There’s a reason the anchored putting stroke was banned. Same thing for Sam Snead’s initial side saddle putting stroke that saw him straddling the line of play. The reason being that it provided an unfair advantage (in the eyes of some), but mostly that it was a departure from tradition in the eyes of the up an ups at the USGA. Sam Snead’s putting stroke’s ban in particular is thought to be is of particular a grudge by the USGA, but thats another story altogether. In this post I want to take a closer look at both Sam Snead’s putting style and the pool cue style of putting – both of course which are banned. They’re main similarity is the fact that you’re looking directly down the line of play for both of them. This in itself is a particular advantage, when we line-up putts, we do exactly this, then when we go to hit, we stand perpendicular to the line… and a majority of what you’ve learned from looking down the line is then lost. This is exactly a bunch of people line up the logo of their ball when viewing the line of play… so this knowledge could be transferred to the golfer when the move over the ball to play their stroke.
Ironically, for many golfers, this simple fact is forcing them to second-guess their line, and when that happens, players often yip. Your eyes play tricks on you when you’re looking perpendicular to the line. This is proven by face angle tests of golfers from a variety of tests. In fact 97% of golfers are not lined up where they think they are (http://www.golfwrx.com/151092/the-ultimate-putting-program-part-1-aim/). So, if you’re the type of golfer who struggles with their putting, or better yet, struggles with the yips (last second wrist changes right before impact), you may want to remove one aspect of your stroke that may be contributing to your problems. The yips stem from uncertainty in your line, weight and stroke. By removing a pre-shot routine element that is causing additional indecision, you may find your stroke flows more freely. So, stop lining up your logos, start trusting your line (even knowing its unlikely to be where you think your aiming), and start putting a a purer stroke.
Give it a shot!