The Putting Challenge

[SkiBumGolfer]

Will you keep this putter for a while yet? I am curious to see how it works out on dry, quick summer greens. A heavy putter is very stable, but I wonder if it could be tricky when the Stimp climbs. This could also be your solution to leaving a few short...just wait for the weather to change

I'm planning to, because I'm seeing the positives at least on the slower greens I've played thus far. I agree with you, I am curious about that as well. There are a couple greens on my home course where if you're on the wrong side and above the hole, the ball won't stop until it either goes in the hole or off the green. I also plan to take it out to the local private the next time I can get on, because those greens are REALLY tough - fast with lots of crowning and false fronts.

That said, the greens at Bella Vista on Sunday were pretty quick and it certainly wasn't like I was blowing everything by, so I'm optimistic.

 

[Slowmo]

Every time I think I figure something out I can’t seem to repeat the next round. Had 37 putts yesterday with 4 3putts. The short putts continue to frustrate me. I will miss a 3ft putt and blow it 6ft past. I can’t seem to control distance on those short ones. I do seem to make 2-3 15-20 ft putts every round which is something I didn’t do before.

 

[1860VS]

Exactly 36 putts today. Considering the weather and slop didn't allow for any great approaches I am quite impressed. one dreaded 3 putt, but it came when I was half knocked off the ball by a gust of wind. One 30 some foot bomb. This thing has made 4' and under automatic.......... Yips used to kill my score. This has killed the yips. Seriously. It is now my putter. Not one I am reviewing, one that will be in the bag because it is that damn good.

 

[Slowmo]

Exactly 36 putts today. Considering the weather and slop didn't allow for any great approaches I am quite impressed. one dreaded 3 putt, but it came when I was half knocked off the ball by a gust of wind. One 30 some foot bomb. This thing has made 4' and under automatic.......... Yips used to kill my score. This has killed the yips. Seriously. It is now my putter. Not one I am reviewing, one that will be in the bag because it is that damn good.

Man I’m jealous. I feel like it’s given me the yips! Not that I wouldn’t miss those 4’ putts before but now I’m almost scared of them.

 

[1860VS]

Man I’m jealous. I feel like it’s given me the yips! Not that I wouldn’t miss those 4’ putts before but now I’m almost scared of them.

That is unfortunate. The entire putting system works for me, taking much of the instruction that comes with the Lean Lock even help my putting with a standard putter, but I'd still. Miss the clean up putts.

 

[SkiBumGolfer]

Man I’m jealous. I feel like it’s given me the yips! Not that I wouldn’t miss those 4’ putts before but now I’m almost scared of them.

That's tough man. Is it just because you aren't comfortable with the speed?

 

[SkiBumGolfer]

Not as good as Tuesday for today, but still not too bad. Pretty close to level on strokes gained vs 10hcp (-0.34), 32 putts today, 15 on the front, 17 on the back. A little deceptive because I putted 4 or 5 times from the fairway though, but overall it worked out nicely.

Only missed 2 inside of 6 feet, which isn't terrible though disappointing, BUT I didn't make a single thing in the 6-15 foot range, though I was scaring the hole several times. Lines were generally very close though, so not too bad. Also dropped a ~25 footer for bird which was cool!

Speed was generally good and got the ball past the hole 71% of the time, but they just weren't dropping and there were a couple times I blow it too far by and had a knee knocker coming back.

Overall generally still getting along with the Lean Lock, but I do need to brush up on the shorter ones a bit before my next time out.

 

[Slowmo]

That's tough man. Is it just because you aren't comfortable with the speed?

Yeah. I really seem to have trouble lining up shorter putts right and then when I miss them I blow it 4-6ft past. I can’t seem to figure out how to take the pace off of those short ones.

 

[1860VS]

I had a poor round putting. It was me not the putter. Just NO concentration. Got to the course at the last second due to traffic. Greens were fastest of the year. My pace wasn't bad, but I just wasn't getting the line on the first three holes. Settled down and was back to 2 putting, but for a 9 hole leauge that's too little, too late. Still liking the putter. It was me, not it. Still very confident in the Lean Lock.

 

[Slowmo]

Another round in the books last night. The greens were really rolling well and fast. Early in the round I had my typical issue of blowing putts 6ft by the hole, had 3 3putt bogeys, missed a few of those 3-6ft putts that just give me fits and as usual made 2 longish 15-25ft. The next round that I remember to wear my Shotscope will be 10 rounds with the LeanLock and I will post some more data then. I think there are some real positives to this method of putting if you can make the adjustments. I am just having such a hard time adjusting. I think I might read the book and watch the videos again soon and see if I can pick up on something I"m not doing right.

 

[1860VS]

Yesterday. Greens had just been rolled. Two 3 putts, but one was an uphill putt that stopped 1' past the hole, then rolled all the way back down to 7' further than the origonal putt was. Without the Lean Lock I am certain I would have had more putts.

