(Premier Login aceputt) Forum Owner Posted Nov 9, 2005 9:18 AM
Dear Kyle,
There are two main reasons for a "pull" stroke in putting: 1. the body naturally makes a pull stroke; and 2. the awareness of space around the body is somewhat like a dome of personal space, and this encouragers a pull. Golfers don't really know what to do with the body to avoid the pull. If you sort out your knowledge, then the two problems are a lot easier to handle.
STRAIGHT STROKE
A "natural" stroke is a pull. Probably 90% of all stroke problems stem from this fact, and almost all misses are towards the feet. The misses to the outside of the hole are generally either due to aiming (most aiming flaws are to the outside of the target because of head-gaze problems) or due to accelerating the stroke oddly so that the toe of the putter lags open and sends the ball to the outside. But for well-aimed putts with good timing pattern, there is the perennial problem of the pull.
When the human body assumes a stance, the body's center of gravity (below the navel in the abdomen, about 4 inches deep) relates to the spot on the ground directly beneath, between the feet. A "natural" motion over top of a stable lower body is a "twisting" of the upper torso around the line up from this spot on the ground thru the body's center of gravity. If the "weight" of the body is shifted off this axis of balance, the body senses the danger of a fall and resists the motion out of balance. These are reflexes for balance that have been trained by your decades of life in the earth's gravitational field. The "default" motion that gravity has most easily allowed the body to perform over a fixed lower body is this torso twisting, in which the whole chest is pivoted above the axis of gravity. If you held a putter passively in the hands in front of your chest and performed this twisting, the putter head would swing around the center of the stance and remain a constant distance from this center spot on the ground and from the axis of gravity thru the body's balance point.
This "gating" stroke motion is a pull at all points in the thru-stroke past the exact center of the stroke, and the exact center of the stroke is the only time the gating stroke is headed straight. But all strokes are in contact with the ball at least a fraction of an inch, so a gating stroke doesn't really start contact with the ball only when it is straight, and it does not stay straight while it is in contact with the ball -- a straight putt that results from a gating stroke is some sort of compromise about the aim of the putter face a the beginning and the end, or it is a deliberate manipulation of the putter face with the hands during the contact period.
A "pull" is obviously NOT the best way to roll the ball sideways out of the address setup straight on the path where the putter is aimed. People who teach golfers a "natural" stroke motion for putting are just giving up and surrendering to this easy motion, usually with the idea that easy is the best because that's what tends to happen under pressure. In fact, in this case, easy is NOT best -- easy is really casual or even lazy. A casual stroke is not very consistent -- the motion itself may be easy to repeat (more or less), but the resulting roll is not consistent, because a "pull" stroke is very timing critical. If the timing of the stroke if off just a bit, the ball goes rolling in a direction other than that of the aim. And needless to say, if the "twisting" motion does not follow the same pattern, or start with the same setup positions, or astutely handle the time while the putter face and ball remain in contact, there is a further problem making the ball roll straight.
So what is a "smart" motion for rolling the ball straight, and will it be a consistent motion in general and specifically will it hold up under pressure?
The "magic move" common to ALL great putters in history is a rising of the putter head square and straight thru the ball into the thru-stroke. The rising is very, very mild, and it is not difficult to mistake the putter head action thru impact as a "level" motion, but it is better if the putter rises slightly from the bottom of the stroke thru the impact zone. This rising is also sometimes talked about (somewhat inacuurately) as a "release" -- but there really isn't anything being "released" so much as there is a continuation of the natural "pendular" swinging of the putter down and up on an arc in the vertical sense, and this "release" is a permitting the swing to continue and rise. It is sort of giving up control and allowing the putter head to continue on its way or sort of getting the body out of the way of the swing of the putter so as not to change it, wheres keeping or taking control thru the impact area is a lapsing back to the default "ease" of a pull.
