How many times have you been on the same line as another player and watched their putt to see the roll. They make the putt or roll it dead stiff and you are sure the line is correct. Then you putt the same line and your ball does something completely different. What just happened? Jon asks if it is it the ball.
jon divots says:
Are golf balls still unbalanced? Quite often two of us putt on the same line and one ball would roll straight to the hole and the other would veer off in a different direction, or would skip along instead of rolling along smoothly, especially when hit fairly briskly on a longer putt.
Surge says:
Jon, I can say with certainty that if you are playing brand name quality golf balls, meaning they are not X-outs, then you need not worry about your golf balls not being balanced. Golf ball technology and manufacturing have reached the point that quality control for all the major companies, checking all aspects of the ball, means that no unbalanced balls are slipping into a sleeve to end up for sale. I have been told that many of the X ' outs sold are good balls and have, in most cases, been X'ed out for cosmetics, not performance, as an unbalanced ball would be. Also, if a ball was unbalanced, you would know it before you got to the green because it would do some crazy things in flight. When you hit, it would wobble or upshot and dive or slice, then draw in flight if it were out of balance or off center.
One cause of the same line having a different roll out could be the result of 'different strokes for different folks.' By that I mean one player's stroke may put a pure over spin roll on his ball which will give the ball a pure roll holding a tight line. Another player may have a cut stroke or a hook or closing the face stroke, putting a little to a lot of side spin on the ball. This will cause the ball to spin off the starting line and thus end up farther from the hole even when started on the same line.
Another big cause can be the grain on a green. Even with the same stroke, grain can cause a ball to bounce or can cause more side spin, pushing or pulling the ball off line. Putting dead into the grain tends to cause the ball to bounce. Once it bounces it can go dead straight, as we saw in Tiger's last putt on the 72nd hole to tie Rocco Mediate for the 08 US Open and send it into a Monday playoff. His ball bounced 4 or 5 times and the aiming line stayed perfectly in place and just kept on trucking rolling end over end and into the hole. It could easily have gotten kicked off line and missed. Cross grain putts can really be pushed or pulled off line by the grain, as the ball will roll and curve more in the direction of the grain.
The last cause of similar line puts going off line is the surface of the green. It is, to say the least, imperfect. And as the day wears on, the green wears out (pun intended) and the grass grows. The green wears out in that as every golfer walks they leave footprints. When every golfer holes a putt and goes to the hole to get it out, their last step is within a foot of the hole when they bend over to reach in for the ball. All their weight is pressed downward through the ball of their foot into the green, creating what Dave Pelz calls 'The Lumpy Donut' around the hole.
The Lumpy Donut is a depression around 9 inches to a foot from the hole that can cause a ball slowing down to go into the donut and come out completely off line. Dave discusses the Lumpy Donut and all the irregularities of the green and changes due to playing and grass growth in his first book 'Putting Like the Pros.' It is a great read and also is chock fill of putting tests he conducted. The stats that came from the tests can really help you figure out the ins and outs of putting.
So, Jon, it is highly unlikely the ball is the problem on missed putts on the same line. It is a host of a whole lot of other variables that only add to the dilemma, delight and despair that can be thrown at us from this great game we call Golf.
In case ya'll never thought about it, GOLF spelled backwards is FLOG! And, Webster's Dictionary defines FLOG as 'to whip, to BEAT WITH A STICK.' You think the Scots tricked us by flipping the real name of the game backwards to create more appeal to play. Is it is better to go golfing or flogging?
The Surge!