2019 Official Forum Member Review-Putt Out Golf Practice System

[tommc23]

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

Even with the wide angle of view I wouldn’t expect to see the turn to the left through the follow through. That is why I thought you turned you head

 

This is what I need to avoid on my short putts to avoid the left miss. Reaction is to watch the ball go into the hole. Easier for me on longer putts since I don’t see the hole in my peripheral vision.

I'm more concerned with watching how I strike the ball and how it rolls that first foot than how it ends up. Before this I had the gate up and was making it through the gate halfway down the mat and it was still diving left. When I get the chance maybe tomorrow I'll video myself and even post it. I'm looking to improve my putting by any means if a video helps me change what I'm doing heck I'm game.

[HardcoreLooper]

Allie and I were back at it again tonight.  We decided to give the mirror/gate drill one more try.  This time, we'd step over to the other side of the mat, putting away from the hole.  There certainly shouldn't be an issue using the other side of the mat and putting the opposite direction, right?

I think Allie summed it up pretty well.

[BMart519]

Left side of the mat looks a lot higher in the video, I think you need to play a bit more break 

Or get your floor leveled. 

[HardcoreLooper]

7 hours ago, BMart519 said:

Left side of the mat looks a lot higher in the video, I think you need to play a bit more break 

Or get your floor leveled. 

I think Allie had the phone at kind of a weird angle, but I'll dig out my level and see if the floor is significantly off.  We don't see this same behavior putting the other direction, but I don't want to leave any stone unturned.

[Kenny B]

On 8/29/2019 at 6:38 AM, tommc23 said:

I'll video myself to see never noticed. This is a camera on my head my head never moved to follow the ball it has such a wide angle of view that I was shocked it followed the ball.

Agree with @cnosil.  I see the camera moving quite a bit, and it moved to the left at the exact same time as you strike the ball.  With that wide of an angle, you can see the ball go in the hole even if the camera doesn't move at all.  The camera should not move at all.  However, the floor might not be level either.  lol

I used to do this as well, which is why I start my putt looking at the hole.  That way my head doesn't move when I stroke the ball.  haha

[tommc23]

50 minutes ago, Kenny B said:

Agree with @cnosil.  I see the camera moving quite a bit, and it moved to the left at the exact same time as you strike the ball.  With that wide of an angle, you can see the ball go in the hole even if the camera doesn't move at all.  The camera should not move at all.  However, the floor might not be level either.  lol

I used to do this as well, which is why I start my putt looking at the hole.  That way my head doesn't move when I stroke the ball.  haha

Kenny I used to do the looking at the hole, but the putt out has eye lines on the mirror along with the tabs that you can hit if your path is off. That leads me to looking down, I may have to go back to looking at my target.

[HardcoreLooper]

On 8/18/2019 at 10:08 PM, HardcoreLooper said:

Now I need to play someplace where I don't know the greens nearly so well.

On Monday, I played an awesome, old-school Donald Ross club here in town with a good buddy that belongs there (I believe @Tarheelvolvo just played it recently).  Typical Ross turtleback greens with funky contours and a creek that pulls putts up a hill.  I didn't feel like I putted all that great with 33 putts, but I did make putts of 15', 35' and 12' (also a 4 footer, my fourth one putt) and only had 1 three-putt (that's great for me at that course), and it worked out to a putting handicap of +3.8.

Tonight I played 13 holes at an old plantation with fairly awful greens (I'll try to write it up later); didn't make a putt of over 4 feet and had a putting handicap of 3.9, my worst putting performance since June (also at a course with awful greens).  On the plus side, I hit the ball pretty well, and I parred a 662 yard Par 6.  Yeah, a Par 6.

 

[Peaksy68]

Final practice session inside with the PuttOut setup before repeating my 5,10 and 20 foot data.
Started with the mirror and gate, 3 from 3 at 3 feet. Then attempted 25 putts from 5 feet. Made them all, wth 5 finishing in the micro hole.

Be interesting to see how this converts to a real green.


Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[null]

I've officially relegated my Putt out mat to my son's playroom where he can use it for putting (and a drag strip). 

