Ex Putt

Hey Tyler,
I’m a couple weeks into practicing with Ex Putt and I’ve noticed improvements in both speed and start line. Start line was unexpected but it makes sense given that Ex Putt makes it clear how you strike long putts (face and path data). I found on longer putts my face tended to fly open.
Yesterday, I made a putt that was probably close to 70 feet long. I hate sounding hyperbolic but that was probably twice as long as my previous long putt. My playing partners who are used to me making 6 footers at the longest were stunned (especially after I made a couple of 15 footers as well). Now, I’ve been putting in a lot of other putting practice but the Ex Putt definitely made the difference there. For someone like me who rarely has the opportunity to go to a putting green, the Ex Putt seems like a great fun way to practice at home. It’s definitely much more engaging than continuing to hit six footers on my putting mat.
Now, the question for me is, what is a good face and path for putting? I’d imagine it’s a lot like the full swing where there are range of acceptable face and path orientations.

Nick

I'll have to look into the face and path ranges for you. I know that on Trackman tour pros are usually +/- .5 degrees of the intended read. On a ten foot putt, if you are off by more than .5% either way you would miss the edge of the cup. The start direction is controlled almost entirely by face angle at impact. But I'm curious myself as to what the ranges are for path. I'll see what I can find.

Glad you like the Ex Putt, I'll have to check it out!

Tyler

Always good when I ask a question that requires some digging... looking forward to the answer!

Nick

I talked to a couple of coaches I think do a great job with putting. Here are a couple of guidelines for you:
- Putter face +/- .4 degrees at impact
- Putter path +/- 2 degrees (but the consistency of the path is WAY more important than the value)
- Shaft lean is less than the loft. Example: you have a 3 degree lofted putter, you'll want less than 2 degrees of shaft lean.
- Launch angle depends on speed of the green, but need some launch to get out of the crater the ball sits in.

I hope that helps!

Hey Tyler,
Your notes below are very helpful!

A couple of follow up questions.
How consistent are the pros with face and path? (eg what is their standard deviation?)

I’m also curious what you might estimate their make % percentage to be on a simulated tool like Ex Putt where they would just need to hit the putt straight and at the correct speed to make it (the settings allow the distance to vary from 5 feet to 50 feet; of course, the longer putts are harder because they need to be online more. But perhaps there is a way to estimate the make at different distances?)

Thank you very much!

Nick

Hi Nick,

The numbers I've seen on Sam range from .5 to .4 degrees at impact from the intended start line. I'm not sure how accurate ex-put is, but you'd probably want to target less than 1 degree.

I haven't seen ex-putt make percentage data like you're looking for. But with some math we can come up with our own benchmarks. If you're trying to get a tolerance of .5 degrees or less, then you should be able to make every put inside about 20 feet. Not sure what the precision is on the ex-put but that would be a good practice target :)

There's a video of Phil making a series of 10 footers in a row, I'll see if I can dig that up.