This "magic move" doesn't have to persist all the way into the follow-thru until the putter head coasts to a stop at the top of the follow-thru. It only has to be permitted to continue for at least four to six inches (or so) past the beginning of contact with the ball. After that, the golfer can relapse into the pull.
In terms of HOW the golfer performs this "magic move," there are only two essentials: 1. keep the pivot at the base of the neck still during the forward stroke, and 2. once the putter head reaches the bottom of the stroke (where it started at address, normally), the lead shoulder must rise vertically up from the ground so that the relationship between the putter head and the lead shoulder is maintained and the "plane" of the shoulder motion is not only vertical to the surface but also aligned parallel to the line of aim of the putter at address. This 1-2 combination absolutely REQUIRES that the putter head be cast square and online on a slightly rising trajectory thru the impact zone. If you continue this 1-2 action so that the putter head is cast straight and square at least as far as the lead foot, then you can stop "performing" a smart stroke and relapse into a pull if you like.
If you tracked what happens to the putter head as a result of this "magic move," you will see that however the shoulder moves in its plane of motion, this direction is transmitted to the putter head (take a look at my Popeye the Putting Robot from the link on the Home page). The moving shoulder is the engine of a train headed uphill, the putter head is the caboose, and the hands on the handle are merely passengers. The hands have nothing to do in a good putting stroke except enjoy the ride. It's all about moving the putter head upward with the shoulder ONLY while the pivot stays in place.
The ONLY way a golfer can accomplish a "pull" stroke with the shoulders intentionally or "naturally" is by allowing the lead shoulder to move back behind the line extending up from the ground to the shoulder at address (as aimed). (There are a zillion ways to accomplish a pull stroke with the hands and arms).
To see this very clearly, set the putter with the toe very close to a baseboard along a wall, plant the top of your head against the wall, make some sort of backstroke either straight back or slightly inside, and then once the putter head returns to the address position, move the lead shoulder vertically up from whatever spot on the floor is directly beneath it. This action will "cast" the putter head straight and square thru the impact zone so that the toe of the putter stays close to the baseboard and also stays square to the line of the stroke, and also rises slightly. (Resist the impulse to "put" the putter with the hands along the baseboard and do this solely with the shoulder.) So long as the distance of the lead shoulder to the wall remains constant as the stroke moves thru the impact zone, the putter head stays headed straight and square. If the lead shoulder drifts back away from the wall during this part of the thru-stroke, a pull path results.
This move CAN be performed with the hands and arms acting independently of the shoulder frame, and many golfers have done so, but I do not recommend this. The actual motions required to perform this consistently and accurately are complex and vary with different distances for putts. The shoulder-only stroke is extremely simple and is always the same motion for every putt, and nothing about the relationships among the shoulders, arms, elbows, wrsists, hands, and putter head are ever different on any strokes, regardless of the distance of the putt or the size of the stroke. (And the casting action in which the putter head STAYS square and online for an appreciable distance thru the impact area renders timing and ball position much easier and less critical, so strokes roll straighter more often.)
Frankly, I don't meet any golfers who know about this move on their own or from other teachers, although I'm aware that a few people "get it" (or at least "do it" even if they don't understand it). A good putting stroke is not "natural" until you learn how to do it.
This business or action of the body and the putter head thru impact is simple to describe, but is it also suitable for consistent and accurate performance in general and under pressure? You bet! Putt straight or die! What's the alternative?
The main thing about this "magic move" in a shoulder-only stroke is balance and stability. That is, designing and learning the motion of the shoulder that keeps the pivot still-but-rotating-in-place during the stroke. This is ultimately the relationship of timing to balance. Pivot stillness depends on balance, and timing consistency and predictability allow the body to handle balance challenges instinctively the same way every time so that pivot stillness is preserved.
