Detailed Guide to Improving Putting with HackMotion

Your putter face must be square at impact to hit a ball on the proper line; consistency in putting is nearly impossible without putter face control.

With the HackMotion putter feedback tool, you can determine if your putting stroke is consistent or if there are significant discrepancies from one stroke to the next. The golf professionals don’t necessarily have a perfect putting stroke, they are just the most consistent putters in the game.

We have been working with the world’s top putting coaches, measuring players’ strokes with the HackMotion sensor.

Here is a guide on how to analyze a putting fault and how to fix it.

The following guide is meant for a typical putting stroke with a regular grip. If your grip or stroke is different, please adjust as needed.

Putting data and analysis is only available on the plus and pro versions of HackMotion.

Understanding the Role of Wrists in Putting

The wrists and your arm movements directly impact the putter’s face and how it approaches the ball. In this section, we will break down how to identify a miss and understand what the tour players do to make so many putts.

Understand How Wrist and Arm Movement Influence the Putter’s Face

Before measuring your putting stroke, ensure you understand how wrist and arm movements affect the putter’s face. Here is a quick summary of lead wrist motion effects on the putter.

The key positions and movements you will need to understand include the following:

• Rotation – Trail Wrist Pronation direction and Supination direction
• Radial Deviation and Ulnar Deviation
• Trail Wrist Extension and Flexion
• Lead Wrist Extension and Flexion

Rotation (Pronation/Supination)

When a wrist pronates (palm moves down), the putter face can twist closed and cause a pull.

The other wrist rotation is supination (palm moves up) the putter’s face twists open. When this happens, a golf ball can go right of the target.

When the trail wrist is rotating in supination direction (palm up) the clubface is opening to the target. The rotation graph is going downwards.

When the trail wrist is rotating in the pronation direction (palm down) the clubface is closed to the target. The rotation graph is going upwards.

Radial and Ulnar Deviation

When either wrist is moving towards radial deviation (thumb up) the graph line is moving upwards. The putter is moving above the initial plane.

When either wrist is moving towards ulnar deviation (thumb up) the graph line is moving downwards. The putter is moving below the initial plane.

Extension and Flexion 

With extension and flexion, we have to look at both trail and lead wrist data. Wrist flexion adds loft to the putter face, whereas wrist extension decreases loft.

When the wrist is moving towards flexion (bowing) the graph line is moving downwards. You are removing the loft from the putter face. This holds true for both the lead wrist and the trail wrist.

When the wrist is moving towards extension (cupping), the graph line is moving upwards. You are removing the loft from the putter face.

Identify Your Typical Miss

One of the best things about HackMotion is the ability it gives us to collect data and analyze your putting strokes and golf swings with numbers that make sense and encourage improvement.

Most amateur golfers have a typical miss when putting.

The miss will usually be a pull or a push.

Are you pulling or pushing your putts? Do you miss the hole right or left? Do some diagnostics to understand your miss:

• Hit 10 putts and count how many you missed right or left.
• Count the times you missed the hole right or left during your last round. Gather the stats.

We can then use this information to encourage a more consistent stroke with HackMotion.

Learn about Issues “Straight Back Straight Through” Can Cause

Straight back straight through is a very common way for golfers to put. They believe that instead of an arc-style putting stroke, it makes sense to keep the putter on a track that is straight back and straight through.

Although it is possible for a putter to move on a straight plane, it is very important for golfers to understand that the straight back straight, through putting stroke, can cause some issues.

In the backswing, the putter’s head can open up, the putting stroke can get too long, and the result is usually a putt that is well right of the intended target. Although it is still possible to have a straighter (as opposed to more of an arc) putting stroke, you will need to be aware of these issues.

To better understand the faulty pattern and what causes it, we recommend watching this great video by coach Eric Cogorno and PGA Tour putting coach David Orr. Check out Eric Cogorno’s channel for a lot of great content.

2 videos to watch by Eric Cogorno and David Orr (great educational content by Eric Cogorno).

