While messing around with my old putt return machine, I was thinking about the fact that my alignment is something I need working on.

I do know you're not supposed to make a stroke standing behind or straddling the ball. But I find that a nice way to properly align my putter is to stand behind the ball on the target line, and align the putter using the alignment marks, holding it lightly with my left hand. Then I come around to the side of the putter, and get into my stance, and then make my stroke.

My putting isn't HORRID, as I generally average somewhere around 2.1 putts per hole, and has been improving round-by-round. But I am looking for ways to improve it, much like we all are.

But after lining up like this a couple times in my living room, something went off in my brain that told me that something's not quite right about the way I'm doing it. I figure it's either a twinge of self-consciousness because it kinda looks funny, or a way of lining up that's not legal.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

I don't see how that's possibly illegal. But whatever routine you pick, it's more important to stick with it than just think it's right!!

i dont know if its a violation but one of my buddies (avg 110+) does this... we make fun of him for it, but putting is much better than rest of his game

I've seen a few guys do this and they really sucked at putting.

Try reading the putt and picking a *target on the green a few feet in front of the ball. If you get the ball rolling to that spot, noting else matters as long as you're making square contact. (And speed of course)


*A longer blade of grass, an old pitch mark, a different color, etc.. I can always find something...even at the nicest courses.



Oh, and I took just 24 putts yesterday using this method. :P

That is most certainly not illegal. In fact, there are some putters that will stand up by themselves, such that you can set it behind the ball and then walk behind it and check the line. Even that is legal!

If I saw someone doing that, I'd walk off the course. Or at least skip a few holes ahead...

putters that stand up by themselves were illegal last time I checked.

Please check again

wouldn't be the first time I'm wrong

I have trouble making sure it's the same spot sometimes. Then again, it's been a while since I tried doing this.

I was reading some Pelz stuff over on golf.com, and he said there was a study that showed that players (especially high-handicap ones like me) typically putted better while looking at the hole rather than the ball. This is a habit I've gotten into, but after switching things up and going back to the normal way of putting (eyes on the ball rather than the hole), I had my best putting day ever.

So it's been... oh, three months? since I putted the normal way. My practice with picking an intermediate spot is slim to none - I find I'm very target-focused. When playing breaking putts, I pick the spot where I would want the ball to end up if the slope were flat, admittedly an aiming technique I picked up from a Tiger Woods video game. (Yeah, you can make fun of me for this... it's lame, I know. :P)

It might be a while until I'm able to do so, but I will try the intermediate-target putting thing, and then try the way I was talking about - figure out which one works best for me. Maybe take a pen and pad and do it Pelz-style?

These putters were never illegal. Where did you check?

Well I know one of them that came out was illegal but I assumed that it was because it stood up. Must have been a different reason. Still think it's wrong

I don't know if they changed the rules... The quote is from the article that I linked....




Sports Illustrated.

That's actually how I line up my putts, but only if it's relatively straight. I'm not the greatest golfer in the world but I haven't had a 3 putt in my last 4 rounds so it obviously isn't that bad a way to line it up.

A putter that stands by itself though... that's a little unnecessary and silly, imo.

I used to play with a guy who lined his putts up like that and he was a pretty good stick...maybe a 6 handicap and he made a fair number of birdies. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

I tried this for a while before I put a line on my ball. It was better than what I was doing before, but I found that the alignment of the putter easily moved when walking around to hit.

On top of that, once you take your practice stroke, you're ruining your alignment for the most part.

I saw a few guys putt like this, and it look ridiculous--trying to hold that putter perfectly straight while walking around to it never works 100% anyway. I would see the putter moving around as the guy walked to his ball, but he didn't realize it.

I need one on those!

Any idea where to get one?