bwcarp, first of all, there is Dave Pelz’s books on putting that have a number of great drills and putting aids (even using free golf tees). I have a few good ones in my new book, “How Golf Clubs Work”. The mirror on the ground is a good one for eyes over the ball and making sure your shoulders are square to the line. There are also marks on the mirror for path and also to help get the ball impact in the middle of the face. Be sure your putter is properly fit to you, especially length, lie angle and proper head weight. When you are on the practice putting green, have a plan and work on specific things each time you practice.
How to Improve Your Putting
A Basic Understanding
Putting is part art and part science. The hours of practice and actually playing develop the art portion of feel for distance, proper break and directional control. Many players rely solely on the learned skill or art part of putting and ignore the equipment or science part because they are unaware of its importance. Keep in mind that you want every variable possible removed from your putter that can unduly influence putting distance and directional control. The following explains the 5 areas of putter specifications that can and will dramatically improve your putting using science and technology coupled with the proper fitting skills.
Get fit today and putt better immediately.
1. Proper Length: This is always the first fitting variable to be determined. Its importance is to place the golfer in the proper posture position with the eyes directly over the ball. Proper length also allows the golfer to have their arms hinging directly under the shoulders thus promoting a smooth stroke transition from slightly inside to square at impact to slightly inside on the follow through. This builds consistency in the stroke because it heavily influences both distance control and directional control. There has been a growing trend toward putters that are shorter in length. As a matter of fact, a number of manufacturers now offer 34” putters as the new men’s standard as compared to 35” in the recent past. Ladies’ putter lengths have also been reduced to 33” standard length where they were 34”. The cause of this trend has been the more modern putting style of letting the arms and hands swing back and forth naturally and more directly under the shoulder pivot.
2. Proper Lie: The lie angle is a major factor in controlling the initial direction the ball will go after impact. If the toe of the putter is sticking up in the air, the ball will be pulled slightly to the left. Conversely, it the toe of the putter is down and the heel is up in the air, the ball will most likely be pushed slightly to the right. Also, an incorrect lie angle will cause a slightly less solid hit because the ball is being impacted at more of a glancing blow which also adds some degree of side spin.
3. Proper Loft: Unknown to most players is the fact that the ball when resting on the greens surface actually settles down in a depression caused by the balls weight. Another unknown fact is that the ball will skid approximately 14% to 20% of its total distance regardless of how hard it is hit. Conversely, the ball in a pure roll state rolls some 80% to 86% of the total putts distance. The purpose of a putters loft is to consistently hit any length putt with a consistent amount of skid and roll every time. This helps dramatically in controlling the distance a putt is hit. Here’s how it works: When you strike a putt the ball needs to be lifted up and out of its depression so that it can skid on top of the grass and not through it. When the putt is not lifted slightly or if it is lifted too high it will bounce. You will usually not see this bounce but it will make your skid and roll through different length putts inconsistent. This in turn makes it very difficult for you to consistently achieve the proper putt distance. Most players will start the ball rolling consistently with a putter launch angle of 4°. Simply because your putter has 4° loft does not mean you impact the ball with 4° of loft. Special equipment can determine your putters actual loft and whether or not your hands are ahead of the putter head at impact (de-lofting the putter), square to the putter head at impact (utilizing the actual loft on your putter) or if your hands are behind the putter head at impact (increasing the putters loft).
4. Proper Swingweight: Many heads on putters are simply too light. The swingweight scale is used simply as a way to determine if a putter head is too heavy, too light or in the acceptable range. The proper swingweight range for a putter is between C-6 and D-8. A putter that is too heavy is better than a putter that is too light. The proper putter head weight (swingweight) promotes the proper feel of the putter and more importantly becomes another major factor in distance control. Too light a putter mainly hurts consistent distance control but is also a factor in directional control. Too heavy a putter usually does not affect directional control very much but it seriously affects distance control. The proper swingweight range for any conventional style putter in any length is very important and is another key putter fitting variable that most golfers are not aware of but would benefit from immensely.
