True RollTrue Roll of the golf ball off the putterface is one of several marketing promises made to golfers hoping to buy a better putting game. In reality, putter design using the latest anti-skid groove technology plays only a small part in achieving the promise of True or Pure Roll. Rather it is a correct and repeating putting stroke that largely determines how soon your ball starts rolling smoothly across the green. If you, like many others, believe that your ball rolls end-over-end immediately after being struck, you are mistaken. Motion capture technology using high-speed cameras now allows us to see exactly what happens to the ball after impact. On contact the ball is launched into the air with a slight degree of backspin. This is a bit like what happens to the ball when you chip it. When it lands, it skids or slides across the grass until the friction created by the grass kills the backspin leading to ever-increasing forward roll. True Roll occurs when there is no longer any skidding.
The grooves used in anti-skid technology hold the ball against the putterface a fraction longer than that of a conventional smooth-face putter. The longer dwell time helps to remove backspin (and any side spin), minimise the period of skidding and improve the roll characteristics of the ball. Logic would suggest that a putter with negative or zero loft would be the answer to True Roll. It would create top spin and immediate forward momentum if you struck the ball above its mid-point. This could work, but only if your ball was resting on a sheet of glass and not on a grassy surface. On the putting green the golf ball rests in a slight depression. On a hard and closely-mown surface the indentation is less than when the surface is softer and the grass longer. Nevertheless to get your ball up on top of the grass, your putterface must have some loft. The purpose of loft is to get the ball level with the surface with minimum vertical bounce and rolling as soon as possible. The recommended degree of loft is subject to debate with most putters being built in the range of two to four degrees. However, it is the dynamic loft that you create with your putting stroke that counts most to achieving the quickest True Roll.
Here is the problem that stands in your way – Vertical Bounce:
For example, on an uphill putt, the ball will strike the upslope and be checked. On a downhill putt, the ball will strike the downslope and kick forward. The rule of thumb on loft is that on fast greens you need less and on slow greens you need more. That said it is probably not a good idea to deviate from the built-in loft of your putter. In other words your putting stroke should consistently present the centre of your putterface to the equator of your golf ball without any variation in the putter's loft. Outside of the launch angle, the rest of True Roll is mostly beyond your control.
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