Sometimes pulling the 2 foot putt? What balance is your putter?

[ChaosTheory]

My name is Don, and once in a great while, out of nowhere, I pull a 2 foot putt to the left.

"Hi Don!"

 

If you have this maddening miss in your arsenal, tell us what kind of face balancing or toe hang is your putter?  I was messing around with two foot putts with a couple of my putters, and think I noticed something.   Obviously we should be able to make this putt with every club in our bag.  But still, I wonder if different balances cause different sensations when such a small stroke is involved.  You wouldn't think so, but I sensed something.

 

I normally use a lie angle balanced Odyssey Toe Up.  It's very similar in design intent to the LAB Link.1 putter.  In one of the two footers, I could feel that my hands had to do "something" to keep the putter square at impact.  Which is the opposite of the theory of lie angle or torque balancing.   I grabbed my old Ping Pal, an Anser-style toe hang, and the stroke and release felt a lot more natural.  

 

Hmmmm.  I'm not wanting a debate about balancing.  More just wanted to throw this out for others to test.  When I play tomorrow the lie angle balanced putter will still be in my bag. 

 

 

 

 

[MattM97]

An up close miss is usually aim related which can be the shape of your head or alignment lines.

[jda]

I use flow necks with heavy toe flow.  I have an arsenal of putters that I use and take out on occasion with all kinds of necks and flow - all blades, though.

 

With short putts, this is not a toe flow or arc thing - those are more prevalent at velocity, IMO.  It is most likely your aim or you are closing the face at impact.  Try wrapping your lead hand so far under the club that it will not go left anymore.  Then place your rear hand in the normal place.  This will not allow you to turn the club face to the left without much effort.  The grip is supposed to be uncomfortable.

 

If you drill all short putts with this grip, then it is not your aim.

 

Edited March 3 by jda

[mogc60]

2 footers?  Probably not putter balance or aim. It’s just the arms and hands stopping early in the stroke causing that quick pull. 3-8 feet the balance and aim become more critical 

[Boognish]

Don, the subject of your post is quite triggering for me.  I'd prefer if you'd keep this discussion private.

[SwingMan]

9 hours ago, ChaosTheory said:

My name is Don, and once in a great while, out of nowhere, I pull a 2 foot putt to the left.

"Hi Don!"

 

If you have this maddening miss in your arsenal, tell us what kind of face balancing or toe hang is your putter?  I was messing around with two foot putts with a couple of my putters, and think I noticed something.   Obviously we should be able to make this putt with every club in our bag.  But still, I wonder if different balances cause different sensations when such a small stroke is involved.  You wouldn't think so, but I sensed something.

 

I normally use a lie angle balanced Odyssey Toe Up.  It's very similar in design intent to the LAB Link.1 putter.  In one of the two footers, I could feel that my hands had to do "something" to keep the putter square at impact.  Which is the opposite of the theory of lie angle or torque balancing.   I grabbed my old Ping Pal, an Anser-style toe hang, and the stroke and release felt a lot more natural.  

 

Hmmmm.  I'm not wanting a debate about balancing.  More just wanted to throw this out for others to test.  When I play tomorrow the lie angle balanced putter will still be in my bag. 

 

 

 

 

 

I have more of a tighter grip in the left hand than the right and keep the arms moving so I don't close the face right before impact.

[Jc0]

11 hours ago, ChaosTheory said:

My name is Don, and once in a great while, out of nowhere, I pull a 2 foot putt to the left.

"Hi Don!"

 

If you have this maddening miss in your arsenal, tell us what kind of face balancing or toe hang is your putter?  I was messing around with two foot putts with a couple of my putters, and think I noticed something.   Obviously we should be able to make this putt with every club in our bag.  But still, I wonder if different balances cause different sensations when such a small stroke is involved.  You wouldn't think so, but I sensed something.

