Hank Haney, Stan Utley, and Chad Johansen.  What a motley crew of Guru’s. All three are PGA Professionals with golf putting aids. And each strives to provide you with the best putting tools through countless years of observation. Lucky for me Chad is not too far away, and has yet to raise his teaching abilities to “diva” status….at least for a little while.

Chad is the head professional at Blackberry Oaks in Bristol. He’s the man behind the curtain of the Chad Johansen Golf Academy, and creator of The Perfect Putting Aid. He’s also very passionate about teaching golf, and well… putting.

The Perfect Putting Aid

For me it’s always been about making things simple. Simple is easy to remember, easy to repeat and easy to sell. When a new product or dohiggy comes onto the market, I take a look and if it looks simple…I’m interested. I’ve used putting aids in the past, but have found that a good somewhat straight 2×4, a chalk line, or a few well placed golf tees got the job done. I’ve tinkered with fancy arc’s, locked my putter into a contraption of, bells, whistles and lasers. So of course I was interested in Chad’s Perfect Putting Aid…I mean who wouldn’t, it’s all about the name isn’t it?

The Perfect Putting Aid comprises of a Tower, a putting line and a mirror.

The Tower is supported by two legs, and each leg has a cutout, kinda like Jerry’s mouse hole. One cutout is large and the other is small. The idea is to work your way from easy to hard (start with the large..trust me). The large cutout will allow a ball to pass by unmolested on a decent stroke…the smaller hole requires a well struck ball as it is only a few millimeters larger that a golf ball. The supporting bracket that runs the length of the “aid” provides you with a visual that divides the golf ball while looking down. This is a key factor in determining how your eyes should be over the ball. If you see only ¼ of the ball outside the line…then your eyes are too far behind the ball. In a perfect world you would see about ½ the ball on either side.

The Perfect Putting Line is a metal bar that resembles a yardstick. Placing this between the cutouts and over the center of the Tower bar support bracket will allow you to putt down the “line”. This is a great tool to have, in fact I think it might be the strength of the whole Perfect Putting Aid system.

The main goal for using the Perfect Putting Aid is to get the ball rolling on line!  If you can keep the golf ball on the perfect putting line you are rolling it very well and then combine it with the perfect putting tower and get it through the little hole.  Your scores will fall rapidly!

This is nuts and bolts, not fancy, and simple. Place the golf ball on the Perfect Putting line (hole pre-drilled) and make a stroke.  Painted white with a black line, the object is to putt the length of the “bar” without the ball going off the track until the end. Reminds me of railroad tracks…and the feedback is really really good.

A small mirror completes the Perfect Putting Aid.  Placed on the ground at the center (of the Perfect Putting line) it gives you instant feedback on head, eyes and shoulder positioning. It basically provides you with a tool to help you memorize where your set-up should be every time you putt.

Overall Thoughts

What I like about the Perfect Putting Aid is the simplicity, and feedback it provides. I have used it for about 3 hours of practice putting over six days. I’ve also had others try it out. The one thing every person has commented on is “wow it looks easy, but I’m having trouble hitting through the small hole…” I’ve always felt that putting should be a challenge, but not too much to keep you from practice. Using the Perfect Putting Aid at times was difficult, but with use I found that I could regulate my tempo, and stroke and get the ball to roll down the line. For me that is an ultimate strength. Being able to repeat a stroke and “see” the line it travels…is priceless. When I used the mirror to make sure that each stroked putt was from the same set-up I did notice a much better roll and control. I began to equate the roll of the putt with the Putting Line, in fact I enjoyed using the Putting Line the most (since it was much easier to transport in my bag). It also does not discriminate between a down the line putting style or an arc style. It gives feedback to both. In fact it doesn’t promote a specific style, but rather choses consistency or repeatability as it’s measuring device. That earns some serious golf karma in my book.

Is the Perfect Putting Aid perfect? Almost. For me it has two factors from becoming “Perfect”. One it is a large aid, it doesn’t fit easy into your bag, and can be cumbersome to transport to your local putting green. Second it is the cost. In my conversations with Chad (the inventor), he defends the pricing of his golf aid.

I realize that the price of the aid may seem to be expensive.  One thing that I am not afraid of is charging what I think something is worth.  Do you want to buy a Scotty Cameron for $299 and have no idea how to use it.  It’s kind of like buying a very expensive pair of reading glasses with no prescription on the lens….  If price is an issue then buy the Perfect Putting Line for $39.99 and you will be emailing me about how many more putts you are making.  I promise!

