Putting’s Most Important Tip - Find The Sweetspot; It May Not Be Where You
Think It Is!
By:
Jack Moorehouse
Putting-related advice normally ignores what I
believe to be the most important aspect of consistent putting, centering as
it does around issues such as ’developing a good stroke’, ’how to read the
greens’ and ’practice tips’.
Regardless of how good your putting stroke is, how
good you are at reading greens or how much you practice, however, unless
you strike the ball off the sweetspot of the putter face, you will never
achieve consistently good results. This is because putts struck with
anything other than the sweetspot will cause putter-face rotation and
wobble and, as a consequence, a) start the ball offline and b) transfer
less energy to the ball. The rotation is likely to be so minimal that you
are not even aware of it - a major problem in itself - although there may
be sufficient wobble to allow you to feel a slight vibration in your hands.
The problem with starting the ball offline - however
slightly - needs no explanation but what about the transfer of energy;
could you not just hit the ball a little harder? The answer, of course, is
no. Apart from anything else it would cause more rotation and wobble, but
simply dismissing the importance of the sweetspot means that the energy
transfer to the ball will be inconsistent, resulting in no control over how
far the ball will travel, or how much it will break.
This poses the question, "where is the sweetspot?"
or, looking at it another way, "how do you find the sweetspot?"
Before answering, you should not assume that any of
the marks put on your putter by the manufacturer necessarily indicate where
your putter’s sweetspot is. Often the marks are put in the place that is
cosmetically the most appealing.
In order to locate your putter’s sweetspot,
therefore, take the following steps:
1. Stand up straight, hold the grip of the putter by
your fingertips so it is out in front of you. Take care to hold it in such
a way that it is angled in the same way it is when you putt. Do not hold it
vertically (unless, of course, it is vertical when you putt!).
2. Take a key, pen, or something similar in the other
hand, and tap around the face, feeling any vibration in your fingertips as
you see the head rotate and wobble.
3. Tap around until you find the place where there is
no rotation or wobble and the vibration is negligible.
4. Mark that spot on the top line of the putter with
a marker pen, and then repeat the process in 1. to 3. above to double-check
you have ’hit the spot’.
5. Carefully file a groove or punch a mark where you
have marked the top line, and then fill it with a little paint. You now
have your true guide as to where to address your putts.
If there is already a manufacturer’s mark but it is
in the wrong place, repeat the above process to find the true guideline.
Measure the distance from the manufacturer’s mark to your own, and then
measure the same distance from your mark but in the opposite direction and
make another mark as described above. You will then have three marks on
your top line, the middle one of which you will of course use when
addressing the ball.
At this point I should say that your top line mark
has indicated the location of the sweetspot on the vertical plane of the
putter’s face and is the most important.
Your tapping exercise will have also located its
position along the horizontal plane which is likely - though not
necessarily - to be half way up the face. You should, however, be aware of
where the sweetspot is located horizontally along the face.
You can now get down to the work of grooving your
stroke, confident in the knowledge that you have given yourself the best
chance of striking the ball with the sweetspot of your putter leading to
greater consistency and better scores.
Article courtesy of:
http://www.articlegolf.com/
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