Every golfer spends countless hours searching for the “best” can’t wait to buy it, sure-fire product to fix their ailing game. Putting aids are near the top of the list. And I was lucky to find a great training aid sure to help your putting.
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.
