Opinion & Analysis

The key to putter fitting? Know your roll

Published

6 years ago

Feb 27, 2015

This is the second installment of a four-part series from Modern Golf on putter fitting and the Quintic System.

Find a busy practice putting green, and it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll see at least a few golfers obsessing over the motion of their putting stroke. They’re usually the ones who are using some kind of training aid to help them groove their stroke in a certain way.

For many golfer, it can be time well spent. But what they might not know is that the way their putter moves is only half the equation to good putting. Did you know that two putts with the same clubhead speed can travel significantly different distances? Did you also know that most golfers actually do a good job of consistently swinging the putter through at their desired speed? So why do so many golfers have problems with their distance control? The other half of the equation is controlling what is called their ball roll.

How do golfers control how their ball roll? How should the ball be rolling? It is a very difficult question to answer without using high-speed cameras and motion capturing. Using a system called Quintic, we provide golfers the knowledge and data they need to putt their best. Understanding this data will improve your game.

The image below shows what an ideal 8-foot putt looks like on our Quintic System.

Click the image to enlarge it.

Forward Rotation

As you can see, the ball instantly started to rotate forward off the putter face. A ball that has negative initial ball roll, or “backspin,” will lose speed and can deflect offline. Having the ball rotate forward off the face will give players better distance control with their putts because the ball will lose less energy and stay on its intended line longer. This will aid the ball in rolling over debris and other imperfections on the green such as ball marks, spike marks, etc.

Having anywhere from +25 rpm to +50 rpm initial ball roll is ideal. Any higher and the ball will roll out longer because it will be carrying more momentum. This can make downhill 5 footers scarier than they already are. With an rpm under +20 rpm, the ball doesn’t carry as much momentum to the hole.

Launch

The ball was launched at about 1.75 degrees. An ideal launch angle on most greens is between 0.75 degrees and 2 degrees. Much like a driver, controlling launch has a big influence on how far the ball will travel. That is because on the green, a ball will sit in a small depression as a result of gravity. The ball needs to be launched out of this depression — and not too high or too low. Optimal launch should change depending on the blade length of the grass and the type of putting surface. On lush greens with a longer blade length, the ball will sit in a deeper depression. On firm greens with a short blade length, the ball will not sit in such a deep depression, and for that reason not as much launch is required.

The image below shows what happens to a putt that has a launch angle that is too high.

Click the image to enlarge it.

Zero Skid

Minimal skid is ideal. On a well struck putt, there should be less than 10 percent skid for the total distance the ball travels. So on an 8-foot putt, ideally there should be less than 10 inches of skid (see first image). Once “zero skid” occurs, the ball starts rolling on top of the grass smoothly. When there is too much skid, the result is a loss of distance and ball speed. Every time the ball bounces and strikes the putting surface it loses energy — energy that has been factored into your putt for speed and distance. These putts tend to come up short and offline, and this often happens with long putts or lag putts.

Below are images of a “dew board.” The board simulates putting through an early morning dew where it is easy to see launch and skid. There are two visible lines on the board. The putt that has a flat and consistent line has optimal launch and minimal skid. The putt that looks dotted or chattered has launched too high, increasing the zero skid parameter. The dots are where the ball has struck the putting surface and continues to hop until it reaches zero skid.

Every putt, at some point, reaches zero skid. Reducing the amount of time it takes for the ball to reach zero skid will ensure that the ball will lose minimal energy and carry more momentum to the hole.

Impact Ratio

This refers to how efficiently clubhead speed is converted into ball speed. For all of those Trackman users out there, this is the same as smash factor. It is a simple calculation: ball speed divided by clubhead speed. Controlling the speed that the ball comes off the face is crucial. This is achieved when the center mass of the club head makes contact with the center mass of the golf ball. Any off-center strike results in a loss of ball speed and face deflection, causing the ball to roll offline with less speed.

We’ve all hit full shots that weren’t solidly struck and they come up short of our target. The exact same thing happens when we don’t hit a putt solid, but it’s much harder to feel the mishit because the clubhead speed is much slower through impact with a putter. This is where most golfers struggle.

The face of the putter also needs to be square to the path of the club. Otherwise, you’ll see a glancing blow that also reduces ball speed. The type of putter a player uses also has an effect on ball speed. Putters with softer inserts reduce ball speed because of reduced energy transfer from the club head to the ball. To illustrate where you strike the ball on the clubface, spray the face of the putter with Doctor Scholl’s foot spray. It will show you where the ball is making contact with the face, and has minimal effect on ball speed and friction.

