Putting stroke

[RxGus]

Yesterday was my first round with my new Seemore m3 putter. The thing is beautiful and provides a perfectly pure roll... by far the best rolling putter I have ever used.

That said- I was previously playing an odyssey XG #7 which I also loved a lot. Over the course of two seasons with it I had become a pretty reasonable putter (avg 31-32 putts a round, never more than one 3 putt). I didn't make a lot of really long putts with it, but I left good lags and I rarely missed inside of 8 ft.

Using the #7 this year, I never really gave any thought to my stroke/alignment- just picked my line, stepped up to the ball, and hit it where I wanted it to go.

Yesterday I played with the seemore and had 40 putts (6- three putts!!!). I just struggled the whole round. My long putts were still lagging well but instead of making those 5-8 footers I just couldnt hit them. About halfway through the round I started "thinking" a lot about my putting stroke (I know thats bad to do on the course, but it wasn't like I was going to start putting worse...) and I noticed two things.

1. My natural aligment is a smidge open. The line of my feet always points a little left of the hole. My swing path however, is in line with the hole (and intended target).

2. When I pull my club back, I naturally follow it with my eyes (and therefore take my eye off the ball). I found when I do this that I have a steady take away and maintain good control of the club face. When I don't do this I seem to have a tendency to leave the club face open through impact.

The other big confounding factor in my most recent round was that I played as a single. Generally when I play as a single I take less time on the greens and am far more apt to just step up and wack it (and not take my time).

Here are my questions for you guys.

If I do ok putting despite the flaws in my stroke- should I be looking to close my address or is what I am doing OK?

How much of my putting struggles are from the new putter (and not being able to find a conistent alignment) vs swing flaws?

At what point should I consider the new putter a lost cause and go back to the one I was using?

I am not looking to do anything drastic yet (no mountians out of mole hills)- more just curious as to the opinions of people who's advice I trust.

 

[JPsuff]

I've always believed that the "Push Drill" identifies and/or solves most putting issues and determining what a putter "wants" to do as well.

The Push Drill is simply this:

Place the ball at a point in your address where it would be at impact.

Then, place the putter directly behind the ball with the face just barely touching the ball.

From this position - AND WITH NO BACKSWING WHATSOEVER - "push" the ball toward the intended target.​

Normally, this drill works to ingrain acceleration into the putting stoke, but it can also give you an idea of what the putter itself wants to do. When you push some balls in this way, you should be able to tell if the putter wants to be swung in a true pendulum type motion or if it wants you to allow a release and let the head close a bit on impact.

Once you get an idea of how the putter wants to be swung, it's just a matter of adding a backswing that allows the through-swing that feels best with this particular putter. I would give it a chance to work and it may not be something that will instantly jump out at you, but I think that after a while you'll be able to understand how this particular putter wants to be swung for it to give you the best result.

That said, it may be that the way the putter works best may not be the most comfortable for you in terms of setup and overall mechanics and if that happens, it would most likely be the time to consider moving on and perhaps going back to your old putter or one that is more similar to it.

In my opinion, the bottom line with putters as well as all golf clubs in general,is to use a club that fits your swing rather than to have to invent a swing to fit the club.

Hope this helps!


-JP

 

[Hawk]

You might want to contact SeeMore if you continue to have issues. They even offer support with your putting stroke. I couldn't think of anyone better to ask :act-up:

 

[Esox]

Stop following the putter back with your eyes. Or don't. What's unusual about your post is the exact opposite happens to me. If I watch the putter go back, I decelerate through the ball and will push it out to the right (lefty). If I stay too tense ( wigwam and tee pee) I pull short putts. JP's drill sounds like a good one. Similar to that is a shorter back swing making sure you send that putter head at the target with authority. That keeps me rolling the ball on line. I use an open stance, too. Unless I change it, which happens as soon as a miss a short putt.

I have my eye on those Odyssey Backstrike putters. I was rolling a few in Golf Galaxy and those weird things really seem to put my hands perfectly ahead of the ball, stopping me from wobbling the darn putter around.

I know this post doesn't really offer much, but I'm going to try and get more involved with the golf discussions. For some reason I'm all of a sudden really excited about playing my own game instead of worrying about only about my Daughter's.

Good luck fellow Cheesehead.

Kevin