 

I normally use a lie angle balanced Odyssey Toe Up.  It's very similar in design intent to the LAB Link.1 putter.  In one of the two footers, I could feel that my hands had to do "something" to keep the putter square at impact.  Which is the opposite of the theory of lie angle or torque balancing.   I grabbed my old Ping Pal, an Anser-style toe hang, and the stroke and release felt a lot more natural.  

 

Hmmmm.  I'm not wanting a debate about balancing.  More just wanted to throw this out for others to test.  When I play tomorrow the lie angle balanced putter will still be in my bag. 

 

 

 

 

 

I own a toe up, it's nothing like a lab link. Lab is zero torque, toe up is well, toe up so it resists opening on the back swing and closing on the follow through. The link isn't supposed to be providing resistance one way or the other. One issue I noticed with the toe up putter and why I went away from it is that on short putts I lost feel for where the face is. Since the weighting fights the ability to open up the face on the back swing, some times where your body thinks the club face is a bit more open then where it actually is causing a pull. 

[ChaosTheory]

10 hours ago, Jc0 said:

 

I own a toe up, it's nothing like a lab link. Lab is zero torque, toe up is well, toe up so it resists opening on the back swing and closing on the follow through. The link isn't supposed to be providing resistance one way or the other. One issue I noticed with the toe up putter and why I went away from it is that on short putts I lost feel for where the face is. Since the weighting fights the ability to open up the face on the back swing, some times where your body thinks the club face is a bit more open then where it actually is causing a pull. 

I will give this some attention and see if I feel it.

 

 

[dmecca2]

Just gonna echo what @MattM97 is saying. SHORT misses are usually aim based. Sounds like your issue may be an aim and face angle problem. When this has happened to me I like to experiment with lasers and putters with different alignment lines. Throw a laser on the club, aim without the laser on, then turn it on to reveal where you're actually aimed. See which putters you have the most success with.

[philly2kuk]

I always found I pulled face balanced putters. Switched to mid toe hang a while ago and, providing I don’t move my head when putting, I don’t pull it anymore.

[von3jack]

9 hours ago, philly2kuk said:

I always found I pulled face balanced putters. Switched to mid toe hang a while ago and, providing I don’t move my head when putting, I don’t pull it anymore.

 

I find it annoying that some fitters/companies/experts will tell you that a miss left is caused by the club rotating too much and that a face balanced putter will help you push it right while other say that more toe hang will make it harder to close the face, causing the right miss. It seems that there is no definitive consensus on this topic. If I am missing putts to the right I lean toward the cause being that I can't rotate the toe enough through impact, leaving it out to the right. I'd love some actual answers on this! That said, using a double bend putter I find that I hit my start line far more often and pushes, pulls are due to an in to out or out to in stroke. 

[vman]

I use heavy toe hang and control the face. A lot of short putt pullers are open with the shoulders at address or rotate them that way through impact.

[philly2kuk]

13 hours ago, von3jack said:

 

I find it annoying that some fitters/companies/experts will tell you that a miss left is caused by the club rotating too much and that a face balanced putter will help you push it right while other say that more toe hang will make it harder to close the face, causing the right miss. It seems that there is no definitive consensus on this topic. If I am missing putts to the right I lean toward the cause being that I can't rotate the toe enough through impact, leaving it out to the right. I'd love some actual answers on this! That said, using a double bend putter I find that I hit my start line far more often and pushes, pulls are due to an in to out or out to in stroke. 

I don’t subscribe to those fitters theories either, was just my experience that I find face balance easy to pull and that issue went when I switched to toe hang blades. That issue isn’t exclusive to face balanced putters either, I have the same issue with mallets in general. I just don’t seem to pull putts with a blade.

[LinkLow]

Not club related but try moving the ball back in your stance a ball or 2 on the short ones. This cured my pulls on the knee knockers 

[Ben B]

Well....this can be a very touchy subject to say the least....🙄

 

A lot more information/investigation is needed as it really isn't a great idea to speculate what is causing the miss/pull on any putt of any length. But at 2ft, it is usually a break down of some soft....mentally, stroke, aim, all the above, ect... I mean we all miss short putts time from time but if you are noticing a fairly predictable pattern of pulling or missing left (assuming you're a right handed player).

