Many pros believe that spin absolutely has an affect on the putt.  Some players are completely sure that applying roll on a putt helps it out of the fringe.  Others believe applying roll to a putt reduces the chance of a rollover on a steep downhill putt.  Some believe that backspin helps slow a putt and gives you a better chance of reducing rollovers.  And many pros just laugh because they think that spin simply has no effect on the putt.  The stance from IT has been that spin SHOULD NOT have any affect on the putt, because spin has not been programmed into the game to affect the putt differently.  Yet the pros are the ones playing on a daily basis, so their opinions and results are certainly basis for this debate!

Finally, many pros believe that distance balls putt faster and farther than normal balls.  The evidence behind this is pretty easy to see by doing a couple tests.  I haven’t heard IT refute this one.

THE TAKEAWAY: Do what “you believe” helps you.  If you think that you make more putts by applying spin, then by all means, continue doing so.  But know that there is no true evidence to support this behavior, at least from the programming point of view!  Also know that the farther your ball goes off the tee, the farther it will go on the green during a putt, albeit not a very significant amount.
PLAYER CLAIM: Pulling back to A or C on downhill putts helps prevent rollovers.
IT CLAIM: This behavior has some affect, but it’s not programmatical.

It’s widely believed that you need to pull the trackball back to A or C on downhill putts to help prevent the chance of a rollover.  I follow this advice and I believe in it.  However, IT also claims that nothing is programmed into the game to support this theory.  IT did bend on this claim for another reason, though.

Due to the trackball design, it’s possible that a pullback to A, but especially C, slows down the putt due to the design of the trackball.  Angled pullbacks create different reads on the sensors of the trackball, so the evidence supporting this theory may just be physical, due to the design of the trackball and NOT the programming of the game.

In addition, most players hit downhill putts with less force anyway.  When you slow the putt down, it’s got the best chance to go in.

THE TAKEAWAY: Continue pulling back to C on your downhill putts of 5 or more, and try to hit them softer than normal putts.  The combination of the physics of the trackball with the slower velocity should certainly help you minimize your rollovers.
PLAYER CLAIM: Backspin adds elevation to your shot, while roll reduces it.
IT CLAIM: Spin has no effect on the height of your shot.

This one isn’t much of a debate.  While IT says that backspin and roll have not been programmed to alter the height of your shot, there’s overwhelming evidence supporting the contrary.  Specific player tests have proven that backspin gives you a little more elevation on your shot, while roll makes your shot fly a bit lower than with no spin applied.

THE TAKEAWAY: If you are ever in need of a bit of extra elevation, put backspin on your shot.  To reduce the height of your shot, apply roll.  This is, of course, considering distance and the function of the spin itself in addition to elevation.

Let’s say you have a 50-foot putt, Up 5.  You ram it straight ahead, but somehow you miss just left.  To this point, you may have just shaken it off and assumed you didn’t hit the ball as straight as you thought, but in reality, there might have been some break there that you didn’t see.

Here’s what you do: first, take into account the break when lined up with the hole.  Let’s stick with our 50-foot, Up 5 example.  Now, turn your golfer once to the left.  From here, we see there’s an additional break of Left 2.  Now go back and turn your golfer one turn to the right of the hole.  From here, we see it’s still just Up 5.

Hmm — so what does this tell us?  It means that there is actually a little break to the left, even though it’s not reflected when you’re lined up straight!  What you do is average out the breaks you see when turning once left and turning once right.  So in this case, you have to figure that there’s actually additional break of Left 1 on this putt, and you should aim just slightly to the right on your putt.

This practice is most important on uphill putts, because the slope right or left is magnified with uphill putts since your ball is slowing down as it nears the hole.

I’m in the habit of doing this almost all the time on putts outside 30 feet or so.  It doesn’t cost you anything, and it can certainly save you some strokes!

So here’s the deal: any balls known for adding distance to your shot (e.g. the yellow distance balls from 2008 or the Freaks from 2009) also add speed and distance on the green!  They come off the club hotter, reducing the amount of break you need to play on your putt, and they also go longer, possibly enabling you to make that 55-foot up 10 putt that may be impossible with a different ball.

On the downside, they are also more apt to roll over, so you have to be extra careful on severe downhill putts.

It’s simply this — if you’re going to miss, miss on the high side! That means that if the putt breaks left, make sure you miss right if you miss at all, and vice versa for right-breaking putts. Why? Because you have a much greater chance of rolling over the edge if you miss on the low side! With the exception of severe downhill putts, you’ll start to notice that if you miss on the high side, at least you’re safe, and then you can tap in the for the two-putt.

It just seems that the ball loses its momentum if it’s on the high side, and it will stop on the green before rolling over — but, if you miss low, it’ll keep on rolling, often over the edge.

SO, to prevent throwing away at least 2 strokes instead of 1 or 0, make sure that you play enough break to be on the high side of the hole if you miss! This can be a big difference between salvaging a good round and having a blow-up hole that ruins your round altogether!