Good Putter Alignment- Hint: You're Probably Not Aiming At The Target

Summary: I was struck by the comments of Dave Pelz, the well-known short game guru and teacher of many leading golf professionals, in his book "Putt Like the Pros" with regard to putter alignment. Basically he said that very few golfers are able to obtain align putts properly using just their vision. He gave the example of Jim Simons, who was a successful PGA Tour player some years ago. When Pelz measured his putter alignment he found that on 3 foot putts, Simons was aligned toward th...

I was struck by the comments of Dave Pelz, the well-known short game guru and teacher of many leading golf professionals, in his book "Putt Like the Pros" with regard to putter alignment. Basically he said that very few golfers are able to obtain align putts properly using just their vision. He gave the example of Jim Simons, who was a successful PGA Tour player some years ago. When Pelz measured his putter alignment he found that on 3 foot putts, Simons was aligned toward the left edge of the cup, even though he thought he was aiming at the middle. For 10 foot putts his alignment was good, but on 30 foot putts Simons was aligned over 3 feet to the right of the hole! How many 30 foot putts could Simons have made? To do so would have taken a minor miracle. The Brain Compensates for Poor Strokes and Poor Alignment When a golfer has a stroke that is off-line, his brain and body make subconscious changes to adjust for the error. For example, if a golfer's putting stroke goes to the outside of the line on his backswing and then to the inside of his intended line after striking the ball, he is essentially applying a sort of cut stoke, and his ball will miss to the left of the hole. Seeing this, his brain will make an adjustment and will cause him to open the putter face at impact so the ball will not miss so much to the left. In fact Pelz states that most people who have a cut putting stoke as described above will miss the hole to the right rather than to the left since the brain and body will overcompensate. I personally had the same problem when I was a young golfer. On tee and fairway shots I would line myself up thinking I was aiming at the target. However, if I were to put a club down in front of my feet to see where I was aiming, it was always far to the right, similar to Simons on a 30 foot putt. As a result my brain and body changed my swing such that I would hit a big hook to compensate. On putts it was the same way. I knew I wasn't lined up properly and lost a lot of confidence. Pelz said that the best PGA Tour player he worked with on putter alignment was Howard Twitty, who was normally aligned properly on putts of all distances. Almost everyone else is off line, including the pros. A Simple Approach to a Solid Putting Stroke Many years ago I played a lot of golf with a person who was an excellent putter. He made lots of putts and could knock the ball in the hole from anywhere. He told me that his method was simple: he would align his putter face to the target, set his feet perpendicular the putter face, and simply swing the putter in line with his feet. This is a simple and excellent way to stroke putts. Of course a golfer also needs good touch to hit the ball the proper distance, but that is another matter. The method described above only works, however, if the putter is aligned properly, if the putter stroke is straight, if the putter face is square at impact, and most importantly, if the putt is struck on the putter "sweet spot", or the spot on the putter face that is directly in front of the center of gravity of the putter head. Pelz states that if everything is perfect with a putter stroke, but the putt is struck