Q: What should I do first?

A: That's an easy one. Stop hitting, start rolling. How? That's easy too - just shorten your backswing and lengthen your through swing. Want to know what else you can do to improve? Send me a video of your putting stroke on the Boom. Because it's a putting standard I'll be able to give you some feedback, and drills, to help you improve or even learn the Boomerang Technique.

Q: Why do I keep missing the Boomerang?

A: You're standing too far away. The whole idea of the Boomerang is to build confidence, not wreck it. If you can't hit your line consistently from 8ft, then try 6ft. If 6ft is still too hard, try 4ft. Whatever it takes to get that little white thing coming back to you all the time.

Q: I just stood on my Boom. How can I fix it?

A: Not such a silly question, I've done it too. Over the years I've heard of damage caused by inebriated adults, sleepwalking kids, playful pets, vehicles and even strollers. The good news is, one of the improvements we made since the last model was designing a leg assembly that responds well to DIY. By making it from wire, and making it easily detachable, you can repair it yourself in just a few minutes.

When fixing your Boom's wire leg, the important thing is to get it as flat and square as possible. To do that just detach it and place it on a flat surface. Bend it until you are happy it's flat and square, then reattach it to the ramp section. After you bend your support bar it will be necessary to use a small piece of adhesive tape to keep it in place.

Finally, flip your Boom over and test it with a marble, or golf ball, to make sure the leg is square and your Boom is sitting without a break. If that's not the case, if your marble or golf ball comes to rest on either side of the centre mark, just tweak it half an inch either way until your marble comes to rest in the centre. This is pure trial and error until you get it exactly how you want it. Note, you can also try this to compensate for a slightly uneven surface, but my rule of thumb is it's better to be on a perfectly level surface every time.

Q: My Boomerang just collapsed, is it broken?

A: Your Boomerang is a precise training device and requires a certain level of control to master it. Your Boom has been purposely designed to collapse when a putt is struck too firmly into the back of the cup. If you're just starting out, and don't have such good control yet, don't panic. A simple piece of adhesive tape on the underside of the Boomerang is enough to hold the wire leg in place, until your control improves.

What's the best way to improve your control? Easy answer, let me teach you the Boomerang Technique.

Q: I'm a pro, can a Boomerang help me?

A: One to two shots per round. That's what I reckon the Boom is worth to a someone who's already good enough to make their living with a flat stick. Can you put a dollar figure on that? Well, yes you can, and I can hear your brain whirring as you do so. In some cases that amounts to a lot of money, in other cases, just a lot of pride.

How does the Boom save shots? It's quite simple really. Repetition, accuracy, feedback and fun. A good player can harness that specific combination of features to turn lip-outs into lip-ins. Are you a good putter? Do you hit good putts, but miss by fractions of an inch? Then get a Boom and discover what precision really is.

Q: Can I hit a downhill putt on the Boomerang?

A: No and yes. No, because it's impossible to putt downhill on an incline. And yes, because you're practicing an inch perfect lag putt and, because you don't need to shag balls, you can do so very efficiently, four to five hundred times an hour.

If that's as clear as mud, let me explain. The first part of the Boomerang's challenge is to trap a ball in the target. Sounds easy, but it's not. As the target is only a depression, rather than a hole, it requires absolute precision to master. A ball will only stay in the Boomerang's target if it's literally inch-perfect*, all other putts will come back to your feet. Thus, despite being an incline, the first putt you need to master, in order to beat the Boomerang, is an inch perfect lag putt.

*The Boom's target is actually on a thread so you can wind it down for kids or beginners, and up for pros or great putters. Inch perfect is where I like it though, it sorts the wheat from the chaff mighty fast.

Q: Dave Pelz says to putt 18" past the hole. How do I do that on the Boomerang?

A: After you've trapped a ball in the Boomerang's target use a second ball, struck with the correct amount of force, to dislodge the first ball, returning both balls to your feet.

The force required to dislodge the fist ball is, coincidentally, the equivalent of putting the second ball 16-18 inches past the hole. Any less and you'll risk trapping both balls in the target, any more and the putt can double-kiss, failing to come back all together. If you think that sounds easy, try playing Boomerang Matchplay, it's not.

Even though the Boom's target is enclosed and you can't actually see the ball travel past the hole, you can still measure that distance by how effective it is in releasing your first ball from the target.

Q: If I only putt on the Boomerang will it mess up my distance control?

