Graphical Putting Insights

This presentation presents in graphical form the results of thousands of offline runs of the web app PuttCalc, at PuttCalc.com, which is a golf training aid. The purpose of PuttCalc is to help golfers putt better through improving their ability to "read greens", i.e., to be aware of the factors that will influence the golf ball, and then determine where to aim the putt, and how hard to hit it.

This presentation is also intended to be a resource for golf putting instructors, giving them fresh insights into the many factors involved in putting.

PuttCalc is based on physics models of the factors influencing a putt. These factors include: green speed, slope, distance, position of the ball relative to the fall line, and characteristics of the ball. Though PuttCalc also models grain and wind, those factors were not included in the calculations used to produce this presentation.

The graphs in this presentation are not a feature of the online app. They were created by the developer working with an offline version of the app.

The presentation also includes two slides of summary tables.

This presentation is meant to be a complement to the online app, and to the free user manual that is available from the website.

v1.1: In this updated version of the presentation, three charts were added that may be of interest to golf course superintendents. These charts cover "conforming" slope limits for locating pins, and also critical wind speeds for balls at rest on the green.

Of more general interest, this updated version includes in the appendix comments on all the slides preceding the appendices.

v1.1.1: Another update: Added slide number references to the locations of the comments in the appendices for those slides that are commented on.