Really enjoyed session 1 of @jon talking to Sasho… one of the ideas Sasho brought up and something I want to work on is consistent putter setup…
Anyone have some best practices for practicing this?
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I’m a touch confused. What’s this in reference to? Jon’s latest podcast? Something else?
Yeah, In the most recent podcast, Sasho basically said people can’t / don’t correct for improper set up over a putt… the logical conclusion from that is to make sure I’m setting up properly as much as possible…
SeeMore putter does some of the work here… but I’m sure I can do more.
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I have an Eyeline mirror I use every so often; should use it more. I usually try to have my eyes just inside the ball, but it’s amazing how far off I can get. I probably shouldn’t be surprised as my full swing setup gets off just as easily.
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Interesting topic. Can’t say I do it well, but I do try to practice at home doing a few simple things to get myself into … well, approximately 
… the same setup position every time …
- position of ball in stance
- for me it’s forward, just inside of my front foot (fwiw am RHed and left eye dominant … so ball is … approximately … under the left eye)
- distance to ball
- for me it’s about the width of a mallet putter head plus close to an inch of space on either side (between my front foot and the ball)
- this is the item I need to check most closely as I seem to have a tendency to wander either a little closer to, or sometimes further from, the ball
- a practice putting mirror helps with this
- body alignment square to putting line
- possibly this is even more critical here than in your full swing, so I try to do a quick check that legs, hips and shoulders are all in line with each other and all “parallel left” of my putt line
- putting mirror can help with the shoulder alignment, too
Hope something in there might help!
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IMO the best way to ensure setup is the same is to do the routine the same every time. Getting a good routine should help you are in the same position. In listening to Sasho the one part I don’t know how to correct would be the putter head 1-2 degrees offline. I am assuming that I couldn’t tell you what is 1 degree off or right on line.
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SeeMore sight lines!
I wonder how much sight lines really do impact consistency in set up. I’ve got an Odyssey triple track putter…but don’t use a line on my ball (I know that they recommend using the triple track line on the ball to align with the putter)…but the line on the ball has always felt so unorthodox to me…especially since I started putting while looking at the hole.
This game is so maddening and beautiful. It was an excellent episode though…I love the data about how variability in full swings “is consistent”…and we can’t be mechanical and still succeed in most cases with the full swing.
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I’ve been trying this lately. It’s eerie how much better my distance control is that way, and how much manipulation I can feel that it takes. Instead of the back and through pendulum stroke.
But it works!
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I honestly don’t even think about my stroke, path, or mechanics anymore. It’s all total focus on speed and just let the natural instincts take over. My putting is so much better….better lags, no more thinking over 4 footers.
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I had always been looking at this game from a fairly healthy guy’s point of view.
Not until one of my kids practicing the optometry do I realized that the vision ( eye sight for the senior ) has a lot to do with our performance on the green.
Especially after I had my own cataract surgery a few years back, I could appreciate how some of the others “see things”.
The two ball line up and extra sight line, different shape of the putter head to emphasize direction… all have something to do with how we line up the putt.
So, make sure you do everything you could to get the best vision available to your condition/age. Everything else come secondary.
I really appreciate how Ben Hogan held up after his near fatal accident; with almost blinded on his left eye ( something he hid away from the media , which his wife Valerie confirmed later after his passing ).
Anything that could help to compromise defective vision will sell really well, since senior is still the largest group for golfers in this Country.
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How did you establish which eye is dominant? My eyes sight is different in each eye but no idea if one dominates the other?
I just started using the new TM Tour Response Stripe to see if that helps and I notice that when I stand over the ball, it doesn’t look correctly aligned, even when it actually is.
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With both eyes open, hold out your arm and stick up one finger. Cover something in the distance with that extended finger. Close one eye. Did the object you covered reappear from behind the finger? Then the closed eye is your dominant eye. If it stayed covered, your open eye is your dominant eye.
Comes up a ton in pistol shooting, where you try to put a little post at the end of the barrel, over your target. I’m cross-dominant for what it’s worth. (Left-handed, right eye dominant, and until LASIK, the right eye was far weaker than my left eye.) It can be a pain.
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@Jayjay great explanation.
After you figure it out and you’re lining up your ball on the green - try this…
…get behind the ball and use your dominant eye to line it up to your intended putt line
…take your stance and set up to the ball SQUARE to the line on your ball … no matter what! … and putt down your line.
I wear progressive eye glasses, but not all the time, and they have a lot of curvature in the periphery … so I’d unconsciously re-aim myself… This can also happen in your unaided, non eyeglass wearing, peripheral vision.
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I have been using the SeeMore mirror. Since I learned golf when I was young, I was taught to have your eyes over the line. I have been slowly training myself to place them inside the line. I happen to like this, but after so many years of the other way I have found it to be inconsistent to start with.
Another change I have been experimenting with is the have my left eye behind the ball(I am right handed) I have found this really helps me square the putter on the short putts. Has anyone attempted this? What has been the results?
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I have my left eye over the ball… I actually abandoned working on my eye line setup… I had a terrible putting round on Saturday, so I’m going back to basics and setting up in what I consider a “comfortable” way… going to try to teach myself more feel / consistency. Basically building out a clock system for my putting.
But my start line has always been decent… Im much more concerned with speed control right now.
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Thanks. I actually abandoned the Stripe Ball. It wasn’t very durable, seemed to launch too high and gave no benefits to out weigh those sizeable downsides.
So I am putting more naturally, and still averaging 1.8 putts per hole.
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Yeah, the progressive lenses have a narrow band for different distance use. As it was explained to me by one of my kids who is an optometrist.
If you can’t get used to the tilting of angle to accommodate the narrow bands on the lense; then try the Jack Nicklaus method of addressing the putt. He put his head slightly behind the golf ball, not directly over it as the conventional way. Tile the head to look down the putting line, this will give you a better visual on the putt. However, as the man mentioned, he’ll make an extra effort to keep the putter head going through the golf ball because his head is slightly behind it and often will pull the club after impact.
One other thing. Not sure which part of your vision needs more help, distance or reading. Normally for people wearing progressive lenses do okay with distance. I take off my glasses for putting during those days when I have issue adjusting between looking at the golf ball down by my feet and the putting line all the way to the cup.
Another thing my kid mentioned to me is, try to use both of your eyes for golf. We did not use just the dominant eye doing everything else ( consciously) do we? The use of both eyes with the binocular vision is always superior to using just one eye ( dominant one or not ) .
I’m putting looking down the line from slightly behind the golf ball, and using both eyes.
Really, when we get to a certain age, mandatory annual vision check up will benefit in the long run.
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