When I say "pivot stillness depends on balance," I mean that the shoulder frame as a whole must balance ON the pivot at the base of the neck. Because the shoulder motion in the thru stroke is a rising away from the ground (so the line of shoulder motion meets the plane of the surface of the green perpendicularly -- it is not, strictly speaking, always "vertical" to gravity, but is instead perpendicular to the surface, and is really only truly vertical to gravity when the green is "level"), the action can be envisioned as that of a teeter-totter or see-saw -- the shoulder is the rising seat or end, and the base of the neck is the balance point of the center of the see-saw. Balance in the lower body may or may not be required, but balance at the top of the body is always required. (Think of a hummingbird holding its head steady as it hovers before a luscious flower for some delicious nectar.) I describe this a "putting from the top."
If you keep the putter head in the same relationship to the lead shoulder at all times in the stroke, then in effect you are NOT making the swing of the putter WITH the lead shoulder but with the putter head itself at the end of an imaginary string between the putter head and the pivot at the base of the neck. Moving the lead shoulder out of sync with the putter head causes problems, because joints change orientation between the shoulder and the putter head. This derails the train, because something in the middle section of the train is driving the train out of the tracks (when the hands go faster and farther than the shoulder frame would put them alone, the arms "roll" in towards the feet as a tether ball would swing on a rope tied to the top of a pole -- this generates the "pull" action in an armsy/handsy stroke out of sync with the shoulders). So saying that the lead shoulder is the engine of the choo-choo train and pulls the putter head uphill thru impact is just an image. Really, because of the coordination of shoulder and putter head, what matters most is that the pivot rotates in place and that the plane of pivot rotation parallels the aim of the intended putt.
The image of the see-saw helps establish the importance of the fulcrum, but the image usually shows a fulcrum with a rectangular or square base planted firmly on the ground, as here:
But the more instructive image of the see-saw is one in which the plank (shoulder frame) is balanced on the axis of a wheel, as here:
The "pivot" may equate the line of the neck at address with the axis of the wheel. This implies that the neck needs to parallel the ground, which is not exactly right. IF the neck parallels the ground, the "pivot" of the motion will orient correctly for a straight stroke, but the setting of the neck parallel to the ground is not really required. That is because the shoulder frame can move straight up and down to the surface EVEN IF the neck is not parallel to the ground. It is not strictly necessay to set the neck parallel to the ground in order to make a straight shoulder stroke. Engineers think the orientation of the cervical spine parallel to the ground is essential to the straight shoulder frame see-sawing, but only because they don't seem to know about the freedom of motion of the shoulder frame, which is not strictly tied to the neck or the spine. So it is better to think of the pivot as a small wheel inside the neck, but not necessarily oriented the same as the line of the cervical spine (the spine in the neck).
On the other hand, even if the cervical spine and neck do not have to be level to the ground ("horizontal"), they should stick straight out of the shoulders. While it is possible to control the stroke entirely from the lead shoulder, and not from the shoulder frame as a whole and not with reference to a pivot wheel inside the base of the neck, it's a very poor substitute -- sort of a weak beer. Centering the action more deeply in the balance system of the body is all to the good. So I teach that the line of the neck has to "match" the line of the leading edge of the putter at address beneath the neck, even if the neck and cervical spine are not horizontal to the surface. Sticking the neck straight out of the torso over top of the leading edge of the putter squares up the shoulders parallel to the line of aim of the putter. (The upper torso "faces" squarely into the line of the putt and the top edge of the putter face -- if a foot-long stick attached to the top of the sternum aimed straight out of the chest, this stick's line would match up with the top line of the putter face.) This neck line orients the pivot wheel in the base of the neck AND sets the whole shoulder frame parallel to the line of the stroke. The shoulders then see-saw about the pivot in the base of the neck. (The stick out of the top of the sternum at the base of the neck stays aimed straight and square, and does not wag left or right during the stroke -- it spins in place as the shoulder frame rocks beneath the neck back and then thru. As long as the stick (axis of the wheel) does not wag out of square, the "wheel" of the pivot inside the base of the neck stays in its vertical orientation and does not twist out of square as it rolls in place with the stroke motion.)
