[trilochana.nejman]

I alternate between using an alignment mark to point down the line of the putt or not. I had always been a strictly feel putter. By that, I mean I just putt the ball back down, preferably with nothing but white showing, picked a line from behind the ball, and made the stroke. I putted very well like that.

At some point a couple of years ago, I was struggling with my putting and I decided to start to use the alignment mark. This seemed to help my putting considerably because it made me keep my eyes concentrated on that mark through the stroke.

Lately, I have days where using the alignment mark is helpful and other days where I am much better off visualizing the line from behind the ball and not using the alignment mark at all. Those days, it is all about feel, not mechanics.

How do you putt the best, or do you experiment at all?

I have to have "nothing but white" staring back at me when I'm putting; I am strictly "feel" all the way.

I once tried an alignment line just to see if it made any difference and it felt way too mechanical and the obvious issue is the placement of the line. If the alignment line isn't pointed in the right direction and I stand over the ball and sense that, I'd either have to stop and reset everything or try to adjust while standing over the ball which is hard to do with that line sitting there.

So I dropped that very quickly (I only used it on a few holes) and went back to just setting the ball down so that I don't see any marks at all. I have always been an excellent putter and I consider putting to be the strongest part of my game but it's always been about feel.

That's one of the reasons why I could never see myself using one of those "branding irons" that pass for putters because they're not designed for toe or heel hits the way a simple, heel-shafted, blade-styled putter is. I like my Odyssey because when I find myself in a situation where I'd like to "toe" the ball a bit to allow for a bit more swing but not the corresponding force, I can do that. Or if I want to "heel" the putt a bit to help hold the line on a sharp left-to-right breaking putt, I can do that as well.

The "branding irons" and other large headed putters are designed to make the ball go straight (where the head is pointing) and don't allow for that nuance. To me, putting is all about nuance and touch so alignment lines and big-headed putters don't work well in that regard.

I can see alignment lines if someone is a very "square" and mechanical putter who sets up the same way every time and applies the same stroke every time. In that case, the only thing they'd have to be sure of is aiming the alignment line correctly after which everything else is more or less identical.

But for a feel putter like myself, alignment lines don't work and for me it's all about sensory input. Sometimes I can tell more about what a ball will do just by how the green feels under my feet than all of the plumb bobbing and indexing could ever hope to do. That's not to say that I don't use a plumb bob once in a while, but like everything else, that's only part of what I need to line up a putt.

Personally, I think alignment lines fall into the category of "swing aids" and shouldn't be allowed, but that's never going to happen as long as the pro's want to use them. I really don't care if someone uses them, I just know that I for one don't have any use for them.


-JP