 

[SkiBumGolfer]

Not a bad round for me yesterday with the Lean Lock, but nothing to write home about. 32 putts again, but had 2 really dumb 3 putts because of leaving the first one short again, and I missed 2 short ones which stung. The course did roll the greens since my last outing, which changed the game a bit and got me a little tentative. Hopefully I can adjust coming up here. I did make a few putts in the 10-15 foot range though, including one for bird and one to save a bogey after a messy hole.

Generally I feel like even on these iffy rounds, I'm averaging less putts than I would have in the past, but I need to crunch the data again and see what the numbers are really telling me in ShotScope. I'll try to run them tonight for your data nerding pleasure.

 

[SkiBumGolfer]

Yesterday. Greens had just been rolled. Two 3 putts, but one was an uphill putt that stopped 1' past the hole, then rolled all the way back down to 7' further than the origonal putt was. Without the Lean Lock I am certain I would have had more putts.

Sympathize big time on this. My course put a pin basically on a false front. I had hit a wedge to inside 5', but it was a sidehiller and was basically impossible. I had to throw it 3' above the hole and try to leak it back down the hill into the hole. I was fortunate that it stopped 4' below the hole and I was able to make par, but had a 2-man scramble Saturday where we had a similar sidehiller from about 10' - threw it 5' above the hole and it rolled all the way off the green which is about 30'.

I'm questioning whether it's even a legal pin lol

 

[1860VS]

It says something when every time I think of putting an M-Craft or Scotty in the bag, I decide not to because I want to make everything 6' and under, and only with the Lean Lock am I sure I can.

 

[Slowmo]

It says something when every time I think of putting an M-Craft or Scotty in the bag, I decide not to because I want to make everything 6' and under, and only with the Lean Lock am I sure I can.

man I wish I had that feeling. While the shotscope numbers do show an improvement in that distance it still scares the heck out of me and now when I miss those 3-6 ft putts I don't just leave them within inches, I blow them 3-6ft by on the other side of the hole.

 

[SkiBumGolfer]

It says something when every time I think of putting an M-Craft or Scotty in the bag, I decide not to because I want to make everything 6' and under, and only with the Lean Lock am I sure I can.

I am similar but I will say, having never been fit for a putter before, I always wonder where that would put me, as I wasn't "fit" for this one either. I've noticed I have an eye line misalignment - when I line up the line on the ball with my target, it looks a degree or two right of where it looks when I stand over the ball. I'm working with it now that I know about it, but I wonder if a fitting would teach me something there.

 

[1860VS]

I used to be a quite acceptable putter. Then I turned 50. Then 60 and the yips. Then my back started giving me issues. The whole Lean Lock system just works for me. I will say, if I could put a soft OMOI head on this shaft it would be absolutely perfect.

 

[Slowmo]

Have any of you guys tried using it with a split grip like a hockey stick? I noticed a few times on a 3putt when I would just walk over and not take any real effort just knocking that last putt a few feet that it felt kind of natural. Once I get 10 rounds of Shotscope data I’m going to try doing it that way for a full round. I know it’s not the whole leanlock method but I’ve messed around with it a few times like that and am really encouraged

 

[gfb107]

Haven't tried it, but if it works for you that's great.

I think the trick to the full LeanLock method is to achieve that 'natural' feel of comfort, lack of tension and confidence in the suggested setup.

The part I struggle with the most is the pop or hit into the ball. That's the part that I can't apply consistently, messing with my transition from back stroke to forward stroke, leading to trouble with distance control, and occasionally pulls and pushes.

So I've tried to remove that, and focus on length and smoothness of stroke only. I've had some very good putting days with the LeanLock, but the consistency isn't there (yet).

 

[Slowmo]

Let me start this by saying that I am a terrible putter. It is by far the worst part of my game. @Hawk got to see this first hand at the Srixon experience and tagged me in the sign up thread. I am open to try anything that will help me make some putts.

That said, let’s take a look at some putting data. View attachment 9226681
All data is compared to a 10 cap, I am currently at 9.9 so we are pretty much comparing apples to apples here. As you can see I am clearly giving away a lot of shots on the greens.
View attachment 9226682

A 3 putt every 5.4 holes is just bad any way you slice it.

View attachment 9226683

Almost 35 putts a round when I have a positive strokes gained short game compared to a 5 and only lose 0.05 strokes to a scratch in short game really kills my scores.
Here is the big kicker…you might want to hide your eyes, the next picture is pretty graphic.
View attachment 9226685
Yes you are reading that right. Anything outside 3 foot and I’m awful. It is deflating to hit a beautiful chip over a bunker to a short sided pin to about 4-5 ft and then miss that putt 75% of the time.

