What is the purpose of the putting alignment gate?
When you read the putting line, you connect the ball to the hole with your eyes and imagination: what line will the ball roll on to the hole - straight, or with a break from left to right - or even slightly from right to left? How much does the green slope - or is it uphill? You have to consider many things before you can execute the putt.
No device can help you read the line the ball will take to the hole correctly - only your visual skills, your experience, and repeated practice will improve your green reading. Once you have fixed the putting line, you note a prominent spot on the putting line that is approx. 40-50cm in front of the ball (e.g. a prominent blade of grass, a slight change in grass color, etc.). For the putt to be executed, this is now your reference point, over which your ball must roll if it follows the putting line.
If you train with the Birdie Pod, this reference point is practically in the middle of the putting alignment gate. Set up the Birdie Pod so that the putting alignment rod is directly over the putting line you have read and is practically congruent with it. The putting line thus passes centrally through the putting alignment gate.
Now you can start:
Place your ball directly under the reference ball, which is on the putting alignment rod, and position your putter centrally and square, i.e. at a 90-degree angle to the putting line, behind your ball.
This gives you the best chance that your putter will also hit the ball square at impact. If you address your ball "crookedly" from the start, it is highly likely that the clubface will not hit the ball square, and it will roll past the hole, hitting the putting alignment gate beforehand.
Even with players with a low handicap, you often see that they don't really square the clubface to the ball. However, this is a "must" to putt consistently well and further improve your handicap.
If you also keep your left eye directly over the reference ball throughout the entire swing, so that your ball "disappears" directly under it, you have certainly already done a lot right. The putting alignment gate will unequivocally show you whether this is the case - if your ball passes unimpeded through the gate, everything is good so far. It is on the right path to the hole.
The gate posts are designed to swing freely. The width of the gate can be varied depending on your skill level. The more you train, the closer you will be able to set the posts.
If we want to answer the initial question "What is the purpose of the putting alignment gate?" now, it is that the putting alignment gate serves for direction control.
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