Why No Sight Line? Why Sight Line?

[jslane57]

No sight line.

 

I feel like I can aim a club face perfectly perpendicular to my target line with just the leading edge. Sight lines steal my attention and I end up watching the putter as I start my takeaway, and ultimately lose feel for distance control.

[WidespreadPanic]

Sight line.

 

Always preferred one single line, but nothing on the top line. I don't use a line on my ball - frees up my stroke.

[tocino]

I started out and got used to using putters with site lines but the easiest putter for me to square up was my old Newport tei3 (no sight lines or dots). unfortunately it was way too light and I didn't feel like adding lead tape to the bottom. I finally got a select Newport recently so I'll see if that's still the case. In general, I do like having a clean view from the top with no distractions

[heatedwire]

My pro got me to try a putter with no alignment lines but to keep using a line on the ball.

I was sceptical, but by just lining up the putter face square to the line on the ball, I stopped thinking about the putter path so much and just concentrated on actually putting the ball. I was amazed at how well I managed to keep the ball on target.

 

I've since settled on a putter with a dot because I find I get the sweet spot a lot more with something there, but it doesn't cause me to focus on, and try to manipulate the putting stroke.

 

Everyone is obviously a bit different, but if you've only ever used a line on the putter and tried to match it up to the line on the ball i'd definitely give it a go. Like most things in golf, your stroke often becomes better when you just 'let it go'

[1Mordrid1]

Not only do I need a sight line, but I also need one that is appealing to my eye. 2 Ball style has never worked for me. My Sigma Doon was very easy to line up. And right now it may be a honeymoon phase but I am loving the + sight line on my SC Fastback.

[Prntscrn]

I don't care. I don't use it but it doesn't bother me if there is one. I just look at the line I want to start the put on when I set up for the put.

[Cicero]

Wow, I must not use mine, because I honestly can’t remember if I have one or not!! How crazy is that?

[bargolf]

Reasons to eliminate the sight line.

 

1. Can't aim a line from side on. A common example of the problem is a line in the cavity causes a left aim.

2. Players use the sight line as a reference for path direction. If your stroke naturally arcs you don't want to swing straight back visually.

3. You watch the line on the backswing. Try to keep it pointed at the ball. Then shift you gaze to the ball at the end of the back swing. You react to where you are look Stroke gets jerky as you react to the ball.

3. You have a tendency to steer at impact.

[SwingMan]

I am using this driver now and have since it came out before back ordered and the thing is a legit driver best I have hit from Ping in a long time, I do not want to make this a Ping g400 forum as their are plenty of posts in regards to this driver. But I will say it is so funny when someone wins a major the price gouging that happens from sellers and what is even worse people actually buy these items based off a "win" by a PGA player.

 

No Painted Sightline and I choose a Mallet style, heel shafted with less offset.

 

Why - because I aim the putter better with these characteristics.

 

Sightlines will point you left. If you aim to the right, add one or more sightlines until you aim where you think you are aiming.

 

For example, I aim this TP Mills well; but I also aim a bigger mallet, Directed Force, with a smaller sightline well. All depends on the putter and its size. But heel shafted mallets with little offset, in general, as a starting point, work for me.

 

I don't like a sightline on the ball - don't need it.

[EmperorPenguin]

I have never met a golfer who is calibrated so finely that from twenty-five feet he knows the difference between left center and inside left. If you do not line up the stripe of the ball, try doing that with a putter without a sight line.

[heatedwire]

I have never met a golfer who is calibrated so finely that from twenty-five feet he knows the difference between left center and inside left. If you do not line up the stripe of the ball, try doing that with a putter without a sight line.

 

I would argue that I don't know anyone who can allign a straight line, on a spherical ball, to a distant target. People perceive they are, but that's really all about giving themselves confidence.

Putting being all about confidence pretty much assures that 'best method's' for putting will never exist, and everyone should try several methods and see what works best for them.

[SwingMan]

I have never met a golfer who is calibrated so finely that from twenty-five feet he knows the difference between left center and inside left. If you do not line up the stripe of the ball, try doing that with a putter without a sight line.

 

I would tell you that I have a better chance of lining up the ball correctly without sightlines or a putter sightline than a guy with sightlines everywhere on the ball and puttter. I do it every weekend.

 

 

Everyone is wired differently and has a different routine - what the eyes see and the brain interprets it can be very different if you don't have a putter fit for you. And I could never lineup the sightlines on the ball and putter where I was certain - I'd look down and think the ball was off - killed confidence.

 

Go with what works for you .... but sightlines are not the be all, end all. In fact, they can screw you up. And having none when you need them can screw you up. Get fit.

[jslane57]

I have never met a golfer who is calibrated so finely that from twenty-five feet he knows the difference between left center and inside left. If you do not line up the stripe of the ball, try doing that with a putter without a sight line.

Yet putts do go in. Luckily we’re humans not robots. If you look at the hole you can choose to aim at anything you choose, simply by looking at your target and feeling alignment. Of course some are better at alignment than others. I wonder how much effort Ben Crenshaw or Jordan really worried about such perfect putter alignment at longer distances, or if it just happens because they’re gifted at it.

[knockdownnine]

Top line or no line for me. Flange lines and me being left eye dominant really mess with my alignment and really any line has me too line conscious and my speed suffers

[rawbuffalo]

Sight dot for me.

 

I like the look of it better and I figure no putt is totally straight so it doesn’t really make sense to me to have a line on the putter. I don’t use a line on the ball either. I just need to start the ball on line for the first couple inches and it should be on the line I picked. And I like that tiger only has a sight dot lol.

 

I also read about the study where people aimed best with no sight line on average and how most people can’t line the line up accurately anyway.

