would be a lot more putts made out there.
heartotexas Professional Champion
# 20 3/3/2011 6:49:49 PM
i have no imput what so ever on putting. i just dont do it anymore. walk off the green , give myself a one or two putt depending on what i think i would have done and just go off to the next tee box. made room in my bag for another club.. putters are not worth investing time or money in.. part of my new game improvement plan for 2011 . if it doesnt save me a few strokes a round nothing will.. ROFLMAO!!!!
Mark Simmons Legend
# 21 3/3/2011 6:53:59 PM
The next thing I do is pick a spot on the green where you know you need to hit it to, then line up your ball using the marks usually printed on the side of the ball...or if your putter has the line on the top of the face, match up the putter line to the line located on the ball. I've found this doesn't work very well and would be interested in what others have found. Here's what I've found. 1. It's difficult to impossible to get the line on the ball perfectly aligned to the line of the putt. Dimples on the ball, imperfections in the grass, and the short length of the line on the ball all work against you. 2. If you do accomplish item #1 all you've really done is create another alignment aid, and as I stated in my first post on this thread all this focus on alignment aids has distracted from the ONLY thing that really needs to be aligned--the face of the putter.
gj24 Legend
# 22 3/3/2011 9:27:27 PM
I always look at it from the other side of the hole 1st, and usually walk back to my ball on the low side of the hole just to make sure I'm seeing the slope correctly, line up my ball using the line I have drawn on it keeping my coin on the ground still behind the ball. Take a look down low behind the ball, one last adjustment on the ball/line if needed, remove the coin, few pratice strokes, get my line 1st, several looks, last look for distance control, then promptly miss the putt~Confidence is thinking every putt has a chance, which it does.
Mark Simmons Legend
# 23 3/3/2011 11:04:07 PM
Mark, It may not work for you....but it does work for me. I guess that's the thing about golf, everybody has something that may work for them, but it may not work for everyone. I still believe that if a person uses the line on the ball and the line on the putter in a perpendicular motion, irregardless of the dimples of the ball, the imperfections in the grass the ball will travel down the path you are putting to. Don't take offense. My message was not meant to challenge your belief that this works for you, but rather to find out from others what they think. At the professional level today we see some that use the line on a ball and others that do not. Whether this goes the way of the plumb-bob or becomes a new standard for the game remains to be seen. As far as the effect of the dimples on the ball and imperfections in the grass, I wasn't referring to how they impact the roll of the ball, but rather how they sometimes make it difficult to impossible to precisely point the line on the ball to the intended target.

greenjacket13

Legend

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117 Views 30 Replies 2 Likes

I was wondering what people's putting routines were and what works for them. I used to get my read and pick my line but when I walked up to address it, I sometimes lost my spot and ended up guessing or just aimed to the general area. I have a technique that I've been using for awhile that helps me align myself to my spot but I may just be overthinking things. Are you just locked in on a spot and draw a line back to a spot in front of the ball and aim for that or do you have another technique?

greenjacket13

Legend

# 16 3/3/2011 1:02:06 PM

i understand what you are saying smatoska with how you place it and i think i'm just taking an extra step that isn't necessary. i'm basically doing the same, i'm just aligning my putter to the spot instead of the line on the ball.

I completely understand what you are talking about. I used to do the same thing, I think. Once I lined up the toe of my putter to the line I wanted to hit, I would spin my putter perpendicular to the ball, but sometimes I didn't place the putter properly when I was over the top. That's why I would recommend when setting your ball, place the ball's line on that spot, that way you know it's correct because the ball doesn't move around once place...that is until you hit it, LOL. Your putter will change once you square up to the ball in your stance. I hope you can understand what I'm getting at?

i never really saw anyone else do that but exactly, once i address it, i just spin it around and square that to my stance. maybe, i'll start using the line more and still do what i was doing and see if i notice a difference. i honestly used to place the ball with the line pointed at the hole and got lazy for some reason, then started aligning it with my putter. not sure why.

greenjacket13

Legend

# 17 3/3/2011 1:24:28 PM

The hardest part I've found is keeping true to your line. I'll place the ball and when I get over the top I'll start to second guess myself and hit if a little higher or lower....MISTAKE! Almost everytime. You'd think I'd learn!

sometimes that works for me but more times than not it hurts. the one that throws me off is when i pick my line and my feet tell me something else and i compensate for what i think may happen and it never turns out good. i gotta pick my spot, figure my speed, and commit. that's all i can do. bradley894 was talking a lot about putting the other day and all the second guessing.

bradley894

Legend

# 18 3/3/2011 4:02:09 PM

i have no imput what so ever on putting. i just dont do it anymore. walk off the green , give myself a one or two putt depending on what i think i would have done and just go off to the next tee box.
made room in my bag for another club.. putters are not worth investing time or money in.. part of my new game improvement plan for 2011 .
if it doesnt save me a few strokes a round nothing will..

Mark Simmons

Legend

# 19 3/3/2011 6:27:44 PM

then i walk to the hole and check out the last few feet and see if my toes are above my heels or the opposite or pretty level.

I find this is one of the most important (and often overlooked) keys to reading a green. If more people read the green with their feet there would be a lot more putts made out there.

heartotexas

Professional Champion

# 20 3/3/2011 6:49:49 PM

ROFLMAO!!!!

Mark Simmons

Legend

# 21 3/3/2011 6:53:59 PM

The next thing I do is pick a spot on the green where you know you need to hit it to, then line up your ball using the marks usually printed on the side of the ball...or if your putter has the line on the top of the face, match up the putter line to the line located on the ball.

I've found this doesn't work very well and would be interested in what others have found. Here's what I've found.

1. It's difficult to impossible to get the line on the ball perfectly aligned to the line of the putt. Dimples on the ball, imperfections in the grass, and the short length of the line on the ball all work against you.

2. If you do accomplish item #1 all you've really done is create another alignment aid, and as I stated in my first post on this thread all this focus on alignment aids has distracted from the ONLY thing that really needs to be aligned--the face of the putter.

gj24

Legend

# 22 3/3/2011 9:27:27 PM

I always look at it from the other side of the hole 1st, and usually walk back to my ball on the low side of the hole just to make sure I'm seeing the slope correctly, line up my ball using the line I have drawn on it keeping my coin on the ground still behind the ball. Take a look down low behind the ball, one last adjustment on the ball/line if needed, remove the coin, few pratice strokes, get my line 1st, several looks, last look for distance control, then promptly miss the putt~Confidence is thinking every putt has a chance, which it does.

Mark Simmons

Legend

# 23 3/3/2011 11:04:07 PM

Mark,
It may not work for you....but it does work for me. I guess that's the thing about golf, everybody has something that may work for them, but it may not work for everyone.
I still believe that if a person uses the line on the ball and the line on the putter in a perpendicular motion, irregardless of the dimples of the ball, the imperfections in the grass the ball will travel down the path you are putting to.

Don't take offense. My message was not meant to challenge your belief that this works for you, but rather to find out from others what they think.

At the professional level today we see some that use the line on a ball and others that do not. Whether this goes the way of the plumb-bob or becomes a new standard for the game remains to be seen.

As far as the effect of the dimples on the ball and imperfections in the grass, I wasn't referring to how they impact the roll of the ball, but rather how they sometimes make it difficult to impossible to precisely point the line on the ball to the intended target.

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