(Premier Login aceputt) Forum Owner Posted Feb 25, 2009 4:55 PM
Dear sammy,
In response seriatim:
"Geoff ... I have viewed their videos and I come to the conclusion that this wrist action putting is a torqued putting stroke .. no or negligible gravity assistance."
True, I agree.
"I would question the use of this putting method in these situations:
1. An obese golfer with a protruding belly and spindly legs. Symple putting might present an anatomical challenge to these (60% of the population) golf attempters. (I am not obese .. more like slender you.)"
Agreed, it MAY pose a challenge in that one body type with the large gut.
"2. I have a low shaft lie putter and I tried the Symple putting stroke. It works reasonably well on short putts but on longer putts it deteriorates. By stabilizing the lead upper hand on the lead leg thigh, the putting stroke geometry is not of a pendulum, but of a sweeping arcing stroke. The farther back you arc stroke the greater is your inaccuracy to strike the ball on the correct tangent. This is why Symple putting may be effective for shorter putts but not for longer putts which require more torque to move the putter head on an arc stroking path.
For longer putts, additional wrist torque is required if the stroking length is to be kept under control, and this requires exquisite wrist control."
The Symple Putter folks agree with you also, I think. As with any fixed pivot point style, limiting the total action of the body is pretty much guaranteed to hamper "touch" for longer putts -- sort of like throwing the "bomb" for a Hail-Mary spiral pass with a bathrobe sash tying the elbows together. This is a problem with the belly putter and the long putter as well. Billy Casper wrote that his "wrist-only" style grew to incorporate arms action as the putts grew longer.
A more important point to note is the sure-to-come day when golfers routinely or at least in large numbers carry more than one putter in the bag. It makes no sense at all to carry three wedges and four metal woods (driver, 3, 5, rescue/hybrid) and not at least two putters, if two putters help one golfer more effectively than one putter. So golfers with thigh putting, belly putting, or broomstick putting styles and putters probably should carry a conventional putter also, using the conventional putter whenever the occasion suits, as it may well suit on long lag putts or putts on steep slope.
"Another way to compensate for extreme arcing and excessive torquing, is to add shoulder rotation in an unnatural sequence of (a)rotate shoulders, (b)start stroking action back, (c)rotate shoulders to ball, and then (d)initiate the downstroke with the wrists ... and all the while keeping your lead hand planted on your thigh. This requires delaying the wrist action and unduly complicating the putting stroke."
You can also just make a normal inside-arcing backstroke and then fix the arms and wrists in relation to the chest and rotate the whole upper body with a hip rotation that re-squares the putter face and sends the ball off straight on line. I quite enjoy doing this sort of putting occasionally, just to see how well I can re-square the putter face and shift-slide the torso sending the putter face down the target line.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
PuttingZone Coach and Theorist
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