Dear Bastiaan,
Excellent question!
The problem with perception and confidence is that perception is an on-going process not used to being monitored for accuracy. Our brains are extremely used to getting by with "good-enough-for-government-work" accuracy in perceptions because we spend the very vast majority of our time in casual, quotidien behaviors that don't challenge us or require great accuracy (reaching out to the same old door knob, changing the channel on the telie, ect.). The accuracy in aiming on the putting green is not "out there" to "get" but has to be constructed each putt with accurate physical employment of the sensory organs and their processes. When you understand which processes are accurate (and which are inaccurate), you are able to monitor the perception-building process every time and thus correctly assess whether the perceptions you end up with are accurate. Look true, see true.
A normal targeting perception-building process for putting is a sequence of movements of body parts when standing still. Targeting, of course, really includes the perceptions being built up while walking to or around the green, but the "routine" or "ritual" aspects of targeting mostly involve standing still and turning the head or directing the eyes from the ball to the target.
For this discussion, I do not include target selection by putt reading, but assume a target is selected as a spot on the green near the hole that serves to fix the putt's line AND distance -- so that "targeting" means building a perception of how to aim the putter face straight thru the ball at the target.
The perception process that is accurate for aiming the putter face and body at a target has four parts to it:
1) sight the line thru the ball to target from behind the ball;
2) walk into the putt along this line and place the putter to aim the face straight thru the back of the ball along this same line as perceived from behind the ball;
3) setup the body square to the putter face to establish good starting positions of head and eyes for accurately looking from ball to target and also for accurately making a straight stroke that rolls the ball wherever the putter face is aiming; and
4) turning the head with a straight and unmoving gaze from ball to target along a straight line over the green to determine where exactly the putter face is aim and to monitor that the face is actually aimed at the target.
When these 4 procedures are carried out correctly, the conclusion is always that the target is right where the putter face is aimed. Getting good at these 4 procedures is much more important than using a laser on a putter to find out how well you can aim the putter face -- that just encourages you to "keep trying to get better" in an indefinite manner hoping that repeated trial and error will eventually make you better all the time. Instead, if you know the procedures and how to monitor whether you are performing them accurately, there is no giess work in learning, and once your skill level improves, it stays improved, and the feedback you get along the way is very definite and sharp because it always relates to a specific physical procedure and is not simply a result that may or may not result from some unidentified procedure.
What is a "sharp" and "accurate" ritual of physical movements of body parts and sensory organs to build perceptions from behind the ball? Walking back from the ball the same distance as from ball to target (within reason, say 30-40 feet tops). Positioning your dominant eye on the line, not your nose. Facing insto the back of the ball with square shoulders and face and good posture. Lifting your putter shaft up in front of your face so that you can connect the ball and target visually along one edge of the shaft like a straight edge connecting dots on a piece of paper. Keeping the gaze straight and level out of the face while lifting the neck up and down to scan the line along the edge of the shaft. Achoring perceptions by specifically noting the exact back and center of the ball as if it were a bullseye on a dartboard hanging on a wall and you are facing the wall straight on, not from any side angle; by noting the shadow on the green made by the ball and how the putter face will make a specific angle to this shadow when aimed straight thru the ball; by noting any small discolored blades of grass or spots near the back or front of the ball; by noting the way any visible writing or markings on the ball are angled to the exact center of the back of the "dartboard" ball.
