"Plumb Bobbing" - What The Heck Is That?

Have you ever seen one of your golf buddies holding his putter out in front of his body with one eye closed while lining up a putt and wondered what the heck they are doing? The technique they are using is often referred to as the "plumb bob".  Plumb bobbing is a method used on the putting green to find which way a putt will break. It works only on putts that have one break in them; plumb bobbing a putt with more than one break will show only which way the ball will travel on the break closest to the hole.

 

***This method is about as exact as weather forecasting, but it gives you a general idea.

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

 

Step 1

Crouch 10 to 15 feet behind your golf ball as it sits on the putting green.

Step 2

Hold the putter just under the grip with your thumb and forefinger so that the putter dangles in front of your body perpendicular to the ground.

Step 3

Line up the shaft of the golf club so that it intersects both the golf ball and hole. The ball will appear to be at the bottom of the shaft and the hole will be toward the top.

Step 4

Look at the hole with your dominant eye. To determine which eye is dominant, hold up your thumb to an object in the distance and look at the object with each eye individually. The eye that makes your thumb move away from the object the least is dominant.

Step 5

Look at which side of the shaft the hole appears to be on. This is the way the putt will break. If the hole appears on the left side of the shaft, the ball will break to the left and vice versa.