iPING Putter Fitting

[gripmyshaft]

Ever the technology geek I got my hands on a copy of the iPING app for iPhone4 and the Cradle for putter fitting the other day. Thought I'd share the results. I'd recommend this to anyone to give them an idea of their consistency and a reference point for improvement.

I was keen to not only see some numbers on my stroke, but to see if the Spider Ghost Belly putter I've recently aquired is a consistent as I had hoped.

Background

I'm new to belly putters but have a friend / customer who has over 20 belly putters of various shapes and sizes and I eventually gave in to his requests for me to try some out.

I worked out what length I needed,  had a few putts and instantly felt I'd found a improvement in consistency. So I made the purchase and here I am. My regular putter is a 32.5" Newport 2 Te with a custom shop pro platinum finish. Im good with it and over the last 6 years I've averaged 27.3 putts per round. However recently I've noticed long putting is leaving me with too many difficult putts for par and it's putting pressure on my short putts, which is never ideal. I dont struggle with birdie putts but 5 or 6 feet putts for par are my weakness. I hardly ever miss a 5 or 6 feet putt for birdie, showing me it's all about finding something I'm comfortable with and something I can trust from any distance. So far, the belly seems to be giving me just that, but I wanted to see some numbers to confirm.

Typically my putting has always been the best part of my game and hence I've never really sought to change anything. I've been renowned at my home club/s as being the guy who can putt Always been confident with the putter and my claim to fame is picking up someone elses putter and beating (and taking $20 off) Justin Rose over 18 holes of putting matchplay. I had Ian Poulter egging me on but thats another story!

However, when I do practice I typically spend an hour a week making sure my stroke isnt doing anything weird. I've noticed for putts over 16 ft I have a tendancy to 'shut the gate' too much and pull putts. If im aware of this during the round I'll either keep doing this and miss long putts long and left or I'll back off to avoid twisting and leave them short right. I'm hoping the belly helps with this and of course to make the 6, 10 and 16ft range more solid.

Equipment

iPING iPhone4 app and cradle
Spider Belly 43" with tour face insert (a little harder than retail) and a SuperStroke 21" Tour grip.



This test was done indoors on my putting matt which I lay out over my wooden floor. It's about as close to grass as I could find but still runs quicker than most greens in my area.

Method

It's a great bit of software. You get your details in, hit the screen and it waits for you to hit some putts. You hit 5 putts from an identical spot 10ft from the cup and it tells you the results on screen and gives you a putting handicap. You can do more sessions to refine it or you can compare your results to the pros, which I did

Results

Some screenshots:

I compared my results with Lee Westwood and Louis Oosthuizen because they have similar strokes to me.












Overall I was quite impressed with the software and its measurements are pretty accurate. It gave me an overall putting handicap of +2.2 which is roughly what I would have expected.

I was most happy to see the tempo with the belly is consistent without any strange impact angle results. I often find with the 32.5" putter my hands will take over every so often and although the tempo is going to be good, the face angle will not be as consistent as the belly.

However, the next step for me is to compare like for like indoors with the 32.5" putter to confirm this. One step further is for me to do this outdoors once the weather improves and the surfaces are worthwhile.

Go get the software, take some putts and get your screenshots uploaded for some putting discussion. It's no SAM putting lab but it's a damn good tool for practice and benchmarking.

[losethetension]

I dont struggle with birdie putts but 5 or 6 feet putts for par are my weakness. I hardly ever miss a 5 or 6 feet putt for birdie, showing me it's all about finding something I'm comfortable with and something I can trust from any distance.

Have to ask what the logic was to get from first line to second line. 

[gripmyshaft]

Good question. Pressure is the answer.

For me, there is no pressure on birdie putts, so I tend to make a good positive stroke without really thinking about it.

When it comes to par putts, for me, there is increased pressure not to drop a stroke. With this increased pressure, any weaknesses in my putting are hightened, hence making me less successful from the same distance.

I know the weakness with the putter is the gate closing, so subconsciously because i know theres a chance I could do that with the shorter putter, I'm not trusting the putter / myself to make a good stroke.

If I find a putter that I have full confidence in, from any distance and I know I cant really close the gate too much, I'll totally forget about it and just get on with holeing the putt without anything negative going on in my head.

