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Plumb Bobbing Putts

JRod said:
Plum Bobbing pisses me off. It's always the terrible putters that do it and they have to do it from behind and in front of the ball. Takes forever.

I never see pro's doing it but I could be wrong.
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Zj is one who does it. He's one of the best putters out there. I'd love to hear if seemore putters has an opinion on this
 
Dave Pelz says it absolutely does not work, and the only information you could possibly glean from it you can get just from eyeballing the green. Since the slope of a green is rarely constant, many putters don't hang vertically, and golfers bodies are typically fighting the slope to keep themselves fairly vertical, there is very little useful information coming from plumb bobbing.

The funny thing is, I would wager that the majority of golfers who try to "plumb bob" are not even attempting the very basic steps listed in the original post, so they are really just wasting time staring at their putter shaft. For those that know what they are doing, if you are on a green with a very subtle slope so that you really cannot tell what direction your putt breaks, then it could actually help you figure that out, but not much else.

But for those people who do it and like it -- and there are touring pros who still do it -- knock yourselves out. I can't read greens for squat anyways.
 
Jeanthemachine said:
I'm sorry, I think it is BS.

If I plumb bob and cover the ball and the cup with the putter shaft, that's all I get - the straight line from the ball to the hole. The only way there is a shift in appearance is if I close the DOMINANT eye and, for me, the shaft will ALWAYS appear to the right of the hole (I am right eye dominant).

Maybe somebody can show me how this works but I don't get it.
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im agreeing if i hold the putter on the same line as the cup itll cover the cup right? therefore it would be a straight as hell putt according to yalls logic plus this doesnt take in double benders and grain
 
armygolfer77 said:
im agreeing if i hold the putter on the same line as the cup itll cover the cup right? therefore it would be a straight as hell putt according to yalls logic plus this doesnt take in double benders and grain
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I'm saying that, regardless of the slope of the green, I can hold the putter shaft vertically and cover both the ball and the cup with the shaft. This effectively tells me nothing.
 
Jeanthemachine said:
I'm saying that, regardless of the slope of the green, I can hold the putter shaft vertically and cover both the ball and the cup with the shaft. This effectively tells me nothing.
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Use the left edge of the shaft and cover half the ball toward the cup. On a consistent breaking putt, it will not cover both.
 
I tried this today - you can just cover the ball and the hole every time - showing a straight line I guess?
I did not try the above suggestion
 
I have tried it but don't really see any benefit. The explanations here have done little to clear it up.
 
Thainer21 said:
Use the left edge of the shaft and cover half the ball toward the cup. On a consistent breaking putt, it will not cover both.
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i tired this today on a pretty nice size breaking putt only in one direction and used two balls one with this "method" and the other just reading the putt normal with this method it left me about 4 feet to the left of the hole because when i did this method it showed it being straight so when i reputted and used the normal method i lipped it on the high side
 
Okay, I think some are getting confused with the explanation of how to find your dominant eye and the explanation of plum bobbing.

you do not need to start with both eyes open and then close the non dominant eye to "move the cup"


Just close the non dominant eye like you were going to shoot a gun....hold the putter in your fully outstretched arm in your finger tips freely enough so the weight of the head will allow it to naturally swing to vertical...place the bottom part of the shaft over the ball or marker and if there is a break in the putt, the cup will be on one side of the top of the shaft or other.

As I said earlier....I am a decent putter....and I don't plum bob...unless there is a very subtle break that I just cant decide if it's straight or goes one way or the other slightly...then I might throw a quick plum bob in there just to see the direction of the break.

The flaw in the theroy of plum bobbing telling you how far to play the ball outside the cup comes when you factor in speed, it tells you nothing about speed and that changes the break....so it can be a tool if you are just having a hard time seeing the break...but other than that, I just don't use it.
 
Tim, you are absolutely correct. With only your dominant eye open, ff there is a break, there is no way in hell you can hang a perpendicular putter through the center of the ball and the center of the cup if you are standing with the dominant eye on a straight line behind the ball to the cup. Now the putter has to hang straight, you've got to figure exactly how to hold your putter so it hangs perfectly straight. I have to have the toe of my Scotty pointing a little toward my right shoulder. But anyhow, like I said, if done right there is absolutely no way you can cover the center of the ball and cup on a putt that has break -- period -- end of discussion.
 
i did it exactly how yall said and it covers both im right eye dominant and with only that eye open the cup doesnt move away from the shaft or ball at all why? cuz its my dominant eye its not supposed to move from where your looking at btw if you shoot a gun with one eye closed you need to learn how to shoot
 
The cup does not move at all. Nothing moves. You hang the lower part of the shaft over the center of the ball, look at the cup, whichever side the shaft lies on, that's where you putt the ball.
 
armygolfer77 said:
i did it exactly how yall said and it covers both im right eye dominant and with only that eye open the cup doesnt move away from the shaft or ball at all why? cuz its my dominant eye its not supposed to move from where your looking at btw if you shoot a gun with one eye closed you need to learn how to shoot
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I'm with you on all counts.

Regardless of the slope I can cover both the ball and the hole with the putter shaft.
 
Haters gonna hate
 
hahaha we are all trying here but it really is confusing - has there never been a video or graphic showing this? I guess it's hard to explain - but when I tried it on the course (North Torrey:bashful:) I did not see it other than straight -I did not try covering half the ball as suggested just on the ball and on the hole - would love to see a break I can't see
 
When it comes to geophysics, mechanical engineering, biomechanical engineering, gravity and whatever else is involved when it comes to this scenario, I cannot say for a fact that it really works, in a vacuum. But, maybe, on a subconscious level, when someone plumb bobs, it activates the visual part of the brain related to understanding the subtleties of the green, that the golfer, for some reason or another, cannot visualize when just looking at the putt without some kind of guide.

For those that think it slows down the game, I disgree. Plumb bobbing does not slow down the game. Golfers who don't play "Ready Golf" slow down the game. I can plumb bob just a fast as you can do your kneel down, walk around, look at it from the other side of the hole routine.
 
staticline said:
Plumb bobbing does not slow down the game. Golfers who don't play "Ready Golf" slow down the game.
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Preach it brotha!

I can plumb bob just a fast as you can do your kneel down, walk around, look at it from the other side of the hole routine.
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Ugh. Don't get me started on those a-holes trying to save a triple bogey by analyzing a 20 footer from 7 sides.
 
I'm not sure about all the plum bobbing sometimes I'll try it I'm not sure if it helps.
Has anyone tried this?
http://www.aimpointgolf.com/


Curious if this system works.
 
sharkwrestler said:
I'm not sure about all the plum bobbing sometimes I'll try it I'm not sure if it helps.
Has anyone tried this?
http://www.aimpointgolf.com/


Curious if this system works.
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My coach showed me a little about Aimpoint once. It is intriguing and it definitely works. It's the reason Stacy Lewis improved her putting so much. Much more reliable than plumb bobbing. Haha.

I'm still going to plumb bob but I know it is not enough to rely on heavily for my putting.
 
I dont plumb bob and Im yet to see ANY evidence that it works. Considering that theres no straight lines on the green to, "line up" the putter with when you are plumb bobbing, I dont see the sense behind it.
 
Canio said:
I've never done it. Now, that you've explained HOW to do it, I may try. Off topic, I playe with 'one of those guys' who actually plumb bobbed from 130 yds in the fairway. He missed the green anyway!!
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This is too funny!
 
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