baldguy
Part-Time Sasquatch
I recently watched Monte Scheinblum's video "Short Game". It has a lot of good tips and info for those of us working on shaving strokes from 75 and in. One of the most interesting and frankly strange things he mentioned was something he calls "voodoo putting". It's a way of intuitively reading a long lag putt using your body instead of trying to decipher the green's nuances. I was skeptical at first, and I still really don't know how it works or how often it will work... but I tried it today and was absolutely shocked at how well it got me close to the hole. here's the deal:
For putts in the 12-30 foot range, you stand equidistant from the hole and ball. High side or low side doesn't matter as long as the ball is on your right and the hole on your left (for right handed golfers). Left handed golfers will want to reverse that. Step back from the line between the two about half as far as the total distance for the putt. Precision isn't paramount for this part, you just want a nice field of view where you can easily see the green between your ball and the hole. Look directly at the hole, then the ball, then the hole, then the ball and without taking your eyes off the ball, walk to it, set up and putt.
Sounds crazy, right? Today on the course WardF and I were talking about this, since we both had seen the video but neither had tried the method. On the 14th we had nobody behind us, so we both dropped an extra ball and tried this "voodoo" method for the first time. The putt was about 25 feet with a downhill left to right break. We both ended up in tap-in range! I was closer this way than I was with my regulation putt. Step back. Ball, hole, ball, hole, walk up and putt. it worked. it's crazy but it just worked. I tried it again on the 17th for a 20ish foot uphill right to left... it worked again! dumbfounded, I went with it again on the 18th (10ish foot level with a slight left to right) and for the third time in 3 attempts the stupid ball ended up inside of a foot. Uphill, downhill, left or right... they all just parked themselves. And I never looked up at the hole after walking to my ball.
I think the "voodoo" at work here is actually your body's innate ability to follow terrain and judge spatial distances in action. You can walk up and down hills, stairs, etc and over rocks and all sorts of terrain without having to calculate where to put your foot or how far to bend your knees. You can throw a ball to someone who is out of your peripheral vision pretty easily if you look at them first. The same things are working here. You know where the hole is, you felt and saw the terrain of the green. so putting the ball "over there next to the hole" is more natural than many of us make it. When we start picking lines and calculating speeds, we turn a natural "just hit it over there" into something much more complicated. Of course that is just my guess.
Now, I doubt this will work when there are multiple breaks, or a sizeable ridge or hill on your line. I don't *know* that it won't work but the concept shouldn't fit as easily in those situations. I don't know if it works for everyone. I am not even sure I fully understand exactly *why* it worked so well. I do know that it worked for me and I will definitely be using it for a while for lags to see if I can figure out where it falls short. Obviously, if the putt is in your comfort zone for actually making it then you probably want to get more complicated. For lags though... I am shocked, but I am intrigued.
Has anyone else seen this video? I highly recommend the entire "short game" video for lots of reasons, the putting method just being one of them. Has anyone else tried this method of "natural" or "voodoo" lag putting?
For putts in the 12-30 foot range, you stand equidistant from the hole and ball. High side or low side doesn't matter as long as the ball is on your right and the hole on your left (for right handed golfers). Left handed golfers will want to reverse that. Step back from the line between the two about half as far as the total distance for the putt. Precision isn't paramount for this part, you just want a nice field of view where you can easily see the green between your ball and the hole. Look directly at the hole, then the ball, then the hole, then the ball and without taking your eyes off the ball, walk to it, set up and putt.
Sounds crazy, right? Today on the course WardF and I were talking about this, since we both had seen the video but neither had tried the method. On the 14th we had nobody behind us, so we both dropped an extra ball and tried this "voodoo" method for the first time. The putt was about 25 feet with a downhill left to right break. We both ended up in tap-in range! I was closer this way than I was with my regulation putt. Step back. Ball, hole, ball, hole, walk up and putt. it worked. it's crazy but it just worked. I tried it again on the 17th for a 20ish foot uphill right to left... it worked again! dumbfounded, I went with it again on the 18th (10ish foot level with a slight left to right) and for the third time in 3 attempts the stupid ball ended up inside of a foot. Uphill, downhill, left or right... they all just parked themselves. And I never looked up at the hole after walking to my ball.
I think the "voodoo" at work here is actually your body's innate ability to follow terrain and judge spatial distances in action. You can walk up and down hills, stairs, etc and over rocks and all sorts of terrain without having to calculate where to put your foot or how far to bend your knees. You can throw a ball to someone who is out of your peripheral vision pretty easily if you look at them first. The same things are working here. You know where the hole is, you felt and saw the terrain of the green. so putting the ball "over there next to the hole" is more natural than many of us make it. When we start picking lines and calculating speeds, we turn a natural "just hit it over there" into something much more complicated. Of course that is just my guess.
Now, I doubt this will work when there are multiple breaks, or a sizeable ridge or hill on your line. I don't *know* that it won't work but the concept shouldn't fit as easily in those situations. I don't know if it works for everyone. I am not even sure I fully understand exactly *why* it worked so well. I do know that it worked for me and I will definitely be using it for a while for lags to see if I can figure out where it falls short. Obviously, if the putt is in your comfort zone for actually making it then you probably want to get more complicated. For lags though... I am shocked, but I am intrigued.
Has anyone else seen this video? I highly recommend the entire "short game" video for lots of reasons, the putting method just being one of them. Has anyone else tried this method of "natural" or "voodoo" lag putting?