“Heads Up” Putting?

[cnosil]

35 minutes ago, rcamper said:

I've been looking at the target for years. I seriously can't believe it's not the norm. As someone else has stated, "do you look at the ball when throwing free-throws?" And really - where else in all of sport do you not look at the target (with the exception of maybe, place kickers...)? I understand with the rest of golf shot-making - but I would seriously be in trouble if the rules forbade it. 

. 

what is the target and does everyone “target” the same way in golf?   When throwing a ball, shooting a free throw, or in most other sports the target falls pretty much in a straight line away from you.   In golf you are putting on an incline plane where the ball curves.   While I want the ball to end up in the hole is that the target?  Is the target a few inches in front of the ball and what I want the ball to roll over?  Is it the apex of the putt? Is it a spot left or right of the hole? is it a spot on the zero break line?  Is it something else?  If I look at a spot 4” in front of the ball is that heads up since I am not looking at the ball?  
 

The bigger question is how does your intuition/feel respond to what you have picked as a target?  Most look at the hole to help establish pace; which is what heads up putting seems to advocate,  do I really need to keep looking at the hole once I have established that pace?  How long before our mind loses the established feel if I don’t? Does looking at a target away from the hole change anything about how our body moves?   

[Senior Champ]

About 15 years ago, I actually did use the heads-up putting on the course for about 2 years, even during competitive tournaments. The main reason why I used this technique was that I had a tendency to decelerate and leave putts shorts. The heads-up putting took the tension and anxiety away from my stroke and allowed me to stroke my putt without decelerating. I did fairly well putting with the heads-up. The issue that I had, especially during competitive rounds, was that golfers would start moving, a lot of times before I hit the putt, to take a look at the line and break. That obviously distracted me and caused havoc to my stroke. Therefore, I stopped using it on the course.

However, I always use heads-up putting when rolling putts on the practice greens before rounds to get a feel for green speeds, especially for long putts. I also do this on the course for my practice strokes before my actual putt.

[TAGolf13]

On 9/9/2021 at 8:56 AM, cnosil said:

And for those that like to read instead of watching videos, he posted this as well

 

https://www.golfsciencejournal.org/article/5008-evaluation-of-near-versus-far-target-visual-focus-strategies-with-breaking-putts

 

 

"Experienced golfers, who normally putt using a NT strategy, were found to putt
significantly better—both in terms of make percentage and miss distance—while
employing a FT visual focus strategy on moderately sloped putts inside 14 ft."

I read the article and found it pretty incredible that there''s research out there suggesting the FT method improves putting, but I don't recall seeing a single professional or anyone else for that matter using this technique. Anyone know of someone who uses it?

Thanks for the tip @cnosil

On 9/3/2024 at 11:54 AM, Senior Champ said:

About 15 years ago, I actually did use the heads-up putting on the course for about 2 years, even during competitive tournaments. The main reason why I used this technique was that I had a tendency to decelerate and leave putts shorts. The heads-up putting took the tension and anxiety away from my stroke and allowed me to stroke my putt without decelerating. I did fairly well putting with the heads-up. The issue that I had, especially during competitive rounds, was that golfers would start moving, a lot of times before I hit the putt, to take a look at the line and break. That obviously distracted me and caused havoc to my stroke. Therefore, I stopped using it on the course.

However, I always use heads-up putting when rolling putts on the practice greens before rounds to get a feel for green speeds, especially for long putts. I also do this on the course for my practice strokes before my actual putt.

Looks like I have something else to try!

[TAGolf13]

On 9/3/2024 at 11:44 AM, cnosil said:

what is the target and does everyone “target” the same way in golf?   When throwing a ball, shooting a free throw, or in most other sports the target falls pretty much in a straight line away from you.   In golf you are putting on an incline plane where the ball curves.   While I want the ball to end up in the hole is that the target?  Is the target a few inches in front of the ball and what I want the ball to roll over?  Is it the apex of the putt? Is it a spot left or right of the hole? is it a spot on the zero break line?  Is it something else?  If I look at a spot 4” in front of the ball is that heads up since I am not looking at the ball?  
 

The bigger question is how does your intuition/feel respond to what you have picked as a target?  Most look at the hole to help establish pace; which is what heads up putting seems to advocate,  do I really need to keep looking at the hole once I have established that pace?  How long before our mind loses the established feel if I don’t? Does looking at a target away from the hole change anything about how our body moves?   

The free throw analogy doesn't work for me because you already have the ball in your hands. In golf there is a separation among you, the ball, the target. Free throws there is only separation between you and the target. I tried putting with my eyes closed for a few short ones on the practice green some days ago. It seemed to work ok, and if I can do that the heads up method might be a good way to go for me. My doubt resides in my own ability to strike the ball the way I want to if I'm not looking at it. That said, I don't do so well even while looking at it, so might as well keep working on eyes closed or heads up. Might actually help my stroke!

[cnosil]

5 minutes ago, TAGolf13 said:

 

I read the article and found it pretty incredible that there''s research out there suggesting the FT method improves putting, but I don't recall seeing a single professional or anyone else for that matter using this technique. Anyone know of someone who uses it?

 

There is research for everything. .  Speith and Finau are the only ones I know that have used heads up putting.  

[TAGolf13]

8 minutes ago, cnosil said:

There is research for everything. .  Speith and Finau are the only ones I know that have used heads up putting.  

Ah yes, I think I remember when Spieth was doing that. The commentators were all over it. Haven't seen Finau do it, but if he could find some consistency in his putting, wow!

Edited September 6 by TAGolf13
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