[KMD]

I prefer a sight dot if anything. I'm right handed but very left eye dominant and find that if I have lines on the putter I can't help but watch them go back and forth in the stroke. Given the left eye dominance, the lines never look right to me and I wind up trying to guide putts. I occasionally use a line on the ball but that never lasts very long as I find that I putt better by picking a spot just in front of the ball to aim at.

[rawbuffalo]

I have never met a golfer who is calibrated so finely that from twenty-five feet he knows the difference between left center and inside left. If you do not line up the stripe of the ball, try doing that with a putter without a sight line.

 

I have no confidence lining up using a ball. I feel like it’s aimed no where near the line I want

[orion1123]

I just had a SAM fitting... My gamer has been a 2-ball. SAM said I had face pretty open at address and open at impact. I got fitted for a Spider with the sightline and my results changed dramatically

[1puttTUT]

No sight line on my putter or ball

 

I tried it on my ball a few years back when they added them to the pro V's. I would spend time lining the ball up then get over my putt and decide it was off. Then I would either have to realign the ball or purposely hit a "crooked" putt to compensate. I feel similar with the line on a putter. It's just too much going on for me. I like a really simple clean look. I don't want to see anything but white on the ball either.

 

I think that once we get a good read on a putt we subconsciously know how to get aligned for the most part and I don't want any additional distractions; I want my subconscious mind to take over.

[EmperorPenguin]

I understand that a vital reason why one should line the ball up because the goal is to get the perfect end-over-end roll. When you see the stripe going up the center of the ball perfectly you know you hit is perfectly square and on the intended line, and all you are hoping for is that you hit the ball the correct distance.

[MickViner]

No sight lines on putter or ball

 

I putted with an old Mizuno Domino putter for almost 30 years, i never took notice but it had no aligment lines, time for a change as i was finding harder to keep it steady on the stroke back over the shorter putts. Went to more to a mallet style so i got an Odysessy 7 milled ( sound chamber) with 3 sight lines, I tried lines on the ball or no lines, but putts kept going right, got another mallet a Ping Vault Bergen with a single centre alignment line, again always putted right, i switched between them, putts leaked right, very frustrating. I later discovered both these putters where face balanced.

 

I had another putter fitting, two things where clear,

1: Get a proper putter fitting as the fitting for the Ping and Odsessy where by the reps but iot was done by eye, not on a proper putting system

2: With my putting stroke the Ping and Odysessy didnt suit my stroke path

3: i putted best without lines, i found i could focus more on speed and direction with the putter face without a line,

4: Length of the putter was critical for me, at 34" i used to grip down

 

I got fitted into a spider tour black with no line, now putts are going where i aim and its now about speed and reading putts as im not worrying about lines lining up. Its funny as the old Mizuno Domino has similar toe hang as the new Spider mallet,

 

Putting is so personal isnt it

[dasams]

I like a stripe on my ball and a dot on my putter. Then when I get lined up, all I'm thinking about is speed. See my avatar.

[EmperorPenguin]

When it comes to squaring up, one of the best putters for that is Never Compromise, though you don't see their putters anymore. I have a TDP 2.2 and the gray region perfectly frames the ball and there is a sight line in the middle of it. Just move the gray block straight back and straight through.

[brendan6q66]

I've never been one for marking my ball with a line. For one, I've always doubted I can line up the line on the ball while crouching over it with the putting line I see from a few feet behind the ball. Second, I often sense a different line when I step up to the ball vs. reading from behind the ball.

 

As for sight lines on my putter, I used to be an advocate of it. With the DJ Spider, which has no line, I feel like I am forced to spend more time reading the putt for a "true" line - there is no crutch of the alignment aid to assist me.

[Big_BenB]

I had the “Spieth sightline” put on my custom Kingston KP2 and it was a “game changer” for me. I can’t even look at a flange line any more. Wanted to give a #7 a go and couldn’t get along with the 3 dot top sightline, only the solid.

[WooPig]

I have a line on the ball and the flange of the putter. Matching the lines at address works for me. But I started watching the flange line in the backstroke, I took the paint fill out of the line, problem solved.

[Technoguru]

Sight line all day.

 

[getitdaily]

I putted with a Newport beach for nearly 12 years. Wanted more foregiveness and putted well in the store with a 2ball fang so I bought it. Ended up toying with something to get rid of the 2ball alignment and add some color to the leading edge top line. While doing that I toyed around with wide blade putters and, after a SAM fitting, bought a sigma g kushin. In the process of getting the sight line removed after covering it recently for some testing.

 

I'm a bit of a putter head watcher whem I have a sight line. No sight line allows me to just swing the putter.

[brew4eagle]

No Sight Line.

 

While addressing a ball with a putter, I've found that I actually point a flange sight line way off my intended target line. I do slightly better with a line on the top rail, but those are usually short lines anyways and intended to point out the sweet spot. I also don't like lining up a line on the ball as it makes me tense up and not feel natural when squaring up the putter to the line on the ball rather than a farther away target (like a spot on the green on my intended line). I like to just use the entire shape of the putter to square up to my line. Using an Anser-style putter with no line accomplishes this very well for me.

[Always_rough]

No sightline, and no alignment on the ball.

 

For all of the 2017 season, I used both a line on my putter and a sharpie line on the ball to align my putts. Noticed when I would finally get over the putt I would argue with myself about whether or not the line was correct, and this lead to a lot of bad misses. Now, this year, I've switched to a putter without a sight line and just simply use the white part of the ball without lettering or lines and my goodness my putting has improved. Played closed to 100 rounds less year, and likely had less than 150 birdies. Only 4 months into this season I'm averaging 3 per round. Had a high of 5 in one round, with an eagle to boot.

 

Putting stroke feels like it's been freed up without the sight lines.