With improved putting in 2022, Tony Finau is climbing the charts steadily in putting statistics. His putter has been on fire with back-to-back PGA Tour tournament wins. Finau spent a lot of time prior to the 2021-22 PGA Tour season working on fine-tuning his putting. But, what he has done to improve his putting isn’t illusive to everyday golfers. In fact, these 5 insider takeaways can help golfers of every ability and on any course. Combining our insights with stories from PGA Tour and Golf.com, put these tips to work for you.
- Putter setup.
- Alignment aids.
- Square face at impact.
- Proper loft and lie.
- Optimal path, launch and spin.
Putter setup for improved putting
One trouble area for Tony and many golfers is making sure putter setup is correct and repeatable. Most golfers lay the putter on the ground and twist the putter to align to the target line. This results in misalignment from head to toe (for your body and the putter). Finau added a simple mark to the back of his putter to remind him of body, hands and eye alignment. Important: he did this only after seeing and knowing his swing path and swing dynamics from a custom putter fitting.
Alignment aids
There are so many alignment aids and it’s easy to get lost in all the tools and aids. Fine tuning wrist activity, adjusting shoulder position, adjusting ball position shouldn’t be done without the foundational knowledge of swing path and face-to-path angle. Single line, double line, triple line, mock balls are all alignment aids built into the putter to try and help. But even hitting the ball square with a slightly open face can result in big misses right. With every putter fitting, we incorporate the Eyeline Putter Mirror to help ensure eyeline alignment. Find out and fix your putter alignment challenges with an expert Putter Fitting.
Square the face for improved putting accuracy
Trackman quotes that face angle controls 85% of ball direction with putts. It’s the #1 most important factor in putting consistency. Reported by PGATour.com of Finau’s PLD Anser 2 model, “Everything from the length and loft, to the depth of the face milling marks, was tested and approved by Finau.” Just like Finau did, the only way to determine your optimal length, loft and lie to ensure a square face at impact is through an expert putter fitting. From there, the science takes over, even if we help you by adjusting or re-shafting an existing putter. You’re not standard, why force a standard putter to work for you?
What is proper loft and lie
The proper putter loft and lie is unique to the golfer and the putter. Have a flat or descending attack angle and you might need more loft. Play a longer putter, you might need more loft. Putter weight can also impact the swing and attack angle. A golfer’s height, posture and stance all affect lie. When it is so critically important to feel comfortable and relaxed with putts, why fight standard loft and lies when they’re not right for your swing? With an expert putter fitting, discover the proper loft and lie for your putter or customize a new putter to you.
Optimizing for improved putting
For Finau, he’s so in-tune with his putting that he can “actually hear the differences in loft” based on the way the ball is interacting with the green, according to Golf.com. On Trackman, we can see in real time how the different lofts produce more skid distance, roll percentage and ball efficiency. If a swing path is producing angular ball rotation, we can also see it in real time. You can’t beat the high-speed video capture with more than 30 swing attributes plus experts that help you with alignment, setup and putter selection along the way. That’s what sets Putter Fittings from D’Lance Golf Performance Center apart from everywhere else.