5. Putter Head MPF: Every putter head design type and style has a different playability level associated with it. Some are easier to use for certain golfers than are others. For instance, a golfer who does not consistently hit the putt on or near the center of the putter face would benefit dramatically from a putter design with a much bigger sweet spot. On the other hand, a touring professional who impacts the putt consistently in a ¼” circle on the face can putt with any putter head style they like. Technically, the determining characteristic used in determining this playability factor (Maltby Playability Factor) is the putter head’s moment of inertia (determines the putter heads resistance to twisting on off center hits). A special machine does this and classifies every putter head to an MPF number and puts it into a category which relates to the golfers ability. To the laymen, putters which have longer head lengths or have visible heel and toe weighting have higher moments of inertia and would benefit all golfers. Blade style putters would have low moments of inertia and would usually be for better players only.
The 5 variables above are all very important to putting better. The person who actually fits you to your putter is also very important. That is why each putter fitter has special training to understand how to fit you to the best putter possible. They are trained to explain to you the importance of each and every putter fitting step and what fits you the best. You will never realize your full putting potential with a putter that is wrong for you. Get fit today and putt better immediately.
Golf Galaxy stores have the Maltby Dynamic Putter Fitting System to fit you.
Need a place to get fit? Contact a Maltby Certified Fitting Expert that utilizes the Maltby Dynamic Putter Fitting System – you can find them nationwide at any Golf Galaxy store.
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Article Discussion
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7:13AM - Feb 21, 2008RE: How to Improve Your Putting
#21
Report ThisRalph Maltby
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9:37AM - Feb 20, 2008RE: How to Improve Your Putting
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Report Thisbwcarp
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Ralph, love your site…I’ve found it very helpful in many different topics. Regarding putting: Can you recommend one or two putting training aids that you believe would help improve the putting stroke?
Thanks,
Ralph from Cleveland
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3:43PM - Jul 17, 2007RE: How to Improve Your Putting
#19
Report ThisRalph Maltby
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John, yes you can adjust the lie of any putter. It is best done in a “putter bending machine” made specifically for this purpose. Any Golf Galaxy store or Dicks Sporting Goods store can provide this service for you. Also, you can look in the yellow pages under golf club repair of custom golf clubs and find a local club tecnician who will also be able to do it. Now, I have an important question for you. Is the putters length correct for your son? Sometimes when the toe is up in the air, it is a strong indication that the putter is simply too long for the golfer. This is easy to check. Have your son set up to the ball with his eyes directly over the ball (you can help with this by dropping another golf ball from his eye position and seeing if it hits the ball on the ground). This assures his spine angle will be correct. Next, set the putters head behind the ball and with your sons eyes over the ball, knees slightly bent and his arms hanging as vertically as possible directly under his shoulders (naturally and not forced) have him grip the putter. If the putters lenght is correct, he should have 1/2” of the putter grip extending above the top of his left hand (I assume he is right handed). This of course is for the modern pendulum putting style which is far and away the predominant putting method used today.
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9:20PM - Jul 16, 2007RE: How to Improve Your Putting
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Report Thisjohn
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Can you adjust the lie of an existing putter putter ? Since you can bend irons, I am assuming you can – is that true ?
I was watching my son putt with a new Odyssey Marxman Mallet and noticed that the toe was in the air – is this putter adjustable ?
thanks….
