Next, we move on to hit some putts from eight-feet and position a GEL putting alignment mirror directly at the hole on what we know is a straight putt.

Once I’m into my ideal eye position and balanced posture, I make a series of putts wearing a pair of winter mitts to sandwich the putter between both hands. Matt also uses Velcro to attach an alignment stick to my upper arms, giving a real sense of my shoulders’ actual alignment, as you can see above.

“This has the dual benefit of helping to square your shoulders in relation to the target line. It also reduces any unwanted manipulation from the hands at the moment of impact.”

From here, I’m not allowed to hit a putt until my eyes, shoulders and putter face are all aligned correctly.

“Wearing the mitts reduces the ability of your hands to ‘grip’ the putter,” says Matt, “and as a result requires you to use your shoulders far more. This helps reduce manipulation of the hands through the impact area.”

I subsequently rolled a few putts into the centre of the cup and he tells me: “Straight away this shows we can create a stable and repeatable stroke quickly through a combination of putter fitting and stroke mechanics.”

I continue to hit putts, switching between mitts and my hands on the handle to help integrate new feelings into my stroke, before hitting more putts with the Quintic Ball Roll camera fired up. The data returns far more green digits – revealing a reduction in cut spin, an increase in initial rotation and, as you can see from the illustration above, a quicker forward rotation.

Three months on…

Long-term benefits, of course, rely on the work you put in once you’ve left the London Putting Academy. But now, when I miss a putt I can identify whether I pushed or pulled it, mis-read it or hit it at the wrong pace.

“We’re all human and we all miss putts,” says Matt. “The key to improvement is to understand why a putt missed, so that you can go back to the practice green knowing what you need to improve.”

I now have a pre-putt routine completely influenced by my day with an expert putter-fitter, his words and methods running through my head every time I stand over my ball.

Has it improved my putting? Absolutely. I won’t bore you with the stats but it’s clear my day at the London Putting Academy has had a drastic but positive impact on my game.

All I need now is to groove what I’ve learned into my putting stroke naturally and hole more putts without thinking about the technicalities.

Have you ever been custom fit for a putter? Tell us about it in the forum below and on our Facebook page. You can also tweet us at @Golfmagic. Visit the London Putting Academy website for more information and details of how to contact Matt.