2023 Official Member Review: PuttOUT Devil Ball

[cnosil]

6 hours ago, TylorJudd said:

First impressions are posted! I hope these are useful in some form or another.

You must have great start line control if you don’t occasionally miss hit the flat side of the ball and didn’t se a difference between the easy and difficult position.  Did you wife struggle hitting it with a square face? 

[TylorJudd]

5 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

How does everyone think this will translate to on course play?

I'm honestly skeptical if it will translate into anything quantifiable. I won't have a chance to put it on a green for 6 ish weeks, and if they're punched then I'm waiting longer hahah. I think it allows you to be more aware of your face, or rather where on the face you strike it so I suppose that may help out.

[William Gothard]

Are you refering to using the Devil ball on a practice green or improving your actual play after practicing with a Devil ball? I only practice with mine indoors in a controlled environment. There are just too many variables outside on our practice green to get reliable feedback on anything beyond a very short putt.

[Micah T]

8 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

How does everyone think this will translate to on course play?

I’m going to include that in my 1st impressions: I practiced with it before each of my 4 rounds last week.

[cnosil]

3 hours ago, TylorJudd said:

I'm honestly skeptical if it will translate into anything quantifiable. 

Did you baseline your face control in any way?  Rolling ball down yardstick?  using gates to determine margin of error?   

[GolfSpy_APH]

2 hours ago, William Gothard said:

Are you refering to using the Devil ball on a practice green or improving your actual play after practicing with a Devil ball? I only practice with mine indoors in a controlled environment. There are just too many variables outside on our practice green to get reliable feedback on anything beyond a very short putt.

More so how the practice will translate to on course play or results. Not so much training outside.

[William Gothard]

I think any aid that gives feedback on square contact and starting online will eventually translate to better putting on the course. I have more than one training aid and I rotate around them for variety to keep practice from becoming stale. The Devil Ball is one tool in the tool box. I do like the alignment markings and the roll feed back is good. Like any training translating to actual play, consistent practice with accurate feedback creates muscle memory, coordination, visualization and feel that should improve performance during play.

[TylorJudd]

4 hours ago, cnosil said:

Did you baseline your face control in any way?  Rolling ball down yardstick?  using gates to determine margin of error?   

I used the PuttOut Gates, as the putt got longer so did the variables understanbly but they were predictable for the most part. Using the guides built into the WellPut mat help square up on one axis but then levelling the ball itself is another story entirely. It's difficult to tell if you are giving yourself the same start everytime by its design.

[cnosil]

5 minutes ago, TylorJudd said:

I used the PuttOut Gates, as the putt got longer so did the variables understanbly but they were predictable for the most part. Using the guides built into the WellPut mat help square up on one axis but then levelling the ball itself is another story entirely. It's difficult to tell if you are giving yourself the same start everytime by its design.

Wasn't talking about the devil ball.  Did you do any measurement of how many you rolled through the gate with a regular ball?  For example were you able roll the ball through the 50mm gate at 17" away;  this should give .5 degrees of accuracy.  Say roll 100 putts and count how many went through.  Work with the devil ball on the advanced setting and see if it help you improve your face angle.    

Surprised you can't set the ball up in the different settings;  the only place I have had issue is on hardwood floors and that is because they aren't level

 

[The 19th Hole]

So I saw when this first came out looking for testes and figured, let other people get it for free...I'll just buy them and try it. To start I have the putt out ramp and it is my go to putting tool. I use it at home, in the office, and at the course. It is super easy to set up and even easier to tell when you are doing it right. Its also a fun to challenge your friends to see who can get the most perfect putts with a set number of tries....That said, these new balls they have require so much set up EVERY TIME you want to jsut HIT a put. I can put 10 times to the ramp with a regular ball int he amount of time it takes to maybe set up correclty twice with one of these things. I guess that means I have terrible alignmnet and maybe that needs to be worked on, but that was a big turn off for these that ended up just sitting unused for the last couple of weeks.

 

Sadly, I do not see myself recommending these to anybody unless they are already very good at using an alignment mark on their ball (I don't put with an angliment mark while playing). Otherwise when you struggle to hit this square  you will always question if it was because you lined it up wrong, or if your stroke was off. 

