Back in May when John Graham conducted our Aim Point Level I class, I was surprised but not shocked at how many students thought that the apex was the aim point of a breaking putt. I myself aimed that way for years. I still have this debate with a few really good players about this issue. I also have the debate with some good players on whether or not people truly see the line of a putt as a curve. So called aiming expert, Mike Shannon claims that there are two types of aiming styles- linear and non-linear, and that all golfers fall into one of the two camps. He also believes that you are born this way and should not try to change.
http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/short-game/putting/2010-10/putting-mike-shannon
The apex is defined properly (not at all by golfers in general, really) as the widest separation of the break curve away from a straight baseline between ball and hole. The "tangent" is the direction of the curve at any given point along the curve. The tangent of the apex along the total break curve is PARALLEL to the baseline. That necessarily means no golfer can aim straight at the apex and expect to get there, since the starting line's tangent MUST curve due to gravity. Ergo, any putt aimed at the apex and actually started straight will not be high enough to make it to the apex, let alone stay on the high side until the ball makes it to the hole.
ReplyDeleteThe real deal is that golfers don't really putt where they aim, or even use the planned speed or pace of putt used to read the curve to begin with. Amateurs and many many pros aim higher than the apex and pull their putts (aim right, pull left), which originates in dumbo use of the eyes not understood by optometrists or golf teachers. Even if golfers aimed well, they still speed up their breaking putts, due to the influence of body-aim, which s not studied by anyone in golf, so far as I can see.
Geoff Mangum
PuttingZone.com