The Midland inventor behind the block hockey stick believes he’s found a system that could revolutionize golf by turning an average duffer into a PGA Tour pro.
Donavon Quackenbush calls his new putting technique the “I’m Aligned” method and says it employs simple geometry and body alignment to help a golfer go from a three- or four-putt player on the green to a one-putter.
To test out his alignment theory, Quackenbush installed two golf holes in front of his Midland home.
“During testing, I was standing over the ball, facing the pin,” he explains, pointing out, traditionally, golfers will look toward the pin at an angle while lining up their shots.
“I was looking down at the ball, then back up at the pin flag, to try to get a straight putt for the test. As the direction will always be out somewhat, the ball will always miss or go in the hole. It will not be by science, but instead more by chance.”
Quackenbush says looking up and down is fine for finding a line of travel but doesn’t achieve the ultimate goal of going into the cup since the putter face isn’t properly aligned.
But when he started standing behind the ball to align it using a pistol grip that he would then translate to his putter and using specially marked shoes, his chances of the ball going into the hole greatly improved.
“I then looked at the putter face, and set it exactly towards the pin, then held it very steady by pressing it a bit into the grass, then swung the body around to the putting direction, and did a smooth stroke with range control, and made a putt to within inches to the pin, and a few putts later, a hole-in-one from 30 feet out,” he says.
Quackenbush says one doesn’t need a $700 putter to use the alignment method. In fact, he even shows MidlandToday how he can sink putts using the aforementioned block hockey stick or even a large block of wood.
“Shocking. The eye and body nicely resolve this accuracy. I not only have witnesses, but the one neighbour who golfs made the close putts and hole-in-oned over and over also.
“Also, eyes work in the horizontal plane. They track motion horizontally. So, when golfers line up over the ball and look left or right on an angle, the eyes and brain cannot find the correct line to putt.
“My ‘I’m Aligned’ discovery is (like) the isosceles triangle, of which the golfers’ two arms, locked elbows, and hands form.”
But that’s not all he’s discovered.
“I made another major discovery,” he says. “As you may know, a golf putter shaft is about 70 degrees vertical. It acts like the pendulum in a grandfather clock.”
Quackenbush says the actual round shaft itself needs more weight — not a heavier putter head, but more dead weight just above the head on the around shaft.
“And it must face towards the ground towards gravity and the lie angle,” he says, noting manufacturers should consider adding this weight to the putters they produce.
“This was not only done, and found to stabilize the swing, but it seems to have an inertial gyro effect, which stops the putter-face wobble.”
To watch Part 1 of Quackenbush’s four-part video series on the “I’m Aligned” method, click here.