[TylorJudd]

2 hours ago, cnosil said:

Wasn't talking about the devil ball.  Did you do any measurement of how many you rolled through the gate with a regular ball?  For example were you able roll the ball through the 50mm gate at 17" away;  this should give .5 degrees of accuracy.  Say roll 100 putts and count how many went through.  Work with the devil ball on the advanced setting and see if it help you improve your face angle.    

Surprised you can't set the ball up in the different settings;  the only place I have had issue is on hardwood floors and that is because they aren't level

 

No actually I didn't. But I am going to add that to my bench mark

[Golfrtm]

got the Devil balls for Christmas as well as the putt out gates. I already had a puttout mat which I would recommend due to the alignment requirements. So far I love it, and recently started to use a gate about 2' away from the hole to increase difficulty. When I get frustrated, I pull out a regular ball and putt a few to free up my mind, then back to the devil!  

I expect improvements in putting this year if I can stick with the plan. Not sure how I feel about taking it outside, maybe if I get a chalk line as I don't want to add another variable. 

[ejgaudette]

Was able to get a session of 30 putts in yesterday with the Devil ball, with 10 putts each from 3, 4, and 5 feet. All were done on hard given the shorter length. Results were well what you might expect. I only made 60% of the 3 footers, 50% of the 4 footers, and 20% of the 5 footers. Os yes much harder than normal putting as I typically make at a much higher rate on these lengths of putts.

From this practice a couple observations was that I was much more likely to miss right, especially on longer putts at 5 feet I missed 60% to the right. So to start the ball square I need to feel like the face is very closed. Second ball position is important to this. I need to make sure I am playing the ball a couple inches inside my left foot, much like a driver. This seems to line up better for squaring the club up for impact. Finally, I need to make sure I keep the putter low on the takeaway. All good things to check on with the next session and see if I can improve on these numbers.

[WaffleHouseTour]

On 1/24/2023 at 4:51 PM, The 19th Hole said:

That said, these new balls they have require so much set up EVERY TIME you want to jsut HIT a put. I can put 10 times to the ramp with a regular ball int he amount of time it takes to maybe set up correclty twice with one of these things. I guess that means I have terrible alignmnet and maybe that needs to be worked on, but that was a big turn off for these that ended up just sitting unused for the last couple of weeks.

Sadly, I do not see myself recommending these to anybody unless they are already very good at using an alignment mark on their ball (I don't put with an angliment mark while playing). Otherwise when you struggle to hit this square  you will always question if it was because you lined it up wrong, or if your stroke was off. 

Very similar experience.  Christmas gift from SheWhoMustBeObeyed.  Roll them on my PuttUp BirdieBall mat.  I've been working on a 4 foot drill to sink 100 in a row.  Well, post Christmas I stoped with that and started using the DevilBall.  I agonize over the set up.  You definitely are not raking one over after the other. I feel pretty confident of my stroke, but boy, when I hit these I'm not sure what went wrong.  Was my stroke good but the ball aimed slightly off??  

Haven't sworn them off entirely, but it's very hard.  That is, no doubt, the intention and the reason behind the name.  

[GolfSpy BOS]

On 1/24/2023 at 5:49 PM, cnosil said:

Wasn't talking about the devil ball.  Did you do any measurement of how many you rolled through the gate with a regular ball?  For example were you able roll the ball through the 50mm gate at 17" away;  this should give .5 degrees of accuracy.  Say roll 100 putts and count how many went through.  Work with the devil ball on the advanced setting and see if it help you improve your face angle.    

Surprised you can't set the ball up in the different settings;  the only place I have had issue is on hardwood floors and that is because they aren't level

 

I have yet to live (or putt) on a hardwood floor that has been level! Lol

I was thinking about getting one of these, but I feel like I have really good control of my path and face at impact. My usual putting practice will include using a line on the ball and working on getting it to roll end over end on that line. I feel that is sort of the same feedback I’d get from the devil ball. 
 

maybe one of our testers can try that out too!

[ejgaudette]

38 minutes ago, GolfSpy_BOS said:

I have yet to live (or putt) on a hardwood floor that has been level! Lol

I was thinking about getting one of these, but I feel like I have really good control of my path and face at impact. My usual putting practice will include using a line on the ball and working on getting it to roll end over end on that line. I feel that is sort of the same feedback I’d get from the devil ball. 
 

maybe one of our testers can try that out too!

I would think that could work, just the distinction would be that the Devil ball exaggerates it so you have a tighter tolerance and more clear feedback, but it could indeed work.

