Putting · Mental Model

Orthodox putter face: open at back, closing to impact

The fitter defines an orthodox putting stroke by its face rotation: the face should sit about 2.5 degrees open at the back of the stroke and gain closure to about 2.5 degrees closed by impact. A stroke where the face instead keeps opening as it approaches the ball is going the wrong way, and he ties this pattern to struggles on left-to-right putts: on a long putt (around 50 feet) on a slow green, a rapidly opening face sends the ball leaking out to the right.