Putting is one of the easiest ways to lower your scores. In fact I feel putting is the most important aspect of the game and certainly the most overlooked. I usually stress that putting is 50% of the game. My rational is that in a perfect game of golf you will hit 36 shots and 36 putts. So 50% of the game is on the green. Look at the top Tour players of the game and see where they rank in statistics…check their putting. Usually they are at the top if they win. Putting will always be the main aspect where tournaments are won and lost. It is also where 90% of those looking to lower their scores should spend the most time and resources. So take Aim with your putter and lower those scores!
The lines on your Putter really do help
Take a moment and grab your current putter…I’ll wait….Ok now look down at the top of the putter. How many lines do you see? Most of you will only see one line. This is ok, but multiple lines would be better.
The reason I like multiple lines on the putter are simple…they help you aim. If one line is good, then two would be better and three? Even more super-licious! The lines on the putter help us correctly aim the face in the direction we want the ball to go. Heck we are totally visual when it comes to the game of golf.
In all my years of teaching it never failed to have a lesson where the comment came up…”I just don’t know where the ball goes when I putt on the green” or “it never seems to go where I think it should!”.
The Ball goes where the face aims it
Simple but true. The direction of the face at impact will determine where the ball travels. Reach back to 8th grade math and remember a few geometry formula’s like parallel and perpendicular, add in the definition of a line and you can begin to tackle putting.
Parallel is two lines in a plane never cross (equidistant). A perpendicular line bisects another line at a 90° angle, or the two angles are congruent at the intersection.
So if we imagine that the face of the putter is a line with two endpoints C & D and the sweetspot or center of the line C~D is B, the ball will move towards the Target or point A. The point A is perpendicular to the face of the club. Kinda strange but it all works out. Just remember, the face points to the direction of where the ball will go at impact!
Now if the face is pointed left of your target, the ball will go that way (ok, there is some strange ways the ball can start out that way, but then move towards the target, but I unfortunately do not possess my Grandpa Keeler’s PhD in Mathematics in order to make it understandable). It’s easier to remember that the ball always follows the face…and it has to do with perpendicular!
The many Lines of a Putter
If you putter has only one line, it might be difficult to visually see if the face is square to the target. If you putter has multiple lines, then it makes it easier to “see” the direction the face is pointed, and that is a good thing.
Newer putters even have a two or even three ball alignment system in place. This is again for helping you see the direction the face is pointed. If you seem to struggle with direction, or have any questions to where the face is pointed, try getting a putter with multiple lines…they do work.
Photos of Rife Putters. The multiple line photo is the Sweet Aussie Mallet.