 

Something I notice with players that have a tendency to pull putts is that they ever so slightly shut the putter face going back. I believe this is caused by the "straight back, straight thru" putting stroke. I am not about to start the argument of straight back, straight thru vs arc stroke because at the end of the day it is whichever makes since in your brain. But from a biomechanical standpoint, if you take the putter head straight back (and I mean straight back) it requires you to shut the face or the face will be open to your line (there has to be some sort of manipulation). This is usually very subtle, but from 2ft this can cause your putt to come off left. This will be magnified if you are also aiming slightly left, say left center of the cup. So if you are aiming slightly left and you shut the putter faces slightly on the way back....well you are missing left. Probably not even touching the hole. And with short stroke, it's very difficult to detect.

[Wardonation]

go 2 flat 2 degree loft and thank me later. 

[nsxguy]

On 3/3/2024 at 9:57 AM, ChaosTheory said:

My name is Don, and once in a great while, out of nowhere, I pull a 2 foot putt to the left.

"Hi Don!"

 

If you have this maddening miss in your arsenal, tell us what kind of face balancing or toe hang is your putter?  I was messing around with two foot putts with a couple of my putters, and think I noticed something.   Obviously we should be able to make this putt with every club in our bag.  But still, I wonder if different balances cause different sensations when such a small stroke is involved.  You wouldn't think so, but I sensed something.

 

I normally use a lie angle balanced Odyssey Toe Up.  It's very similar in design intent to the LAB Link.1 putter.  In one of the two footers, I could feel that my hands had to do "something" to keep the putter square at impact.  Which is the opposite of the theory of lie angle or torque balancing.   I grabbed my old Ping Pal, an Anser-style toe hang, and the stroke and release felt a lot more natural.  

 

Hmmmm.  I'm not wanting a debate about balancing.  More just wanted to throw this out for others to test.  When I play tomorrow the lie angle balanced putter will still be in my bag. 

 

 

 

Hi Don/Snowman, and welcome

 

A couple of posters touched on it but I'm not sure if any of them quite hit it. Then again, I could be wrong.

 

I have zero stats, but it seems to me that in person and watching the pros, a large majority of missed 2-footers are missed to the pull side.

 

IMO, and in my own experience, and while there certainly can be other reasons, I believe it's mostly a case of deceleration. "Deceleration is death" not only with full and partial swings, but with the putter as well.

 

As one gentleman mentioned, the biomechanics of even as short a stroke as a putt, is to open on the way back and close on the way forward, even if one is trying to use a SBST stroke, and even if they are using (mostly) their arms instead of their shoulders.

 

Using mostly arms makes the SBST stroke a little easier, but those shoulders still try to impart a little open-to-close. I believe the only way to "rock" those shoulders and get them SBST is to bend at 90*, a la Michelle Wie back when. Anything more upright and those shoulders are encouraging open-to-close, as a previous poster suggested.

 

So that said, as much as we try to go SBST the shoulders want to go open-to-close.

 

On a short putt, speed is almost an afterthought; and decel means your arms and/or wrists slow down just before contact and that club face turns ever-so-slightly to the pull side.

 

As I mentioned earlier, a large majority of short putts are missed to the pull side - these are my (totally) anecdotal observations/opinions/best guesses.

Edited March 10 by nsxguy

[ChaosTheory]

4 minutes ago, nsxguy said:

I believe it's mostly a case of deceleration.

 

I agree.  Even though I was trying to blame my putter for contributing to the problem.

[trying2scratch]

On 3/6/2024 at 2:04 AM, philly2kuk said:

I always found I pulled face balanced putters. Switched to mid toe hang a while ago and, providing I don’t move my head when putting, I don’t pull it anymore.

Same for me. 

 

Any head movement or looking early can cause this too. Even if your aim is perfect.  Also any hip or lower body movement can mess with stroke/strike.

Edited March 8 by trying2scratch