The overall cost of the entire Perfect Putting Aid system retails for $139.99 plus tax and shipping. It makes it one of the more expensive aids you can purchase. But does it deliver? I feel that this is a great teaching tool for golf professionals giving putting lessons, since it has no bias, and covers all the bases in feedback. For the casual golfer looking to improve…I feel that the Perfect Putting Line is the way to go. (In fact I have it in the computer room and hit some putts a paragraph ago) For $40 this is worth it. In fact think of it as a lesson…since most Pro’s cost about $60 an hour or more you’ll save a ton buying this aid. And you can stick it in your bag to take with your clubs when you go and practice.

Since using the Perfect Putting Aid I noticed two things while playing. #1 I have made more longer putts and #2 I’ve seen the “Line” better…maybe because the aid has conditioned me, but I like that I can see my ball rolling longer on the target line.

So if you need some help, by all means contact Chad Johansen to help you with your putting. Heck he’s sending the Perfect Putting Aid on a countrywide tour to all the Professional Golf stops…with any luck, his passion for the game and simple aid will get him a late night infomercial. Then he might become a “diva”.

This isn’t your fathers Level

Ok…this is one of those thing I wish I developed. In a strange way it was something that I taught in almost every putting lesson I ever gave. How to read “break” on the green is more art than science, but this little pocket sized aid is simple science, and that is its magical awesomeness!

The Sure Putt Green Reader is a spirit level. A spirit level gets it’s name due to the “spirit”, normally ethanol that is not completely filled within the “tube” or disk resulting in a bubble. This bubble acts as a guide to measure the horizontal (level) or the vertical (plumb). The use of a “spirit” like ethanol is critical because it will move quickly due to the lack of surface tension between the housing, and it will not freeze in cold temperatures like water. The Sure Putt to be precise, it is a bull’s eye level.   It measures leveling in two planes, which allows the user to see up, down and left and right (for you boaters.. Pitch and Roll).

The Sure Putt

The first thing you notice about the Sure Putt is it’s size and weight. Normally we like small and compact. At 2.25 inches the Sure Putt is larger than a quarter, but smaller than a Toyota. It weighs a lot more than a quarter and comes in at 60 grams. The level housing is encased in machined anodized aluminum. That means it won’t rust, and is fairly sturdy. Accidentally dropping it won’t damage the “bubble” , and face it, you’ll be using it on the putting green.

What makes this product tick is the engraved collar around the bubble level face. Since it is anodized aluminum, it can be etched. This means the Sure Putt can be custom tailored to almost any promotional branding you can think of.

Made here in the US, the Sure Putt retails for $39.99. Available in 10 colors, the Sure Putt comes in a packaged box with directions and a pouch.

Ease of Use

If a product is easy to use and delivers the goods, them I’m all about it. I think the Sure Putt Green Reader is…um..stupid easy. Simply place the Sure Putt on the green with the etched arrow pointing to the hole and look down at the dial. The dial is broken down into four quadrants (and a bulls eye, the bubble can rest in the center which means it’s level both up/down and left/right) If the bubble is in the upper right, the putt is uphill and breaks left. A bubble in the upper left would mean an uphill breaking right… Lower left, downhill right…Lower right, downhill left. See it’s not that hard.

When to use the Sure Putt

Now we can’t be using this during the club championship, but this is a very useful practice tool. When practicing on the putting green use the Sure Putt to figure out those tricky putts that “look” like they break one way, but don’t. The idea is to use this tool to help visualize how your putt will roll while on the green. It can re-enforce your Shot IQ.

I would recommend using this to find where the break begins. Example:

• Pick a 5 foot putt with some break either left or right
• Pick your target- line (Since it has break, the target-line should not be a straight line from your ball to the hole)
• Visualize where the putt begins to break and mark it with a golf tee and place the Sure Putt in front of the tee with the arrow (kinda like a compass) pointed to the hole
• Read the dial and see if the data from the Sure Putt matches what you “think” the ball should be doing
• If it shows that you thought right then great, if not…then we need to re-visualize how the putt will break

This is the strength of the Sure Putt….It takes guess work out of the equation. I mean we can dial in where break begins, and by knowing this information and acting on it, we can work on getting the correct speed.

Overall Opinion

I think Brian Lemke, President of Sure Putt Golf has a great teaching aid in the Sure Putt Green Reader. It is simple to use and gives great feedback.

Sure Putt will train your eye to see the subtle contours that can make even a short putt difficult. The more you use it, the better your putting game will be. You can stop talking about the putt that got away…..Sure Putt will get you out of all your little green lies!

It was one of the best products I saw this past weekend at the Chicago Golf Show, and was worth the $23 dollars I spent getting in. I also think it makes a great promotional give-away, and I’m going to try to work out a deal for Dogleg Right Golf. If you need one (and I think you do) contact Sure Putt Golf by following the link and check it out yourself.

sureputtgolf.com