http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YonCRBn0DiE&sns=em

As a math science geek I find this fascinating. I haven't finished reading the acompanying paper.

Forgot to link the paper for those interested.
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1106.1698v1.pdf

I comitted that formula to memory and will bring along my TI scientific calculator to use the next time I have a sidehill putt.

merlin3driver wrote:

I comitted that formula to memory and will bring along my TI scientific calculator to use the next time I have a sidehill putt.

Don't forget your compass and protractor.

Not so much the formula, but the idea that on a green that is basically a tilted plane that to find the line of the putt it may be usefull to line up multiple putts at different angles since they should all intersect at one target point. A spot directly uphill from the hole.

Bryan K wrote:

merlin3driver wrote: I comitted that formula to memory and will bring along my TI scientific calculator to use the next time I have a sidehill putt. Don't forget your compass and protractor.

All that fancy equipment is not really needed: all you need to do is line up another 1 or 2 putts from the same distance but to the side, to see where the intersection of the 2-3 target lines is. That is now your target: get the speed right and it goes in!

Fascinating read and demonstration on the video. Thanks for those links, George!

This is exactly why I line up everyone else's putts before I make my own.

I think the biggest reason I'm such a terrible lag putter is because I'm usually putting first on lag putts. If I have a 60 foot putt, and the dude on the other side of the hole has a 70 foot putt, my odds of two-putting are greatly increased just by watching his putt.

But of course, I've ever actually played on a green that was a perfect plane.

Mickelson I think does something similar, he will try to find the putt, equidistant to his, that goes straight in, and then work off that.

I had a wide range of reactions when I read this paper from skepticism to confusion to futility to scorn and eventually to understanding and acceptance, at least partially. I think it's basically saying that when you're not sure of how a putt breaks, try imagining some similar putts from different angles and that can sometimes help you locate the right aim point. I might give it a thought next time I'm out there.

I've read more than once through the years that most amateurs don't read enough break into most putts and that if you think it breaks a foot, then play it at a foot and a half. I usually double the number that I intially read it at and it actually has worked out pretty well.

What do you do when you are so bad in math that you think a polygon is a dead parrot?

@Joe Jones: than you start playing golf

In this world, there are three kinds of people. Those that are good at math and those that are not.

merlin3driver wrote:

In this world, there are three kinds of people. Those that are good at math and those that are not.

There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who do not.