Before I received the email from Bryan at Leanlock I had already watched most of the videos on the main website that discussed mostly how to use the lean lock putter itself. How to align, how to grip it, feet and eye placement etc. He has since been sending a video every other day or so that are just basics of putting. I’m a little behind watching those because they are blocked at work so I need to catch up a bit.

The putter arrived today! So of course the first thing I do is run into where I have my putting mat and roll some 5 ft putts. Wow this feels VERY different. Once I got comfortable with the grip and stance and such it really started feeling like I was rolling the ball well. It is going to take a lot of practice to get comfortable. I will do my best after every round to post stats and update you all.

ok, so 10 rounds in with the LeanLock and I have more data for you guys. Some things have gotten better, but not incredibly so. My number of putts per round is still about the same sadly. Lets let the numbers do the talking. I quoted the post of my Shotscope data from before starting the Lean Lock challenge.

First of all scoring...yes my whole game has gone to the toilet. My handicap is climbing fast. I don't know whats going on. Looking at the putting though, it's gotten slightly worse.


I have a tendency to blow putts well past the hole with the Lean Lock. I've just never really gotten comfortable with speed control. I do go slightly longer between 3putt holes now, but one every 6.3 holes is still bad.


Putts per round is about the same...


Those short distance putts are better, but still way below average for my handicap



Strokes gained by distance of putt, that under 10 ft putt is just killing me.



I don't feel like I can quite line the putt up correctly. I'll set up the line on the ball where I think is right, then standing over the putt the line and the putter don't match up. I"ll trust the line on the ball and adjust and then my stroke gets wonky. I set up a blank side of the ball so there's no line and I miss the putt, usually to the right. Overall, I would say the Lean Lock method is not working very well for me. I do probably have an additional 4-5 rounds where I didn't have my Shotscope watch to collect data but the results were probably similar based on number of putts hit in those rounds (usually between 35-38 putts).

That said, I am now going to try something for a few rounds using the Lean Lock putter, but not in the intended method. Early on in testing I would walk up to that sub 2ft putt to tap it in and just hold the putter in a split grip like a hockey stick. After doing that a few times without thinking about it I realized it kind of felt natural. On occasion the last 10-12 rounds I've hit a poor putt using the LeanLock method and dropped another ball and made the same putt with that hockey stick grip and either drained it put put it significantly closer on long putts. I'm going to try to play a few rounds like this on purpose and see what happens. I'll take a video at some point to show you what I'm trying. It just feels right using the hockey grip, I"m facing the hole, alignment feels better, everything feels more comfortable. I'll report back on that experiment when I get 5 rounds of Shotscope data.

 

[SkiBumGolfer]

Well it happened guys. I had my first really bad putting round with the Lean Lock, and it was a doozy. 39 putts, after hitting 10 greens including 3 par 5's in 2 (so a nice ball striking day, i.e. a good opportunity), which included 5, count em, FIVE, three putts. I lost over 5 strokes to a 10 handicap on putting, while gaining 3.5 strokes off the tee, nearly 6 strokes on approaches, and staying level on short game. Big wasted opportunity, and very disappointing.

In the moment, I think I had a combination of not rolling any putts before the round, and then I missed a short one on one, completely wrecked my confidence quickly and then I just couldn't get it back. I also didn't make a single thing outside of 6 feet, despite scaring a lot of them, and combine that with having lost confidence in the moment on the short ones and it just got demoralizing after a while and I couldn't get it back.

In the postmortem, I went to the putting green right after for about 20 mins just to figure out what in the hell went wrong - after all this is the most putts I've had in a round with the Lean Lock after 4 rounds in a row with 32 putts - and I have some ideas. Particularly with the short ones, similar to what @Slowmo said, I find that I get a misalignment between my eye line behind the ball and over it, and then when I line the TruTrack lines up, they aren't pointing where I think. Then I get too focused on the line on the ball and not enough on the hole, where with the short ones it should really be about seeing where the ball needs to go and sending it there. On that practice green I was focusing on just taking it away and through the address line after a quick glance at the hole, and getting much better results.

So, I think in the short version, I got sloppy on setup and I paid the price. Going to be refocusing on getting at least 10-15 mins of reps in each day this week on the PuttOut mat, preferably with a mirror, to straighten things out.

 

[1860VS]

My approaches were pretty MEH today. Not missing a lot of greens, but not hitting it as close as I would have normally expected given the areas I was approaching the greens from. But the rough was thick and lush, the grass was thick and tall enough that you had to right on top of the ball to see it so fliers and knuckleball were the order of the day even from a yard off the fairway. Putting was tough today, all the greens were drying out and based on their sun and wind exposure were all different speeds. Made a couple putts in the 20-30' range today with the lean lock (even one 20' in a round is pretty rare for me) . Made every 4-7' save after poor lags. One three putt after a very poor approach put me on the wrong tier and now way back down to stop it near the hole. All in all, I'll give the lean lock a hearty thumbs up for todays round.