Geoff,

I am a low handicap right hand golfer and have an alignment problem. What appears
square to me is actually right of target line. Quite a bit. For a 3 foot putt, I find myself
aligning up to 2 inches right. For a 20 foot putt, I am off as much as 1-2 feet.

I was not aware but I was compensating by pulling all my putts. If I draw a line on
my ball and align to target line, it appears as if I am putting well to the left. That is
a very uncomfortable feeling.

I use the all shoulders rocking in 1 plane stroke. Square stance. Eyes slightly
inside line. Definitely right eye dominant. Stand fairly tall. My gaze is slightly
out over the ball (not down the line).

I have tried to gaze directly down the line with the forehead/chin in alignment. It didn't
seem to make much difference. True square alignment still appeared left. I have tried
different head positions. I can't seem to get my eyes in agreement with true square.
The only thing which helped a little bit was closing my stance. I was still aimed
right, but not quite as much. Maybe 50% improvement. I found that odd because I
have always seemed to putt better from a closed stance. You could say I sort of see
the 'line' with a closed stance. It is the only time I would claim that I could see any sort
of line.

I realize the closed stance may bring in a host of other problems.

Any advice?

Thanks in advance
Kurt

Dear Kurt,

If the gaze is set straight out of the face and the golfer's head and neck are positioned square to the putter face as aimed, the usual culprit for aiming to the outside is the head swivel -- the head does not swivel on a stable axis from center of base of neck out top of head, so that the button on the cap would "scratch out from under a fingertip backwards to the right (right-hander)" during the head turn from ball down the line.

This sort of head swivel with wandering top of axis will also occur with a gaze that is directed out of the face somewhat down the cheeks instead of straight out of the face. But even if you fix the gaze, the flawed head swivel remains to plague your aim. You have to fix all together: setup, gaze, head swivel.

The easiest and cheapest way to monitor your head swivel is to form a tiny telescope with your right fist and aim it straight out of your face at your right eye so tyhe long axis of the telescope meets the plane of the face in a perpendicular fashion (ie, the gaze is "straight out of the face"). Then 1) square up to a line on the floor, 2) bend the back and neck and head as in addressing a putt until the line shows up inside the tiny hole of the fist telescope, and then 3) rotate the head so that the line REMAINS inside the tiny fist telescope throughout the head turn down the line on the floor.

This in effect converts your line of sight into a laser beam, and it's pretty cheap!

Another cheap-o way to diagnose and correct the problem is to use a card or sheet of paper and position the edge across both pupils to block looking down the cheeks and to create a visual line from pupil to pupil along the edge of the paper / card. Then when your square up to the aimed putter face, the edge-line meets the putter face flush and so matches the aim line of the putter. Then when you rotate head and paper together down the line, the edge of the paper will have to stay matching the line of the putt or else the head swivel went awry. You can test this out over a line on the floor as well, so that the edge of the paper stays matched to the line on the floor the whole time the head is turning down the line.

The third element is a square setup that positions the head-neck-eyes in relation to the aimed putter face so that the line across the skull from outside corner of eye socket to opposite outside corner of eye socket matches the line of the putt as defined by the aim of the putter face. The skull line matches the aim of the putter face, and the axis of the head and the throat line from chin to top of sternum matches the top leading edge of the putter face. With this matching setup plus a straight gaze plus a good head swivel on a spinning but otherwise stable axis of head rotation, the head turn will run the line of sight in the same straight line that the putter aims along and reveal exactly where the putter face really aims.

A cheap-o gizmo to get this setup of the head-neck-eyes correct is a pair of work goggles or throw-away glasses. Run a Sharpie line across the lenses from frame corner to frame corner. On the right lens, about 1" inside from the center of the nose piece, draw a vertical line that is perpendicular to the corner-to-corner line. Wearing these glasses, then setup to an aimed putter face so that the horizontal line appears to meet the putter face flush at the sweetspot and the vertical line (close the left eye) appears to match the leading edge of the putter face. This does not require that the eyeballs be directly above the ball -- only that the gaze direction be straight out of the face even if the eyeballs are inside the ball. Both pupils of your eyes should be looking straight thru the horizontal line and your neck should be extending perpendicularly up out of your shoulder frame.

