Putting by Mike Shannon Part I II III

[suns11111]

Hello everyone I mostly view, not post. But, found a good eye opener if someone wanted to critique it (praise or hate). Or even add to the blog Rich.
Part1



Part 2


Part3

[Richie3Jack]

Thanks suns1111, I'll have to take a look at it when I get the chance.






3JACK

[scotly]

Like this guys approach.

[cwdlaw223]

Check out aimpointgolf to take your putting to the next level. Understanding where zero lines are on a green will help take your putting to the next level.

[Richie3Jack]

That's the only thing I haven't been quite able to figure out, the zero lines. I understand what they are, but finding them has been difficult.

My issue with AimPoint is that with the Aim Charts is let's say you have a putt that the chart tells you to aim 6 inches left of the cup.

If you have a 10 foot putt that says 6 inches left of the cup and you have a 20 foot putt that says aim 6 inches left of the cup, the perspective is quite different. 6 inches from 20 feet away is much smaller than 6 inches from 10 feet away.

So for me, I start to lose my instincts and feel on the putting green. I think AimPoint is really great, but I'm not sure I'm a big fan of the Aim Charts. Although those who can get them down I would imagine it works really well.





3JACK

[cwdlaw223]

3JACK -

I tend to agree with your comments. I don't want to loose feel and get caught up in the numbers. Nobody every told me about zero lines and how important they are in reading greens until this year. There are probably 2-4 zero lines on every green since each green is a mixture of planar, crowns and saddles. The other odd thing is that 3:00 and 9:00 aren't always perpendicular to 12:00 and 6:00. You could have one green where 3:00 is very close to 12:00 becuase of the slope in the green.

[cloran]

Once you have figured out the straight putt line (12-6) do you then use some point on that line for your aim?

[Richie3Jack]

Jan 10, 2011 12:55:49 GMT -5 cloran said:

Once you have figured out the straight putt line (12-6) do you then use some point on that line for your aim?

I think you're getting confused from what me and cdwlaw are talking about.

Zero Lines are lines on the green where a putt may break 2 or 3 different ways, but you just need aim directly at the cup and the putt will break 2 or 3 times right into the hole.

This is particularly good for putts from 20+ feet away (that's typically when putts have 2 or 3 breaks to them). If you can determine the zero lines correctly, even if you're away from the zero lines (let's say you're 3 feet to the right of the zero line), you can still figure out where and how the putt is going to break and where to aim.

So, you can then become deadly from 20+ feet away.

The 12-6 is the fall line.

But, there are some problems with going by the fall line alone.

For starters, if you have a long putt, you still have to account for break well before you ever reach close to the fall line.

Another problem is that if the cup sits on a 'crown' or a 'saddle' (like a bowl), there will actually be 2 fall lines. The Aim Charts are based on cups that are cut on a slope with on 1 fall line (also called a 'planar' slope)







3JACK

[cloran]

Yeah, I was confusing things... aimpoint sure doesn't sound all that simple to learn. At least not without hands on instruction. Once it is learned, how simple is it to use? Do you need a chart for every green you play? What about the times you play a new course? How do you use all this info to help you putt the very first time you step on a green?

[Richie3Jack]

Aimpoint is actually pretty simple and eye opening. Just the zero lines I found difficult to understand.

The charts are simple to understand and the main idea behind AimPoint is that you need to aim above the apex of a putt that breaks. The aim charts will tell you exactly where you need to aim depending where you are in relation to the fall line. So, you might be at 3 o'clock to the fall line and from 5 feet away it may say aim 2" to the right of the cup. But from 20 feet away it may tell you to aim 11" to the right of the cup. And from 10 feet away it may tell you to aim 4" right of the cup.





3JACK

[cloran]

How do the charts adjust for green speeds, slope changes? Is there just one chart that you adjust according to the hole location, slpoe angle, etc; or are you expected to chart each green yourself and have 1 chart per green?

Example: I'm 10 feet from the cup, and I'm at 9 o'cloick to the fall line. The chart says to aim 4" to the left of the cup, but this is Augusta and the slope is rediculous. If I aim 4" to the left I'll miss the putt by 6 feet to the right.

If you have to make the adjustments on the fly anyway how does aimpoint help?

[Richie3Jack]

It's charts. You have multiple charts that are like a pad. They have different charts for different stimps. IIRC, they have everything from 8 to 13 on the stimp.

One of the things the charts are good for is that you can determine the stimp on the practice green with some 3-foot putts if you want.

However, one of the issues Mangum has with the Aim Charts is that he believes that they are not quite accurate depending on the the type of grass and other factors. Here's his very lengthy argument against the Aim Charts.

www.puttingzone.com/vector.html






3JACK

[johngrahamgolf]

If anyone has any AimPoint questions, I'll be happy to help answer them. There's is much more to AimPoint than just the charts.

[dhc1]

what do most of you think about the "connected" specific angles that Mike Shannon talks about in #2?

- forearms in line with putter
- right arm shorter than 135 degrees
- 118 degrees between neck/belt/back of feet

It doesn't seem to me that the arms hang naturally which i think is what Geoff Mangum prefers (although i believe he also likes forearms in line with the shaft).