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5:23PM - Jul 13, 2007RE: How to Improve Your Putting
#17
Report ThisRalph Maltby
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David, I have very sophisticated putting robots and high speed video cameras and programs to calculate impacts and everything else. I can’t even guess the amount of time I spent hitting putts, measuring and analyzing putters, shooting video at 1/40,000th of a second shutter speed at 2000 frames per second and collecting data over the years. I have most everyones putters here in the studio and I do not get the results that you read in the advertising or many of the claims that are made. I can tell you this; if you personally come up with any putter design you like and also come up with the technical approach you are going to pursue in your promotion, I will find a way through sophisticated and believable testing to substantiate your theory and support your marketing approach. Did you ever stop and think and ask yourself the question,”why do you want less skid and more roll?” I find in my testing that you want your putter to be as consistent as possible in skid and roll through all length putts. The reason is that you want the most repeatable distance control that you can get. There are a number of factors that help to do this. One is adequate putter loft to get the ball up and out of its depression and on top of the grass after impact and the other is the flattest, smoothest face possible. I also like softer putter head inserts and softer metals (aluminum) used in putter head manufacture I can come out with a putter tomorrow that will have a significantly reduced skid and produce more roll. All I need to do is to reduce the loft to 0 degrees. The problem now is that the ball will initially bounce too much when it is hit because it cannot get out of the depression it is sitting in and get up onto the top of the grass. So, when it bounces, it will lose distance thus becoming inconsistent in distance control.
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12:56AM - Jul 13, 2007RE: How to Improve Your Putting
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Report ThisDavid Largent
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Regarding lofts, how well do the putters with grooves solve this problem of lifting and rolling the ball? Rife and Yes! both have this feature to impart forward roll and both show examples of the ball not hop/skipping like the ‘dew test’ or the ‘video slow motion’ shot. It seems like grooves on a putter for forward spin/roll is as important as grooves on a wedge for back spin…
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11:07AM - Jul 11, 2007RE: How to Improve Your Putting
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Report ThisRalph Maltby
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Linwwod, this holds especially true for the tour players. Very rarely do they try low lofted putters. I remember when Phil Mickleson thought he found “the secret” and putted for a while with a 0 degree or 1 degree lofted putter. It did not take long for the “honeymoon” period to end and for him to increase his loft and change putters. I have worked with a number of tour pros over the years with putters and I have never found even one of them who putts better with lofts less than 3 degrees. Most tour pros prefer 4 degrees of loft. The tour pros want to roll the ball with consistency and as smooth a roll as possible. This means that they must keep the ball from initially bouncing when they putt it. To do this they must lift the golf ball out of its depression from sitting on the green. Putting the ball through the depression without lifting it will cause it to bounce to some degree and this bouncing causes inconsistent distance control. Keep in mind that some golfers (and tour pros) place their hands ahead of the ball at impact and some have their hands behind the ball at impact. If this is the case, I will usually need to adjust the putters loft to be 4 degrees at impact. Let’s say for example that a tour pro has his hands 2 degrees forward (forward press) at impact with the putter. This means that they have dynamically de-lofted the putters built in loft of say 4 degrees to only 2 degrees. In this case I will change the putter to a 6 degree built in loft putter so it has 4 degrees of loft at impact. However, I do not recommend using a forward press at impact or a hands behind the ball setup. It is absolutely best to learn a proper stroke and hit the putt with the shaft vertical at impact. Linwood, every Golf Galaxy store has a “Maltby Dynamic Putter Fitting Center” located right on the putting green. They will go through the five important putter fitting varibles and fit you properly to each one. This is a fun experience because most golfers are surprised at how poorly their current putter fits them. Also, be sure and take your current putter along with you. There may be no reason at all to buy a new putter, but simply get yours fit better to you.
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5:46AM - Jul 11, 2007RE: How to Improve Your Putting
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Report ThisLinwood Osgood
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You state that a 4 degree loft on a putter at impact is proper. Does that hold true with the pros you test? can a putter fitting pro evaluate this for me at golfgalaxy?
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12:48PM - May 28, 2007RE: How to Improve Your Putting
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Report ThisRalph Maltby
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Allen, the Ignite is a very good putter. Yes, any club fitter can fit this putter to you regarding the correct length, lie, loft and swingweight.
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3:27AM - May 28, 2007RE: How to Improve Your Putting
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Report Thisallen holt
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I have an Ignite 002 putter i just bought. What do you think of this putter and can I this cut and fitted? Thank You, Allen holt