Aim
Use the Top Line

The ability to aim your putter accurately is a critical skill if you want to increase the probability of making more putts.

Unfortunately our eyes often deceive us and our putterface is either pointing right or left of the target when we place it behind the ball.

Anyone who has watched a magician perform an illusion will realise what we believe we see is not always accurate. If we relate this to putting, then there are a lot of golfers out there whose eyes are out of whack when over the ball.

The arithmetic is simple. One degree off true gives an alignment error of 0.21 inches per foot – 2.1 inches off target on a 10 foot putt.

Ping G51 UgLe

To aim well you must be able to place your putterface perpendicular to your starting line. Face-angle errors at impact transfer 83% to the ball's direction according to Dave Pelz.

Side-spin on the ball from a diagonal putter path has a negligible effect on the direction of your ball.

A lot of research and development has been going on in an effort to help golfers, both professional and amateur, line up their putters more accurately.

In earlier days when golf marketing was not as intense, the design of putters was less complicated. Putters didn't have any alignment aids or rear flanges.

Dyna-Tech 1

A blade putter was just that. Golfers used the top line of the blade to position the putterface at right angles to the direction they wanted to send the ball. The technique was to view the straight line from the toe of the putter to its heel as the top of a T-square and then place this perpendicular to the aimline.

Despite all the modern day hoopla, this is still the best and most accurate method. Not so long ago Nike introduced the IC range of putters designed to emphasise the top line of the putter by muting the areas of the putter head that were not critical to aiming.

By using optical engineering Nike has contrasted the leading edge of the white top line with the green coloured putter head. It claims that this eliminates visual noise or distraction and therefore helps you to square your putterface.

There is much to commend this design feature as any glare off your putter can easily distract you. In 1980 at the Kenyan Open Sandy Lyle was disqualified for a rules infraction. He placed tape along the head of his putter to stop the reflection of the sun thereby altering the playing characteristics of his club during a round.

Highly polished putters look good in any golf bag, but they can make fine-tuning the aim of your putterface more difficult on sunny days when the glare of the sun reflects off the shiny top line.

If your putting pride and joy has bling, you may have to resort to sand-blasting it or coating it with black oxide paint. Otherwise just move to where you can play your golf in the rain.

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