2019 Official Forum Member Review-Putt Out Golf Practice System

[HardcoreLooper 5,534]

We moved the gate and mirror to the side for the six footers and the gate drill tonight, and we were actually able to get a decent number of putts through the gate again.  Some light scuffing with the foot down the centerline didn't seem to help much.  I'll get the broom out to see if that helps.

[Kanoito 3,101]

The ball still wobbles after brushing the mat up and down. I'll try the other 2 parallel lines and see if it's better. 

I gotta say, I didn't like the mirror at the beginning, now I'm loving it.

[tommc23 14,511]

Still have some path issues but it's now every once in a while instead of constant 

[tommc23 14,511]

The video made me realize I'm standing too close too it looks like standing away from the ball a little more might help too.

[yungkory 11,235]

3 hours ago, tommc23 said:

The video made me realize I'm standing too close too it looks like standing away from the ball a little more might help too.

Where are your eyes in the mirror in relation to the ball? I've found that for me, I do best when my eyes are just inside the ball, no more than an inch. Helps my stroke, and helps me see lines. Working with a normal mirror as well, I found that my putter was pretty toe up because my hands were too low, something I read about when researching P2 grips: https://p2grips.com/the-science/

The eye line feedback from the mirror is probably my favorite thing about it, and the gate you put in front of the mirror to check if you're putting the ball on your line.

 

[tommc23 14,511]

3 hours ago, yungkory said:

Where are your eyes in the mirror in relation to the ball? I've found that for me, I do best when my eyes are just inside the ball, no more than an inch. Helps my stroke, and helps me see lines. Working with a normal mirror as well, I found that my putter was pretty toe up because my hands were too low, something I read about when researching P2 grips: https://p2grips.com/the-science/

The eye line feedback from the mirror is probably my favorite thing about it, and the gate you put in front of the mirror to check if you're putting the ball on your line.

 

My eye line in this was half way on the mirror. When I stood back barely on the mirror but I started to make more putts.

[PuttOUT 34]

19 hours ago, tommc23 said:

Still have some path issues but it's now every once in a while instead of constant 

Great stuff, @tommc23. It's falling into what we've always wanted for those trying our products from the beginning: to get more people practicing and really giving themselves the chance to improve... and that's exactly what it sounds like you're doing! 

As a side note, with the amount of trade shows, events and in seeing people first-hand, it really does become evident that it's not a lack of skill in improving putting, it's the lack of willingness to try. Now being an MGS contributor, it probably won't be those on here who have a golf-defeatist mindset but if someone approaches us to see what's happening, we'll often ask them if they're a good putter with the answer almost certainly being one of two responses:

1) "I'm a great putter, I don't need to practice"

2) "I'm a terrible putter, it won't help"

Our big goal is to try and design products that actually make people want to practice. Over time, this will lead (please, please, please) to inevitably noticing tendencies which you can either decide to adjust (with or without a teacher's guidance), or roll with them and know how to use them to your advantage (see Tiger toe strikes: https://bit.ly/2JV2xK4). In any case, you know your stroke better so hearing that you're making what you feel are helpful adjustments that aren't simply a fleeting idea from a friend* but are built on real testing... THAT is the music to our ears. 

Bravo, T23. Keep on the grind.
 

*Hey, we'll all do it.

[Peaksy68 5,082]

Did a rough speed comparison with my clubs practice green using a very rough homemade stimpmeter.



The mat is definitely slower than my clubs green, which was about 11. I rolled balls from reduced distance to roll the longest I could on the mat. From the same mark (about 2” short of 30” standard the practice green was about 1.5’ faster.

Using the ramp on the practice green was really good, something I can definitely see myself doing moving forward


Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[HardcoreLooper 5,534]

Allie and I spent a few minutes scuffing up the centerline with our feet, and the mat is much better.  Not perfect, but better.  Interestingly, the groove seems to be more noticeable when you hit putts firmer.  That seems to be a bit counterintuitive.

I do want to let everyone know that the phone I use with Arccos (not my daily driver, that one has a crappy GPS chip) has decided to drop dead on me, so I don't have quantitative data for my review.  I will say that qualitatively, I am annoying the living sh!t out of my buddies with my putting.  If I'm playing a course with reasonably smooth greens, I feel like I can't miss from inside 10 feet.  And I was pretty happy with my putting before this.  Allie feels like she is putting better as well.