So to me, it's all about finding something im comfortable with and trust isnt going to shut down on me (or im not going to shut it down). This test was to see if the Belly putter is likely to do that (or if im likely to do that) and so far so good, both in physical putts made and the numbers this app has shown.

In my opinion, good golf is about confidence and removing fear. If you can remove likelihood of a certain shot, miss or general shape of shot (ie why a lot of pros like to have anti left clubs) you can forget about that negative shot and at least be confident that it's not as likely to occur, thus removing some pressure from that particular shot.

I'm removing the pressure induced by the knowledge I have a tendancy to overly shut the face down with par putts. If I have the knowledge that it's not possible for me to shut the face down with this putter, I'll not even think about it and just bash on with trying to hole the putt with confidence.

It's not just about the right equipment, it's about knowing the equipment is as good for me as possible, so I can then forget about it and get on with the golf itself - no what if's, or anything else negative either!

Long winded but hope that explains my previous ramblings

[gripmyshaft]

double post

[Stu-Pid]

Has anyone tried actually playing a (social or practice) round while using the App to monitor on course results to see how they differ from practice?  Much like hitting irons on the range, I wouldn't be surprised if most people's on course results were quite different to when they stand hitting putt after putt without any pressure.

[gripmyshaft]

The app is designed to measure consistency. For that to work they need to be identical putts unfortunately. It would work for face angles if you strictly wanted to measure your face angles on all your putts, but the handicapping system and consistency / tempo measurements would vary quite a bit.

[Tin Pot]

Also, the weight change is significant enough to put me off using it in a game.

[Stu-Pid]

The app is designed to measure consistency. For that to work they need to be identical putts unfortunately. It would work for face angles if you strictly wanted to measure your face angles on all your putts, but the handicapping system and consistency / tempo measurements would vary quite a bit.

I understand that the handicap system wouldn't work, but surely the info it gave you regarding face angle and tempo on a putt would still be useful?  You could compare what you actually did over that 6 foot putt that you missed to what you did on a 6 foot putt you made on the course, or to a 6 foot putt on the practice matt.

Also, the weight change is significant enough to put me off using it in a game.

If that's the case, then surely any measurements for tempo, speed, etc are worthless as they won't relate to what you actually do on the golf course?

[Tin Pot]

Yes, you can use it in a mod that just gives feedback which would be interesting on course.

The system isn't about scoring, the weight change shouldn't affect the basics of your putting stroke - which is what it's about really.

[Stu-Pid]

Also, the weight change is significant enough to put me off using it in a game.

the weight change shouldn't affect the basics of your putting stroke - which is what it's about really.

 

[losethetension]

Good question. Pressure is the answer.

For me, there is no pressure on birdie putts, so I tend to make a good positive stroke without really thinking about it.

When it comes to par putts, for me, there is increased pressure not to drop a stroke. With this increased pressure, any weaknesses in my putting are hightened, hence making me less successful from the same distance.

I know the weakness with the putter is the gate closing, so subconsciously because i know theres a chance I could do that with the shorter putter, I'm not trusting the putter / myself to make a good stroke.

If I find a putter that I have full confidence in, from any distance and I know I cant really close the gate too much, I'll totally forget about it and just get on with holeing the putt without anything negative going on in my head.

So to me, it's all about finding something im comfortable with and trust isnt going to shut down on me (or im not going to shut it down). This test was to see if the Belly putter is likely to do that (or if im likely to do that) and so far so good, both in physical putts made and the numbers this app has shown.

In my opinion, good golf is about confidence and removing fear. If you can remove likelihood of a certain shot, miss or general shape of shot (ie why a lot of pros like to have anti left clubs) you can forget about that negative shot and at least be confident that it's not as likely to occur, thus removing some pressure from that particular shot.

I'm removing the pressure induced by the knowledge I have a tendancy to overly shut the face down with par putts. If I have the knowledge that it's not possible for me to shut the face down with this putter, I'll not even think about it and just bash on with trying to hole the putt with confidence.

It's not just about the right equipment, it's about knowing the equipment is as good for me as possible, so I can then forget about it and get on with the golf itself - no what if's, or anything else negative either!

