Some people prefer to strike the ball using the putter face's area slightly to the left or right of the face center. My current instructor recommends centered putting, but I feel more control if I contact the ball with the putter's right wing (i.e. the external wing, for right-handers). Of course I'm talking about less than 1 inch or so from center.
Some people prefer to strike the ball using the putter face's area slightly to the left or right of the face center. My current instructor recommends centered putting, but I feel more control if I contact the ball with the putter's right wing (i.e. the external wing, for right-handers). Of course I'm talking about less than 1 inch or so from center.
What's your opinion?
My opinion is to find the sweet spot wherever that may be...you will know when you find it...hit it sweet for consistent distances and rolls as the club won't twist as it will on an off center hit...however, if you make consistent contact and like the feel where you choose to spot it far be it from me to suggest changing anything...putting is so personal and subjective anyway, who cares as long as you can roll it straight with consistent distance control...
I would suggest striking the ball in the center of the putter face. Never hit the ball using the heel or the toe on a standard putt...unless.... it happens to work well for you
This may be hard to explain but let's see if I can...
While it is certainly good advice to hit standard putts in the sweet spot of the putter face, occasionally you'll face a downhill breaker that you could easily hammer through the break...hitting the ball offcenter (we're talking hair's breadth, not "less than 1 inch or so") will deaden the blow and "shave" it right or left depending of which side of center you use. Say you have a right-to-left downhill putt that needs to start precisely on the lip but will roll straight and miss if you hit it too hard...the technique is to aim ever-so-slightly (a dimple or two) inside the lip and strike the ball off-center toward the toe...that deadens the blow and sends the ball that dimple or two to the right of where you are aimed, producing the desired result. Works the same way on left-to-righters, only you strike it off-center toward the heel.
Having said all this, I wouldn't advise average to poor putters to employ this technique...imo this is for better, more experienced putters only...even then it's only worth attempting in certain slippery situations.
I like to hit the ball with the right wing, also. I position the ball just about 1/4 inch beyond the center mark on the putter head. This gives me the feel I want and has worked well for many years.
For most all my putts, I hit the putt dead center. On short little breakers, I remember Pelz giving some advice that seems to work very well. For short right-to-left breaking putts, hit it towards the toe of the putter. This will cause the putter face to rotate slight open. On left-to-right putts, hit it slightly on the heel which will cause the putter to rotate closed at impact. The reason he states it works is that most amateurs do not play enough break on their short putts. Works real well if you have trouble with short putts till you get to the point to where you do play enough break and have the confidence to strike the putt on the center of the putter face.
For most all my putts, I hit the putt dead center. On short little breakers, I remember Pelz giving some advice that seems to work very well. For short right-to-left breaking putts, hit it towards the toe of the putter. This will cause the putter face to rotate slight open. On left-to-right putts, hit it slightly on the heel which will cause the putter to rotate closed at impact. The reason he states it works is that most amateurs do not play enough break on their short putts. Works real well if you have trouble with short putts till you get to the point to where you do play enough break and have the confidence to strike the putt on the center of the putter face.
Wow, never heard that before.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shaderunner
This may be hard to explain but let's see if I can...
While it is certainly good advice to hit standard putts in the sweet spot of the putter face, occasionally you'll face a downhill breaker that you could easily hammer through the break...hitting the ball offcenter (we're talking hair's breadth, not "less than 1 inch or so") will deaden the blow and "shave" it right or left depending of which side of center you use. Say you have a right-to-left downhill putt that needs to start precisely on the lip but will roll straight and miss if you hit it too hard...the technique is to aim ever-so-slightly (a dimple or two) inside the lip and strike the ball off-center toward the toe...that deadens the blow and sends the ball that dimple or two to the right of where you are aimed, producing the desired result. Works the same way on left-to-righters, only you strike it off-center toward the heel.
Having said all this, I wouldn't advise average to poor putters to employ this technique...imo this is for better, more experienced putters only...even then it's only worth attempting in certain slippery situations.
I like to hit the ball with the right wing, also. I position the ball just about 1/4 inch beyond the center mark on the putter head. This gives me the feel I want and has worked well for many years.
Many times I wondered if I was alone .
I also wonder if some of the pros also do this, and it's difficult to see it on TV, cams are not close enough.
I tend to think most of them don't, but who knows, there are some very successful unorthodox putters like Chris DiMarco.
Pelz calls it "Cheating on short breaking putts". A little more info:
Quote:
It's possible to cheat within the rules of golf... and make more short, breaking putts when doing it!
Putting CheatingIt's quite possible to cheat within the rules of golf… and make more of those testy short, breaking putts when doing it. To the right you see a putt that breaks to the right a few inches (obviously not everything is to scale). You see the paths of three balls: the red ball was struck ¼-inch towards the heel, the blue ball ¼-inch towards the toe, and the white ball dead center. All were struck with the same stroke and speed.
Two of the balls go in the hole. The white ball - a stroke with perfect sweet spot contact - went into the hole, as did the red ball. The blue ball missed low, even though it missed the sweet spot by the same margin as the red ball. How is this true?
Shots struck off-center are weaker. On a breaking putt, a weak putt breaks more. Shots struck off-center also start offline (see the three lines): towards the heel, putts start left and towards the toe, to the right. A slightly slower putt that's given more room to break (red ball) goes into the hole while a putt with the same diminished speed started below the perfect line misses completely (blue ball).
Use this to your advantage on the course: when you're faced with a short breaking putt, set up with the ball not on the sweet spot of your putter, but slightly to the high side just under ¼ inch. The "high side" is the opposite of the way the putt breaks: the heel on left-to-righters, and the toe on right-to-lefters (for right-handed putters, anyway).
Building in this small "margin of error" allows you to get the ball on a line and with a speed that rolls the ball into the hole far more frequently. We guarantee you'll make more of these putts… simply by "cheating" legally!
January 21st, 2007, 06:10 AM
Putting: centered or decentered?
Shade
Shade
. 
Linear Mode
Similar Threads
