How can this be - more accurate if I don't aim??

[mariner]

Since reading Harvey Penick's little red book about twelve years ago I always remember him saying "if you take just ONE thing from this book, let it be this - TAKE DEAD AIM"
So ever since then I have meticulously lined every shot up with a spot a couple of feet in front of the ball as part of my pre-shot routine, but yesterday I started missing greens with short irons, got pretty fed up with it and thought "what's the point of aiming at all?" and played the remaing dozen or so holes just looking at the target while over the ball and not paying any attention to alignment at all - guess what - hit the pin twice and only missed the green once when I mishit one completely.
I suppose this is something to do with our in-built computer that enables us to throw stuff pretty accurately without giving a single thought to where our feet and shoulders are pointing, perhaps we should just try and let it work instead of holding it back with all this straitjacket stuff?

[GregJWillis]

Re: How can this be - more accurate if I don't aim??

I am pretty sure that when you were lining up everything that your eyes were seeing what they thought were aligned, your body, in reality, was being misaligned.

Did you ever have a 2nd set of eyes help you line up? I do this all the time, and the player usually says, "No way, that's pointing too far to the left!" I place clubs down their feet, shoulder and hip lines, and they are amazed how far off they really were.

When you just stepped up and swung, your internal alignments have a better sense of truth, so that part I suspect, you have good.

One last statement is that mechanical aligning in a pre-shot routine can easily take center stage, so feel and swing fluidity goes out the door. When you just step up, you are in a better place in your head to let the swing just happen...knocking down pins.

[mariner]

Re: How can this be - more accurate if I don't aim??

That makes sense, but how can you ever be sure you are aligned correctly when you are playing - it never seems to look right and when I line up even a 6 foot putt very carefully with the line I draw round the ball, when I stand over ready to putt it looks like it's going to miss left even though I know it's lined up properly (this is probably why I've been a lousy putter lately, the subconcious fighting the mechanical, I can't hole a thing - I shot 81 last Friday morning with a 14 h/c and physically holed only two putts, the rest where one foot gimmes or else I missed them)

[GregJWillis]

Re: How can this be - more accurate if I don't aim??

Start with your eyes. Make sure they are directly over the ball while you putt. Take another ball and drop it from the bridge of you nose. Did it hit the other ball - or just behind it in the line of the ball and the hole?

If not, your eyes are going to be at an angle off the perpendicular to the line of the putt, and this can play illusions to what you think is square and in-line. Because we are bi-optic, one eye is usually dominant. That is the eye that focuses for alignment, and the other is there just to add depth. When you get your eyes directly over the ball, this allows either eye to be in a better position to see the correct line. The other interesting thing, is when you tilt your head to look at the line at address. If you rotate your head so your eyes are now vertical, they both are in alignment to the line. If you tilt your head so it rotates horizontal, one eye is not on the line, but hopefully your dominant one is...so that is a possible miss-alignment.

Ok, all this eye alignment stuff is just one element. So, if your eyes are not over the ball now, you will have to change your putting stance. This will create a new set of issues, but hopefully easily adaptable.

Let's now assume you now have your eyes over the ball, and you are in correct alignment. Your putter blade is the next issue. In a putting stroke you create skid on the ball that causes the ball to skid along the ground before it starts to roll true. Reducing that skid length is essential. You do this by making an up-stroke on the ball, like hitting a topspin tennis stroke going low to high with an either flat vertical face angle or even a closed angle.

There are 2 things to worry about. Hand position and ball position. One being off can cause lots of skid. So both need to be correct. This, in my opinion, is the most overlooked item in putting, especially on short putts. You worry so much about alignment and length and making the putt that you forget about a fundamental stroke.

Your hands need to be in front of the ball, and the ball position needs to be slightly forward from the center of your stance. Too much in either direction is also going to cause you problems so this setup is something you have to work on to first get right, then to make sure that it is right every time for all length putts and you don't go changing setups for different length and types of putts.

Making a low to high stroke on the ball will create the initial topspin that reduces skid. This will cause the ball to roll true to your setup line. So practice by taking a quarter and placing it just in front of where your ball would be. Take simple stokes without a ball there, and make sure you miss the quarter. Placing another quarter on top. Miss that one. The 3rd quarter should be struck. This will help you get the feeling the stroking upwards. It should be done only using your shoulders tilt, and never with your hands or wrists. Those are locked and relaxed.

The face angle needs to be square or even closed. Your hand position dictates this. Get 2 Popsicle sticks (or something light and flat about 5 inches long) and tape them to the outer edges of your face so they stick up. You will now be able to see exactly the angle the face is at setup. You will also be allowed to see where it is at impact better. A second person will also help look at the stroke to watch for the face angle and also notice the skid of the ball.

So hopefully this corrects some or all of your putting woes.

[pnearn]

Re: How can this be - more accurate if I don't aim??

Since reading Harvey Penick's little red book about twelve years ago I always remember him saying "if you take just ONE thing from this book, let it be this - TAKE DEAD AIM"
So ever since then I have meticulously lined every shot up with a spot a couple of feet in front of the ball as part of my pre-shot routine, but yesterday I started missing greens with short irons, got pretty fed up with it and thought "what's the point of aiming at all?" and played the remaing dozen or so holes just looking at the target while over the ball and not paying any attention to alignment at all - guess what - hit the pin twice and only missed the green once when I mishit one completely.
I suppose this is something to do with our in-built computer that enables us to throw stuff pretty accurately without giving a single thought to where our feet and shoulders are pointing, perhaps we should just try and let it work instead of holding it back with all this straitjacket stuff?

Its a very good point and one im sure everyone struggles with. I have a habit of letting my alignment set me more and more closed (aiming right) after a while and then I start almost pulling the ball back to square - this really gets me into a mess sometimes as I will then start forcing myself to aim square and going left and then aim right again and go where Im aiming! Its a royal pain in the a&&e but when I get out of this habit it seems (to me) like im pointing two fairways left !

The only way out of it for me is to go work on it with clubs at the feet and head covers etc and take mental notes of where my left shoulder looks like its pointing in relation to the target .. almost like re-aligning the sight on a gun every 6 months

[dannyra]

Re: How can this be - more accurate if I don't aim??

I absolutely despise the idea of picking a spot a couple feet in front of my ball as an aiming point. If your off by the slightest of margins in your alignment aiming at that spot, our way off once you get to your target. On chips and putts I don't mind using a close spot to align. But full shots your margin of error is to great.

I do the complete opposite lately. I look at the spot I need to hit too. Then I find an aiming point well past the target. Aim to that point and then hit. If my aim is off a little to the distant target, it won't be off as much at the actual target.

Most of us amateurs need to aim for the middle of the green, but just shooting for the middle of the green is something we shouldn't do. Aim for a specific point. Aim Small, Miss Small.