The one thing that screws up this setting up to the aimed putter face is a neck that tilts sideways up out of the shoulder frame. the usual deal is what I have termed "ballstriker neck" in which the golfer's hours on the range hitting full shots in a modified K setup chronically casts the neck into a tilt to the side away from the target (right tilt for a right-hander). using this setup posture in addressing an aimed putter face will make you see the target to the outside. To diagnose this, stand with good erect posture and eyes closed directly facing your bathroom mirror and then open your eyes and assess whether the two pupils make a line that tilts down to the right. You may need to place a length of masking tape level across the mirror at the height of your pupils or slightly below this height before trying the eyes-closed posturing, so that there is a true reference to level waiting to greet you when you open your eyes.

If I were a betting person, diagnosing your problem without ever having seen you in person, I would bet on both the flawed head swivel and the presence of some ballstriker neck. Even if you correct the ballstriker neck, you will still have to practice the head swivel over a line on the floor.

You also have the issue of why things aimed straight objectively appear subjectively to be aimed to the inside (left for a right-hander). The lesson here is that your "normal" is wrong, so expect the "correct" to seem "wrong" until you get used to it. The sense of where the target is is NOT only about vision, but is more about body postures and motions to learn where the target is located in relation to where the ball and putter and body are located. It's not about looking down the line -- it's about moving the straight-out gaze straight down the same line the putter face aims with a good head swivel from a square starting posture. Get the posture right at setup, set the gaze straight out of the face, and swivel the head -- it's simply the geometry of body posture and movement, and not at all about vision, that accurately teaches the body where the putter face aims (or not).

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist

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You are similar to many of the European tour players that we measure as part of "Break 30"
Most aim right and then pull the putt ,and try to compensate by keeping the face open at impact.

I firmly believe that 1 solution doesnt fix all

Ive seen most of the putting coaches strokes on the SAM system and none do what they actually say they do - neither do any of their students.


If all that it takes is for you to roll the ball straight with a square face ,is to close the stance then go for it

Dont seem to recall it did Mr Locke any harm

Shaun Womersley
Eclipse Golf Systems

Dear Shaun,

The harm comes from not knowing where the putter face actually aims. Closing the stance by itself does not come to grips with this issue.

The main reason most Tour players aim right and pull putts left is because they do NOT KNOW HOW TO ASSESS PUTTER FACE AIM. There is nothing in their heads about how to do it accurately that is correct and complete. I've never met anyone in golf who can even discuss the issue intelligently unless they first studied some of the aspects of the problem I have brought to the front over the past 5-6 years.

I know that you have done this to some extent, as we have discussed your eclipse training aid on a number of occasions.

When a golfer has a problem, I would never tell them just to forget the problem so long as they seem to be getting the job done somehow without knowing what they are doing that either does or does not work. That would leave the golfer no better off than when you met him.

If there is a solution, it needs to be worked out and tested and explained and taught effectively. If people aren't in the solution business for golf technique, then they probably shouldn't offer advice about what is best for a golfer with a problem. Doing so strikes me as little more helpful than caddy-yack in the locker room.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist

Geoff Mangum's
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Hi Geoff
sorry i missed you at the show would have been nice to have a chat again - its been a long time
I can honestly say ,Im no where near as intelligent as you Geoff,thats a given
As you know all my experience is more practical than anything and comes from building clubs for the last 25yrs, and the influence of my dad who did 45yrs worth of designing and custom fitting for the tour players and general public whilst at Dunlop,Slazenger Maxfli.

my typing skills arent great so you will have to bear with me on this
We have found that aim is percieved as a major problem by pretty much everyone - and as you say the Tour guys may not know how to asses aim , but they still seem to find a way to get the ball in the hole in lots of different ways.
also the aim at address can have very little to do with the outcome of when the face hits the ball and the resultant outcome of the putt, so you could aim way right but still hit a perfect square strike at impact.
In an ideal world we would all aim perfectly - make a perfect stroke and the ball would go in the hole, but were all built differently, move and see things differently
What we try to do at Break 30 is find out how the person moves and then work at getting the face square to the path when it hits the ball.

