Using your putter as a plumb bob to determine the break near the hole will cut strokes from your game. Unfortunately, too many golfers try to plumb bob from behind their ball and without a calibrated putter. Those mistakes result in more missed putts.

Gravity and your clubs are the only tools that you can legally use to determine the slope of a green. Plumb bobbing only helps you understand the slope of the green where your feet are standing. For any putt, your ball will bend more with the slope of the green as it slows down near the hole. That’s why you need to plumb bob with your calibrated putter on a line from BEHIND THE HOLE and back to your ball.

Calibrate Your Putter
Every putter head has a different weight, and every shaft has a different taper. Calibrate your putter by standing 6 to 10 feet away from any door frame and letting your putter hang freely from your fingertips. Close one of your eyes and rotate the face of your hanging putter until one side of the shaft lines up with the door frame. [ RECORD the eye that you used, the side of your shaft (NOT INCLUDING THE GRIP) and the putter face orientation.]

Use Your Putter as a Plumb Bob to Determine the High Side Near the Hole

-Stand on the line behind the hole so that you can see the hole in-line with your ball. -Hang your putter shaft in front of you to line up the hole near the bottom of your shaft. –The top of your shaft will line up on the high side of your ball so that’s the high side of the slope near your hole. -The greater the gap from your shaft edge to your ball, to greater the slope and the faster your ball will break down to the hole.

If there is a significant double or triple break on the green leading to the hole, you need to consider what those breaks will do when your ball is rolling at a higher speed where the slope will have less impact. Plumb bobbing will only help you determine the slope near the hole. If you can see an obvious slope near the hole, DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME PLUMB BOBBING.

On televised golf matches you will often see a golfer plumb bobbing from the ball to the hole. This is useless, unless the slope is exactly the same from the ball to the hole.

Choose your putting line ABOVE for the slope near the hole and limit a slight break by swinging hard enough to pass the hole by up to 3 feet. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to keep your leading wrist flat as you putt by rocking your shoulders. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

PS: Please forward to Brooke Henderson and Justin Rose (They are examples of misguided Plumb Bobbers).