Finally got those channeling issues that a lot of others were seeing and I was tired of having to drag my feet across the mat every few putts 

[Tarheelvolvo]

11 hours ago, HardcoreLooper said:

On Monday, I played an awesome, old-school Donald Ross club here in town with a good buddy that belongs there (I believe @Tarheelvolvo just played it recently).  Typical Ross turtleback greens with funky contours and a creek that pulls putts up a hill.  I didn't feel like I putted all that great with 33 putts, but I did make putts of 15', 35' and 12' (also a 4 footer, my fourth one putt) and only had 1 three-putt (that's great for me at that course), and it worked out to a putting handicap of +3.8.

Tonight I played 13 holes at an old plantation with fairly awful greens (I'll try to write it up later); didn't make a putt of over 4 feet and had a putting handicap of 3.9, my worst putting performance since June (also at a course with awful greens).  On the plus side, I hit the ball pretty well, and I parred a 662 yard Par 6.  Yeah, a Par 6.

 

 

Jefferson Lakeside? Hit me up if you want to play there, or other courses sometime  The greens and course were fun and buddy and I completed a round in 3:30, so pretty quick playing too, which is nice. 

[HardcoreLooper]

11 hours ago, Tarheelvolvo said:

Jefferson Lakeside? Hit me up if you want to play there, or other courses sometime  The greens and course were fun and buddy and I completed a round in 3:30, so pretty quick playing too, which is nice. 

Yeah, it was really slow on Monday... it took us four hours to play.  I'm pretty sure someone is getting a letter.

[tommc23]

I forgot my two putters at my parents house when moving. So much for putting on my break of working on the house. Going to try to find the most level room in the house tomorrow where I can set my stuff up and get the putters for Saturday. I'm definitely starting to notice the groove but not like everyone else probably because my old house wasn't level and I didn't use it much.

[Kanoito]

On 8/26/2019 at 3:13 AM, tommc23 said:

I've tried to turn this into a drinking game so I can get my golfing buddies to mess around with it. I have been trying to think take a drink every time you miss the micro target but make it on the ramp itself, this would probably lead to way too much drinking. Drink every time you make the micro target would probably be too little drinking. Trying to think of games to play with it makes practicing easier and more interesting. I hate practicing so this is a way to get myself to use it. The next worst thing is my floor sloping so bad makes using the mat difficult since it rolls nice then just turns out of no where.

If you hit the micro-target, all your buddies drink. That's like middle ground.

[Kanoito]

My Stage 2 is up... did the forum get rid off the Full Editor? I can't seem to find the code to embed videos or edit in HTML...

[tommc23]

On 7/9/2019 at 2:00 PM, Kanoito said:

Stage Two - Reviewing the PuttOut 09/09/2019

So what have I done since I posted Stage 1? Well, practice, of course! Not just the 2 drills mentioned above. I also included the drills suggested by PuttOut:

So for those of you who still don’t know the micro-target is: it’s a tiny hole on the ramp that requires a perfect putt (line and pace) in order to hold the ball in place. Putts that roll over the disc, up the ramp and are returned to you are putts that would have been made on a real green. However, the distance the ball travels back is the same distance the ball would have gone past the hole had it missed.

For each training session, I did all the drills, 2 sessions per week, recording all the quantifiable results for a week to week comparison. I also used ShotScope to track my effective putts on the course. However, a few weeks into my review, my ShotScope broke… it would turn off mid-round despite being on a full charge and the RFID tag fell off the screw, so instead of giving you statistics based on distances, I was only able to provide how many putts per round and a subjective feel of how many long putts I drained.

 

Quality of components (6 out of 10 points)

My first impression of the PuttOut was extremely positive. They put a lot of heart into the packaging. Matte finish, pretty much what you expect nowadays.

All items were perfectly protected with bubble wrap. The putting mat had a cardboard cylinder to protect from creases or damages. The pouch and carry bag will let you take the PuttOut anywhere hassle-free.

Opening the putting mat was also a nice surprise. I like the gray surface better than the mainstream green. Thick rubber bottom that roll flat immediately after unboxing.

