Dear Neville,
The Putting Instructor $49.99 www.flatblade.com <
http://www.flatblade.com>;
A mirror device that you attach to a putter
The PI has three sorts of information, two of which are not good for you and one of which is only half accurate. The bubble spirit level to indicate the sole is "flat" is bad because the sole needs to be flat to the surface rather than to gravity, so the bubble instills a bad practice because almost all putting surfaces are sloping and the bubble should NOT be even. The mirror above the ball shows the target by "looking" over top of the ball. This divides the attention by complicating the visual experience looking down at the ball, so I doubt this translates very well to course play. The guide line that indicates the eyes are directly above the ball if the line fits in a channel tells you nothing about whether the gaze is straight out of the face, and neither does the mirror. In fact, the photo of the "correct" setup shows the man with eyes angled down his nose. They just don't know about the gaze's importance for side-on targeting. And the eyes really don't have to be directly above the ball, but can be inside so long as the eyes are gazing straight, and in fact putting the eyes inside a bit HELPS inattentive golfers get the gaze straight while eyes over the ball hurst these golfers' gazes. The mirror also requires that the eyes be physically above the mirror to reflect the distant target, so the mirror has the same negative effect as the guide line. Basically, the picture of the setup they show as correct is not really optimal. I not that the "bad" setup they show has feet and shoulders open, and the PI has absolutely nothing to do with correcting this in the setup, although the "correct" photo implies that it does.
Seemore Putters. Average price $125 www.seemore.com <
http://www.seemore.com>;
A putter with an alignment aid
The SM aiming system does what it sets out to do, which is help the golfer get the putterface square to a line and get the body square to that same line. This can result in some unconventional ball position or some getting used to, but it helps. The way it works is the shaft itself is designed so that the visual line of the shaft has to match the marks on the heel beneath the shaft visually or the putterface is not oriented squarely away from your body and your eyes. This aspect makes you setup square to "whatever," and you learn to take your squareness to the ball, and then adjust your squareness thru the ball to the target. The result is a square setup, square to the ball and square to the target. The targeting is still up to you to get right, but setting up to the ball is better. It doesn't help much in making the stroke square.
Targetloc Putter $89.95 www.targetloc.com <
http://www.targetloc.com>;
A putter with an alignment aid
I like the basic idea of the Targetloc approach, but they still haven't gotten the gaze correct. Digging a channel in the head and placing a red color at the bottom in two directions like a "T" means you can't see the red of the "T" unless your eyes are directly over the "T". "Over" here means horizontally away from the feet (inside or beyond the "T") and laterally along the target line (behind or ahead of the "T"). That's nice, but it also doesn't train the gaze to be straight out the face. And the eyes don't really have to be directly above the "T" for good targeting, so long as the gaze is straight. The sort of problem that the PI and the Targetloc are addressing is really a "head turn" problem and not an eye position problem. If the eyes are inside AND the head turn is poorly done (regardless of gaze), the look goes to the outside of the target and so does your aim. This is true even with a straight-out gaze. But placing the eyes above the ball or putterhead doesn't prevent a bad head turn that sends the gaze to the outside. What you really need is a coordination of straight-out gaze and a head turn that moves the plane of vision in a single plane from ball to target, and then you always get a true and accurate straight line along the ground from ball to target that tells you accurately where the target is located. The Targetloc just gets the eyes physically above the ball / putterhead. Nice, but not really the cure for what ails you.
Break Putter $59.95 www.bensonbreak.com <
http://www.bensonbreak.com>;
A putter with an alignment aid that helps with soling of putter
I like this approach as well, for what it is. This design coordinates eye position with hand position (really, putter sole position). The basic idea that the sole has to be flat to the surface, rather than to gravity, is correct. But the subtle point that when the sole is flat, the head-eye and body setup has to conform to the sole and the surface is also built into this system, although the designers apparently aren't aware of that. This is also a good implicit feature of this system. The claim about "hand position" is not really correct. The hand position depends upon the design (length and lie) of the putter and where on the putter you take up your grip, so the resulting setup relation between hands and shoulders and hands and thighs can vary regardless of soling the putter flat to the surface. So the claim that this system gets you in the proper hand position in the setup is not true. All it really does is get the sole flat and get the eyes directly above the putterhead. The system does not address the gaze, since your eyes can be directly above the putterhead and see the alignment lines correctly even though the gaze is angled down the nose or cheeks. The drawing they have of the eye above the putter -- with eye lids and eye lashes defining a straight-out gaze -- is deceptive on this point. The drawing could just as well have the eyeball looking angled down out of the lids and lashes. Even so, for what it does, this system is not without significance in getting the setup to conform to the putter sole.
I use a cardboard tube from my toilet paper. I look through the tube standing erect with good posture so the tube is horizontal to the horizon and then bend towards the ball until the ball comes into view in the tube. This is a straight-out gaze directly at the ball, whether the eyes are above the ball or inside the ball. With shoulders, feet, and hips squared to what I believe is the start line for the putt, I then perform a good head-turn from ball to target by noting the axis of turn from center of base of neck out the top of my skull, and turn so that the point on top of my skull stays in the same place in space even though it rotates. This head turn sends the gaze in a straight line, so I just wait to see where my head-gaze takes me. If the target comes into the tube, then I'm good. If not, my body is not really square to the target as I thought, so I adjust my setup to a new squareness and look again. Without the tube, you can do the same by learning the aim spot in the field of vision of your dominant eye, which is directly straight out from your pupil when looking straight out of your face and head. There is only one aim spot. When looking at the ball, the back of the ball must be "spotted" in your field of view this way. Then when you turn the head, the "spot" needs to hit the target or your alignment is off. This is the natural way to train. You can train this pattern over a line on the floor inside, or over a string, a ruler, a chalkline, a club shaft, etc. If you have a pair of work goggle or old glasses, you can place a red marker dot on the aim spot and wear the glasses or goggles to make sure you are looking through the aim spot at all times. None of this costs anything and you can do it right now, right there in Perth!
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Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Theorist and Instructor
The PuttingZone.com
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