Mishit putts

[Kumabjorn]

When you don't hit the putt right on the sweet sport, which is preferable, hitting towards the heel or the toe? Will a heel hit generate less vibrations being closer to the shaft? Is it relevant as to the putter being heel shafted or centre shafted? Will a toe balanced putter react different than a face balanced?

Sorry for all the qqqs but I have tried to locate information on this and so far I have failed.

[LowPost42]

Re: Mishit putts

I can only theorize at this point.

I would assume that a face balanced putter would be overall more forgiving than a heel or toe weighted putter.

I would also assume that a heel strike would track better than a toe strike in a heel shafted putter (as there would be less twisting force at the shaft).

Now, that said, I had thought that center shafted vs heel shafted had to do with how the putter fits your eye (and how you setup), as well as your stroke type (SBST vs arc).

Sorry I couldn't be more help.

[Kumabjorn]

Re: Mishit putts

I'm curious as to any kind of measuring being done on something like this. With all the snow outside I've been working on two different kinds of stroke and while I hit both sweet about 70% of the time, one setup has about 20% misses towards the heel and the other has about 22% misses towards the toe. So if one kind of miss produces an overall better result, being closer to the hole ceteris paribus that ought to be the method I should choose and improve on.

[edshaw]

Re: Mishit putts

So, Kumabjorn, let me get this right: you have two
setups. Each gives you about 75% sweet contact,
but one gives you 25% toe hits and the other gives
you 25% heeled hits. You are asking which is the
lessor of the two evils. I assume this means you
will eliminate the greater evil. Is that right?
First, let me say I admire your powers of
observation and reason. The thing is, I don't
think this approach to golf is really the most
productive of the options available to you,
although, on the surface, your approach miught
seem to make sense. The missing ingredient in
your development program is the teacher, or coach.
Though we are all thrifty at heart, sometimes
self diagnosis equals false economy.
That said, my own layman's opinion, and I would
be interested in the experts' takes on this, is
that the heeled putt is by far the lesser of two
evils. There are few things worse than a toed putt.
It comes off the blade with little authority, dribbles
off to the right and finishes short.
Get a Ping Zing, heel and toe weighted with the
shaft set about an inch inside the heel, and heel
shot to your heart's content. I have played with
a lot of good players who intentionally favor the
heel of the putter blade. There's a lot of good
momentum in that heel.

[Kumabjorn]

Re: Mishit putts

Unfortunately it is only around 20% of the mishits that are towards the heel and 22% - with the alternative setup - that is towards the toe. If all mishits were 100 % on the toe or heel I would probably favor the heel tendency too, and perhaps use the "toe setup" on downhill putts. Obviously the mishits are not on the heel or the toe, just a few mm towards either. My initial reaction was that it might not matter with todays high MOI putters with face balance and whatnot. If that was the case the toe mishits might be preferable since I hit that a tad more consistently than the heel mishits, the idea being that a consistent mishit is easier to predict. The longer the putt the more likely I am to mishit it. Thus a 20 footer would be aimed a little long to the left of the hole, if I hit it sweet I would end up two feet long and to the left, and if I mishit it towards the toe - a 22% possibility - I might end up a foot short and slightly to the left. In either case it ought to be a safe two putt. Now if my statistical analysis holds under actual playing conditions, I would be hitting 8% of those putts towards the heel and would probably end up three feet to the left, put perhaps at the intended length, although a little more difficult second putt I should be able to make nine of those. The end result should be 1 % three putts and maybe a few one-putts. All in all it would result in fewer putts. My ambitions is simply to be a better putter anyway I can.
Obviously I would prefer to have a stroke that resultet in 95% hits on the sweet-spot, realistically that is unfortunately not going to happen. Thus I aim to get the best result with what I've got. And when I discovered the tendencies towards heel and toe mishits with the different setups I got curious as to how that may be usable information in my putting strategy.

[edshaw]

Re: Mishit putts

How do the two setups differ?

[Kumabjorn]

Re: Mishit putts

Heel misses come as a result of a cack-handed grip with a SBST stroke and toe misses are a more orthodox reverse overlap, but with the right pinkie interlocked between left middle finger and ring finger and an arched stroke. I putted with a Pelz Teacher Clip Super Pro attached in order to count the accumulated misses. This was done on a carpet at home with no way of gauging the result of the misses. I was thinking of doing something similar on the putting green once spring arrives, but I will have no way of recording mishits and would be forced to work from a hypothesis of assumption, which obviously is less than scientific. I was thinking that one setup ay be more effective on certain kind of sloping putts and then I could switch between setups depending on the conditions of the putt.
While realizing this is going against conventional wisdom of how to approach putting, it kind of makes sense to me, you hit different kinds of shots on the course depending on conditions, seems reasonable to to the same on the greens.

[edshaw]

Re: Mishit putts

While realizing this is going against conventional wisdom of how to approach putting, it kind of makes sense to me, you hit different kinds of shots on the course depending on conditions, seems reasonable to to the same on the greens.

You're right. It goes against conventional wisdom. You and I differ in
that it does not make sense to me. I would not take issue with
a different approach to a long lag, but once the cup is in the
sights, I certainly would not vary grip, posture, alignment,
or any of that, depending on any circumstances, short of a
gale wind.