Hi Geoff,
Thanks for featuring my putting aid (
Pro-Putt Laser Trainer) on your website, as training aid it's had good reviews by those who understand the mechanics of putting but that doesn't lead to worldwide sales! I see the biggest problem most golfers have is that they need to work at it to perfect a vertical shoulder rock, - once they do, putting mechanics are so much simpler, however most golfers aren't prepared to work that hard. I've been at a few golf shows and seen that golfers seem to prefer putting aids that "flatter", ie putting tracks where the putter can slide back and forth and let the golfer think they're grooving mechanics, something I doubt works in the long term.
Although relatively new to the teaching side I've probably given 100 or more putting lessons and I'm starting to get a feel for typical problems, these seem to be:
-- Poor aim, 80% or more can't aim inside the hole on a straight putt at 12ft
-- Poor posture, spine angle too upright leading to an excessive in to in action
-- Too little grip pressure, - this lets the putter "flip" gives rapid accelaration at impact and can lead to closing the face without the right grip. - For some the belly putter seems to be a real solution.
-- Hands behind the putter at address, which when added to 3 or 4 degrees of loft makes them "launch" the ball on impact.
Probably the area that interests me the most is concerned with hand and eye dominance, what I see is different to what you see and there are many variables here depending on whether one is strongly left or right eye dominant or is only marginally dominant in one eye . You may remember a couple of years ago I started to putt left handed ( I'm left eye dominant but quick to switch depending on where the target is) on occasions, when putting left handed, I've felt "dyslexic" on the greens where I think my left eye is trying to square the putterface to a target my right eye is seeing. Certainly for me putting right handed as a left eye dominant golfer is preferable.
I do however wonder about right eye dominant right handers and I feel that some of those who are experiencing problems ought to try putting left handed as this puts the dominant right hand on the top of the putter for control and lets the same eye sight the putterface and the target. ( I'm sure this idea would be a bit too radical for many but it's a thought)
Given that Woods, Nicklaus and Hogan were left handers playing right handed I seriously wonder if most of us aren't playing the "wrong" way round.
I'd be interested to know your views on this ?
Regards
Pete Royce
PS: www.putt2win.co.uk <
http://www.putt2win.co.uk>; has now been renamed to www.puttinglab.com <
http://www.puttinglab.com>;