Eye Position When Putting

Anyone else with thoughts on eye position while putting??

My eyes are a bit inside. Maybe two inches.

I play the ball just inside the logo of my shirt.

I got there by setting up to a ball on a string with a ball at 5 ft and 10 ft. I fiddled with eye position until my brain feels 100% confident that the putter is on line

My model for putting is early Rory. He was spot putting and had a fast routine. Feet slightly open and I really like the pace and posture he had. He was working with Dave Stockton at the time and “unconscious putting” is the blueprint I try and follow

I don’t know where he ranked on the tour at that time but the images of him draining putts at congressional really help me to be more natural / less robotic

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That video is awesome! I’m definitely going to try that. It’s a fascinating part of the game I hadn’t really considered until recently- practicing making sure your perception matches reality, and doing that by experimenting with where your eyes are during the stroke.

Glad to help. It’s about getting comfortable and consistent. The tiger setup has always put the hole way left for me and ties my brain in a knot

I think I read somewhere once that Tiger is left eye dominant? That might make eyes over the ball make the line look straighter for him. Eyes inside the line seems to make it easier for me, and I’m right eye dominant.

yes try to find your dominant eye first. Then pick your ball position.

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Yes, good tip! I’m RHed but left eye dominant, so the ball is basically in front of the big toe of my lead (left) foot.

Additionally, my personal preference is to get close to the ball so that my left eye is over … or could be just inside … the ball – but not over (not sure the exact “why” but it seems like every instructor and putting coach is very against that).

I use a method which has the same concept to that in the video above but is much simpler to set up on a practice green and needs fewer bits and pieces.

Spend some time with an alignment stick on your practice green and make sure it is pointing directly at a hole about 6 feet away (ignore any break because you are not actually going to make a putt - you’re just lining up).

Take time to get this exactly right and then set up to the end of the alignment stick as if you were going to make the put. You can place a ball right at the end of the stick if this makes it more realistic for you.

Look down the length of the stick from your normal set up position and see if it is still pointing at the hole.

If not, move a bit forward or back until it looks dead in line and that is your perfect set up position to perceive a straight line to the hole.

I’ve used this technique for a while now and it incorporates all the elements of being left or right eye dominant etc in a simple, easily repeatable, practice exercise.

Hope that helps

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^^ That’s interesting … I’m going to try it out on a practice green.

But fyi… My personal preference is to get the line of the putt from behind the ball and then set the ball’s alignment stamp in-line with that - but I still have to line up the putter, and my body, square to that.

So maybe this Practice drill is another way to help work on that :+1:

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Sounds like the consensus is that eyes inside is ideal for most. Question: how far inside do you all think is too far inside? Obviously everyone is different, but do you think there’s a point, like 2 or 3 inches inside, that is just fundamentally bad, just like eyes being outside?

Interesting drill, I’ll definitely try it out. Welcome to the community!

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I really like the idea of this, my one question, do you put the alignment stick on the inside or outside of your ball position? Or are you just using it to line up but not actually putting?

Hi. I use the stick as the centre line of my intended putting path. Mine has a little black cap on one end so I pretend this is my ball position to line my putter face up to but, as I mentioned in my original post, I do sometimes put a ball down right at the end of the stick so it looks more realistic. Hope this helps :grinning:

Gotcha, thank you for clearing that up for me.

Very helpful video @papageorgio! I have a condition in which I only use one eye at a time; my alignment line can look quite different when over the ball, depending on which eye I’m using. This will definitely help me achieve a more consistent setup!

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I try to set the ball a touch forward so that my eyes are on target line and behind the ball. I want to rotate my head to see ball-target line-hole.

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Through alot of practice, I do everything as exact as humanly possible when putting… I use a 37" offset blade so I stand a bit more upright than most people. I went from learning with an 8802 to spending the next 34 years with a ping anser, to now using the same style, heavier weighted Rossa Daytona 6 from Taylormade with the insert. My head is positioned directly over the ball and my right eye is slightly behind the ball with my left eye closer to almost on top of the ball…I periodically check this by dropping a ball from my right eye and if that ball hits the ball, i’m too close. I want the ball to land directly behind the ball to be putted. I could basically close my left eye and not use it at all. Everything is off my right eye…That’s just me.

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I seem to do best when my eyes are just inside the ball. I use an Eyeline mirror to check my setup every so often (not enough) as I tend to start setting up with my eye too far inside the ball/line. For years I always tried to get my eyes right over the ball, but the pro added an inch to my putter and had me adjust my eye position which has improved my putting.

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