The problem with our collective thinking... is that we are assuming - with more than a bit of naivety - that our opponents will be playing without distance markers... just because they are not available to us.
There has to be more consideration for fair-play... in real terms, and not just ideologically. The world doesn't work that way.
In real life... a player knows if they've hit a good putt, almost as soon as it leaves the club face. Most good putters of the ball, look up to the pin, several times, just before hitting a putt, to determine their bearings.
Without any distance or power indication on the meter... there is nothing defined - other than the eventuality of the result - that will tell a player that they have hit the ball too hard, or too soft.
Think of it this way. The snap line is there, with good reason. It doesn't need to be there, because we all know where 180 degrees is. But, imagine for a second, how much more you would actually miss, if there were no visual snap indicator?
Not having a specific goal to hit, completely affects our ability to actively track the timing of the discipline.
So, now apply the same logic to power. We all know where 180, 270, & 360 degrees are, respectively. But, without any indication during a moving meter... one slightly loses their bearings, so to speak, when attempting to set precise power.
It may seem like a good way to make things less precise. But, it is really just a way to alienate the good majority of players, from ever even gaining the requisite comprehension, in an effort to be competitive.
Charting the distance, without markings... is actually quite difficult. It took me several hours straight, over the course of a few days, to chart enough points on the meter, to feel like – if I could execute – I had at least a modicum of control over my game. --And, I'm still not done... as there is always the odd 70 foot or 70 yard shot from completely uninhabited parts of the course... that will give my dutiful charts much pause.
And, even still... with perfect execution, I'm plus or minus approximately 2% on the meter... which can be significant, considering putting is a discipline in which the speed and the line are not mutually exclusive. A 4% power adjustment is the difference between hitting it through the break, and hitting the center of the cup... and people, this is not random research I'm talking about.
It will be far too toilsome, for most players to ever feel like they have any control over the outcome of a good shot.
Consider, even if all of the putt distances were charted... without the aid of distance or power increments... one will never know if they've actually hit a good putt, unless the correct power measurement - for that particular putt - happens to be at 270, or 360 degrees on the meter.
Everything else is just guesstimating, both during and after the swing.
Hard to improve at a game, when you don't even know where you've gone wrong, between aim and execution.
But again, it just goes back to what I've been saying the whole time... you're just making it difficult for 99% of the players; and, simultaneously creating an insulatory platform for certain savvy users to have undue success - in spite of everyone else's *intended* level of difficulty.