The putting mirror shows no signs of wear, even after extended use. I dropped it a couple of times and no breakage either. Sturdy rubber framing and steel inner plate certainly contribute to the robustness of the device.

While I gave the mirror, gates and target full points, I was disappointed with the durability of the mat. As several users have mentioned in the thread, grooves started forming after about 2-3 weeks of intensive use. Scuffing the mat and brushing it up and down were just a temporary solution and you can easily waste 10 mins every practice session “conditioning” the mat. 

I was unable to capture it on a photo, but here is a video: you can see the ball breaking left, then right, then left again... and my floor is completely flat. You can slow down the video if necessary.

For some reason, embedding videos is not working for me, so here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/embed/ula9AHS8bWk

 

Ease of use (8 out of 10 points)

The use of the PuttOut was pretty much self-explanatory. Flatten the mat, putt through the gates, use the mirror to align your eye position over the ball.
Understanding the concept about the micro-target and the ramp was a 10 second read.
Spend 10 minutes with the training aid and you’ll start seeing the purpose of each drill and how it might translate on the golf course.

The only complaint I have: the putting mirror has many lines and dots. I’m not sure what purpose each of them has. Are they just a guide to see if your putting parallel to the lines? Squaring your head? What about the dots? To gauge distance? I went to their website and under Quick Tips couldn’t find anything related to the mirror. By chance, I stumbled across a IG video showing a putt over the mirror, but no explanation either. Maybe I was just overthinking it?

 

Basic Characteristics (15 out of 20 points)

The PuttOut package made me want to practice and improve my putting. I was never lazy and would go roll some putts after the kids went to bed and easily made 150 putts in a 45 min session. You will never see me put that kind of time and devotion on a real practice green.

The drills provided were varied and allows you to practice different aspects of the game. Hitting straight lines, pace control, perfect line and pace, posture, stroke, etc.

During the first 2 weeks, I had some difficulties adjusting to the mirror. On one hand, I felt the ball was kind of sitting down below the mirror and I would skull the putt and on the other hand, I felt my body was being forced into a posture to match my eyes with the lines on the mirror. But that’s normal, you are not used to that. Fast-forward to Week 3 and I started loving the mirror, the slight height difference allowed decent ball contact and my posture felt very natural over the mirror. I think my initial set-up was about 1 inch inside the line, so not a complete revamp.

The magnetic alignment also helped me confirm my SBST stroke, so after a few sessions, I stopped using those.

These are the results of all the drills after about 2 months of testing. Take them with a grain of salt, because after the third week, once the groove appeared, I wasn’t sure whether it was a bad putt or a good putt deflected by the groove. Golf has enough variables to make it hard and now you add an extra factor with the surface and it might throw off your results.

1. Repetition Putt Drill: 
Make 25 in a row from 5 feet. Start over if you miss. This one was pretty easy, didn't miss a single putt from this range.

2. Perfect Putt:
Open the micro-target and try to make 3 footers. I counted how many putts I needed before holing a perfect putt. This is where I observed the widest variance. There were days where I would hole it on my 5th try and days where I would need 21 putts to make the ball stick in the micro-target.

3. Puttout Challenge: 
Open the micro-target and hit putts from each marker (1-6 feet). A made putt = 1 point, perfect putt = 3 points. You can get a maximum of 36 points for this drill. My results were just average, between 15 and 19 points.

For drills #2 and #3 I'm pretty sure the groove on the mat greatly affected the results.

4. Pace Putting Drill:
From 6 feet, try to get your ball to stop in the dotted end zone. Count how many you can make in a row. The mat is faster than most greens and I thought I would get used to it by the end of Week 8, but as you can see, it didn't happen. My putts were always too long.

5. Alignment Lines: 
Putt down the alignment lines to check your alignment. Can't keep score here, but it's great help. A few weeks ago, I played a father-daughter scramble with my daughter. I found out, she always aims about 45 degrees left of the target. I didn't want to say anything on the course, I mean she's 4, so just wanted her to have fun. When we got home, I had her roll some putts on the matt and all of the sudden she was standing square to the target and making 6 footers easily.