This image has the implicit notion that when the plank teeter-totters, it MAY cause the axis to shift out of its square orientation. So the stability of the pivot at the top, up in the air like the axis of the wheel, is challenged by shoulder motion that does not head straight up or down in the same way the axis of the pivot suggests, and by poor timing or herky-jerky motions. The trick to putting from the top so that the pivot rolls in place and keeps the plane of rotation parallel to the intended line of the stroke is to move the shoulder frame in the same parallel plane with an easy tempo. If the shoulder frame heads out of plane, the axis of the wheel is dragged out of plane, and the line of the putt is ruined. If the shoulder action is poorly timed, the lower body is not that great in reacting to maintain balance at the top.
Keeping the shoulder frame moving parallel to the starting orientation of the pivot wheel is helped by noting other body parts. The shoulders at address are balanced over top of the balls of the feet. See-sawing the shoulder down at the balls of the feet is like touching your nose with your finger -- one body part aimed at another is a lot easier way to manage movement in space than simply moving one body part at some abstract location in space.
An image I have been using lately is that of a metal plate fixed to the upper chest extending across the pecs on both sides of the sternum and centered at the base of the neck. The downstroke sends the lead side of this metal plate straight down at the ground at the balls of the feetm with the pivot simply rotating but not wandering about. The upstroke sends the leading top edge of this metal plate right back where it came from, with no twisting out of plane. If the metal plate is thought of as seated in a space of jello, the metal sheet cuts down into the jello going in the backstroke, and then the golfer re-inserts the leading edge back into the newly created jello slot going up in the thru-stroke.
So much for the straight stroke -- move the shoulder frame with a gentle tempo about a balanced pivot in the base of the neck -- putt from the top.
STRAIGHT SPACE
Personal space is more of a dome of the surrounding space that covers our head by a few feet and extends out from the body an arms length or two. This is "action" space or "personal space." In law enforcement training, officers are taught to keep suspects at least three steps away while checking out what they are doing. Any closer, and the suspect's "action space" is too close for the officer's safety. This dome of space is sensed to be bounded by curved borders out from the body. When we move around by changing our center of gravity in relation to the ground, this dome goes with us. A "natural" or "comfortable" or "casual" sense of motion is one that stays inside the dome and keeps the center of gravity in the same location above the ground.
When a golfer sets up "square" to a line on the ground as in adopting a putting stance, he is really setting this dome over the start of the line, with his center of gravity offset back from the line. The top or apex of the dome is not centered above the sweetspot of the putter head or ball, but is centered above the middle of the stance or perhaps above the location of the head in space (leaning over at address). This causes golfers to fail to appreciate how the line of a straight putt sends the ball AWAY from the center of the stance. The line of the putt is OFFSET and so is the target at the end of the line.
The golfer may accurately locate the target and aim the putter face, but when it comes to making the motion inside the dome, the motion tends to lose the sense of going farther and farther away from the center of the stance, and relapses back to a "natural" motion inside the dome of space that stays close to the center of the stance. The exercise that gets this fixed is to imagine yourself setting up at the end of the line, at the target, as if you were going to putt the target itself. This shows you how far offset the line is and how the two domes relates to each other correctly in space.
If you set up at a baseboard and make a straight shoulder stroke, and then continue the motion as the putter head rises higher and higher so the shaft gets closer and closer to horizontal, the putter head EXTENDS farther and farther along the offset line away from the center of the stance, and yet the hands, arms, and shoulders stay parallel to the wall and do not get closer or farther from the wall ay any time.
CONCLUSION
A pull is an armsy or handsy move, often too fast, that does not keep the pivot balanced and that does not allow the putter head to rise vertically into the impact zone in a casting action straight and square down the line farther and farther from the center of the stance, at least as far as the lead foot. A straight stroke is a putt from a balanced top in good mild tempo in which the lead shoulder and putter head stay coordinated as the lead shoulder rises straight up from the balls of the foot and straight away from the surface, thus keeping the wheel of the pivot at the base of the neck oriented parallel to the line of the stroke.
