Have you gotten frustrated with your putting from time to time? Have you tried to fix the problem by giving your trusty putter a timeout? Who has not done that, I know I have.
I am a good putter. I average 1.6 putts per hole, which is below the Sky360 worldwide average of 1.9 putts per hole, but I wanted to lower that average and my quest began.
One thing that always frustrates me is to line up a putt, stand over it, and hit it offline. For the longest time I have beat myself trying to figure out why this was happening.
After reading Stan Utley’s book on putting, I have always drawn an alignment line on the ball or have used the one already printed by the manufacturer.
I do not know if this happens to some of you, but I spend more time adjusting and readjusting the line than hitting the actual putt.
For some reason, it always looks different when I am standing over the ball and makes me second guess my reads. More times than not, the putt goes offline or barely makes it inside the cup.
I decided to change things around, first started with my grip. I went from the Stan Utley’s putting grip to the Brad Faxon’s putting grip. Nothing wrong with Utley’s method, I just wanted to revamp my whole putting stroke.
But the most significant change I made was to ditch the alignment line on the ball.
My reason behind the change? I was already spending enough time reading the line, figuring out speed and breaks, and using the alignment aid on the ball was becoming more of a hindrance than an aid.
By not using the line on the ball, I can concentrate in properly aligning my body, picking the correct line, figuring the break and speed of the putt, all without having to worry about if my ball is properly aligned.
If I do the above things correctly, the ball will go where I want it to go.
If you have a flangeline or an alignment aid in your putter, you can use it to align your putter, not the ball. After all, putter alignment aids have been around for a long time, way before golfers started to draw lines on their golf balls.
Give it a try, you will be surprised how much it frees up your mind, relaxes your putting stroke, speeds play, and help you make more putts.