BluesManDan
Active member
So I stumbled on something curious the other day about judging distance. I seem to do better by just using my right eye.
Background: I've always been an extremely "aggressive" putter... by that I mean that if (when) I miss, it will go consistently past the hole... just a few feet on short putts, but the farther the putt is, the farther it goes by! Lag putts have generally always terrified me, because no matter what I do or how many times I would tell myself "don't hit it long!" --- I would still do it and knock that sucker way by. I'm righthanded, but have a dominant left eye (which I chalk up to the astigmatism in my right eye). I suppose that I should naturally be right-eyed, but my right eye is weaker because of the astigmatism. It's always been an issue for me when shooting firearms... right-handed and left-eyed doesn't work too well.
What I stumbled onto was this: when I get over the putt to finally judge distance and make a stroke, I close my left eye and just use my right eye for distance. My distance control suddenly comes under control. I don't do this when greenreading, but just for the final gazes at the hole before I make the stroke. I look at the ball, close my left eye, then lift my right eye gaze to the hole, get the mental picture of where the hole is, and then putt. It really tames my putting and has stopped the banging-it-way-by issue.
What happened? What I figure is this: I notice that when I'm over the ball, looking towards the hole with my head tilted as it is during putting, and I alternately close one eye and then the other, I can see the hole change position, and it looks about 10% closer with the right eye, and 10% farther away with the left. Try it. You won't notice any difference when your head is level, but tilt your head so one eye is higher than the other, and if you wink back and forth between eyes you should be able to see an object move up and down, which your brain would interpret as up=farther away, down=closer. I think that maybe my situation is some kind of dominant-eye-confusion. I should be right-eyed, but the astigmatism makes me use my left eye more, but my right eye should be my ACTUAL dominant eye. So when I judge distance, and SHOULD be using my right eye, my brain has been using my left, and so I hit it consistently long. Both eyes open, left eye dominates and I hit it long. Right eye only, I don't knock it by.
Anyone else ever done this or know anything about it?
Background: I've always been an extremely "aggressive" putter... by that I mean that if (when) I miss, it will go consistently past the hole... just a few feet on short putts, but the farther the putt is, the farther it goes by! Lag putts have generally always terrified me, because no matter what I do or how many times I would tell myself "don't hit it long!" --- I would still do it and knock that sucker way by. I'm righthanded, but have a dominant left eye (which I chalk up to the astigmatism in my right eye). I suppose that I should naturally be right-eyed, but my right eye is weaker because of the astigmatism. It's always been an issue for me when shooting firearms... right-handed and left-eyed doesn't work too well.
What I stumbled onto was this: when I get over the putt to finally judge distance and make a stroke, I close my left eye and just use my right eye for distance. My distance control suddenly comes under control. I don't do this when greenreading, but just for the final gazes at the hole before I make the stroke. I look at the ball, close my left eye, then lift my right eye gaze to the hole, get the mental picture of where the hole is, and then putt. It really tames my putting and has stopped the banging-it-way-by issue.
What happened? What I figure is this: I notice that when I'm over the ball, looking towards the hole with my head tilted as it is during putting, and I alternately close one eye and then the other, I can see the hole change position, and it looks about 10% closer with the right eye, and 10% farther away with the left. Try it. You won't notice any difference when your head is level, but tilt your head so one eye is higher than the other, and if you wink back and forth between eyes you should be able to see an object move up and down, which your brain would interpret as up=farther away, down=closer. I think that maybe my situation is some kind of dominant-eye-confusion. I should be right-eyed, but the astigmatism makes me use my left eye more, but my right eye should be my ACTUAL dominant eye. So when I judge distance, and SHOULD be using my right eye, my brain has been using my left, and so I hit it consistently long. Both eyes open, left eye dominates and I hit it long. Right eye only, I don't knock it by.
Anyone else ever done this or know anything about it?