50 Words or Less
The WhyGolf Putting Thing is an effective putting trainer that allows you to dial in your start line and putter path. Wide range of difficulty settings. Intuitive. Alignment rail is a smart addition and a built-in Stimpmeter.
Introduction
The WhyGolf Putting Thing
Set Up & Ease of Use
Right out of the box, the WhyGolf Putting Thing is ready to use. There is no assembly required, and this is one of the more intuitive trainers, so the instructional videos are not essential*. Adjusting the difficulty and adding or removing the alignment rail are easily accomplished without any tools. The WhyGolf Putting Thing sets up as fast or faster than any of its peers.
*The instructional videos are useful for fully understanding the purpose of the alignment rail and its Stimpmeter function. These videos are clear and right to the point – very well done.
Effectiveness
The purpose behind the WhyGolf Putting Thing is simple: passing the putter head and golf ball through the gates. As you can see above, the putter head gates have six levels of difficulty. The highest difficulty is actually too tight for my LAB Mezz.1 Max [review HERE], so you can really stringent with yourself.
There are four settings of difficulty for the ball gate. Above, you can see them on their tightest setting. There is virtually no room for error. If you can consistently succeed on this setting, you are an unbelievable putter. Below is the zero setting (which WhyGolf doesn’t even count). This gives you a pretty wide margin for error, but that may be enough for new players.
Both gates are highly effective trainers because they provide clear, instant feedback. If your putter or golf ball hits one of the gates, you know immediately that you need to do better.
The WhyGolf Putting Thing could have stopped there and earned my seal of approval, but it has more up its sleeve. Included is the alignment rail, which snaps on top of the Putting Thing (below). This forces the ball onto a perfect path which allows you to see exactly where you’re aimed. This has value for at least three reasons. First, passing the ball through the gate is a lot more fun if the ball also goes in the cup, which you can guarantee with the alignment rail. Second, it can help you work on your reads if you use the Putting Thing on a breaking putt. Third, it can help you work on speed control, too, especially if your putt has some break in it.
WhyGolf has also made the alignment rail into a Stimpmeter. You can gently roll the ball out of the notch on the backside, then use built-in ruler to get the green’s speed. For serious, competitive players, knowing the exact speed of the green can be a competitive advantage.
Finally, the construction of the WhyGolf Putting Thing tells me that this was designed by real golfers. It’s only 1/16″ thick, so you feel like you’re making a natural putting motion. There are several alignment aids around the ball to help you see your line and square your putter face. Finally, four holes around the edges allow you to secure the Putting Thing to the ground with tees so you don’t need to adjust it after every mistake.
Longevity
With indoor and outdoor usability, a wide range of difficulty settings, and compact size, the WhyGolf Putting Thing gets very high marks on longevity. As always, you need to be honest with yourself about whether or not you actually want to practice, but, if you do, the Putting Thing will become a regular part of your routine.
Value
The WhyGolf Putting Thing retails for $99, though it’s on sale for $79 at the time of this writing. You can buy it HERE.
Stacking the high effectiveness, longevity, and ease of use against the average price shows us that the Putting Thing is an excellent training aid value.
Conclusion
The WhyGolf Putting Thing
Buy the WhyGolf Putting Thing HERE
Editor In Chief at Plugged In Golf
He founded Plugged In Golf in 2013 with the goal of helping all golfers play better and enjoy the game more.
Matt lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with his wife and two daughters.