Long winded but hope that explains my previous ramblings

Apologies for the threadjack - IPing looks very good btw. Saw it in action in July at Seniors Open.

The follow up question re the 5-6 footers is 'Why do you treat the Par putt differently from the Birdie one!'. Why not treat them both like the Birdie one. After all, a missed/sunk Birdie putt costs/gains exactly the same (1 shot) as a missed/sunk Par one.

The brain/body does seem to treat the 'excitement' of a birdie opportunity (or gaining Break Point in Tennis) differently to the 'depression' of having to make a Par putt (or being Break Point down in Tennis). Somehow, the better players seem to manage both situations as if they the same importance - the expression from Tennis is 'playing the big points well'. While equipment could well be a contributor to your confidence, why not see whether you can get yourself into the 'Birdie' mindset for you Par saves.

[gripmyshaft]

I understand that the handicap system wouldn't work, but surely the info it gave you regarding face angle and tempo on a putt would still be useful?  You could compare what you actually did over that 6 foot putt that you missed to what you did on a 6 foot putt you made on the course, or to a 6 foot putt on the practice matt.


If that's the case, then surely any measurements for tempo, speed, etc are worthless as they won't relate to what you actually do on the golf course?

Yeah, like I said you could actively monitor like for like, but it wouldnt be accurate for tempo measurements unless they were exactly the same length and pace. Could easily measure face angle on any putt and see whats going on quite well.

As for the weight, it sits high enough on the putter shaft (just under the grip) and in my case with the belly i managed to attach it half onto the grip so not to affect swing weight. I couldnt feel the difference between having it on and having it removed.

I'm really impressed with it, and that usually takes some doing!

[gripmyshaft]

Apologies for the threadjack - IPing looks very good btw. Saw it in action in July at Seniors Open.

The follow up question re the 5-6 footers is 'Why do you treat the Par putt differently from the Birdie one!'. Why not treat them both like the Birdie one. After all, a missed/sunk Birdie putt costs/gains exactly the same (1 shot) as a missed/sunk Par one.

The brain/body does seem to treat the 'excitement' of a birdie opportunity (or gaining Break Point in Tennis) differently to the 'depression' of having to make a Par putt (or being Break Point down in Tennis). Somehow, the better players seem to manage both situations as if they the same importance - the expression from Tennis is 'playing the big points well'. While equipment could well be a contributor to your confidence, why not see whether you can get yourself into the 'Birdie' mindset for you Par saves.

Good point. Thats why i'm not a touring pro and my confidence isnt as good as it was when I was a much better player in my youth. I get my confidence from playing and practicing a lot and over the last few years I've not had the time to play and practice nearly as much as I need to be really good - hence certain mental weaknesses have crept in over the years.

I used to treat every shot the same, after all 1 stroke is one stroke. But me being me i've always been better at going low than scrambling through the round making pars. Traditionally I'll either shoot 65 or 75, but hardly ever 70.

I've always been better at progressing low than treading water - hence always been better at birdie putts than par putts.

I think you've hit the nail on the head as to why I've made a putter change to the belly - I'm trying to find the confidence in the putter so I DO treat the par putts like the birdie putts, without thinking about it.

You're absolutely right though - I do need to get myself into the 'Birdie' mindset for the par saves. If im confident with the putter I reckon I'll be able to this year.

[david92]

I have spoken to a couple of pro's and also from my own observation of many players I think weakness in long putts in general and in your case could be due to the relatively shortness of your putter....32.5" is v.short by any standards and how many great lag putters do you see putting with a really short putter?...physically you will have to "hit" the putter harder on long putts to get to the hole and that hit rather than using a consistent smoother stroke/swing which can be made with slightly longer putters, means that consistency and smoothness disappears....this is also going to be exacerbated on the slower greens we predominantly play in the UK when compared to the US in general and on tour where these stats and theory's are largely tested where the stimp readings are most likely at least 3-4 higher than your average UK course

Just my opinion and observation.....so why not have your "standard" putter at a slightly longer length for the long putts and grip down an inch or so for the standard to short putts?

[Tin Pot]

I understand the difference, don't you?