The
2002 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida, just concluded Sunday,
January 27. The Show was jammed with merchandise, to be sure, and
this report highlights some of the more interesting and innovative
developments for putting.
1. The
Pivot Putter. With a design somewhat akin to the putter
created several decades ago by the British illustrator Paul Trevillion,
Karl Schmidt has introduced the Pivot Putter. The Pivot Putter is
short, with a rectangular putterhead that rests upon the turf on two
plastic skids. The idea is to eliminate as many degrees of freedom
in the stroke motion as possible. The putter is used by resting and
pinning the butt of the grip against the inside of the left thigh
with the left hand (for right handers), and then moving the shaft
back and thru by flexing the left hand, powering the stroke with the
left hand and keeping the right hand split down the grip for stability.
It looks a lot like an old Billy Casper stroke, with a split-hand
grip like Hubert Green and Paul Trevillion (see the Books
page). (It is also possible to do this with something of a right-hand
"plucking" of the shaft back and releasing it while using
a firm left grip -- the tension in the left hand makes the putter
spring back flat along the turf into the ball, returning the putterface
to its original address position for impact and for a repeating straight
roll. But this is not the preferred method.) The result: everyone
sinks straight putts repeatedly out to 15 or 20 feet. Many people
who stopped for a trial sank as many as 20 in a row from 8 feet. No
problem! Watch for this putter to gain some serious attention and
lots of fans. LINK (place
holder online, full site due in a short time) 
2. The
Mirip Tech Finale Putter. The Korean design borrows the
idea of the face bulge from driver technology to correct for toe-hits
and heel-hits with a gear effect. It's surprising that someone hasn't
come up with this idea before. In my admittedly non-scientific trials,
this putter seemed to work very well indeed to keep these mishits
from straying seriously off line. Toe hits appeared to curl right
to left back onto line and heel hits appeared to curl left to right
back onto line. I'm sure some more exacting testing can tell us a
lot more about this putter, so keep your ear to the ground. LINK
3. The
Smarttech Convex Putter. The Smartech Putter with its convex
face is similar and probably works on the same principle. LINK
4. Dandy
Putter's Alan Strand. The Dandy Putter honors the legacies
of Horton Smith and Bobby Locke, two of the greatest putters of all
time. Smith and Locke, and many others in the 1930s and 1940s, shared
the "hooding" technique that kept the face of the putter
aimed on the putt line during the stroke. Strand has designed his
putter so that this sort of stroking technique is matched with the
timing of the shaft to deliver an efficient energy transfer for a
high-quality roll. The stroke is said to "load" the shaft
and "access" the shaft's energy at impact, as the stroke
keeps the putterhead moving low and straight through the ball. This
stroke and shaft require a consistent tempo to repeat the accessing
of the shaft through impact, but the overall feedback is pretty clear
so the putter in effect trains a stable tempo. That's good! What may
be interesting is the insistence upon good technique in order to benefit
from the putter design. That's a level above stock putters served
up for Joe Golfer by the big name manufacturers. Strand has been having
some very good success with his putter on the PGA Tour and has recently
been working with Ernie Els and others. LINK
5. Scientific
Golfers The One Pendulum Putter. This Swedish design is
intended to be used with one hand, while slightly crouched and facing
the target. You can strike the ball either with eyes on the target,
or while watching the putter swing into impact after aligning, but
the designers clearly intend the golfer to face the target during
the stroke. This putter is closely akin to sidesaddle putters, made
popular by Sam Snead, but is one-handed and designed for a pendulum-like
arm action. LINK
6. Technasonic
Check-Go Ball Balance Checker
and Line Marker. Ever since Bob Charles began checking
his balls for roundness and balance in the 1960s, serious putters
have wanted to float their golf balls in a salt bath spiked with Jet-Dry,
spin them, and see if the same spot keeps stopping on top (thus indicating
an imbalance directly below this spot and below the center of the
ball). Perfectly balanced balls have no one spot that returns to the
top. Balls with an imbalance are either set aside or the top spot
is marked so that the ball can be placed with the imbalance aligned
in the vertical plane of the roll, to minimize or eliminate its tendency
to create a wobble sending the putt off line. (There is always a question
of whether imbalance makes a difference in performance, and if so,
how much. See the PZ Forum discussion on Tru-Trak
Balls.) Now, the Technasonic (Sharper Image) Check-Go assumes
all balls have some imbalance and then spins them so that the imbalance
is set in an equator, and then this equator is marked with a Sharpie
marker. Viola! Any imbalance is taken care of by setting the ball
with its line aligned in the vertical plane of the putt. This kills
three birds with one stone: locates the imbalance, positions the imbalance
in the equator, and marks the equator. A ball balancer and ball marker
in one, and without any salt bath or Jet-Dry to worry about. The Check-Go
has a small rubber cup to set the ball in, and this cup spins on battery
power. No fuss, no mess, quick and simple. If you like to check your
balls for balance, or to mark them with a line, this product seems
like a nice combination. Review1
Review2
LINK
Click
here for a complete listing of Putting-related
Exhibitors at the 2002 Show.
Here is the newest
PuttingZone tip hot off the griddle: 1.
Putt Out Your Eyes
1.
Putt Out Your Eyes
Your eye fields
are two egg-shaped regions that overlap. If you close your non-dominant
eye, you can see the shape defined by the inside of your nose, your
eyebrow, the corner of your eye, and your cheek. With a straight-ahead
gaze, there is one and only one point where your line of sight penetrates
this egg-shape -- about 1" in from the bridge of your nose where
your pupil is located and is pointed. If you wore glasses, you could
paint a red dot with a marker on the lens where this spot is, and
everytime your gaze is straight out you would look thru this spot.
Any other gaze direction does not. A horizontal line across both pupils
plus this aim spot define the plane of your vision with this gaze.
When you place this gaze directly above the ball, the vertical plane
of the putt and this plane of vision coincide. This "line"
across both pupils then corresponds exactly with the startline of
your square putt on the ground, as well as the line your stroke needs
to follow to move the sweetspot back and thru the ball.
So what? This
means that your ball must start on this line, and you can reference
the startline by paying attention to your egg-shaped fields of vision.
The line in your rearward eye's field sends the ball out into the
bridge of your nose. The line in the forward eye's field sends the
ball out into the corner of your eye. This is a lot like cheating!
Try putting with
glasses (or sunglasses). Note the aim spot for a straight-ahead gaze
in your dominant eye. Position your dominant-eye's glasses lens over
the ball so the straight-ahead plane of vision matches the vertical
plane of the putt. You can then notice that the top of the glasses
frame parallels your startline and that a line from one corner of
the frame to the other crosses your pupils and runs right on top of
the startline on the ground. You will also be able to notice the nosepiece
for the glasses and see the startline of the putt in your rearward
eye, and notice the corner of the forward lens and see how the startline
sends the ball out to the corner of the glasses.
There is much
more that can be done with glasses, both as a training aid and as
a way to putt -- especially in turning the head and gaze toward the
target. If you envision both fields of vision as the gondolas on a
Ferris Wheel, with your neck as the axis, then you turn your head
targetward to deliver the two gondolas of your gaze to the target,
with one eye vertically above the other. From the target looking back,
your glasses top frame line will appear vertical. (See Jim Flick's
glasses, below.) Give it a try and work out the details for yourself.
I think it ought to really help!
