The basics in any good game of golf are how well does one putt with the lowest scores. Experts swear that putting is more of a mind game than plain technique. Thus, the skills to read the greens well and determine where the green breaks can greatly help a golfer to putt differently so that the ball sinks! Golf putting plumb is the technique to determine how the golf ball would be putted.

Plumb Bobbing In Putting

Plumb bobbing is a method to confirm that the putting conditions are such that the golfer needs to make a strike towards the left or the right. In order to plumb bob, you must stand behind the ball and align accordingly with the hole. Now, lift the putter and the shaft hanging vertically on the ball. Now try to observe the position of the ball. If the hole is towards the left side of the shaft, then the green is likely to break in that direction. If the hole is towards the right side, then the green is to break in that direction.

Golf Putting Plumb Limitations

There is a big debate surrounding the usefulness of plum bobbing in the field of golf putting. Some experts believe that good golfers must avoid plumb bobbing as they claim that the technique of reading the green is flawed. To many such non-believers, plumb bobbing is just a technique to know where he/she stands in terms of putting the ball inside the cup! But the truth is that plumb bobbing is effective in reading the green only, but the entire decision of how best to align the ball is taken by the golfer. Many golfers believe that plumb bobbing does not work because it simply gives hint to the golfer that the green is uneven in certain places and does not do anything else.

The question is: then how Ben Crenshaw and Hale Erwin are benefited by the technique of putting plumb on the greens? Many authors argue that in both the cases of these pro golfers, they have already read the greens well and simply do plumb bobbing to prepare for the final putting stroke.

Supporters of Golf Putting Plumb

There are yet golfers who swear by the merits in the technique of practicing plumb bobbing. They state that putting plumbs are most effective in hilly areas. The putt may appear to be breaking on the left side but actually having a right-handed break. This can be avoided if one practices golf plumbs putting before taking the task in hand. Plumb bobbing reduces the chances of optical illusion in such cases.

Some also argue that plumb bobbing is merely a vertical line that is superimposed on the view of the target line. This hence, gives a player an idea of the breaks in the green and how the ball is going to move after a seemingly flat green!