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We all know the importance of putting but few of us practice enough. We try the Back 2 Basics Golf Pro Path putting mirror to see if it helps and makes practice fun.
We all know the importance of putting but few of us practice enough. We try the Back 2 Basics Golf Pro Path putting mirror to see if their putting drills help and makes for a fun training aid.
An excellent putting aid. With the accessories it makes a comprehensive practice system.
PROS
CONS
Putting has never been a great strength of mine. Recently I have become increasingly at risk of receiving a custodial sentence for crimes against golf due to my horrendous putting. It was serendipitous, then, that the Back 2 Basics Golf Pro Path putting mirror was passed to me to review. This type of putting practice aid is used widely by pros and coaches. This one is endorsed by Cameron Smith. I tested the mirror with putting gates, string and target holes.
It came nicely presented with the mirror in a soft cover. It will save it from scratching but I think I will buy the optional travel case (£36) as this is likely to spend its life in my car boot. In the box were the 4 putting gates, labelled 0 to 3 in increasing width. There are stands available separately to use them on a carpet. They are only £7 on the website and this is my only gripe with an otherwise excellent set up. Why not include them with the gates for a few extra pounds?
The mirror itself is quite sturdy and has print on both sides so can be used by both right and left handed golfers. There is a cut out area at the front for the ball. On the mirror there is a thin straight line and a thicker 12° arc. Perpendicular to the arc are lines for face alignment. There are holes at the corners for tee pegs to keep it still. Either side of each face-alignment lines are further holes. These are to place tee pegs to further define your putter’s path. On the thin straight line there are holes to place tee pegs to restrict your backswing if this is an issue. At the bottom edge is a line parallel to the straight line to help align your shoulders.
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The mirror covers a lot of ground in a fairly compact object. It is well designed and the multiple features are all helpful.
One of the issues that makes golf such a difficult game is that diagnosing faults is hard. Knowing how to fix the fault is also hard. Finally, actually executing the fix is extremely hard. Due to the putting stroke being simpler, my impression is that most amateur golfers do not place as much importance on this aspect of putting practice. A recent putting lesson showed me what I was doing wrong (almost everything, as it happens). I was then shown how to correct this. The feeling was so alien to me and so far removed from what I was actually doing it would have been very difficult to practise this without some aid. Enter the Pro Path mirror which gives me everything I needed to ensure I could monitor my stroke in real time.
My errors are a good example of how useful this aid is. I was taking my putter back on an extreme inside arc and opening the face. The face never returned to square. Taking the putter back correctly felt to me as if I was taking it back outside the line with a very closed face. Without objective evidence and feedback of what I was doing I was never going to sort this out.
The convenience of being able to throw the mirror down on a putting green and hit some putts to check these two aspects effortlessly, demonstrated to me the benefit of the Pro Path mirror. You could do this at home on your carpet or warming up before a round to hone the feel of your stroke. Beyond this it only took a couple of minutes to set this up tee pegs and the gates to use the more sophisticated exercises.
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The back to basics website is full of useful videos to help you putt with with and without their putting aids.
I was provided with two of the extra items, the Stringline and the Target Ghost Holes. The stringline gives you a straight line from the pro path mirror to your aim point. I found this really helpful for me to commit to the correct line. The target holes come in a pack of three silicone hole-sized discs you can put on the practice green and have a target to putt to. One half has 3 segments drawn on them which I assume is to have a more specific point to aim at allowing for the break of the putt. I found them most useful for longer putts to practise distance control. Because I knew they are not holes I was completely focussed on distance control. I found this to be more useful than putting to an actual hole.
There more I used this, the more excited I became about using it. For the price of a dozen premium golf balls you can get a portable aid that has to improve your golf. For the price of 2 or 3 dozen balls, you get a putting practice system that is versatile and will give you multiple options to improve every weakness in your putting or consolidate your strengths. Highly recommended.
Available: Now
RRP: Pro Path Putting Mirror £53, Putting Gates £22, String Line £22, Stands for Gates £7, Target Holes £22 for 3 / From $59.99
More information: Back2Basics Golf UK / Back2Basics Golf US
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