The first thing to catch my eye with this PuttOut training aid was that it is very small and portable, so I could take it to the course or while traveling. That’s’ a plus in my book. I opened the box, and found that the device was made of plastic and included an instruction sheet. I immediately went downstairs and set this on my 14ft synthetic putting green. I started with setting the plug at the “in” position (there are 2 options with the plug “in”, so it’s flat or with the plug “out”, so the ball stays in the small hole). When you hit a good putt, the ball rolls back to you. It seemed to work just fine, and when I made a good stroke, the ball came almost back to me as the instructions noted it would. When I made a bad put, the ball would go off the side and sometimes behind the training aid. After a few misses, I grabbed about 6 balls so I was not going back and forth after every two or three putts.
The next test was to push the plug to the “out” position so when you make a good putt, the ball goes in to the hole. I started at a distance of about 8 feet away and putted a few balls. Three went straight to the hole but wouldn’t stay in and rolled almost back to me, very similar to what happened when the plug was “in”. I then moved closer to a six foot distance and tried again, with similar results. My final test was from three feet out, and again the results were the same. I couldn’t get a ball to go into the hole with the plug “out”. Not sure if the hole is too small, but even placing the ball in the hole by hand was not simple to do.
Here’s what the manufacturer says about the product…
Hole More Putts
The key to great putting is practice
PuttOut is a scientifically shaped target which rejects bad putts and returns good ones
Each successful putt is returned the same distance it would have gone past the hole if it had missed – great feedback for getting the pace just right.
PuttOut is made from chunky rubber and translucent plastic
Practice anytime, anywhere; on carpet or a putting green
The company website is www.puttout.golf
Suggested retail price – $29.99
My overall opinion is that this item can be a useful putting training aid while traveling and/or stuck indoors in the cold winter months. . It would be better if the ball actually stayed in the hole when you take the plug out. Not sure this is a must have, but its unique and portable, which is unlike most other putting training aids.