 

On 7/26/2019 at 6:09 AM, PuttOUT said:

what we've always wanted for those trying our products from the beginning: to get more people practicing and really giving themselves the chance to improve

 

I think that's the key.  Maybe these products aren't that much better than others on the market, but if they get you to practice, then they are good and you'll get better.

 

[tommc23 14,511]

Tomorrow is going to be my first round since using the system and changing my putting stroke. I will see how it goes 

[tommc23 14,511]

I only three putt three holes maybe four today. It happened when the green speed changed from slow to fast. It was hard to adjust after 11 holes. My worst putting hole I was way across the green from the hole and it was a multiple breaker with two elevation changes. The new stroke was not perfect but it was good and it needs more time to become consistent. 

[HardcoreLooper 5,534]

Arccos is still down, so I still don't have anything valuable in the way of data.  I don't like counting putts, because that's too dependent on how you hit the ball and how you chip.  

I'm still convinced that I'm putting better, and I'm also convinced that Allie is putting better as well.  One thing I've noticed is that I'm hitting the center of the putter face more frequently.  And while this has made me a little better at short putts (6' and less), my lag putting is getting noticeably better.  It's so much easier to control your speed when you hit more putts solidly.  And all this is from practicing putts that are six feet or less.  I haven't felt this good over a putt since I was in high school.  Coincidentally, I had a putting mat in my basement in high school, and I practiced putting almost every day.

I'm becoming more and more convinced that the key to the success of PuttOut is the micro-target.  The micro-target makes it addicting.  Honestly, hitting three-footers over and over again isn't all that exciting.  But I'll hit 50 three-footers trying to hit that damn micro-target.  

 

[BMart519 1,410]

Hitting the micro target from 4' is one of my main tests for comparing putters to see how I line them up at address and get the ball started. Currently gaming an EXO 7s which is the record holder with 5/10 made in the micro target from 4'. 

[tommc23 14,511]

I think I'm going to change grips on my evnroll and going to continue my competition between that and my ping. 

[HardcoreLooper 5,534]

On 8/1/2019 at 9:44 PM, HardcoreLooper said:

Allie and I spent a few minutes scuffing up the centerline with our feet, and the mat is much better.  Not perfect, but better.

Just to get this into the thread, we scuffed the mat perpendicular to the centerline, back and forth, for a good 10 minutes or so.

[Kanoito 3,101]

I'm going into my 6th week of testing (same 2-3 sessions + 2 rounds of 18 holes per week) and my ShotScope just died after week 3. Battery is so weak that I can't finish a round of 18 like I used to. So I'm now back to taking putting stats with an app or pencil. Obviously it's not as complete, since no distances are provided, so just the basic putts per hole, 3-putts per round and # of putts per round are recorded.

My observations so far:

-The dreaded groove in the center of the mat. Like other reviewers this showed up around week 3 of my testing. If I look carefully, I can see the ball wobble between the edges of the groove. It's even more obvious if you draw a line on the ball. I asked my kids to stomp on it, brush it with their feet in all directions and that temporarily fixed it. But 4 sessions later it came back. So I decided to move my practice sessions to the putting green on my home course. This obviously changes the results a lot, since all putts have a break.

-I really didn't like the mirror at the beginning because of high the putter was hovering over the mat. Now I'm loving it! Not only do I feel less skidding, but my stance over the mirror (eyes on the line) feels so natural. It was a tiny correction (originally my eyes were about an inch inside the line), but it didn't feel forced.

-The gate has also been extremely helpful. It provides instant feedback to my stroke and allows me to correct it right away.

-While the PuttOut let's you decide whether you want to use the micro-target or not... I really don't see why anybody would choose not to use it. Even with it popped open, the ball still returns to you simulating a made putt and I tried the drill "make 25 in a row from 5ft" and never missed a single putt. So I tried to make the drill harder by going 6ft, same results... so I realized only drills with the micro-target involved pose a real challenge.

