re putter fitting. Lie and loft make big differences on how you stroke it, much more than we think. I think most of us expect to see a certain amount of loft on the putter at address. Maybe you want to see more or less than the next person, but we want to see it a certain way. I have read the rule of thumb about how differing lofts will influence your stroke direction, by some guru, but can't find it right now.
For me, I've just realized that more loft leads to more arc. Too little loft was causing me to lean the putter shaft backwards. When I held it vertical, then the ball started skidding a little. That is the classic part of getting the right loft. But the other part is what I'm talking about, what it does to your setup. I adjusted one of my putters from 3d to 5d, and it became super easy to set up with the shaft vertical or even leaning forward. This stopped my tendency to take the club back outside. So I adjusted my gamer from 3 to 4d, and same thing. I think the 5 degree one is actually a bit much, I have to lean it too much to have it look right to me. But at least it is helping change my path.
Lie angle is critical the same way. For me, more upright reduces the arc and can make me take the club back outside.
In Stan Utley's putting book, he said that everyone needs more loft. Now I see that more loft probably will enhance the arc stroke, which is what Utley was teaching in his book.
Some food for thought. And I'll probably go out next time and have 40 putts again! 🙂