6. Putting through the gate:
6 feet putts through the gate (placed at 2ft). See how many go through out of 10 tries. I was able to constantly squeeze 6 to 9 putts through without touching the gates, which I think is OK. Again, see disclaimer about the grooves.

Only drill #6 was able to showcase some improvement at the end of 8 weeks. So not sure how significant this is, since I was able to make 25 in a row every time with drill #1.

 

On-Course Performance (25 out of 30 points)

Did the weekly training with the PuttOut help my scores? The scores didn't drop, because my game off the tee is still under construction. but thanks to my putting I was able to save so many par's (manual calculation from 20% scrambling up to 50%).
Did it help my putting? The short answer: Yes!

On the course, you never have immaculate greens. Even the tiniest grain of sand will deflect your ball and that’s OK, golf is meant to be played outdoors with wind, rain, sand, bird poop and whatever nature throws at you. So the imperfection on the mat was easily transferred onto real greens.

PuttOut helped me focus on my posture, my stroke and my alignment. Add them all up and you’ll get a boost in confidence.

The reason why I deducted 5 points was due to the problems I had with speed (see drill #4). The PuttOut mat is faster than most greens I play on, as you can see in the section above: my results with the pace putting drill were horrendous! It got better with time, but I think I should have done better. Most putts were too long and would roll out of the mat, so obviously your brain has gotten used to “be careful now” and you’ll leave them short on the course.

I ditched the mat and started using the mirror and the gates on real greens with the usual speed I’m used to and results improved significantly since the posture, alignment and stroke remained the same. Standing over the ball feels natural, the same way I had practice so often at home.

Out of 16 rounds, I only had 6 with more than 30 putts. It was nice to see the average putts per hole steadily droppping (cumulated values), with exception of Week 3 where I had 2 x 3-putts in 1 round.

 

Miscellaneous (8 out of 10 points)

Since the company is based in the UK, shipping to Germany was a blitz. Shipped out on Monday, received by Wednesday. There was a little note in my box addressed to Mike, so I was like… maybe I got the wrong package? The personal note definitely had a nice touch, but not well-executed. It doesn’t bother me, but for the sake of completeness, I had to include it here.

I also sent an email to their customer service inquiring about the lines and dots on the putting mirror, but still haven’t gotten a reply.

My impression of the company PuttOut remains on the positive side. I really commend the way they jumped into the thread to provide a little insight and how to try to solve the problem we were seeing. All companies have quality issues, the critical aspect is how you deal with that after-sales.

If I could provide 2 suggestions: get a new vendor for the mat and perhaps consider rounding up the edges of the putting gate. Some parts are a tad sharp and might be an issue if you got kids playing with them.

A really cool factor worth mentioning is the variety of colors: blue, white, green, orange and red… and the gray mat! It definitely provides a touch of freshness!

 

Keep it or Trade it? (10 out of 20 points)

If I split the complete package (mirror, target, gates, mat) into 4 individual training aids, I would probably decide to keep 3 and get rid of the mat and look for an alternative that doesn’t create grooves.

How will this affect my practice in the future? Well, it will definitely decrease, because now I have to go to the golf course to lay out the mirror and gates to practice instead of doing so in the comfort of my living room. And on the course, I don’t really need a micro-target since I can see exactly by how much I’m missing the hole. It’s a bad chain reaction that leaves only 2 items that are useful to me.

Would I pay the advertised price? Nope. The mat quality doesn’t deserve it and the target doesn’t make sense without a mat. And if I’m already driving 30 mins to the course, I might as well just stick 2 tees on the practice green for alignment and some DIY mirror.

I sincerely hope the manufacturer is able to find another source for the mat. Practicing with the whole package is really addictive, but only until you start seeing balls wobble left and right of the groove.

 

Conclusion and Final Score: (72 out of 100 points)

First impression was excellent, but the grooves are a deal-breaker. You either spend more time trying to flatten out the putting surface or ask your kids to come brush the mat for you or you just give up and go practice on a real putting green, thus neutralizing the usability of the micro-target outdoors as well.
Take the price into consideration and I probably wouldn't pay for this training aid.

