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Can't putt from the fringe!!

• Richard1969 34 Posts

  Sun, Sep 19 2010 1:19 PM

  Has this happened to onyone else? A few rounds ago I was taking a 10 foot putt from the fringe. I dinged it and the ball went... NOWHERE. Still counted as a stroke. That was about the 9th or 10th time that has happened to me. Just wondering if I'm the only one this is happening to.

• nickuk 967 Posts

  Sun, Sep 19 2010 1:40 PM

  dont putt uphill from the fringe....it may work sometimes, but in my limited experience, your better off chipping it... better still, flop!

  looking at your average....i guess i dont make a lot of sense ....o well

• JulioMoot 76 Posts

  Sun, Sep 19 2010 5:04 PM

   i struggled when the ball was on a downhill lie,the putter seemed to just go over the top of the ball. remember ur mistakes and don't do 'em again lol

   

• Richard1969 34 Posts

  Sun, Sep 19 2010 7:08 PM

  This has been a fairly recent development for me.  Never happened before, now it happens quite often.  I will just start chipping from the fringe and it won't be a big deal any more.  Was just curious if this was a new problem for others.

• Richard4168 4,309 Posts

  Sun, Sep 19 2010 7:52 PM

  Richard, you have to make sure when you're putting from the fringe, you have enough hitting power to move the ball out of that lie. It's pretty much a rule of thumb for all lies that aren't on the fairway or the green.

  The putter scale should default to a higher value (90 on the Daytona putter) when putting from the fringe. It's a good idea to practice that in-particular shot so you'll know how much power to use in that putting situation, then you won't have to take those extra strokes.

• Yoda79 697 Posts

  Sun, Sep 19 2010 9:56 PM

  Richard1969:

  This has been a fairly recent development for me.  Never happened before, now it happens quite often.  I will just start chipping from the fringe and it won't be a big deal any more.  Was just curious if this was a new problem for others.

  I couldn't agree more. Anytime my ball lands on the fringe I always just use the chip shot and that usually puts me within about 2-10 ft of the hole. Very makeable. And usually its just for a par. But everyonce in a while it actually goes in for the birdie. So my opinion just chip. Again my opinion, and not saying it will work for everybody.

• dorkfeatures 712 Posts

  Mon, Sep 20 2010 12:19 AM

  Hi All,

  I tend to putt quite frequently from the fringe. It just depends on how much fringe you have to putt through.

  If you are just off the putting surface then putting is fine, but you obviously need to add about 10 or 20% more power.

  If you are well into the fringe, then forget it and chip.

  Thats my experience from over 2 years playing here, and I dont think much has changed to be honest.

  Cheers

  Doug

• Bluenose12 2,101 Posts

  Mon, Sep 20 2010 4:07 AM

  Richard1969:

  Has this happened to onyone else? A few rounds ago I was taking a 10 foot putt from the fringe. I dinged it and the ball went... NOWHERE. Still counted as a stroke. That was about the 9th or 10th time that has happened to me. Just wondering if I'm the only one this is happening to.

  Yes,I posted a thread about this a while back,it was happening to me a lot,I don't trust the game on fringe putts very often now and I just pitch instead.I noticed it seems to happen most if you are right on the line of the fringe just off the green,it's as though there is a brick wall there that stops the putt moving anywhere.I even hit the ball very hard once (if it had moved it would have rolled back to the tee lol) and it still never moved at all,I'm sure it is a bug in the game.

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Mon, Sep 20 2010 8:29 AM

  Richard1969,

  I hope sharing my "rules of thumb" helps you out.  I often putt from the fringe and follow these "rules"

  1. add 3 feet to the length of the putt.

  2. Calculate your power based on speed of the green, slope and distance to the cup.

  3. If the end result is 8 ft (9ft to be safe) of power or less, chip, pitch or flop it if you can. Otherwise putt it with 9 ft of power and accept the consequence of a longish uphill putt.

  8 or 9 feet of power with a putter is needed to move the ball off the fringe.

  Perhaps you've only recently experienced the phenomena because of faster greens or new pins.  Some of the new pins are only 5yds off the fringe, and they have areas of fringe nearby that are quite elevated. (Oakmont is notorious in my book)  And tournament speed greens certainly exasperate this problem.

  It would be nice if WGT lessened the "tackiness" of the fringe.  But in the meantime having some delicate chip shots in your bag that move the ball off the fringe 7,8 or 9 ft is a must.

• Richard1969 34 Posts

  Mon, Sep 20 2010 8:54 PM

  I appreciate the responses, but when it happens I could hit it at 100ft of power and it goes NOWHERE. It must be some sort of bug that needs fixing, but I will just chip or pitch any fringe shots from now on. Thanks again folks. :)