Analysis and Data of a Faulty Wrist Motion Putting Pattern

For most golfers (who are relatively good putters), the common miss is a pull. The putter path normally has a natural arc, opening the putter face to the target line. Proper rotation of the face results in a good put.

However, trying to keep the face square to target often causes issues with too much putter manipulation.

The pull can be caused by a series of mistakes or a single error that keeps the putter from rotating properly.

For golfers that are trying to keep the putter face square, the mindset is often to have the face of the putter aimed at the target throughout the stroke. As seen here:

So at the top of the backstroke, the putter squares to the target but is in a closed position relative to the path.

• The lead wrist moves towards more extension.
• The trail wrist might have some pronation (palm down) or no rotation at all.
• No rotation can be bad since some putter and forearm rotation is a natural motion – the putter path normally arcs inside during the backstroke.

Once the putter face is closed in the backswing, the rest of the stroke is going to be off as a result.

The player does not open the face enough during the downstroke (to compensate for the closing rotation during his backstroke), so the putter’s face is also closed at impact. The ball is hit left of the target – a pull.

You can call this putter face “under twisted” – not enough twisted open.

It is very hard to time the correct amount of rotation, especially when under pressure. It gets worse when you are stressed, so you get twitchy, trying to steer the putter and time the rotation.

To help become a better putter, think about keeping wrist motion neutral throughout the swing. This drill from James Jankowski can help:

HackMotion Data

Now that we have the concept of the pull or the over twisted clubface (due to trying to keep the putter head square) it’s time to see what HackMotion can tell us about this.

HackMotion wrist data will vary slightly from one player to another (just as it does in the full swing).

Extension/Flexion is increasing from 47 degrees to 51 degrees, so 4 degrees more extended at the top and 11 degrees more extended at impact. Increasing extension during backstroke and downstroke is a very poor pattern.

Rotation – at the top, the lead wrist is rotated 4 degrees in the supination direction, closing the clubface to the path. At impact, it is even more closed – 5 degrees.

Radial/Ulnar deviation – 3 degrees more of radial deviation at the top and impact. This is caused by an attempt to hold the putter on the target line, keeping the putter head above the initial shaft plane.

Tour Pro Data Analysis

The HackMotion feedback tool and training aid is built on tour pro data.

Take a look at this lead wrist motion pattern of a professional tour player.

You can see that there is some wrist motion throughout the swing. We see it consistently for all tour players we measure. They never have perfectly still wrists. However, they are very consistent at repeating the same motion.

You can also see on the purple rotation graph that the wrists rotate during the backstroke (opening the face to target) and rotate opposite direction during the downstroke (closing face).

Putters don’t move normally in a straight line, instead, they rotate, opening and closing the putter face. Do not resist rotation by trying to keep the face square to the target, as this can cause a lot of issues.

Implementing the Lessons Learned from HackMotion Data

Now that you understand how HackMotion putting data can find the faults of your putting stroke, it’s time to work on consistency and implementation.

Practice Wrist Stability to Improve Consistency

The first thing you can do to improve your consistency is to make your putting stroke less wristy. If you have too much wrist motion in your putting stroke it will be hard to repeat it consistently when under pressure.

Of course, once the wrists are stable, it is also essential to have them moving into and out of the right positions, but that can come in time.

The HackMotion wrist stability practice mode helps you to train to keep your wrists stable throughout the putting motion. The mode measures your changes in Flexion/Extension and Radial/Ulnar deviation.

It provides 2 types of data

• The amount of maximum change in flexion/extension and radial/ulnar relative to address.
• How the wrist angles change (relative to address) with peak change and moment or peak change highlighted. The graph also contains a suggested range from -2 to +2 degrees relative to address.

You might have a consistent putting stroke with bigger wrist angle changes as well. If that is the case, then work on keeping it consistent and repeating the same motion every time. Monitor the graph and the tile numbers and make sure that they are consistent for the same length of putt.

