Visio T-Line Putting Training Aid

In this article, the latest in a series of deep dives into Visio Golf Putting Training Aids, we’re going to take a closer look at the T-Line putting aid, and how you can use it to develop some of the key skills you’re going to need to become a great putter.

Feedback on 3 three key skills in putting

The T-Line is designed to give you feedback in three really important areas.

1. The first one is your perception of straight. Do you have a perceptual bias and how you can best manage that bias? By laying the T-Line on the ground, lined up directly at the hole, the unique features of the T-Line are going to allow you to take your setup position and refine your perception of straight.
   
   
2. The second thing is that the T line is going to help give you feedback on your alignment. Once the tool is aligned at your target, you’re going to have distinct references for the clubface being square or the line being lined up at your target line. And that’s going to help refine what square to the target looks like.
   
   
3. While finally, striking putts down the T-Line is going to give you feedback on your start line, if you can actually roll the ball down the T-Line, then you’re starting the ball within 0.75 degrees of error, which is a really accurate start line.

How to practice with the T-Line putting training aid

So let’s have a look at how we can use the T-Line and what we need to focus on to get the most out of those three aforementioned elements of feedback.

Perceptual Bias

The first thing we need to do is align the T-Line device directly at the hole. Once we’ve got it lined up at the hole, we then need to take our setup position. And what you’ll immediately notice is when you’re in your setup position, you’ll get a perception of where that line points. For a lot of golfers that line won’t point at the middle of the hole, you could have a perceptual bias and understanding that can help you adapt to try and improve it. So by tweaking your setup position, you can very easily alter your perception of where that line points.

If you have a perceptual bias that could be the driver as to why you aim poorly, or indeed want to manipulate or override things with the putting stroke in order to start the ball on a particular line. For example, if that line was to look left of the target, it’s very common for the for the golfer to want to align to the right or stroke it to the right to account for that perception.

That misperception of the line looking left can very easily create a push bias. So by getting into your setup position, and then refining your setup position either through distance from the ball, neck bend and or ball position, we can start to play around with those features of the setup. In order to best find where that straight line looks straight, or where the perpendicular reference looks square.

So immediately the T-Line is going to help give you a sense of your ideal setup position.

Square putter face alignment

Once we’ve got the T-Line in place, we then have a perpendicular reference from which we can square the club face to and then that’s going to give us distinct feedback on the face angle. We can start to manage what that clubface angle looks like when it’s square to the target line. The other thing that we can do, which is a great drill for outside on a practice putting green, is once we’ve got the tool lined up, use a Sharpie or marker pen and draw a line just on the edge of the perpendicular reference then remove the T-Line. So then when we go back in we have a reference for our clubface angle. We can then practice the clubface being square to the target without the T-Line in place.

Starting putts on your intended start line

Now with the T-Line back in place, the final element of feedback that we’re going to look at is our ability to start the ball on line. Place a golf ball down on the putting aid, take your set up to the ball and putt the ball along the device towards your intended target. By hitting some putts down the T-Line we’re going to gain feedback as to the clubface angle and your strike location at impact. If the clubface is closed or we’re going to strike it out the heel it’s very easy for the ball to start left of the T-Line or if the clubface is open, or we strike out the toe, then it’s very easy for the ball to start right of the T-Line. We are going to need less than 0.75 degrees of error in our start line in order to roll the ball down the T-Line. So practicing our ability to consistently putt the ball on our intended line and get the ball rolling along the length of the T-Line is fantastic practice for improving clubface alignment and control.

In summary

So in summary, we’ve got three really clear elements of feedback;

1. Feedback on your perception of the line. If we have to change our setup in order for us to perceive that line better, then I would encourage you to do that.
2. Feedback on clubface alignment.
3. And feedback on our ability to start the ball online.

So practicing with a T-Line is going to help refine three really really critical skills that you need to develop in order to become a great putter. We can use it on a straight putt or we can also use the T-Line on a breaking putt by working around the green with a T-Line, lining it up to your target point it’s actually going to give you great feedback on your green reading and your ability to asses break. You’re going to have to align the T-Line directly to a functional read in order for you to strike the ball down that T-Line and for the ball to go into the hole. So it’s quite a versatile putting training aid. You don’t just have to use it on straight putts. It’s also going to help give you feedback on any perceptual bias on a breaking putt as well as a straight putt.

So, the T-Line is a great putting aid for feedback, perception, aim and start line, give it a try and gain precise feedback on your putting stroke and #practicewithpurpose with Visio Golf.