The mojo is back

Last Friday, Christopher and I started our lesson with a putting test.  About a month ago, he had me doing a pre-shot routine which involved lining up the ball from behind using a black line on the actual ball and then trusting that line for every putt.  Since then, my putting had gotten out of hand, and not in a good way.  I was missing lots of putts from within 5 feet, something you cannot afford to do.

At the beginning of the lesson, Christopher used some fancy laser gadgets and aiming tools to see if I was a linear or non-linear putter.  For a bit of background: linear putters typically pick an intermediate target where they want the ball to start (a spot on the grass, etc) and then stroke straight for that spot.  A non-linear putter prefers to visualize the ball’s path and where it would enter the hole, more of a “look and let go” approach.

Since picking up the Nike iC putter with two white lines for aiming, I have been focussing on linear putts.  For a linear putter, this would be a good thing.  But, for me, my putting stats have been lower in the past month than they had been for about 7 months.  I gave it a few weeks to see if it was the adjustment period, but nothing was seeming to fall in, especially when it counted.

On to the laser drill.  He had me first pick a spot next to the hole that I thought was the right aim for the putt on a handful of different breaks.  After I picked a spot and marked it with a tee, he then had me align the putter in front of a ball and then he replaced the ball with the laser.  What he found was that how I aligned the putt was about twice as far out as where I was actually trying to aim.  So I was not accurately seeing my target line.  This was a clear sign that I am not a linear putter.  What had been happening with all of those 3-10 footers was I knew how I needed to hit it, but was lining the ball up incorrectly.  Apparently this is common among non-linear putters.

With this information on hand, now I have a new putter with no line on the top and am taking a practice swing from behind the ball, visualizing how I want it to fall into the cup and then walking up, aligning my body, placing the putter behind the ball and letting it go. Here is the new putter, it’s a unitized Nike putter, meaning it is one solid piece instead of the shaft and head style:

I played 30 holes with it today and out of 21 putts from within 5 feet I missed one, a MUCH better percentage than the past month.  I’m going to stick with it for the next month and then compare complete notes to see if it is truly a better process, hard to say after just one day because you can be off or on, but the data over a month won’t lie.

It was a great day in all accounts.  Made a lot of putts and a lot of great pitch shots, we worked on the swing too, and it’s paid off so far.  Here is where one 110 yard shot landed and rolled out to.  The ball mark in the front is about a foot away and the ball rolled to six inches.  (I fixed the ball mark )

And, on a self-congratulatory note, I got my first triple birdie!  How I “play” is that I drop a ball from roughly 100, 75 and 50 yards in all types of lies and green styles and then play out those three shots.  That way, I get three different approach shots from different distances on every hole and then also get three different putts on each green, or chip shots depending on my pitch accuracy.  Today was the first day that I made an up-and-down on all three balls on the same hole.  Each of them landed within ten feet:

I sank the 4, 7 and 9 foot putts.  Hopefully this will become routine one day soon!

It was also Mother’s Day today, so Happy Mother’s Day!!!!

Not many people were out on the course, guess it’s not exactly as busy as Father’s Day…