by: Marcel White
No, I'm not referring to that hole on the green where the pin rests waiting to be removed to let the golf ball go in. Instead, I'm talking about Black Holes, those regions of cosmic space with a gravitational field so intense that not even light can escape from it. That is, we don't know anything about what's inside.
In golf putting there's also a kind of Black Hole for the great majority of players. Inside, is carefully kept the background needed to confidently face breaking putts. As a consequence, millions of golf players feel like zombies, lost in the middle of sloping greens, having their eyes blindfolded.
Too much drama? I won't dispute that. I just want to emphasise that there are lots of easy putts missed everyday, everywhere, by golfers that never had the chance to learn how to deal with this subject of breaking putts. And it can be taught and made easy to use for common players of all levels.
Remember your first attempts with breaking putts. Perhaps you are a self made putter that found your way by trial and error; or maybe you went to the golf course with some kind of golf guru that, for every breaking putt, told you to aim x inches, or y feet, or z yards above the hole. And, regardless of the outcome, you were astonished and wondering where did those magic distances come from and desiring to get the talent to decide it on your own. But you found it impossible to find anything written specifically about it or a serious way to be taught about that.
This is a very important subject because breaking putts are something every golfer has to face several times during a round of golf and, no matter how good his putting technique is, success won’t come unless he chooses a good line. This fact is related with another one. When a golf player has a breaking putt to do he must aim some point that isn't the cup's centre and if he or she doesn’t know what kind of ball track the ball will follow all happens as if he, or she, is putting blindfolded. Even for non-golfers it's easy to feel the drama. And if we consider that during a round of golf almost half of total strokes are putts and more than half of them can be breaking putts, the drama turns to tragedy.
The reason that made this problem remain for so long without some light being shed on it, is the fact that some basic concepts of physics and geometry are needed to deal with it. And those 2 words are scary and intimidate common people, even before you enter the subject. This means we are facing a kind of vicious circle: the problem is important and needs to be addressed, the solution is based on some basic concepts that scare people, no one dares, so, the problem remains unsolved.
The first serious attempt I know to break this stalemate is an ebook called Golf Putting Lines that is now selling online (http://www.puttinglines.com). As far as I know, there are no other books, articles, videos, whatever, thoroughly treating this subject. It assumes that correctly identifying lines is a matter that requires some background in physics and geometry that the great majority of golf players don’t have, or don’t remember, or don’t even want to hear about for its reputation of being difficult and inappropriate for a golfing environment. As a consequence, objective number one was to make it simple at any cost. I believe it is and I also believe it's accessible for anyone with a normal background.
This is what is inside:
>Insights about ball tracks. The concept; the different kinds.
>Break definition and the right point where it must be measured.
>Introduction to the concepts of “aim point” and “break point”.
>Explanations about break and clues to evaluate how much a putt will break.
>Analysis of the different factors that affect ball trajectory.
>Suggestions of some drills and experiments that will help golfers to become more sensitive to the several green factors that influence putting lines and, as a consequence, make them more confident with those putts that used to make people sweat even in cold winter days.
For those interested in a deeper insight, it´s also revealed why and how things happen and no more than that. This is a separate chapter everybody can skip without major consequences.
There is also room for surprise, for instance, when it's explained why putts in the range 1 to 4 yards (roughly) are more reliable if there is a clear break to consider than if they look flat and level.
Interesting, as well, is the fact that the ebook is as succinct as possible because the author believes readers are looking for solutions, not for literature.
The result is an ebook that tries to fill the gap between the solutions every golfer needs to become a better player and the theory behind those solutions, something no one is remotely interested in. In other words, it is a successful attempt to provide some gain without pain.
Marcel White
http://www.puttinglines.com
About The Author
Marcel White is a golf lover who uses the background in physics he got as an engineer to go deeper in the analysis of some aspects of the game.
The author invites you to visit:
http://www.puttinglines.com/
A Black Hole in Golf Putting
