Putting is a facet of the game that is too often neglected by amateurs. Yes it’s true, practicing five foot putts is not as stimulating as hammering the driver, but if you really want to takes some strokes off your scores the best thing you can do is become a better putter.
Even though I would like to believe that I practice putting as much as the other parts of my game, it just isn’t true. That’s about to change thanks to the Little Murph from Truline Greens.
Truline Greens offers indoor/outdoor putting greens that finally bring realistic putting to the home. A quick setup, superb functionality and the ability to now practice inside makes this a perfect training aide.
The Truline Big Murph and Little Murph are Made in the USA, come in two standard sizes and are offered in two different green speeds. Specifically, the sizes are:
• Big Murph: 12’ long x 5’6” wide
• Little Murph: 10’ long x 4’ wide
Speed wise, you can get amateur speed (10 on the Stimpmeter) or TourSpeed (12 on the Stimpmeter).
Moreover, Truline can customize the size and even add your logo.
There were two things that impressed me right out the gate. First was the fact that from the time it took me to open the box to actually putting was about 20 seconds. I thought for sure that after being packaged and rolled up in the box that there was going to be some break-in time needed. Not the case at all, from the time it took me to unroll it, flip it, grab my putter and step on the green to putt it was good to go.
What else impressed me was the quality; the craftsmanship of the Little Murph is outstanding. This isn’t one of those $29.95 putting strips you’ll find at Target or In Flight Magazine. You know the ones I’m talking about, the 1’ wide 6’ long pieces of fabric that has the cheesy ball return. Nope, Truline has developed a world class putting green that I bet even the greenskeepers at Augusta would awe over.
The Little Murph dimensions are perfect for my situation and anyone with a hallway or medium-sized room. Not everyone has an area of the house where they can set up a permanent “indoor” putting green. The ability to quickly roll up the Little Murph, place it back in the box and store it in a hall closet makes it perfect for a quick putting session.
Without a doubt the best feature of the Truline putting greens are the greens themselves. I’ve putted on quite a few synthetic surfaces in my time and the Truline is hands down the best I have ever used. The ball rolls absolutely flawlessly. How real you ask? Real enough for you to channel your inner Camillio.
You will notice that the last 3.5’ of the Little Murph has a small incline, provided by a foam backing, which allows the ball to “drop” into the cup. The cup itself is set back 17” from the back edge allowing you to go at the cup aggressively to practice getting the ball to the hole. A backstop is provided in the event you get a little too pumped up and really let one go. There’s no need to worry about wear either, the turf handles the traffic walking to and from the cup to retrieve your balls without any adversity, even the foam backed area near the cup.
Truline also includes two rubber tubes, each in a different diameter which you can use to add break to your putts (yup, you can add break!). They also include some distance markers so you can measure out a 5’ putt, mark it and always know you’re hitting from five feet. The straight putt on the Truline alone makes it completely worth the investment, but the added feature to be able to create different breaks for your practice sessions and mark off a specific distance has been an added bonus.
I use the word investment for a reason. The Big Murph and Little Murph retail for $429 and $329 for the Tour speed versions, $409 and $309 for the amateur versions. That’s a lot of cash to be dishing out on just one area of your game improvement. On the other hand, if you struggle with the flat stick and you’re committed to improving I can highly recommend a Truline Green. After only using the Little Murph for only 7 days, I went out and recorded just 14 putts over 9 holes. I can’t say that was entirely due to the Little Murph but I know practicing those pesky six footers at home made them a lot less nervewracking on the course.
Since that time, I have continued to really enjoy practicing with the Truline Green and have seen my putting confidence and accuracy improve each week.
You can view the full product line on the Truline Greens Web site