There was no noticeable improvement with the drills at home, but I felt much more confident on the course and the results are a testament of that.

Nicely done and I'm glad I waited to see what someone else did so I don't recreate the same pictures.

[Kanoito]

1 hour ago, tommc23 said:

Nicely done and I'm glad I waited to see what someone else did so I don't recreate the same pictures.

Thanks!

Creativity was never my stronghold, but I guess I could have taken some on a real practice green, but I was always on a rush for my tee time  so...

Look forward to your Stage 2.

 

[HardcoreLooper]

Had 26 putts yesterday (with a three-putt on the first hole) on a course I'd never seen before ( @cnosil - Greenbrier Country Club ) with the following one-putts:

30'
6'
30'
7'
8'
9'
5'
2'
6'
15'
2'

It was just silly.  The more I practice, the luckier I get.

And my Stage 2 is up:

 

[tommc23]

On 8/30/2019 at 11:52 PM, Kenny B said:

Agree with @cnosil.  I see the camera moving quite a bit, and it moved to the left at the exact same time as you strike the ball.  With that wide of an angle, you can see the ball go in the hole even if the camera doesn't move at all.  The camera should not move at all.  However, the floor might not be level either.  lol

I used to do this as well, which is why I start my putt looking at the hole.  That way my head doesn't move when I stroke the ball.  haha

 

On 8/29/2019 at 9:26 AM, cnosil said:

Hard to tell from the gif, but it looks like maybe you turn your whole body to follow the ball resulting in pulls.

Hey guys I included a GIF at the end of my review of me putting let me know what I can do to change or what I am doing wrong.

28 minutes ago, HardcoreLooper said:

And my Stage 2 is up:

 

Looks good we ended up with similar scores for out stage 2. By the way my stage 2 is up as well.

[Kanoito]

Fixed the video code in Stage 2... bumping for great justice!

 

[Kanoito]

One thing that got me pretty confused was giving the training aid a score. What exactly do you value? The device itself or the benefits they bring on the course?

[Kenny B]

13 hours ago, tommc23 said:

 

Hey guys I included a GIF at the end of my review of me putting let me know what I can do to change or what I am doing wrong.

I'm no expert, but since you asked... to me its looks like @cnosil is right.  Your body looks like it's turning.  From the gif I see your left shoulder go up and back like the left arm is pulling the putter to the inside; almost a mini chicken wing with the left elbow.  Maybe it's just the camera angle though.  Check to make sure your shoulders are square at setup and not open slightly; keep them square.

The age-old drill is to put a "gate", with tees or something else, about 4-5" in front of the ball in line with the hole on a straight putt.  The gate should be just a little wider than the ball.  How wide depends on how good you are.  If you can consistently get the ball through the gate, you should be good.  

I used to do this drill, but I changed to making 3-4 foot putts with my right hand only.  Set up to putt with both hands using your normal grip.  Now remove your left hand; place it on your side, and putt with your right hand, keeping the wrist hinge at a constant angle. Don't let the wrist unhinge!  When you can make 6 in a row, add your left hand back on and repeat.  If you pull, your left arm is interfering or you're turning.  Keep repeating the one-handed putts, moving to longer distances as you get better.  I do this before every round I play.  Tiger does this, so it must be good... right?  

[JohnSmalls]

Great reviews, guys.  I have used a putt out before, I am glad to see that I am not the only one that has been driven mad by the micro target.  That is one challenging little test.   It is very interesting to see that everyone with the grey putting mat is having the same issue.  I wonder if the green mat is doing the same?

[cnosil]

3 hours ago, Kenny B said:

I'm no expert, but since you asked... to me its looks like @cnosil is right.  Your body looks like it's turning.  From the gif I see your left shoulder go up and back like the left arm is pulling the putter to the inside; almost a mini chicken wing with the left elbow.  Maybe it's just the camera angle though.  Check to make sure your shoulders are square at setup and not open slightly; keep them square.