A: Don't just practice on the Boom. Mix up your practice, alternate with a real practice green, and don't forget to mix up your levels. That will

Right, so how do you translate that 10ft uphill Boom putt into a 10ft flat, down hill, or side hill putt? You work off your baseline, which is a 10ft slightly up hill putt, and you modify your stroke accordingly. The same way that if you were to PBTN and groove 6ft, 10ft and 15ft flat putts, you'd need to adapt one of those to a 12ft up hill putt you found yourself with during a round. Look, I could continue on like this all day, and probably still never convince you.

My alternative is to show you some videos of Naomi, the ones we took recently, and let her show you how she applies the drill I taught her on the Boom, to a flat surface. But before I show you her clips, I have to say. If you bought a Boom to only practice set distances, you're not getting full value from the device. Now, if you bought it because you heard about a drill for distance control that was easy to learn, virtually maintenance free, and which only improved the more you used it, then let's start talking about the Boomerang Technique or BoomTech.

Over to Naomi...

My advice to you is, don't limit yourself to only practicing on the Boom, alternate with other surfaces and other speeds, at the very least. But, if you want to milk your Boom for all it's worth, it would be my pleasure to teach you some BoomTech. After that you'll be able to assess its effectiveness for yourself. I'm not asking you to abandon your current method, just learn mine before you decide what to do.

Q: I've got the old Tour Model and my mat has creases. How do I get them out?

A: I've heard heaps of fixes for our old putting mat from lying it in the sun, to pinning it down with text books and paint cans sitting on a plank.

The best customer fix I heard though was to hang it in the shower and let the steam get the creases out. You can also take it to a dry cleaner and get the professionals to have a crack at it. The one thing you don't want to do is apply an iron directly to the mat, otherwise it will melt! You can iron it through a towel, and if your iron has a steam setting, even better. At the end of the day though the folded mat was a compromise to get everything into a box and protect the Boomerang which is, after all, the business end of the deal.

For me, when I took the Tour model to trade shows, I'd allow myself half an hour to get the mat set up. I'd start by creasing it in the opposite direction. After that I'd roll it one way and then the other, and repeat that process a few times. Finally, I'd put the Boom on one end to hold it down, and I'd pull it tight using a bit of Velcro, or double sided tape at the other end. The truth is that the creases never bothered me, although I know they were the subject of many a post in many a golf forum. My theory was that because they ran at ninety degrees to the line of the putt, they would have little or no effect on the direction of the ball and I proved that over and over again.

Q: How long would my Boomerang putt be if I hit it on a putting green?

A: It's simple to work out how far a perfect Boomerang putt would be on a flat surface.

People who putt by-the-numbers often ask "how far would this Boomerang putt be if I was hitting it on a real green?" So I tell them. The calculation is based on doubling the distance the ball rolls, except when its on the Boomerang (18in in each direction). The effect of subtracting the time the ball spends on the Boomerang is to cancel out the mechanical disadvantage on the way up, and the mechanical advantage on the way down.

And while I can and do tell them, I also tell them that the fastest way to achieve better distance control is to practice matching the ball and putter speed. Over the total distance of the putt. The effect of this synchronisation on your distance control is immediate, permanent and astonishing! It's also where the Boomerang really comes into its own.

Q: How do you do BoomTech on short putts?

A: Naomi used to double hit putts inside a foot. It' was caused by either decelerating to finish at the front of the hole, instead of 1-2ft past (why would anyone lag a ball to the front edge from 1ft? Only reason I can think of is no confidence in their speed control), or it was taking too small a back swing for the putt. Remember my zero back swing drill? When the back swing is too short, and the end position too close, there's a chance you won't transfer enough force from the putter to the ball. When I said double hitting was a two-shot penalty, she wanted to know how to stop it. So I told her, and she hasn't done it since.

There's an easy fix to putts in the 1-4ft range. Practice it on straight ones, improve it on downhill ones, get it sharp on bendy ones. In each and every case, you don't want, and shouldn't, be lagging a ball from that range. I'm not saying ram it in with a strike putt either (maybe an uphill one). I'm saying, use your BT to lag it a given distance past the hole. How do you do that?