Certainly there are other parameters to consider, but this article should provide golfers with a general concept that they may not have considered in the past. Without knowing what the ball is doing, it is very difficult to teach someone proper putting mechanics. Players who have a better understanding of how the ball is rolling have a better chance of improving their game on the greens. Therefore, go get fit for a putter and KNOW YOUR ROLL.

Call or email to book your appointment today at Modern Golf.

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Podcasts

The Gear Dive: Going scorched earth on Tiger documentary

Published

2 days ago

Jan 14, 2021

GolfWRX Staff

On this episode of TGD, Johnny goes in hard on the HBO documentary Tiger.

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Club Junkie

Club Junkie: My favorite G425 driver? Reviewing Ping’s NEW G425 lineup!

Published

3 days ago

Jan 13, 2021

GolfWRX Staff

Ping’s new G425 line of clubs was just released this week and I have had them out on the range! Comparing the G425 LST driver to the Max and what one worked best for me. The rest of the lineup is just really easy to hit and very forgiving. Ping has crafted a great lineup of clubs that are easy to hit and will make the game more enjoyable for those who play them!

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Opinion & Analysis

The Wedge Guy: Is there a single “secret” to a better short game?

Published

3 days ago

Jan 13, 2021

Terry Koehler

Last week, I asked for you all to send me your ideas for topics to address in my weekly blog and so many of you came through—we are off to a great start with this new “two-way” relationship I hope to have with you all. Thanks to those who wrote me. The topics presented so far covered a wide range of aspects of wedges and short-range performance, but one that was repeated in one way or another was whether or not I thought there was a single “secret” to building better wedge technique.

You know, I’ve seen so many great short games in my life, it’s often hard to single out one or two “secrets”, but I do think there are a number of core fundamentals that almost all good wedge players exhibit in their technique. Some of those are more obvious than others, but one that I find extremely enlightening for our “study” today is the way the hands and club move through the impact zone.

Take a close look at the photo I chose to illustrate this article and study it for a few minutes. You will see dozens of photos of tour players in this exact same position right after impact on a chip or pitch shot.

Now, let me tell you what I see from the perspective of an equipment (i.e. wedge) junkie who has studied the tools and the craft every which way from Sunday for over 30 years.

First, I see hands that have obviously been very quiet through impact as the angle formed by the forearms and shaft is identical to where it was at impact.

I also see that the hands are in front of the golfer’s sternum, which is likely where they were at address, into the backswing, and will continue to be for the rest of the follow-through. I am a firm believer that the less “hands-y” your wedge technique can be, the more consistent it will be. This golfer obviously is keeping his hands in front of his body through impact, so that the speed of his hands and therefore the club are controlled by the speed of his body core rotation.

I’m going to come back to that in a moment, but first…

Quiet hands also preserve the relationship of the sole of the wedge to the turf, so the impact “attitude” is a copy of the address attitude. In other words, the golfer has prevented a hinging and unhinging of the wrists that would likely cause the club to get more upright at impact, thereby compromising the turf interaction efficiency of the wedge’s sole design and bounce.

He has also preserved the loft of the club to that which he pre-set at address. For a low running pitch or chip, he might have added a little forward press and played the ball back a bit to keep it low. Or he might have played it a bit forward in his stance and set the shaft more vertical to add loft and spin to the shot.

But either way, his body core rotation totally controls the shot outcome, because he is not manipulating the clubhead through impact with his hands.

The point is, keeping the hands quiet and controlling the path, speed, and release of the club with the body core results in fewer moving parts and less room for error in contact, speed, and distance.

And back to that speed control aspect, I think the speed of the body core rotation through impact is more repeatable–for recreational players, weekend golfers, whatever you want to call us–than trying to memorize a number of backswing lengths to hit different distances.

But that is a topic for another post. For now–even if you are snowed in and can’t get to a range or course—take this picture and your wedge and go play around with it to see how close or far your own technique is to this tour professional. I think it will be fun.

And remember, as an advertiser on this page, Edison Golf is going to give away a free Edison Forged wedge every month to one of my GolfWRX readers chosen at random from all of you who send me an email with a question or topic for a future post. Just send to me at [email protected].