Who uses chalk lines?

[5Footer.com]

Curious how many members use chalk lines? Skip the mess with the 5Footer and line up to target easier!

 

www.5Footer.com

[IcemanYVR]

pace off a 5 footer, put a tee in the ground, presto. Done. Practice away

[Lime Shark]

I have found that if I pick a spot about a foot in front of the ball and try to roll the ball over that spot I do better than focusing on the hole.

[youraway2]

Really? Best method I've practiced is to line up a five footer and then close your eyes and putt. You can feel it. You know if you struck the putt correctly and if it's going in. Then take it to the course with your eyes open.

[HighSpeedScene]

Plastics.

[AlecEmersonGolf]

I use one, absolutely love it for mechanical practice for putting

[playa]

Really? Best method I've practiced is to line up a five footer and then close your eyes and putt. You can feel it. You know if you struck the putt correctly and if it's going in. Then take it to the course with your eyes open.

I'm gonna try that next time I'm on the putting green.

[North Butte]

Really? Best method I've practiced is to line up a five footer and then close your eyes and putt. You can feel it. You know if you struck the putt correctly and if it's going in. Then take it to the course with your eyes open.

 

It is entirely possible to use an artificial aiming and stroke aid to groove a stroke that steers the putter back and through in a contrived manner to force the ball to roll along the line. A couple of 20-30 minute sessions of this can RUIN your putting game for weeks, if not months (trust me, I speak from experience).

 

Doing your 5-footer practice with eyes closed is an excellent way to avoid the steering urge. It also will eliminate any funky business you might be doing to compensate for a putter poorly suited to your aiming and stroke.

 

The single most helpful putting practice for my game has been spending just a few minutes rolling 6-8 foot putts with my eyes closed. Especially when combined with the technique of not focusing on the putter head or the ball during the stroke but instead defocusing my eyes on a spot in the air above the ball. Anything to avoid "hit" or "steer" temptation in the stroke.

 

P.S. I should modify that. The single most helpful thing for my putting game is doing distance drills so that I'm decent at long lag putting. But the eyes closed practice plus defocusing thing is helpful with putts inside 10 feet.

[buckeyefl]

Chalk line

 

Then eyes closed

 

Profit.

[buckeyefl]

Really? Best method I've practiced is to line up a five footer and then close your eyes and putt. You can feel it. You know if you struck the putt correctly and if it's going in. Then take it to the course with your eyes open.

 

It is entirely possible to use an artificial aiming and stroke aid to groove a stroke that steers the putter back and through in a contrived manner to force the ball to roll along the line. A couple of 20-30 minute sessions of this can RUIN your putting game for weeks, if not months (trust me, I speak from experience).

 

Doing your 5-footer practice with eyes closed is an excellent way to avoid the steering urge. It also will eliminate any funky business you might be doing to compensate for a putter poorly suited to your aiming and stroke.

 

The single most helpful putting practice for my game has been spending just a few minutes rolling 6-8 foot putts with my eyes closed. Especially when combined with the technique of not focusing on the putter head or the ball during the stroke but instead defocusing my eyes on a spot in the air above the ball. Anything to avoid "hit" or "steer" temptation in the stroke.

 

P.S. I should modify that. The single most helpful thing for my putting game is doing distance drills so that I'm decent at long lag putting. But the eyes closed practice plus defocusing thing is helpful with putts inside 10 feet.

You are cheating yourself if you arent also lag putting with your eyes closed.

[Pretzel]

I like my chalk line, and I picture it being easier to use than this contraption. Stick a tee through the hole at the end of the string and into the cup, pull it out on the line you want, snap, then reel it in. Whole process takes maybe 10-15 seconds? I feel like rolling this thing up would end up taking at least a minute all on its own, not counting having it pull it out of the tube and roll it out flat on the putting green.

 

As for usability, I prefer a chalk line since it's not as glaring of a visual. It lets you judge how straight your putts are (relative to the desired line) without distracting the putting stroke itself with a pair of rails on either side of the ball to "guide" your stroke down that path. People using face balanced putters that try for a straight back and through technique might love it, but as someone who putts best with an arc I feel it would visually get in the way.

 

Good idea, I just don't know how practical it is when it comes to replacing a chalk line. For me a chalk line is more convenient and less distracting when I'm practicing.

[smashdn]

Practice putting by bellying a wedge. Forces you to concentrate on contact.

 

Someone should (likely already has) created an aid with a terribly small putting face for practicing putting. Get the actual hitting spot to about 1/2 the size of a dime, sort of like that old White Steel putter I have.

 

After contact speed and read are honed by time putting and getting "feel." But feel, and a perfect read, are useless if you can't make proper contact and create a good roll.

[numberonecoog]

Practice putting by bellying a wedge. Forces you to concentrate on contact.

 

Someone should (likely already has) created an aid with a terribly small putting face for practicing putting. Get the actual hitting spot to about 1/2 the size of a dime, sort of like that old White Steel putter I have.

 

After contact speed and read are honed by time putting and getting "feel." But feel, and a perfect read, are useless if you can't make proper contact and create a good roll.

 

Cleveland came up with one. It was just one of the squares on a shaft.

[Pretzel]

Someone should (likely already has) created an aid with a terribly small putting face for practicing putting. Get the actual hitting spot to about 1/2 the size of a dime, sort of like that old White Steel putter I have.

They have several different options for that. I've seen one where there's a golf ball sized sphere attached to the end of a putter shaft, which REALLY makes it difficult to putt on your intended line without being dead center. I've also seen little foam pieces that you would stick to the face of your current putter that had a circular section cut out. You center the circular cut out around the sweet spot of your putter, and it becomes fairly obvious when you hit the putt after whether or not you made center contact.