This is how you do it: First take a back swing that's marginally longer than you need to get the ball to the front edge of the hole, then swing slower than you want the ball to roll, but also further than you want the ball to roll. The putter head can finish up around your ears if you want, because it won't matter, the ball will already be in the hole anyway. If you've misread it, fair enough, but in any event, the ball won't be outside your return putt comfort zone (see Sunday's effort above). How does it work? Easy. Think of the back swing like the fuel in your car. If you've got a limited amount of fuel, you can only drive so far. If you've got exactly enough you go the exact distance, if you've got slightly more, you can drive slightly further and, over these short distances, it really doesn't matter how slowly you drive there (except on super bendy ones, but who tries to leave themselves those?).

Just remember, whatever the distance, whatever the putt, you're not just swinging the putter up to your target, you're swinging it up there at the speed you think the ball needs to travel to get to or past that target. If you don't have a scooby-doo what that speed should be, go take a mental picture side on. And while you're looking, side on, try and imagine the ball moving over the ground from start to finish. Notice where you think it will start to slow down (that's where your putter will also start to slow down), and make sure it only comes to a stop, once it's past the hole (if you want to hole more putts). If you don't give yourself every opportunity to hole a putt, how many scoring chances are you turning down in a round?

Worst thing that can go wrong? You ****-up on the amount of fuel in your tank? So what? You also cocked-up following the ball, and that's cocking-up in the best possible way, learning something in the process. And, at the end of the day, learning distance control this way is a cumulative process. The more you synchronise ball and putter, the faster you learn to apply it, and the better you get at it.

Q: What's a Zero Backswing Drill?

A: This is what I see, when I hit the perfect BoomTech putt on the Boom. Right at the end though, you'll see one I did like a "pop putter." So how do you get from being a "pop putter" to BoomTech? Here's my "Zero Backswing Drill" ZBD.

1. Put a second ball right behind your putter. Tell yourself it's got 10,000 volts in it!
2. Don't take a back swing or you'll get BBQd. Just move the putter up to the target at the speed you think the ball needs to travel. Doing a Goldilocks will help - Too fast, too slow... Just right.
   
3. Providing you don't "scoop" at the ball with bendy wrists, you'll see a point where the putter overtakes the ball. It has to, because it's impossible to transfer enough force from a stationary putter, to a dead ball, to get it to the target (unless you scoop it). Repeat it until you can clearly identify the "cross over point" (COP), the point where the putter overtakes the ball. Use a third ball to mark adjacent to your mat exactly where you think that point is.
   
4. Move your back ball 3" further back. Repeat the drill. Remember - don't electrocute yourself! It helps to not care about the object ball at this stage, otherwise you might be tempted to help it along. Repeat the process until you can identify the "COP". Ideally, it should be closer to the target than before. Move your marker ball accordingly.
   
5. Next, try a 6" back swing and repeat as above. Again, if you do it correctly, the COP should appear to move closer to your target.
   
6. Repeat again, with something approaching the correct length of back swing this time. Tinker till you get it, because when you do, and it's just right, the COP will be at the target. The byproduct of that will be that the ball will be in the target, and the putter face will appear to be holding it there.

   Note: Most golfers have and will never even see a cross over point.

Q: Can you do BoomTech on chip shots?

A: Yes. Naomi and Sunday can both finish in balance (a la their full swings) off a 6-12in back swing.

Think about what either of them would be trying to achieve with such a small backswing, and you'll realise we're talking roller coaster kinda stuff. That should give you a mental picture of the speed they continue on up to the top with. Picture this, it looks like a slow motion replay yet, she's still accelerating.

I compare BoomTech to editing a video. If you already know the out point and, if you want to get there and the correct speed to finish in balance, then the only remaining variable is the starting point. It's a self reinforcing strategy. Once you start following the golf ball, by definition, the ball goes where you do. There's no guess work. If you hit it sideways, you're gonna know, because that's where you'll be pointing when you're done. Similarly, when you're finished your stroke on a straight putt, and the putter head is obscuring the hole, and the ball is in the hole, you can't help but feel confident, because you know the ball did exactly what you thought it would.

Q: What's a pop putt and a panic putt?

A: If you think about it, your putter is only capable of three types of motion, relative to your ball. What does that mean? That means there are only three possible speeds for your putter:

1. Decelerating - losing pace with the ball - the ball races of the face like you just "popped it."
2. Accelerating - overtaking the ball - ever swung too hard at a putt, with too small a backswing? Don't "panic."
3 Synchronised - the ball and putter speed up and slow down together - this is a third option - used in many sports.