1st half summary

Mirror gets an A
Gates also an A
Mat just a C

And how does that affect my putting stats? I practice with 5 drills total... 3 of them are optional and 2 of them are mandatory for all testers (to have the same baseline for comparison):

• Take two putts each from 1–6’ on the mat. Give yourself 1 point for each “make” that rolls up and down the PuttOUT; give yourself 3 points for each perfect putt. Keep track of your results each time you try the drill.

• Set up a full length putt with the mirror and guide bars in place. Set the gate two feet in front of your ball position. Attempt ten putts; track how many go through the gate perfectly without touching it.

After 3 weeks of testing, you would expect a noticeable improvement, right?

For the first drill, you can get a maximum of 36 points if you can hole the micro-target 12 times. My average was 17 points... but surprisingly, the results didn't improve when comparing week 1 and week 3. Scores were pretty consistent and no outliers observed.

For the second drill, I did observe some improvement. First sessions I was only able to putt 6 out of 10 through the gates, in the end I was getting to 8 out of 10.

I'm now collecting data for the 2nd half (weeks 4 to 6) and will consolidate them into Stage 2... unless you guys have questions and would like to discuss them beforehand

 

[Kanoito 3,101]

On 8/10/2019 at 2:02 AM, HardcoreLooper said:

Just to get this into the thread, we scuffed the mat perpendicular to the centerline, back and forth, for a good 10 minutes or so.

Did you use your hands or some kind of brush?

The groove forming might be a deal-breaker for some people. What I really liked about the PuttOut was being able to practice at night when the kids are asleep... just go downstairs and putt away. But if I have to drive 30mins to the golf course to use their putting green, then I'm pretty sure I'll be lazy and limit putting practice to the weekends after my rounds... if at all...

[HardcoreLooper 5,534]

4 hours ago, Kanoito said:

I realized only drills with the micro-target involved pose a real challenge.

Exactly.  Using the micro-target increases the challenge so much that you really feel a payoff when you hit that target.  Making 30 straight 3 footers is a great drill, but there's not that great a feeling of success when you complete it.  So unless you're really driven, you're going to make every excuse not to do that drill.  Hitting the micro-target feels so good that you don't notice you've just hit (and made) 30 or more 3 footers.  Even if you hit the MT in a couple of putts once in a while, you'll have plenty of nights where it takes 50 tries to make it.

The gate drill is pretty challenging for me as well, but I get frustrated because any flaw in the mat throws the putt off and you hit the gate.  And you have to fetch the ball, whether you make or miss.  I can hit 10 putts through it, but I'd lose my mind trying to hit 50.

 

4 hours ago, Kanoito said:

Did you use your hands or some kind of brush?

The groove forming might be a deal-breaker for some people. What I really liked about the PuttOut was being able to practice at night when the kids are asleep... just go downstairs and putt away. But if I have to drive 30mins to the golf course to use their putting green, then I'm pretty sure I'll be lazy and limit putting practice to the weekends after my rounds... if at all...

We used our feet.  And we really put some effort into it.  The two of us spent a good 15 minutes or so on it.  

 

Allie lowered her personal best for 9 holes this past weekend, with only 1 3-putt.  Definitely the best I've ever seen her putt.

 

[Peaksy68 5,082]

I videoed myself putting for the micro target. 7 minutes of viewing pleasure. I couldn’t get it to upload, hopefully I can split it and get it loaded.

Absolutely agree that the micro target is the way to go. Being disappointed after missing the micro target by a millimetre whilst making 80-100 consecutive putts is an interesting feeling. The narrowed focus that comes with using the micro target is great.


Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[GolfSpy MPR 12,299]

I agree with @Peaksy68 and @HardcoreLooper about the micro target: I simply can't recall a time I've ever closed the target.

For the gate: I like it, and I want to like it more. I use a laser level to make sure my mirror, gate, and PuttOUT are all perfectly lined up. But my problem with the gate on my indoor green is that every time I hit it (which is often), it gets bumped slightly offline. If I leave my laser on, it's easy to reposition. But if I want to putt with the laser off, getting it exactly back in place is a bit annoying.

On an actual green, where it is pushed into the green, that isn't a problem. I wonder if getting a bit more weight in the plastic bases for the gate might help keep it from moving indoors.