The body will turn,  but it looks like it is turning more to the left and Kenny B seems correct about the chicken wing with the left arm.    Almost looks like you try to move the putter straight back with your arms and then pull or push the putter and rotate the shoulders on the forward stroke.  By fixing the chicken wing,  you may even pull the ball more left becuase you cut across and close teh putter more.   

[tommc23]

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

The body will turn,  but it looks like it is turning more to the left and Kenny B seems correct about the chicken wing with the left arm.    Almost looks like you try to move the putter straight back with your arms and then pull or push the putter and rotate the shoulders on the forward stroke.  By fixing the chicken wing,  you may even pull the ball more left becuase you cut across and close teh putter more.   

 

5 hours ago, Kenny B said:

I'm no expert, but since you asked... to me its looks like @cnosil is right.  Your body looks like it's turning.  From the gif I see your left shoulder go up and back like the left arm is pulling the putter to the inside; almost a mini chicken wing with the left elbow.  Maybe it's just the camera angle though.  Check to make sure your shoulders are square at setup and not open slightly; keep them square.

The age-old drill is to put a "gate", with tees or something else, about 4-5" in front of the ball in line with the hole on a straight putt.  The gate should be just a little wider than the ball.  How wide depends on how good you are.  If you can consistently get the ball through the gate, you should be good.  

I used to do this drill, but I changed to making 3-4 foot putts with my right hand only.  Set up to putt with both hands using your normal grip.  Now remove your left hand; place it on your side, and putt with your right hand, keeping the wrist hinge at a constant angle. Don't let the wrist unhinge!  When you can make 6 in a row, add your left hand back on and repeat.  If you pull, your left arm is interfering or you're turning.  Keep repeating the one-handed putts, moving to longer distances as you get better.  I do this before every round I play.  Tiger does this, so it must be good... right?  

I noticed the chicken wing in the GIF too. I will try to one hand putts again I never had luck doing them. I never saw my putting stroke I even slowed it down quite a bit for the GIF. I will take whatever help I can to get better that is why I included it.

[Kenny B]

4 minutes ago, tommc23 said:

 

I noticed the chicken wing in the GIF too. I will try to one hand putts again I never had luck doing them. I never saw my putting stroke I even slowed it down quite a bit for the GIF. I will take whatever help I can to get better that is why I included it.

If you can putt left hand low, that should help as well.  I tried that grip for 2 weeks and it just didn't work for me; no control of the face.

[tommc23]

54 minutes ago, Kenny B said:

If you can putt left hand low, that should help as well.  I tried that grip for 2 weeks and it just didn't work for me; no control of the face.

I never had luck with that grip. The grip I use gives me good control of the face and it works beat for me I've tinkered a lot. I'll have to focus of that elbow and try to get it figured out.

[HardcoreLooper]

12 hours ago, Kanoito said:

One thing that got me pretty confused was giving the training aid a score. What exactly do you value? The device itself or the benefits they bring on the course?

I based my score on the fact that I got better by using it.  The training aid made me want to practice and kept me focused, practicing deliberately and forcing me out of my comfort zone.  The book Peak by Anders Ericsson does a great job of describing this.

Can you achieve the same results without PuttOUT?  Sure.  But PuttOUT makes it easier.

[Kanoito]

9 hours ago, HardcoreLooper said:

I based my score on the fact that I got better by using it.  The training aid made me want to practice and kept me focused, practicing deliberately and forcing me out of my comfort zone.  The book Peak by Anders Ericsson does a great job of describing this.

Can you achieve the same results without PuttOUT?  Sure.  But PuttOUT makes it easier.

Easier, yes. At the same time it was frustrating with the groove. If the PuttOut didn't have such quality issues, I would have given it a 90-100 and definitely recommend it.

[HardcoreLooper]

11 hours ago, Kanoito said:

Easier, yes. At the same time it was frustrating with the groove. If the PuttOut didn't have such quality issues, I would have given it a 90-100 and definitely recommend it.

Yep, the groove in the mat kept me under 90. I recommend the trainer and the mirror, but not the mat. 

[Peaksy68]

My Stage 2 is now posted

 

https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/32381-2019-official-forum-member-review-putt-out-golf-practice-system/?do=findComment&comment=555393