lowfi
New member
Hi everyone,
So while putting at the local course the other day, I met Tiger and Notah Begay’s old putting coach from Stanford. We got to talking and I definitely heard some cool stories about these guys but the most interesting thing that we spoke about was switch putting.
This guy mentioned that Notah adopted switch putting (putting left-handed) under certain situations. He then went on that season to shoot an NCAA Championship record of a10 under 62. Whenever Notah would have a putt that would be leaking away from his line, left to right, he would putt left-handed. He mentioned that this would always allow for an easier line to the hole, curving towards the sight line, not away (kind of like drawing the ball).
To be honest, I thought that this was the weirdest thing that I have ever heard. I know that people will put left hand down and various other methods to steady the wrist action but I’ve never heard of completely switching over to left-handed…under certain situations. I tend to think of myself as a decent putter, a bad putting day for me is usually just over 30 putts per round. I tend to average around 28.
So here’s the interesting part. I tried putting this method on a massive breaking left to right putt from the fringe. I would say that the putt was close to 20ft with ~5+ ft of break…(not too sure on that)? When putting with my normal right-handed style it felt like my body was being sort of “sucked” down the slope that I was standing on. This always intimidates me on the course when standing over a putt I can feel the break on the green. I play these putts really cautiously and tend to leave them short but due to the break they always trickle away from the hole unless I sink it. When I tried putting left-handed (I was using the exact same righty grip, I just put the ball on the other side of the putter), I felt that I was leaning into the hill and was much more stable over the ball. I think because of my stance on the slope the break didn’t seem as large or intimidating. I could just play the ball out there and let it break into the hole, not leak away from it. I left a lot of the left-handed putts close to the hole and drained a couple. I hardly left balls close to the hole putting right on this left to right putt. This whole thing kind of threw my putting stuff through a loop. On the left to right putts, putting left-handed honestly made the putt feel easier. I am right-handed, right eye dominant so I’m not sure if that had something to do with seeing the line better or what.
So has anybody here ever heard of this or tried it? I’m honestly thinking about gaming a blade style (or oldschool bullseye) putter next round that I can use from both directions or add a second putter just for a few rounds. Is this ridiculous?
Somebody try this and get back to me, I would love to hear everyones feedback.
Cheers,
Sean
So while putting at the local course the other day, I met Tiger and Notah Begay’s old putting coach from Stanford. We got to talking and I definitely heard some cool stories about these guys but the most interesting thing that we spoke about was switch putting.
This guy mentioned that Notah adopted switch putting (putting left-handed) under certain situations. He then went on that season to shoot an NCAA Championship record of a10 under 62. Whenever Notah would have a putt that would be leaking away from his line, left to right, he would putt left-handed. He mentioned that this would always allow for an easier line to the hole, curving towards the sight line, not away (kind of like drawing the ball).
To be honest, I thought that this was the weirdest thing that I have ever heard. I know that people will put left hand down and various other methods to steady the wrist action but I’ve never heard of completely switching over to left-handed…under certain situations. I tend to think of myself as a decent putter, a bad putting day for me is usually just over 30 putts per round. I tend to average around 28.
So here’s the interesting part. I tried putting this method on a massive breaking left to right putt from the fringe. I would say that the putt was close to 20ft with ~5+ ft of break…(not too sure on that)? When putting with my normal right-handed style it felt like my body was being sort of “sucked” down the slope that I was standing on. This always intimidates me on the course when standing over a putt I can feel the break on the green. I play these putts really cautiously and tend to leave them short but due to the break they always trickle away from the hole unless I sink it. When I tried putting left-handed (I was using the exact same righty grip, I just put the ball on the other side of the putter), I felt that I was leaning into the hill and was much more stable over the ball. I think because of my stance on the slope the break didn’t seem as large or intimidating. I could just play the ball out there and let it break into the hole, not leak away from it. I left a lot of the left-handed putts close to the hole and drained a couple. I hardly left balls close to the hole putting right on this left to right putt. This whole thing kind of threw my putting stuff through a loop. On the left to right putts, putting left-handed honestly made the putt feel easier. I am right-handed, right eye dominant so I’m not sure if that had something to do with seeing the line better or what.
So has anybody here ever heard of this or tried it? I’m honestly thinking about gaming a blade style (or oldschool bullseye) putter next round that I can use from both directions or add a second putter just for a few rounds. Is this ridiculous?
Somebody try this and get back to me, I would love to hear everyones feedback.
Cheers,
Sean
