Controlling your Putter Face

Acquiring a Consistent Putting Stroke

One of the most important aspects of being a great putter is the consistency and repeatability of your stroke. Inconsistent wrist motion during the putting stroke leads to poor direction and distance control. Take a look in the picture above how the wrists are staying consistent throughout the stroke!

HackMotion’s large database of recorded tour player putting strokes clearly shows that the best putters limit the range of wrist motion during their putting stroke, and they are very consistent at repeating it. Amateurs, on the other hand, typically move their lead wrist joint a lot and have significant variation between any two putting strokes. 

Problems with “straight back, straight through” technique

Many players have been taught to keep the putter’s face on the target line, with the “straight back, straight through” technique. 

This technique can cause a lot of issues in the putting stroke, and can actually force players to make last moment wrist movements –  twisting the putter before impact in order to control the putter face. Such putting strokes are rarely stable under pressure. 

To better understand the putting issues caused by “straight back, straight through” technique, watch the video below where golf coach Eric Cogorno and PGA Tour putting coach David Orr explain the faulty pattern and what causes it.

Now that you learned about the problems related to the “straight back, straight through” technique, it is time to start fixing them with the help of the HackMotion sensor’s Putting Stability mode. Below, you can see a player before and after working with the HackMotion wrist sensor and the significant changes they made.

David Orr putting before
BEFORE – increasing wrist extension during putting stroke, hard to consistently control direction and speed.
David Orr putting after
AFTER – wrist extension changes much less, leading to improved putting stroke consistency.

So how do you get started with the Putting Stability mode and what data does it offer? Read about that in the next post!