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How Important is forgiveness of a putter?

• Markofteja 251 Posts

  Thu, Mar 18 2021 6:15 AM

  I am absolutely ruining my scores with the putts I miss very closely. I am talking close as in "a part of the ball just rides over a part of the hole." I have tried firm putts, drop deads, you name it.

  I know I am calculating them right but 7/10 times I end up missing them real close. So I am wondering if I get myself a more forgiving putter maybe that will make these putts go in.

  At the moment I am using this with the stock ball.

• TopShelf2010 10,932 Posts

  Thu, Mar 18 2021 7:12 AM

  .

• BPeterson8256 2,913 Posts

  Thu, Mar 18 2021 7:15 AM

  Markofteja:

  I have tried firm putts, drop deads, you name it.

  Your putter is fine.

  You are still very new to the game and it takes time to develop the way you putt. Pick the style you want and stick with it to start with. Changing from "firm" to "drop dead" will drastically change your line.

  Markofteja:

  I know I am calculating them right 

  I don't think you are.

  On average you are 3 putting once every 9 holes. That doesn't look like "calculating right". You might want to try the "drop dead" distances until you can get your 3 putts in control. Focus on eliminating those 3 putts and as you start getting closer, you will be able to see what you need to do to start making more of your first putts.

  Pick a solid method of putting and take the time to learn it.

  Good luck

• Markofteja 251 Posts

  Thu, Mar 18 2021 6:47 PM

  TopShelf2010:

  Markofteja:

  I know I am calculating them

  Which putting "method" are you using?

   

  Don

  I am using the aiming points method and I am getting a feel for it coz my putts are no longer deviating heavily from the target. 

• Markofteja 251 Posts

  Thu, Mar 18 2021 6:51 PM

  BPeterson8256:

  Markofteja:

  I have tried firm putts, drop deads, you name it.

  Your putter is fine.

  You are still very new to the game and it takes time to develop the way you putt. Pick the style you want and stick with it to start with. Changing from "firm" to "drop dead" will drastically change your line.

  Markofteja:

  I know I am calculating them right 

  I don't think you are.

  On average you are 3 putting once every 9 holes. That doesn't look like "calculating right". You might want to try the "drop dead" distances until you can get your 3 putts in control. Focus on eliminating those 3 putts and as you start getting closer, you will be able to see what you need to do to start making more of your first putts.

  Pick a solid method of putting and take the time to learn it.

  Good luck

  
  The reason why I say that I feel confident with my calculations is coz my putts are no longer far away from the hole. Even super long ones. 

  Most of the time I miss coz I miss the ding or there is some ungodly break. Most of the times I can figure out why I missed it. But many times it just refuses to go in even when I know that it should. That’s why I thought of the forgiveness factor and this happened many times to me,hence...

  Almost every time I 3putt a hole is coz of short putts on extreme slopes. I just haven’t found my way around those. 

  I’ll keep practising.  

• alosso 21,072 Posts

  Fri, Mar 19 2021 6:26 AM

  Markofteja:

  I am wondering if I get myself a more forgiving putter maybe that will make these putts go in.

  I'd say it's not at all guaranteed since the program seems to do a lot NOT to let the putts in. What hurts me most is the "2 inches short" putts!
  /methinks that this has no relation to forgiveness.

  In general, forgiveness describes the shot reaction on quality defects, i.e. when you miss the ding. The more forgiveness, the less effect it will have compared to a perfect shot. Thus, it's good to have high forgiveness if your putting method includes hitting the ding on every putt.

  OTOH, it's poison for the other putting method, "off-ding putting". With this, players miss the ding voluntarily to influence the putting path. If you see a slope, you don't move the marker but click a little early or late to compensate. In this case, low forgiveness is good because you WANT to experience a significant effect on the putt!

• Markofteja 251 Posts

  Sat, Mar 20 2021 12:48 AM

  pdb1:

  There are several lengthy threads here about the importance of forgiveness and balance and precision , etc . Here is a good one .

  Understanding Wind, Precision & Forgiveness

    But how to explain lipping every other putt . The rest missing by less than an inch . There aren't any specifically on that . Lol . But ahellalot of us experience it .

    There are more putting links here .

  Thanks Pdb1, I appreciate the links.

• Markofteja 251 Posts

  Sat, Mar 20 2021 12:50 AM

  alosso:

  In general, forgiveness describes the shot reaction on quality defects, i.e. when you miss the ding. The more forgiveness, the less effect it will have compared to a perfect shot. Thus, it's good to have high forgiveness if your putting method includes hitting the ding on every putt.

  That's basically it. Many times when I miss the ding, I can see that - Had i dinged perfectly, the ball would've gone in. But coz I mis-dinged, it deviated.

  If I had a penny for the number of times the ball just rides the rim of the cup.

• ichott 56 Posts

  Sat, Mar 20 2021 7:47 AM

  There is a link ‘somewhere’ in this forum that someone did a clever “putt on putt overlay“ showing the distribution of lines and final resting point of putts comparing starter balls and putters v ‘better’ ones.

  results? As expected, the consistent  precision of the starter stuff was wildly worse than the more precise better stuff.

  so you can be as precise as you like to think you are in your calculations but with the lesser capable clubs/balls the result will be not just ‘less consistent’ but actually ‘inconsistent’.

  you can prove it to yourself on the practise putting greens . . .