[danny_shank]

I think that this is a good point in that "hole line" steering on breaking putts inevitably, in my hands, leads to misses! BUT some concept of distance to target is needed. Distance targets don't cause steering problems though. There was a recent article in golf monthly, i think,which showed benefit of putting whilst looking at hole throughout the entire stroke. Took less than 30 mins practice for a group of average players to outlag putt a similar group of players who spent the same 30 mins practice normal style. Effect not present on short putts though.

As an aside in snooker it is common practice to be taught to look at the object ball and not the cue ball. In fact looking at the cue ball is often described as a fault as its said to be like playing with your eyes closed. I find this an interesting fact as the striking of the cue ball in snooker is just as if not more a precise task than the golf putt.