Indoor Gates: Indoor practice is one of the first step to building up your confidence on the putting greens, no wind, no spike marks, you know the putt is straight! One of my keys to putting is to understand the difference between a good putt and a poor putt. You can misread a putt, pull it and hole the putt – does that make you a good putter? Indoor putting, by reducing the variability of how the ball rolls and bounces, will increase your level of feedback and understanding after each putt. The indoor gates also increases your focus over each putt, there is no point pushing, pulling or even guiding your putter, it is unlikely the ball will go through the gate consistently… you need to trust your alignment and make the best stroke possible! The ‘PH Indoor Putting Gates’ provide immediate feedback for start direction of the golf ball. Start with the gate approximately one putter length away from your ball, increase the distance or reduce the size of the gate as your confidence grows! Size 0 doesn’t allow for much deviation… Enjoy the challenge!
Outdoor Gates: PH Putting Gates are simple and easy to use devices that give you instant feedback on your ability to start your ball on your intended start line. The ‘PH Gates’ come in 4 different sizes (75mm, 65mm, 55mm and 50mm) which when placed at specific distances from the ball on your chosen target line create a intermediate target that is required to successfully putt the ball through the gate. One of my keys is to look at wear a player puts the gate! this tells me immediately how they are reading a particular green.
Training with both the different size gates over different distances will give you feedback on the club face angle at IMPACT. Using the PH gates on breaking putts provides valuable feedback on the quality of your strike and ability to hit neutral putts (zero side spin) and the amount of manipulation during the downswing. Can you start the ball successfully on your line you have read!, a miss LEFT is the same as a miss RIGHT. They still miss the hole and is one extra shot! The path of a breaking putt is clearly illustrated in the sand, with the true extent of the ‘borrow’ revealed as the ball slows near the hole – a factor that is accentuated when you extend the line of the putt 18 inches beyond the hole. Those who believe in aiming at the apex of a putt are under-reading the borrow, as the graphics here reveal. You could place a ‘PH Gate’ anywhere along the path of the ball, the key is for you to do it ‘without the aid of the ball imprint in the sand! It also works well on a green with the morning dew still visible, it is fantastic feedback to see the path the ball through the ‘PH Gate’.
Always remember, the key is to hole the putt, so don’t just try and get the ball through the gate, if you hole the putt, the ball will go through!
