Heads up putting style

[lefthack]

I asked this a while back, it got moved to training and nobody responded. Maybe I am the only jackass doing it, so that could be why.

 

I don't like putting, don't like to practice, it's boring. I've always been ok at it, but figured that was fine. Then after hearing about heads up, I figured it was worth a shot. Wow.

 

Yesterday I was 35' away, perfect. Slight brake, nothing crazy. I dropped 5 balls. 3 I hit heads up, 2 hit the flag and the last was 6" short. All 3 within a foot of the hole might have gone in with no flag.

 

The last 2 I looked down at my ball. One was 5' short, the other was 3' long. I realized I had ZERO idea how hard to hit it. But if I look at the cup, I don't think about it and just hit the ball.

 

I will say a few putts during my round I didn't hit the ball square. But maybe 3 out of 30+ putts? I'll take it. It makes sense because when shooting a basket, I don't think about how far back I pull the ball, or how much effort I need to put behind it, I just shoot the ball.

 

I've just started doing this the whole round yesterday to try my new putter. I have 3 other putters on the way, so I will be trying each to see what's up.

 

Anybody else putt heads up style? Am I just weird? Wouldn't be the first time. 🤣

[MattM97]

I've tried it and I don't like it but putting is so personal do whatever gives you the most confidence and gets the ball in the hole the easiest. 

[lefthack]

It feels really weird for sure. I am excited to try out this style with the different blades I have coming. This was also the first time out with the 8802, so that was interesting.

[TheBiles]

I always take my practice strokes heads up looking directly at my aim point. It feels weird to take the actual stroke heads up, though. I like to make sure I am perfectly aligned with my ball then replicate that feel from the practice strokes. 

[Medson]

4 hours ago, lefthack said:

I asked this a while back, it got moved to training and nobody responded. Maybe I am the only jackass doing it, so that could be why.

 

I don't like putting, don't like to practice, it's boring. I've always been ok at it, but figured that was fine. Then after hearing about heads up, I figured it was worth a shot. Wow.

 

Yesterday I was 35' away, perfect. Slight brake, nothing crazy. I dropped 5 balls. 3 I hit heads up, 2 hit the flag and the last was 6" short. All 3 within a foot of the hole might have gone in with no flag.

 

The last 2 I looked down at my ball. One was 5' short, the other was 3' long. I realized I had ZERO idea how hard to hit it. But if I look at the cup, I don't think about it and just hit the ball.

 

I will say a few putts during my round I didn't hit the ball square. But maybe 3 out of 30+ putts? I'll take it. It makes sense because when shooting a basket, I don't think about how far back I pull the ball, or how much effort I need to put behind it, I just shoot the ball.

 

I've just started doing this the whole round yesterday to try my new putter. I have 3 other putters on the way, so I will be trying each to see what's up.

 

Anybody else putt heads up style? Am I just weird? Wouldn't be the first time. 🤣

 

I remember there were many discussion on heads up putting during Jordan Spieth's heydays. Here is one. https://www.golfwrx.com/481196/study-you-should-look-up-at-your-line-not-down-at-the-ball-on-breaking-putts/

 

My kid who is a junior golfer used heads up style putting since last year. I think it really comes down to personal preference. If a putting style has provable functional benefits, then everybody on tour will be using it. The biggest obstacle of switching to heads up style is that it'll take a lot of practice to get it right. The switching cost is pretty high so I'm not sure if everyone wants to do it. 

[lefthack]

Maybe my putting isn't that ingrained because I hate it but heads up seemed natural to me. I just started, so see how it goes. 

[lefthack]

16 hours ago, Medson said:

 

I remember there were many discussion on heads up putting during Jordan Spieth's heydays. Here is one. https://www.golfwrx.com/481196/study-you-should-look-up-at-your-line-not-down-at-the-ball-on-breaking-putts/

 

My kid who is a junior golfer used heads up style putting since last year. I think it really comes down to personal preference. If a putting style has provable functional benefits, then everybody on tour will be using it. The biggest obstacle of switching to heads up style is that it'll take a lot of practice to get it right. The switching cost is pretty high so I'm not sure if everyone wants to do it. 

 

I read the study and holy hell, I'm down. I was looking at the hole, but the breaks were minor. I will play tomorrow and will look down the target line at the spot closest to the hole.

 

 

[kmay__]

I've tried it just messing around and have definitely found good pace control with this method, just letting your natural hand eye coordination take over, but strike and direction suffered a bit for me. And since I've committed to using a line on the ball, that's become my main focus at address is the line and stroking the putter on that line. But I can see the merit in the heads up style for sure. 

[dbleag]

I messed around with it on our recently-aerified greens yesterday, and it felt good enough for me to want to spend more time with it.  

 

I like how it made me focus more on the hole/line and less on the ball. 

 

I still felt like a steady (centered) head was important.

 

I'm not sure why this hasn't been tried by more people who are desperate for putting improvement. 

 

And while I'm at it, I want to try chipping while looking at the hole/line/landing spot to see how it works.

[dbleag]

The greens at the course where I play are healing from aerification, so I'm getting a better idea of how the "heads-up" putting style is working for me.

 

So far, I have only positive reactions to it.  It helps me to be less mechanical and stroke conscious. 

 

Sometimes, I am shocked at how much more solidly I am striking my putts.  

 

Every day, it feels less weird and more comfortable.  I'm now getting into the line/speed of the putt, which is where I should have been.

[PixlPutterman]

I do it, but not all the time, some times I look up and just "see it" and it works.

 

Other times Ill look up and it just doesnt feel right.

REALLY long putts it doesnt work for me, really short putts  I tend to look 6 inches in front of the ball.

 

The rest in between I "look up" about 80% of the time.

 

I do use the line on the ball to set the putter up on my target line, but from there I mostly "look up"

[PixlPutterman]

On 6/2/2021 at 7:14 AM, lefthack said:

 

I read the study and holy hell, I'm down. I was looking at the hole, but the breaks were minor. I will play tomorrow and will look down the target line at the spot closest to the hole.

 

 

 

 

This was huge from me once I looked more at the break point than always at the hole.

[minhjn]

I've started doing it 5 feet and in. It keeps me from peaking and moving my head

[dbleag]

Yesterday was my third full round with this style/method.  I had 30 putts with one three-putt.

 

I hit 14 greens, so it was a pretty fair test.

 

So far, I'm lovin' it 🙂

[lefthack]

I hit 3 of 4 balls on the green of 1. All 3 were on different parts of the green with different breaks. The furthest was 30 feet, the closest was 18 feet. I didn't hole any of them, but all 3 are an easy par.

 

The Mizuno Tour 940 is also really nice. I have hit a couple off the toe, but really solid overall. I am so happy so far.

 

 

[lefthack]

It seems to be working well with the Mizuno. I just bought a similar Nike that I can't wait to try.