Arm lock vs Side saddle putting

Equipment
#6

Love that article…thank you. In keeping a journal for the first time ever this year, I think my biggest problem with missing greens is that I’m more often than not coming in with a 5 iron.

That leads me to 3 possible helps:

  1. Hit the ball farther off the tee…certainly not my strong suit.
  2. Hit my long irons more accurately…I typically hit them solid, but not always on target or long enough…haven’t figured out how to be consistent with a hybrid yet.
  3. Change tee box from blue to white. Blue on my home course is 6810, white is 6370. I carry my 5 iron about 170 in good conditions.
#7

This is something that can be achieved… @Fit_For_Golf can help with this if you want to do it in the gym. Speed sticks can help if you want to do it on the range…

Highly recommend looking into to optimizing your driver launch conditions as well.

20 yards with the driver, which you can achieve before the spring, will put a 7 iron into your hands, except it will be an eight iron because you’ll be hitting irons further as well.

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#8

PGA Tour players average hitting 55% of the greens from 175-200 which would be 5I or less for most of them. If you are leaving yourself, on average, a 5I from the green what is the best case GIR average you can imagine? 33% or 6 per round? Your best path to improvement is hitting it further off the tee. Get, on average, the shortest club you can approaching the greens. Then, improving your short game and mid/short putting will shave a shot or two. Hit a few more greens, get up and down one or two more times, and you can cut the handicap several shots.

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#9

I’ve been using Arm-lock putting since May. It’s made me much more consistent. Really just helps to lock in the set-up and has made my stroke more consistent.

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#10

I think it’s the way to go if you want to change putting styles vs side saddle, simply because it’s less of a commitment…

That said, I think it’s important to figure out where you need to commit resources for improvement…

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#11

Pondering trying arm lock putting. Been looking at either a Directed Force or SIK, both come in the max 80 lie angle which is what I would be most comfortable with if arm locking. Would have winter months to dial it in.

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#12

Highly recommend trying a directed force if you can find one… they are different!

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#13

I have a Sik pro C armlock and absolutely love it. Let me know if you have any questions.

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#14

Nice. Of course these are individual things but what is the length you play your arm lock vs a “normal” putter, and what loft did you go with? Problem is that getting fit for these things is not the easiest.

I normally play 35i and would probably go around 43i for arm lock. For loft I am left eye dominant and have my ball quite far up in my stance so would likely be around 5 degrees.

What I would have going for the SIK over the DF is that I have a large credit at a retailer who sells the SIK so would get it w/o putting any extra cash down…Choices choices :slight_smile:

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#15

I went with 43 inches long, 78 lie and 6 degrees loft with the la golf shaft. I’m 6’6” and use a 36” standard putter.
I putt left hand low with my armlock. This is my 2nd Sik. The first one was the same length, 79 degrees upright and 7 degrees of loft with the metal shaft…didn’t work as well as I wanted, so I sold it and contacted Sik to get “fit” over the phone. They were great to work with. Best I have ever putted.

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#16

I’d go sik if it only costs store credit!

I actually tried a side saddle putter yesterday. Rolled the ball very straight on an aligned putting mat, but struggled on the turf with no lines. It’s definitely a learned stroke!

The direct force is a neat concept, but I struggled with distance control in the regular putter more than usual and I alter have control issues.

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#17

Thanks. Yeah I would contact Sik to do a phone fitting beforehand to at least confirm if my own guesstimate is ballpark or not.

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#18

Conceptually side saddle should be the best but not sure I can get over the mental hurdle of doing it. An interesting thought would be to have two putters, one for lag and one for the let’s call it 10ft and in range. I mean people carry multiple wedges so why not putters!

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#19

I’m thinking very seriously about doing this. I’m quite confident that I can get really good with side saddle from about 12 ft and in and I’m already a pretty good lag putter. Seems like doing this could have a tangible affect on my game.

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#20

I mean why not. I usually only carry 12 clubs so I could easily fit in an additional putter. Tinkerus maximus, I love the offseason :rofl:

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#21

About 5 years ago, I gave side saddle a run but I just couldn’t practice enough to make it work. but, now I have all winter and I’d be looking to get good in a very specific way. I don’t think I can overcome 35 years of putting the traditional way to completely change. But, just shorter putts? I think I can do that.

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#22

Two putters…why not :smile:. I currently have two techniques. 15’ and in I line up and putt looking at the hole (Jordan Spieth)…eliminates completely any technical stroke thoughts for me. Then outside of 15’ or so I look at the ball rather than the hole because I can’t take the putter far enough back comfortably while looking at the hole.

That’s part of the reason I’m so interested in side saddle…so I can face the hole and keep my eye on the target all the time…ie…tossing the ball looking at the target, not the toss.

#23

It all seems so logical. Squaring shoulders and eyes up to the line is the way our bodies want to work. Getting aligned properly is a bit of a challenge because you have to stand to the side of the ball but that’s just practice. Getting the ball started on the correct line for putts with a short stroke is trivially simple.

I carry a 3W, 5W, and 4I - any one of those can go and I’d hardly miss it.

#24

So are you carrying two putters this year?

#25

Interesting, I purchased TM Rossa Daytona 6, 35” long, almost exact same look as my Ping Anser that is probably 40 years old. The Rossa is a full 1.8 ounces heavier than my trusty Ping. I practiced alot with the Rossa, but under pressure, I could never get my putts to stay online or go proper distance with any kind of consistency. I purchased that, because I thought it would make me a better putter. All I did was keep on opening my stance and it was almost side saddle…. I couldn’t take it any longer. I just kept getting more and more inconsistent to the point where my playing partners developed lockjaw when I had a 2 ft putt left, what used to be an automatic “pick it up” to uh, putt that out, it was a 60/40 probability for me to miss. That’s how poor I had become. Well the 2 year experiment is over. I went back to my Anser this week. I had one 3 putt from 87ft on a GIR, i shot a 74, with 9 GIR total for the day. I made 7 bogies, 1 Birdie and one Eagle. Do the math. Feeling is so much better with my putting stroke and I feel I can strike the putt with more consistency. Confidence wise it was a game changer on those 3-7 footers…. I was able to keep the stroke on line. I was so tempted to toss it all and try the armlock endeavor, but that would be completely back to the drawing board. Funny you always end up back to your roots. Tiger’s been not budging on the Scotty forever! Good enough for him, not much more to say!