If you want to talk about accelerating or decelerating, let me tell you we could be here for ages. I don't have time for that, as I'm sure, neither do you. After all, think about the topic, an absolute continuum with acceleration on one end and deceleration on the other. We might as well be chatting about "how long is a piece of string?" or "How gray is that Gary area?"

OK, so no time for acceleration or deceleration, agreed? But what about the third option? The one that lives on a knife edge between the other two... ? The one that no one's ever really thought of before...? What about synchronisation? (the relation that exists when things occur at the same time). Definitely in the too hard basket, right?

Not necessarily. Think when you might have seen it before. It works in baseball, for the batter and the pitcher. It works in cricket too, by the way. It works to help throw a dart, hit a snooker ball, drive a tennis ball, kick a punt down field, or propel any other object, where distance is a critical factor. Just not for putting. Short and stabby has always been the norm for putting, but why? I couldn't tell you.

What I can tell you is, as it happens, a synchronised putting stroke is not as difficult as you might think. It's actually rather simple to find, reproduce, and incorporate into your own putting, chipping and bumping. Synchronisation has been a total no-brainer for me ever since I got out a dictionary and looked up the word Synchronicity, the old Police song, and found it by mistake. And the only reason I was even looking was, I'd invented what I first called my putting microscope and, like a lot of you guys, I got the absolute sxxxs with it, more than once! But, instead of chucking it, I pushed a ball at it as hard as I could, hockey style, hoping to knock it over. I did that, but I did something else too. You see, because I hadn't taken a back swing, I saw my first ever COP. And, if I hadn't, I wouldn't be here writing this now. I used to say the Boom was a new kind of lock, which needed a new kind of key to open it. And, until the lock, no one needed that key.

Q: What's the biggest mistake I can make on the Boom?

A: The single biggest mistake you can make on the Boom, is to ignore my golden rule. My golden rule is - ALWAYS practice on the same speed surface that you intend to play on. If you practice on fast and play on slow, you'll come unstuck every time!

But here's some good news. You can use your Boom like a stimpmeter, to help you work out green speeds and carpet speeds for yourself. How? Easy. A ball released from your Boom's target, when it's set to Level 5, will travel down the ramp, and for a further 12ft on a surface that stimps at 11-11.5 (that's what it does on a Carnoustie Mat). "So... ?" So, with that as your baseline, put your Boom in your golf bag and take it with you during your next practice round.

Whip out your Boom on any green you like, if there's no one behind, and do what the green keeper does. Put it on the green, mark where it touches the green with a tee, release a ball (3 if you want to be extremely accurate) and measure how far it rolls. Mark that spot with a tee too, then put your Boom on that mark and roll a ball back toward the other mark. If the average of those two distances is greater than 12ft, your on lightning mate! If it's slightly less, the distance will give you a good indication of just how much slower than 11-11.5 it is.

Knowing your putter length (35" is almost 3ft) would be handy so you can use it as your yard stick (more accurate than pacing it off). If the ball rolls only 7-8ft, go home and see what you've got in the house that also rolls 8ft. If your lucky, your living room carpet might just fit the bill, if not, find something from the off-cuts bin at your local carpet store.

Using your Boom like a stimpmeter is just a way to let you compare apples with apples, and make sure you can practice and play on the same speed surface. While you're at it, why not test your practice green too? The bug bear of many golfers is that their practice green is not a true representation of what's out on their course. If it turns out to be that way, give your green keeper a bit of an ear bashing, but don't tell him it was me that told you to ;-)

Q: What is a Parallax system?

A: Every putter has an optimum set up position.

On my uni-putters, each one is balanced to work in only one set up position - the optimum one. Simple to find, after all it has a flat sole making guess work totally unnecessary. My uni-putters also have something else too. They have a pair of dots on the top of the putter that form what is called a parallax system (the effect whereby the position or direction of an object appears to differ when viewed from different positions).

Parallax is a great system. It provides some essential information, and it does so for free! Ever since I learned what it was and how it worked, I've made sure every putter I've used has had the system on it. I'd even go so far as to say I think you'd be mad not to, once you know what it does. And, what it does is it consistently places your eyes in the correct position. How? Well, when your eyes are in the centre of your Rossie, you'll see two continuous lines, rather than two broken lines. Nowhere else, except dead centre, will you see this effect (use the centre line to position the ball, that's a given). Right, that's your eyes sorted.

The only problem now is getting your putter flat. But we can do that too. Let's just do it in reverse...

