Putting Alley Review

Putting Alley
Also at Amazon: Original Putting Alley

Grade: A
Teacher’s Comments: Looks simple, but it isn’t.

There are two keys to good putting: reading the line, and delivering the ball to that line.

I don’t know if there’s any way to teach a person how to read a green. That, I think comes from experience and an innate sense of the green.

Delivering the ball to the line, on the other hand, is entirely teachable. A smooth stroke and a straight face at impact are two critical elements.

The Putting Alley is a terrific tool for practicing your putting stroke. It consists of a hard plastic putting surface with a narrow raised groove in the center. The groove on one side is a half an inch wide, and an inch on the other. The goal of the exercise is to deliver the ball to the cop area at the end without having the ball fall into the gutters on the sides.

It is harder than you would think, and very quickly exposes the flaws in your stroke. Observing the direction in which the ball falls off the track (and fall it will), will tell you whether your putter’s face was open or closed at impact. If you can master making a perfectly straight 27 inch putt, you will improve your scoring immensely. Imagine how your scores would fall if you never again missed a two-and-a-half-foot putt.

I’ve practiced with the Alley for a couple of weeks and think that I have straightened out my stroke quite a bit. I have always been a good putter, but if I continue practicing with this over the winter, I think I will be positively deadly.

The Putting Alley comes in four different versions. There are three wood versions for $159 (Beech, Cherry and Walnut), and a tough plastic model (seen in the photo above) for $50.

This golf training aid is priced right and would make a great Christmas gift.

Recommended.