The moment my game
changed forever

Hendrik Stoffel

This is a story of how I finally overcame my frustration on the greens. How I learned to love putting after decades of a love-hate relationship where the only sparks came from adding new flatsticks in desperation to the ever growing collection.

I started playing golf in my early teens and despite never been the longest hitter, I was always fairly accurate – until I reached the green. My excellent feel for the full swing and half-decent shortgame brought me down to scratch within a few years, but my putting would prevent me from reaching higher heights. 

Still, I could spend hours on the range or just go out and play. Spending even 30 minutes on the practice green however felt like an endless time of frustration and stagnation. Yes, I could complete all my drills and develop a feel for the correct speed. Yet, I never felt the same level of satisfaction, making a 20-footer compared to a smoked baby draw off the tee. 

No matter how my putting practice went, on the course I kept missing crucial putts, leaving plenty short and the worst – I couldn’t figure out whether it was my read or starting line that was off. The fraction of trust I was able to build in practice most of the time faded away before I even reached the 9th green. 

I have always been a visual learner, like so many people are. And luckily enough this winter a new indoor facility opened up not too far away from where I live. One grey, miserable spring day I decided to go there and play a round in the simulator instead of hitting balls in the rain. I ended up not hitting a single ball that day. It turned out, they had this shiny new tech installed on their putting green – an augmented reality tool called PuttView. 

I gave putting practice another chance and wouldn’t be disappointed. Trying out different visuals, directly projected on the green, for ideal line, aim point, roll speed and tempo truly made a difference for me. I finally found this one visual that would stick. I felt like I couldn't miss anymore. A feeling I have never had on the greens. A feeling I hope to keep forever. 

Thanks to PuttView, I now know my starting line and speed are spot on and I can fully trust my stroke – trust myself. Whether a putt falls or not is now just down to having the correct read or not. Something I can practice in a structured, intuitive and fun way with PuttView. Out on the course I now just close my eyes, feel the line and see the ball falling into the cup. Putting just became a fun game within the game of golf for me. The annoying little brother of golf just grew up and turned out to actually be quite cool.