I only posted a reply because i had a very similar situation to the gentleman that posted- when i stood perfectly square to the line I allways had a path that moved to the inside and i compensated by opening the face to prevent the pull especially on shorter putts. making me see things further and further right
In essence i was trying to manufacture a technique solution
By using the SAM and ECLIPSE units i found that by modifying my foot to a closed position, I immediately changed the path of the stroke and it became much easier and a more natural movement pattern to roll the ball down the line
Nothing esle thats it no major rebuild
So i dont really see it as a problem



Shaun Womersley
Eclipse Golf Systems

Dear Shaun,

Here's the problem -- you have more than one sense of "path" being used, one you aim down and another you make square contact along.

You write:

"We have found that aim is perceived as a major problem by pretty much everyone - and as you say the Tour guys may not know how to asses aim, but they still seem to find a way to get the ball in the hole in lots of different ways. Also the aim at address can have very little to do with the outcome of when the face hits the ball and the resultant outcome of the putt, so you could aim way right but still hit a perfect square strike at impact.

In an ideal world we would all aim perfectly - make a perfect stroke and the ball would go in the hole, but were all built differently, move and see things differently. What we try to do at Break 30 is find out how the person moves and then work at getting the face square to the path when it hits the ball."

When you write "so you could aim way right but still hit a perfect square strike at impact", the aim path and the square-stroke path are not the same. Your meaning is that the golfer's aim is "way right" of the needed stroke path and yet when he makes the stroke, the putter head stays square down the correct path even though the golfer didn't aim down this path. And when you write "find out how the person moves and then work at getting the face square to the path when it hits the ball", you refer to a golfer who does not aim at down the same path he strokes the ball.

This situation is: golfer does NOT aim down the path he needs to hit the ball. At the very least, the golfer's putter face aim at address does not help the golfer know what is a good stroke. Even if the golfer "somehow" (implicitly, unmindfully) disregards the aim of the putter face in favor of some sort of "awareness" at some sub-conscious or non-conscious level of where the needed stroke path and therefore the stroke movement need to send the putter head thru impact other than where the putter face is aiming, this golfer is doomed to streakiness. There is nothing in his skull about how to fix himself if things get out of whack.

This seems to me similar to an astronaut in the darkness of the space craft trying to fire the critical reentry rocket by "sort of" punching at one of a dozen buttons off to the left side of the panel somewhere, trusting to his "feel" to hit the correct button, without ever bothering to "learn and know" that the reentry rocket button is the third from the left on the second row. Good luck to him!

When you adjust the golfer to make things come out better, you are aiming his body so that his stroke goes where YOU aim it. That process could stand some improvement.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist

Geoff Mangum's
PuttingZone
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Over 2 million visits -- 100,000 monthly from 50+ countries -- and growing strong.

Geoff,

Thanks for the analysis. You are definitely correct on the 'ballstriker neck' as well as the flawed 'head swivel'. I especially liked the goggles recommendation. I believe I have a much better understanding on how all this works together.

I will work with this for a couple weeks and let you know my progress.

By the way, I skipped mentioning that last year I had the yips for the first time in 35 years of golf. The nasty uncontrollable spasm in the right hand. I knew I had to get the hands and arms out of stroke to have any hope at all. I read many of your articles which helped me move to an all shoulders rocking in 1 plane. I kept a journal and putted 10-15 thousand balls in last 6 months until this became my natural motion. It cured the spasms. Instead of the 'one potato... two', I would repeat 'shoulders .... shoulders' to keep my mind focused only on the upper chest and shoulder muscles.

Thanks
Kurt