What is a "sharp" and "accurate" ritual of physical movements of body parts and sensory organs to preserve perceptions while walking up to the ball and to facilitate aiming the putter face thru the back of the ball at the target? Walking the line like a balance beam into the back of the ball, like walking flush into a wall with a dartboard so that your straight-on perspective is not altered. Keeping the putter shaft in front of your face with the ball and target aligned as you walk into the back of the ball. Watching the exact back of the ball so that you are approaching the back of the ball to which the sweetspot of the putter will be aimed. Arriving at the back of the ball and taking a moment to look at the ball to make sure you sense the exact back of the ball that is on the line and also the exact opposite front of the ball like the north and south poles on a globe, indicating a line thru the ball itself that the putter face must square up to. Perhaps resting the putter right behind the exact back of the ball with the toe of the putter aimed straight thru the ball out the opposite front of the ball along the line. Keeping the putter still when stepping off the line and positioning yourself beside the ball. Turning the putter behind the ball so that the face now aims square thru the line in the ball and thus at the target. Assessing that the putter face has the sweetspot exactly centered on the back of the ball on the line and not beyond this point and also that the face of the putter as a flat slab of metal is perpendicular to the line thru the ball whicch is also the intended line of the putt as perceived from behind the ball. Checking any nearby spots on the ground identified from behind the ball to assess again whether you think you have accuraetly aimed the putter face square thru the ball down the line sighted from behind the ball.
What is a "sharp" and "accurate" ritual of physical movements of body parts and sensory organs to setup the body square to the putter face as aimed so that you can assess where the face is truly aimed, and not setup to what you think is a line at the target (which may not be the same as perceived standing behind the ball)? Keep the putter resting flat on the ground without disturbing the aim of the face as you bring your body to the putter in adopting the setup, instead of grabbing hold of the putter and trying to setup the body and aim the putter anew while positioning the body. Set the direction of your eyeballs out of your face so your gaze is straight and level perpendicularly out of your face. Hang the arms in a relaxed fashion all the way down. Use the line across the skull to set the head to match the line of aim of the putter face thru the ball so that the putter face and ball line coincides with the line from top of ear to top of ear across the eye sockets and pupils and bridge of nose. If the eyeballs are vertically above the ball, check that the back of the head is flat, the neck horizontal at the top, and the chin and forehead about the same height above the ground. If the eyeballs are slightly inside the ball, check that the head is slightly tilted forehead-up but that the gaze is not at all directed down the cheeks any but is remaining straight out. Allow the setting of the skull to the putter face to sort out the shoulders via a straight neck to get the shoulders square. Allow the setting of the shoulders square (parallel left) to the aim of the putter face to sort out the middle of the body and square up in turn the hips, knees, and ankles, resulting in a balanced setup with "happy feet." Once the height of the eyes above the ball is set, take up your grip so that the distance from base of neck to ground is fixed and stable and the sole of the putter hovers gently on the tops of the grass blades andisn't sitting on the ground. Monitor that at the end of the process your ankles are aimed parallel left with the putter face, and your joint pairs are all the same distance back from the line of aim and all parallel left (possible exception for cross-dominant golfers). Watch out that the foot on the dominant side does not creep forward out of square closer to the line of aim than the other foot.
What is a "sharp" and "accurate" ritual of physical movements of body parts and sensory organs to determine where exactly you now have the putter face aimed? Rotate the head with fixed straight gaze from ball towards the side where the target is located, so that the head rolls on its axis but the axis does not wander in space. Monitor that the head rolls like a barrell or a ball on a stick, and that the top of the head (cap button) rolls but does not curl about in space, especially backwards. Using the dominate eye, appreciate that the focus of the gaze is located about one inch inside the bridge of the nose on the skull line and that this "aim spot" is effectively the gunsight for your putting rifle. With the aim spot of the dominant eye starting at the ball on the line of the putter face aim, and with the skull line matching the line of the putter face aim to start, a roll of the head with fixed gaze delivers the focal aim spot of vision precisiely to the spot on the green where the putter face is actually aimed -- if the target shows up in the aim spot, that is where the putter face is actually aimed, and if something else shows up, then that is where the putter face is aimed.
If you can learn to appreciate the soundness of these physical movements, then the ritual proves itself by increasing the accuracy of your aim and boosting your confidence about where exactly you are aiming. Once you can aim straight and stroke straight, it all boils down to your ability to pick a target to start with, that is, to putt reading.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Theorist and Instructor
Geoff Mangum's PuttingZone
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