How to practice with wrist stability mode?

1. Take 10 putts in a row and count your misses right or left of the cup.
2. See which direction you are moving the putter face that is causing the miss (pull or push).
3. Practice limiting the amount of unnecessary wrist motion by keeping closer to the suggested range.

The best part is that the grip doesn’t matter, since we are calculating the change from your address position – the recommended range is applicable to almost any player.

After each stroke, you will get a feedback screen to see and adjust your stroke without ever needing to pick up your device. When practicing like this, it is really not important to use a hole or even to be on a putting green.

Simply pick a target so that you have some indication of what you are aiming at and whether or not the ball travels toward the target as it should.

Grip pressure, however, is an important consideration. Here is a video giving you some additional details on grip pressure.

Use Biofeedback to Get a Feel for the Correct Motion

When practicing putting, we often know that we made a mistake after we have made a connection with the ball. The problem with this is that the sooner your brain can get feedback on the putt it hits, the easier it is to fix the issues.

Real-time audio feedback plays a sound signal when wrist angles are in your own predefined range. If you are outside the range, the sound does not play. This happens in the middle of your stroke so you can get to quicker and more effective brain training.

Select the range depending on your grip and desired wrist angles. So take a swing before you work with biofeedback to measure your address position and desired range.

EXAMPLE: In the “pull example,” the player was 47 degrees extended at address. Since he does not want to increase extension during the backstroke, he will set the desired range right below the address position.

Biofeedback Range: Minimum 40 degrees, maximum 47 degrees of extension.

Now you can work with your putting stroke and get immediate feedback. As you start to improve, you can make the tolerances a bit tighter, but always leave a little room for error. Even tour professionals have slight variations from one stroke to another.

Track Your Data and Monitor Your Progress

All swings can be viewed in a table with a calculated session average so you can evaluate your progress.

Track your data from session to session to monitor your progress.

Do not worry too much about small changes in wrist angles from session to session since your initial calibration might be slightly different.

Analyzing and Interpreting Results

Putting strokes won’t stay the same for long if you are not continually working on them and checking them.

Make sure you continue to practice with the HackMotion in place.

In addition, remember that there will be slight variations at times, and that is entirely acceptable.

Watch your patterns and pay attention to them.

What to Focus on to Improve Consistency

There is a lot of data you can get with HackMotion sensor, so it is important to initially focus on 3 things:

1. Understand how wrist angles influence the putter face and understand how HackMotion data helps with this.
2. Understand that putter rotation is a natural part of the stroke, so do not aim for perfectly straight graph lines and unchanging numbers. This might actually cause you to hit pulls.
3. It is normal for your wrist angles to change a bit. The main goal is that the stroke is consistent every time. Use this drill to help decrease the amount of steering you do in your stroke (Watch the video below).
4. Focus on understanding which wrist motion is causing your typical miss. If you are pulling the putts, your face is closed at impact. Check the data to see what is causing that closed-face pattern.

Exclusive Content from Professionals

If you want more analysis, watch this exclusive HackMotion video by experienced putting coach David Angelotti (Senior Putting Instructor at Sea Island Golf Club, working with world-renowned tour putting coach Phil Kenyon).

David explains a slightly different pull bias pattern caused by too much lead wrist flexion and ulnar deviation and demonstrates how to spot it with HackMotion data. In this example, the putter’s head actually moves too much inside.

Further Analysis from PGA Tour Coach David Orr

Take a look at the exclusive HackMotion webinar recording during which David Orr discusses pull and push patterns.

If you are interested to have a deeper analysis of trail wrist mechanics, take a look at this webinar recording with analysis by David Orr.

The player’s intent to keep the putter face square to the target results in a throwing motion and lack of putter face control.

Now that you have a better understanding of how to use your wrists in your putting stroke, take a look at how to use the wrists in your full swing.

Or watch some in-depth videos taking your understanding of the HackMotion and your golf swing to the next level.