Take your stance, drop a ball off the bridge of your nose (make sure it drops in the centre of your mat and note how far you're standing from the mat as you do it) You can even put a piece of tape where your big toe should be, if necessary. Then, every time you step up to the mark, your eyes should be perfect and, as your eyes now control the putter, and your putter now controls your hands (through the parallax), the putter should be perfectly horizontal, under normal circumstances.

Places it can fall down? Well, I don't like to brag (cough, cough), but my putter has the edge. You see you're putter doesn't allow for fatigue. You can train as hard as you want to repeat your exact set up but, if you get tired half way round - and you slump, or if you get a back twinge after heaving a driver - and you straighten, then, bada bing, bada boom, your eyes will move off the ball. However, because your brain won't realise, then the use of the parallax will actually prevent the putter from being horizontal, or in its optimum position.

As I said right at the start, every putter, not just your Rossie, has an optimum set up. The difference with my uni-putters is that they only have one setup position... the optimum one.

Armed with knowledge of the parallax, I'm almost prepared to bet the farm, that your next vid will be holy grail stuff!

Q: I play on slow greens all year. Will this training aid still benefit me?

A: My golden rule is always practice on the speed you're going to be playing on. If you know you're on slow greens all year round, that's what you should opt for in a practice surface. That rules out our fast mats however.

The good news is the Boomerang will still be useful though. You can even use its built in stimpmeter function to find an exact match for your course's greens. Just put your Boom in your golf bag next time you go out for a practice round. Then, when no one is behind you, take it out and start rolling some golf balls. Use your putter, if you know its length, to work out how far the balls travel. Take the average of 3 balls rolled in each direction, allow for any slope, then go home and see if you have any carpet in the house that is an exact speed match. If you don't, go to your local carpet shop and fish through their remnants bin. You should get something good for under $10 and, while you may feel a bit silly testing each one with your Boomerang, that never deterred me before. It doesn't even matter what height setting you use, as long as it's the same for each surface you test.

Q: What is the Monty Move?

A: The Monty Move is a drill that makes learning the Boomerang Technique - child's play!

The only thing is it's on a restricted viewing list at YouTube. Want to see it? Join the BPE and I'll add you to the list of permitted viewers.

Q: How do I submit a video to the BPE?

A: When taking a video to submit to the experiment, there are certain criteria that are very important. Have a look at the video below.

This video was taken by Ozgolf's "Mega" on his iPhone and even though it is in high definition, picture quality is not as important as how you frame the shot. In order to best see the relationship between your putter and the ball, this is what I recommend.

1. Put your video camera, or phone, directly on the end of your mat - at ball level.
2. Ensure the shot is even, i.e. your camera lens is in the centre of the mat and the shape formed by the edges of the mat is an isosceles triangle or pyramid, with the Boomerang at it's apex.
3. Get as tight as you can. That usually means losing some of the foreground, but still making sure the putter is visible in shot at all times.
4. Make the video no more than 5-10 putts long.
5. Make sure you have adequate lighting, especially around the target.
6. If you post the clip directly to me I can edit it for you. If posting to YouTube you will need to edit it yourself.
7. To compress and edit your file I find the following free software is very useful - http://www.avs4you.com/

Good luck with your first effort. If you follow these steps I'm sure you'll do very well. I'll give you feedback, not just on your stroke, but on your video too so, if there are any problems, I'll tell you how to fix them for video #2.

Q: What is the 'Nose Bridge Ball Drop?'

A: It's just a way to confirm your eyes are over the line. My view on eye position is black and white. Your eyes are either over the line or they're not. If your eyes are not over the line, where are they? An inch inside, half an inch outside, two balls inside... ? Where's the consistency? Conversely, when you're eyes are over the ball-target line, they're over the ball to target line - full stop, period, end of discussion. And the best part? By using a parallax system on your putter, you'll know there there before you even hit the putt.

OK, so how do you check your eyes are over the ball-target line? Easy. Put a ball in your pocket (you'll find out why soon), take your normal stance, when you're comfortable and ready to pull the trigger, hold everything still, take the ball from your pocket, place it on the bridge of your nose and let it fall. If the falling ball hits your object ball, or putter, dead centre, you know your eyes are tip top! If it doesn't, you've got some work to do. Either that, or get yourself a user friendly putter with a parallax alignment system - a putter like my EZ-1, for example.