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.
Buy the WhyGolf Putting Thing HERE
Introduction
Winter has fully set in for much of the country, meaning that many golfers are reduced to rolling putts indoors. And while any golf is better than no golf, you should be aiming to get the most out of your practice time so you can putt better than ever in the spring. The WhyGolf Putting Thing is an intuitive, easy to use trainer that can help you do just that.
Check out our other Blue Ribbon Gear putting trainers HERE
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 get 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, 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 the 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
If you’re ready to switch from “just rolling some putts” to “dialing in my putting to lower my handicap,” you should seriously consider adding the WhyGolf Putting Thing to your kit. This trainer can go anywhere, works for golfers of all levels, and takes virtually no time to set up.
Buy the WhyGolf Putting Thing HERE
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.
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9 Comments
Nice take-off on a decades old Dave Pelz Aid … at least you don’t need to chase down steel ball bearing as in Pelz’ Aid. Stimp is new. If I did not have the Pelz Aid, I’d go for it. Pricey though.
Pricey? At $ 79? Eh, Jerry, many, if not most training aids are now north of $ 100. Even the “Stack” speed trainer with all of its bells and whistles is going for what, $ 300 or more? Orange Whips? North of $ 100. Respectfully, the price quoted for the putting thing is almost a bargain comparatively speaking.
I like the look of this and the putter gates on it(something I do as a warmup with tees on the practice green). It doesn’t look like it is a mirror(which would be ideal). I might have to customize my perfect putt mirror into something like this. I also think it is a touch expensive, maybe around $50 would be more like it.
Keith,
I’ll echo what Steve said – in 2025, a training aid this good under $100 is not expensive. You may not see value in it – that’s a personal evaluation – but this is very fairly priced relative to other training aids.
Best,
Matt
If your Mezz1 was to tight, I am “assuming my LAB DF 2.1 will not fit the putter gate…???
Kevin,
The only setting that didn’t fit the Mezz is the tightest one – there are plenty of settings that will fit the Mezz or DF 2.1
-Matt
EVERYBODY IS PRICE GOUGING, AND GOLF “STUFF” IS THE VERY WORST. $500 FOR A PUTTER OR DRIVER IS PLAIN STUPID. AS SOON AS YOU WALK OUT OF THE STORE, IT’S WORTH 40% LESS.
No offense, Richard. But glad you got that off your chest. Since your use of caps indicates shouting, you might find it more of a release to just open your windows and give a good yell at the golf industry. You’ll feel better.
Richard, you do know you’re not obligated to purchase new equipment, right? Secondary markets are everywhere. The prices set for new equipment, are the prices that the public is willing to pay. That’s not even remotely comparable to price gouging. It’s simple demand.