High-tech
and digital technology have a firm grasp on the world of golf – advanced CAD
(computer-aided design) and exotic materials are the order of the day in golf club
design; GPS devices and laser rangefinders assist you on the course; and apps
for your phone keep your score, track your stats, and even keep track of those
Nassau’s and automatic presses that can make settling up at the 19th-hole feel like
an AP Economics class.
In the midst of all this digital magic, however, a new
training device has hit the market that uses good old-fashioned analog operation
to help you home in on your best putting stroke – it’s called PuttOUT.
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| The PuttOUT putting trainer is precisely designed to operate as simply as possible. |
The
PuttOUT is a deceptively simple-looking device, consisting of a clear plastic
ramp on a circular white plastic base, but it is as precisely designed as any
computer chip. The base, which is the exact diameter of the cup – 4-1/4 inches
– is your primary target. The clear plastic ramp swoops up behind the base, its
shape and position with respect to the “cup” engineered to give you feedback on
every putt – no batteries required.
The shape of the ramp allows the ball itself to provide
feedback on the quality of the shot. Precisely designed based on the fixed
diameter and mass of a golf
ball, as defined by the USGA and the R&A, the shape of the ramp works
with the ball’s momentum to tell you if your putt is a hit or a miss. It’s
simple – if the ball stays on the ramp and rolls back toward you, that putt
would have gone into the hole; if the ball drops off of the side of the ramp
without rolling back, that putt would have missed. Not only that, but the
distance the ball rolls coming back is the distance that the ball would have
rolled past the hole had it been a miss.
But that’s not all – the PuttOUT has one more trick up
its sleeve: the “microtarget”, a hole in the center of the ramp about halfway
up which is the ultimate goal for your PuttOUT practice session. If the ball
stays in the microtarget, you’ve hit a “perfect putt” – perfectly centered on
the hole, with just the right amount of speed, which the PuttOUT folks define
as the pace that would have carried the ball 18 inches past the hole, based on
a Stimpmeter reading of 10.
Lots of putting training aids have hit the market over the
years – guides to force your putting stroke into the “correct” line, clamp-on
pointers to help you line up your shot, even lasers that project a beam of
light on the green to help you start the ball on the right line. What the
PuttOUT does, simply and elegantly, is give you feedback, based on the behavior
of the ball on the ramp, that tells you if you are getting the ball to the hole
with the right speed and line – feedback that reinforces a good stroke without directly
telling you how to make that stroke.
Before I got my PuttOUT, I had been practicing in my office
by rolling putts at a cup-sized paper cutout on the carpet. A ball that rolled
right across the center of the “hole” was easy to score as a good putt, but the
ones that skirted the edge were judgment calls. With the PuttOUT, that
uncertainty goes out the window – if it rolls back, it was good; if not, it was
a miss.
I have been using my PuttOUT now pretty much daily since
Christmas, and I have rolled hundreds of putts on the tight-pile industrial
carpeting in my office since then, with a variety of different brands and
models of golf balls, and three or four different putters. Besides getting a
really good handle on the quirky little break in my carpeting, the biggest
benefit that I have realized from all this practice with the PuttOUT is learning
what I need to do to put a consistent stroke on the ball every time.
I know that practicing with the PuttOUT has helped my
putting, because after just a few days of use, one of my golf buddies – a
guy whose last comment on my game was that I needed to throw away my irons and
get a set that I could hit – actually complimented me on my putting.
Getting the ball to the hole with the right speed is key in
putting, and helping you develop a feel for this is where the PuttOUT shines.
Harvey Penick, the great teacher who is at least partially responsible for the
putting genius of one of the best putters of all time, Ben Crenshaw, famously
wrote in his Little Red Book: “I like
to see a putt slip into the hole like a mouse.” I keep this quote in mind
whenever I practice with the PuttOUT, and when my putts are rolling back off
the ramp no more than a foot and a half to two feet, I know that I have
achieved that goal.
The PuttOUT people also make a practice mat as a
companion to the PuttOUT. The mat rolls at 10 on the Stimpmeter – a value
based on their survey of average green speeds at a wide range of golf courses –
and has alignment marks to aid you in your practice sessions.
The PuttOUT is not only easy to use, it’s convenient to take
with you to the course, or to the office for a little lunchtime practice (or
competition with coworkers…), thanks to its folding design. With or without the
PuttOUT mat, the PuttOUT trainer is the best putting training device that I
have seen come down the pike – ever. PuttOUT is available at major
golf-equipment retailers, or online (in the USA) through Amazon. It might just
be the best $29.99 you ever spend on improving your putting.