[Micah T]

First impressions are up!

[GolfSpy_APH]

Still making progress with this? What has been the most beneficial part of this training aid or what have you learned the most about your putting?

[ejgaudette]

Was just working on a weekly update.

Have a couple session this week and this is still frustrating as always. I did find a bit of a groove one the first day, but the second day not so much. In listening to a golf podcast, I cannot remember which one I am listening to a few too many at the moment, but they talked about the right hand taking over on the putting stroke. Something I have struggled with and they mentioned going to a pencil grip, index finger pointing straight down the grip toward the ground. This is how the groove was found one the first day. It really helped it feel like the putter was moving freely and swinging well. In fact I had this happen from about 4 feet on hard, so yes it possible.

Today's session was a bit rougher, but one advantage I have found is that the flat face of the ball also can help serve as an alignment tool to help ensure the face is square and help overall alignment. It also helped remind me to check ball position a bit inside the front foot. The time you need to take with the each putt since you have to line everything up is good chance to focus on that set up. Time to keep hammering lets go lets go!

[GolfSpy BOS]

1 hour ago, ejgaudette said:

Was just working on a weekly update.

Have a couple session this week and this is still frustrating as always. I did find a bit of a groove one the first day, but the second day not so much. In listening to a golf podcast, I cannot remember which one I am listening to a few too many at the moment, but they talked about the right hand taking over on the putting stroke. Something I have struggled with and they mentioned going to a pencil grip, index finger pointing straight down the grip toward the ground. This is how the groove was found one the first day. It really helped it feel like the putter was moving freely and swinging well. In fact I had this happen from about 4 feet on hard, so yes it possible.

Today's session was a bit rougher, but one advantage I have found is that the flat face of the ball also can help serve as an alignment tool to help ensure the face is square and help overall alignment. It also helped remind me to check ball position a bit inside the front foot. The time you need to take with the each putt since you have to line everything up is good chance to focus on that set up. Time to keep hammering lets go lets go!

Thank goodness I’m a lefty who plays righty. Haha don’t need to worry about my right taking over!

nice work on that perfect putt, but we need video evidence to believe you.

do you feel this had a usefulness cap distance wise? I imagine anything over 8-10 feet on anything outside of perfect flat surfaces would lead to extra deviation. 

[ejgaudette]

42 minutes ago, GolfSpy_BOS said:

Thank goodness I’m a lefty who plays righty. Haha don’t need to worry about my right taking over!

nice work on that perfect putt, but we need video evidence to believe you.

do you feel this had a usefulness cap distance wise? I imagine anything over 8-10 feet on anything outside of perfect flat surfaces would lead to extra deviation. 

Yes I have found it needs to be pretty close, though the doubled error rate should mean that making a 5 footer is like making a 10 footer. But the feedback does make it very clear, if you miss one left or right you can see it move that direction quickly so you know if was the ground that made it come back

[GolfSpy MPR]

9 minutes ago, ejgaudette said:

Yes I have found it needs to be pretty close, though the doubled error rate should mean that making a 5 footer is like making a 10 footer. But the feedback does make it very clear, if you miss one left or right you can see it move that direction quickly so you know if was the ground that made it come back

Jumping in late here, so this might have already been noted, but I've found that upslopes—like the ramp of the PuttOut Pressure Trainer or the upslope of the Perfect Putting Mat—also exaggerate the error. If the ball isn't dead on line when it begins rolling up the ramp, the ramp itself (again, it seems to me) pushes it more offline, more than it does a "normal" ball. Anybody else have this experience?

[ejgaudette]

49 minutes ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

Jumping in late here, so this might have already been noted, but I've found that upslopes—like the ramp of the PuttOut Pressure Trainer or the upslope of the Perfect Putting Mat—also exaggerate the error. If the ball isn't dead on line when it begins rolling up the ramp, the ramp itself (again, it seems to me) pushes it more offline, more than it does a "normal" ball. Anybody else have this experience?

