I haven’t putted in my house in more than 8 years. The photo to the left is the reason. That’s my dog, Eleanor. She has a thing for spherical objects (and pork, but that’s another story). With her around, my putts never even get close to the plastic target. Instead, she knocks them off course with her snout and then proceeds to chase them around the room for the next hour (usually digressing after I wrestle them away from her).
But you know something? I don’t miss putting indoors on my carpet. For one, does it really help your putting on the course? I don’t know too many living rooms that have breaks in them. I mean seriously, all winter long you’re putting them in like a madman and then comes spring, a real green, and BAM – your ball moves to the right because of a break. But this article suggests it helps: “…anything is better than nothing. Just getting a putter in your hands and making some putting strokes is going to help. Practice makes perfect!”
Practice does indeed make perfect. I know plenty of VP’s who have a putter and fake plastic hole stashed behind their office door. “Give me a minute, I’m on a conference call!” Conference call my ass (of course, they could be on the conference call at the same time). Does it help? Funny, they can never break 100 at the annual company golf outing.
But indoor putting is big business. Got floor vents? If so, you my friend, are in luck. For only $19.95, you can have a “real golf hole in your house” (and if you putt it too hard, you have a real wall to automagically stop the ball). This ingenious putting aid is called Puttacup, and it will start shaving off the strokes in no time!
OK, this is my favorite part about Puttacup – once they realized that average floor vents are too small to fit a regular sized golf hole, they turned this adversity into marketing genius: “The advantage of this is that while you practice your putting at home, you are practicing into a cup that is a little smaller, so once you get out onto a real putting green, the actual hole will appear much bigger.” Brilliant! Too bad I don’t have floor vents.
This leaves me with very few options. Enter Truline Indoor Putting Greens. These beauts are “tour speed” and will “putt at a stimpmeter speed of approximately 13 feet.” Few things here: 1) Aren’t you always putting slightly uphill on these mats? 2) Not sure about your course, by the courses in my area rarely sport 13′ on the old stimpmeter. And 3) My wife’s an interior designer. There’s no way that thing is staying out in the living room for any length of time. Soon I won’t want to set it up and then it will just be collecting dust in the attic.
OK, I know I’m sort of going off on a tangent here. So let’s hear from you – do you find yourself putting indoors? Take the poll and let us know.
Indoor putting can cure the winter blues or cabin fever, especially when the favorite football team or hockey team is getting thrashed on the tube. I set up a quick three hole course in the basement with the aid of plastic cups. Does it make my stroke any better come spring??? No so much.
Practice doesn’t make perfect.
Perfect practice makes perfect.
Indoor putting practice on a flat surface is about striking the putters sweet spot with the face square to the line.
The best putting practice I have ever done involves a 8 foot astroturf pitting strip and a bottle of baby powder. Squirt a little powder on the back of the ball. Set it down on the putting surface and hit the putt. The powder leaves a spot on the putter face where you hit it.
It achieves a couple of things. One you focus on making a good stroke and making solid contact. Two it builds confidence. You get to the point of expecting to make every putt inside of 8 feet.
I think one of the most annoying things with practice putting greens are the people who end up having a full blown conversation with someone who has just turned up whilst leaving there balls peppered around a hole and lingering in the middle of potential putting lines for other people. Simply picking your balls up and standing to one side allows everyone else to carry on unimpeded!