Aiming the putter

[ottonegolf]

I'm really intrigued by the below script of Richie :

" if you’re a righty and you aim right of the hole, it’s because you are using the front part of the blade to aim the putter with (that’s where your eyes are focused on). And if you aim left of the cup, you are using the back part of the putter to aim the putter. So if you aim too far right, you need to get a putter that gets your eyes to use the back part of the putter to ‘steer’ your aim more to the left and back towards the target. "

I do understand the point but I cannot figure out which kind of putter will better suite a person (like me!!) right handed that is always aiming to the right side of the cup.

Richie (or somebody else ) can you please be more specific on the putter shape for a righty that aims right ?

Thanks Richie, I'm really jealous about your putter fitting, it's something I'd really like to do but here in Italy we hardly find somebody to fit your irons .....!!!!!

Thanks for the blog and for your precious help to the golf community.

[iteachgolf]

More offset and squarer shape. Plumbers neck Newport 2 would be good start

[ottonegolf]

Thank you fo rthe fast answer, but isn't the squareback square enough ? Am I missing something?

PS I really enjoy your posts !!

[iteachgolf]

A plumbers neck squareback might work but double bend probably won't.

[gmbtempe]

So if you aim left, what type of putter?

[Richie3Jack]

Feb 1, 2011 12:02:42 GMT -5 gmbtempe said:

So if you aim left, what type of putter?

Thinner blade type. Depends on how far you aim left. Like an 8802, Ping A-Blade or a Zing 2. Less offset in the hosel.

The book 'The Greatest Putting Instruction Book Ever' goes over it with David Edel.







3JACK

[gmbtempe]

I use a Bimini blade so it makes some sense, always have putted better with a 8802 style putter.

[Richie3Jack]

What's strange is that I putted my best with 3 different putters.

1. Ping B61 (like the B60, but the hosel is a little different.
2. Wilson 8802
3. Tad Moore (shaped similar to my Edel putter)

I mentioned that to David Edel that I putted my best with putters similar to the putter I was fitted for, but the 8802 always puzzled me. Growing up I pretty much played golf with a certain set of friends and my dad and there was one summer where I didn't miss anything inside 5 feet with that 8802 and they would always compliment how great I putted with that putter and never missed close putts with it. Unfortunately, some jerkoff stole it out of my bag while I was getting some lunch after a tournament. And no other 8802 really performed the same.

I did ask Edel some questions about the current putters being made by OEM's and one of the things I noticed is that back in the 80's, a lot of putters had no alignment lines or sight dots whatsoever. The Ping Anser was a wildly popular putter and the original design had no alignment line or sight dot.

Yet, today it's almost impossible to find a putter without an alignment line or a sight dot on it. David told me he fits people who don't need a line or a dot all of the time. He also believes that in general, those lines have hurt golfer's aim with the putter. He explained how a lot of the shapes of the putter head with the lines are just not compatible.







3JACK

[gmbtempe]

The issue with the line is interesting.

Here is my putter right now.

[Richie3Jack]

David Orr did a research study on putting and one of the things he examined was aim. IIRC, he tested 677 golfers, 50 of which consisted of then current PGA Tour players and the rest were anybody from there to the 30 handicapper.

I think they only tested right handed golfers to make the subjects 'uniform.' I believe the numbers out of these 677 subjects were:

55% aimed left
25% aimed right
20% aimed straight

This was from only 6 feet away.

We know that most right handed people are right eye dominant. With what Edel told me, the tendency is for right eye dominant people (provided they are righties) is to aim left because their focus is more towards the back of the putter head which gets them aiming left. So that would explain why the majority of golfers aim left of the target.

Also, when it comes to putters and being fit for aim, a lot of it has to do with the loft. Aim right of the target, more loft probably fits the golfer better. Aim left, less loft.

I spoke to George about this and he said he aimed just about perfectly when he tried a fitting, but his laser was a little low. I know iteachgolf has told me he aims his Cameron dead straight as well. So there are people who aim dead straight. Those people may want to know what loft fits them and what weight and shaft fits them, but on the other hand, Edel isn't exactly cheap so they may say why bother.

I looked at it this way with Edel. Getting a fitting only costs me about 45 minutes of my time. If I wasn't interested, then I wasn't going to buy a putter. And if I wound up being fit for say a Ping Anser putter, then I may have had a hard time pulling the trigger on an Edel (although the shaft, grip, length, and weight fittings are tough to ignore).







3JACK

[aimsmithgolf]

Well the line to me is ESSENTIAL to my alignment process. Could not disagree more with the 3Jack's Mr. Edel position on the line alignment causing problems.

I could NEVER line up those blade putters worth a damn and neither could my playing partners. I played with a guy for many years who was a very good putter with blade like the 8802. He ALWAYS was lined up left of the target. He took it back inside and pushed the stroke. Then another, who was club champion, did the same thing but aimed right of the target. He was one of the best putters but his path was across ever putt closing the blade and swinging inside to out ... hooking the putt. Whatever works...

I putt with a mallet and have for many years. I am an average putter now since I went to longer putter, mallet and line for my alignment. Use to be awful.

Nothing helps alignment better than LINES in my opinion. I think there is some science to that as well.

Rand

[Richie3Jack]

Feb 1, 2011 14:07:37 GMT -5 aimsmithgolf said:

Nothing helps alignment better than LINES in my opinion. I think there is some science to that as well.

Rand

I think you would find that if you did scientific research on this, lines are often a detriment.

It's not like Edel just came up with the idea out of the blue. It's well research with the science community dealing with how the brain translates optical information.

Some people lines help, some people it's a major problem for them.

My Edel putter will have 3 lines in the cavity and a sight dot on the top line. Why? Because that arrangement of lines and the dot got me to consistently aim at the cup.

But when I was at the PGA Show, I got to see about 12 other people get fitted for Edel putters and some aimed far worse with the lines. Some had no lines and no dots. Some just had a sight dot with no lines.

And there were people there that used the line on the ball to aim themselves and still could not aim at the cup.

I'll try and stop by my Barnes and Noble tonight and see if that Putting Book is there and pick it up and go over the Edel section. David pointed out the book to me and briefly skimmed over his section and Mark Sweeney's section. Edel's section has a bunch of different putter heads and illustrations of the dots and lines and what works best for what type of golfer.





3JACK

[walther]

Worst name for putting book with actual merit. IMHO.

[Richie3Jack]

I went to Barnes and Noble and they didn't have it there. They had all of the other books, but not the one I wanted. I may go to the B&N on the UCF campus and see if they have it.




3JACK

[aimsmithgolf]

Last time I was at the Barnes and Noble here on gulf coast it was there.. terrible title I agree since I looked at it read the blurb on cover and put it back thinking it was just compilation of tips or something. I will look again in a couple of days.

3Jack I don't see the relevance of your experience at the show with alignment at all. What did they use to verify alignment? I have been to these shows many times and it is a crap shoot at best to validate any putting results obtained there for the long term.

It's all in the PROCESS I use that makes the single line work so well for alignment. Once you follow the flow properly everything falls into place especially with aim.

Did not mention in any earlier posts that I formed a company in the 80's once to market putters. I had my on line briefly and developed a presentation and introduction to market direct to clubs. Capital and quality controlled derailed it from getting off the ground but I had a hell of a presentation on putting that wowed the crowd. All was based on the alignment features and ease of use of the putter I was selling.

This is getting me to want to do it again. Still have the prototypes..somewhere....hmmm.

Rand