I made a golf commitment this year to improve my putting. This is both a more/better practice thing as well as work on my putting stroke. The stroke is the subject of this posting.
I've bounced around some over the past few years trying different putting strokes - basically without much success. I started a few years ago with Pelz 'Putting Bible' book and shoulder rocking stroke. I spent 3 months on this and finally abandoned it as it was the worst putting of my life and was not improving.
More recently I ended up with a basically Pelz motion on short putts and a very different (open stance - right hand driven) stroke on longer putts.
Then even more recently I stumbled into Geoff Mangum's site http://www.puttingzone.com/ . This was discussed in the "Gravity Driven Putting" thread around 3/15/05. While I still consider this to be an experiment for me, it was/is an interesting exploration of putting strokes. Which brings me to the point (finally).
I am currently (for both short and long putts) back to a Pelz, shoulder rocking stroke. But yesterday I discovered a very different incarnation of this same stroke. All of my old, shoulder rocking putting strokes had been (approximately) instructions from my mind something like.
1) Take the club back by pushing with the left hand and rocking the shoulders back in sync. Hands do nothing but go straight back - and they 'stay dead'. 2) The downswing is basically the reverse of these steps. Ideally there is little right hand involvement. 3) Be very careful that the right shoulder continues underneath the left and doesn't "roll over" and close the clubface
But there is a different way to do the same thing.
1) Move the shoulder back and allow this to drag the hands. The old instructions told the hands "be dead". But this is different - there is no real monitoring of the hands' motion. If you rock crooked, you putt crooked. 2) The downswing is basically the reverse of these steps (either gravity's tempo or your own) 3) Same as #3 before
I doubt that even a very high quality camera could see the difference here, but these are VERY different strokes (based on two days on the practice green). "Talking to" only the shoulders would appear to generate a much more dependable stroke.
Anyone else experienced this (in putting or something else)?
I agree Dave, I do not allow my forearms, elbows, wrists or hands to have ANY say in how my putting stroke works. After I set-up, I firm my grip so there are no loose pieces, then left the left shoulder (I am a rightie) start the rock. On very long putts (35+ feet) I let my knees break just a tad. This tends to work well for me. YMMV
I came to this through experimentation, not any 'philosophy' or book.
Anyone else experienced this (in putting or something else)?
I'm entirely unsuccessful with any kind of gravity stroke. I do everything with my right hand, especially when precision is required - so why should putting be differently? I take the putter back with my right hand and guide it through the ball with my right hand. My right hand alone determines the length of the backswing and the speed of the through swing. I try to accelerate through the ball by pushing with my right index finger (which is positioned parallel down the shaft).
When I first saw the subject line I thought it referred to something entirely different. It sounded like an occasional problem I have: failure to take an inner stance towards the putt. Don't know how to express it better, maybe calibration, alignment, attitude.
"Ulrich Mayring" <realulim@gmx.de> wrote in message news:4251a5f1$0$27203$9b4e6d93@newsread4.arcor-online.net...> Dave Lee wrote:> >
Anyone else experienced this (in putting or something else)?>
I'm entirely unsuccessful with any kind of gravity stroke. I do> everything with my right hand, especially when precision is required -> so why should putting be differently? I take the putter back with my> right hand and guide it through the ball with my right hand. My right> hand alone determines the length of the backswing and the speed of the> through swing. I try to accelerate through the ball by pushing with my> right index finger (which is positioned parallel down the shaft).>
When I first saw the subject line I thought it referred to something> entirely different. It sounded like an occasional problem I have:> failure to take an inner stance towards the putt. Don't know how to> express it better, maybe calibration, alignment, attitude.>
Ulrich
Ulrich, I was mostly in your camp until recently - and am only leaving it as an experiment. I strongly believed that only my right hand 'had a clue' as to how hard to hit the ball and was using a mostly all right hand stroke on long putts. And as I said as I have not necessarily changed that view and have only moved away from that stroke on long putts as an experiment.
But from my perspective short putts are different. Sure - sometimes speed is critical. But for the most part it is line that really matters. And you simply do not want any kind of fine adjustment/precision in this case (the kind of stuff that the right hand does so very well). I am currently using a straight-back/straight-thru square stroke. I use an alignment mark on my ball, and the name of the game is to just keep the putter face square to, and putter path along that line. No adjustments wanted and I don't want/need any tools that are good at making them. In my experience the less right hand the better on very short putts (to the point of basically allowing all but one of my right hand fingers to float off the shaft when putting). However, I would certainly not be surprised to hear that this is not the case for others. But that is my experience.
Ulrich, I was mostly in your camp until recently - and am only leaving it as> an experiment. I strongly believed that only my right hand 'had a clue' as> to how hard to hit the ball and was using a mostly all right hand stroke on> long putts. And as I said as I have not necessarily changed that view and> have only moved away from that stroke on long putts as an experiment.>
But from my perspective short putts are different. Sure - sometimes speed is> critical. But for the most part it is line that really matters. And you> simply do not want any kind of fine adjustment/precision in this case (the> kind of stuff that the right hand does so very well). I am currently using a> straight-back/straight-thru square stroke. I use an alignment mark on my> ball, and the name of the game is to just keep the putter face square to,> and putter path along that line. No adjustments wanted and I don't want/need> any tools that are good at making them. In my experience the less right hand> the better on very short putts (to the point of basically allowing all but> one of my right hand fingers to float off the shaft when putting). However,> I would certainly not be surprised to hear that this is not the case for> others. But that is my experience.
I also abandon the right-hand stroke for short putts and try to swing more from the shoulders. Basically, you need a 99% correct line and the putt MUST fall, so "square" is everything that matters. Sometimes green reading, too, but on a quality green there shouldn't be any breaks close to the hole.
I have tried to use that stroke for longer putts, but simply haven't found a way to get the speed right. An interesting thing you can do, however, is to move the club back with your left hand only - take the right only along for the ride. This will make your backswing slower, especially if you're completely useless with the left hand. When the right hand takes over on the through swing, it automatically accelerates through the ball.
