If the putter face is closed to the path by (say) 3* at impact and the ball is on a flat surface, will the axis of the ball tilt and cause the ball to "break"? Sometimes it looks like a ball on the putting green is moving sideways because of the ball spining (forward spin in this case) on a tilted axis.
Putting - Spin Axis
- Thread starter cwdlaw223
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The closed face will tilt the spin axis. The ball typically goes through an airbourne phase, a bounce phase and then a skid phase, which then tranlates into a dynamic roll phase. Once the dynamic roll phase has begun, the ball has no excess or left-over spin motivating it's behavior. It is completely at the mercy of the topography, ie, the ground is rolling the ball.
Futhermore, even if you massively tilt the spin axis at impact, by the time the dynamic roll phase has begun, the ball is rolling exactly end over end (the roll axis is perpendicular to the ground because the ground has taken the tilted spin axis and turned it into a vertical roll axis).
If I were to put a black vertical stripe on the ball, and cut across it, the stripe would no longer be vertical, and the ball would appear to be spinning sideways for it's entire roll, but if I did the same thing and also included a red stripe where the eventual roll axis would be (lot's of trial and error), as the roll phase began, the red stripe would stay perfectly vertical on a straight putt....even as the black stripe "looked" like it was going all over the place.
You cannot hook or slice a putt, or hit a masse shot.
Futhermore, even if you massively tilt the spin axis at impact, by the time the dynamic roll phase has begun, the ball is rolling exactly end over end (the roll axis is perpendicular to the ground because the ground has taken the tilted spin axis and turned it into a vertical roll axis).
If I were to put a black vertical stripe on the ball, and cut across it, the stripe would no longer be vertical, and the ball would appear to be spinning sideways for it's entire roll, but if I did the same thing and also included a red stripe where the eventual roll axis would be (lot's of trial and error), as the roll phase began, the red stripe would stay perfectly vertical on a straight putt....even as the black stripe "looked" like it was going all over the place.
You cannot hook or slice a putt, or hit a masse shot.
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Only for the brief moment when the ball's rotation is counter to the direction it is traveling and it touches the ground. Then depending on the RPM's and the friction between the ball and the ground, it MIGHT initially affect it's direction or even speed. However, such changes would be so minor as to be nearly imperceptable or accountable.
If Billy Mayfair can win with his putting stroke, I doubt you need concern yourself with spin axis on your putts.
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