I have been putting on a flat surface but this makes sense to me and it just feels like anything that can adjust the roll at all can cause a few problems given how exaggerated the ball rolls

[TylorJudd]

Getting the X axis of the ball to start at 0 is tricky which automatically throws your y axis out by some degree. That part I have found tricky to determine if it was my putter face, or the ball. Probably a mix of both but makes your mind start to swirl 

[ejgaudette]

12 hours ago, TylorJudd said:

Getting the X axis of the ball to start at 0 is tricky which automatically throws your y axis out by some degree. That part I have found tricky to determine if it was my putter face, or the ball. Probably a mix of both but makes your mind start to swirl 

I have had a couple times where I am not sure, which is another reason I feel like I need to putt be short enough so that I can ensure that it is lined up. I think a nice square mat with lines would help a lot for this type of tool and is also why I feel like it can help alignment. If you know the ball is lined up with the hole, and it feels off then it is you alignment is off, just a nice added benefit.

[DriverBreaker]

I got to meet a PuttOUT rep at the PGA show in Florida.  He came by our booth and we spent about 10mins chatting about the Devil Ball.  I got to try it out and was immediately hooked.  Even though I was rolling it end over end on the “pro” side, I immediately saw how valuable it was and a teaching tool.  He gave me a set for free and wants to set up a discount code for my program (super cool).

I will absolutely be using this as a teaching tool to help me assess tendencies and dial in my students’ setups to ensure the ball rolls end over end.

I’ve had one short practice session with it (I had not practiced putting since before Christmas) and it identified areas in my setup to fix (consistently closed face at impact).  Once I did, the ball rolled perfectly on the “Pro” side.  I used it for 3 footers, adjusted  ball position slightly back towards center, then rolled putt after putt end over end.  Then I used my regular golf ball and 3-6ft putts were automatic.  
 

It’s a great pre-round calibration tool and it makes short putt practice a lot more fun! 

[WaffleHouseTour]

On 2/2/2023 at 3:05 PM, GolfSpy MPR said:

Jumping in late here, so this might have already been noted, but I've found that upslopes—like the ramp of the PuttOut Pressure Trainer or the upslope of the Perfect Putting Mat—also exaggerate the error. If the ball isn't dead on line when it begins rolling up the ramp, the ramp itself (again, it seems to me) pushes it more offline, more than it does a "normal" ball. Anybody else have this experience?

Agreed. I practice four footers on the BirdieBall PuttUp - I may get it started straight but once it takes the ramp it has a tendency to veer waaayy off line.  Regular ball it may still end up sliding just inside the cup , but the devil ball ends up doing a u turn 

[Micah T]

Anecdotally, I feel like the Devil Ball has made me aware of how/why I miss, which is part of the process of improvement. When I’m putting poorly, I leave the face open and miss right. As a golfer with a strong putting arc, I need to release the putter head, something that is becoming less streaky thanks to practicing with the devil ball I think. It’s shown me that my stance needed improving, as well as ball position. This is changing how I line up where the ball is in my stance, and how the putt looks while I’m standing over it. Will that lead to making more putts? I’m not sure, but I’m feeling more confident over putts…

[ejgaudette]

Had another round of practice with the Devil Ball today and made some positive progress from my last session. Three footers were much better, as I made 80% of them, and then moving back I made 70% from four feet, and then closed with 40% from 5 feet. It really does get harder when you get to that 5 foot range. It also was a bit tricky to then trust the stroke as I at times bounced between right and left misses trying to correct. As others have noted this practice has also forced me to focus on set up, face set up, and the biggest for me letting my left hand control the stroke. When my right hand takes over I struggle with start line. By changing my grip to be right index finger down the grip. This forces me to be softer with the right hand and if I feel the left had pulling the putter on the stroke to the ball then results are much better. That will be the focus and the feedback from the Devil Ball does help identify this a bit more quickly.

Also not sure if anyone else has needed to do this, but I after the session to make sure I am still able to putt, I switched to normal balls for a set of 10 five footers and hit the hole on all of them, a couple might have lipped out, but not sure since I am using a Putt Out pressure trainer. So that feels like some good progress but we have the base line retesting to see at the end of the review.

How are other folks seeing the progress, for real yet or still in the testing and feeling like progress is being made, but not sure yet about translation to the course/ more real putts.

[cnosil]

In my spare room I have setup a station using on of the putting templates so I can do some putting assessment using the Devil ball.   My goal is to  work on setup to help determine what helps me deliver the club with the best face position.   I am doing this because I have been struggling with face control on short putts and missing way more than I should.  I noticed that I was setting up closer to the ball.   The one nice thing about the setup is that the lines on the template help me get the Devil Ball setup correctly.