Patent ID: 6837799

Claim:
A method of aligning a putter, comprising the steps of: providing a putter having a head, a heel, a toe, a top surface, and a planar striking face comprising a removable reflecting surface for receiving and reflecting incident light, the top surface comprising at least one first reference line oriented substantially parallel to the striking face and a plurality of second reference lines oriented substantially perpendicular to the striking face; providing a light source separate from the putter head; directing light from the light source towards the reflecting surface such that the reflective surface is illuminated with and reflects a portion of the light towards a reference device; detecting the reflected light with a reference device, wherein the reference device is a photosensitive array and the reflected light incident upon the photosensitive array generates a signal capable of being transferred to an output device visible to a golfer; determining the location of the reflected beam on the reference device relative to a central point prior to the golfer making a putting stroke; correcting the orientation of the putter so that the reflected beam is directed at the center of the reference device; and using the reference lines to provide a visual reference point to the golfer indicative of putter orientation.