David Lee of Gravity Golf (
http://www.gravitygolf.com) in Hot Springs, Arkansas, teaches a putting method that is based on the "tangential stroke" and his "counterfall." What this means, according to his video "Putting on the Arc," is that the golfer ought to fix his left heel as the control of a total-body pivot with weight leaning slightly back, and set the heel so that the heel-ball line is square of perpendicular to the putt line at the target (makes an "L" shape). Then, the golfer "heaves" the putter back to the top of a backstroke, and as the putter/torso/arms "dead-fall" down, the golfer pivots around the heel. This produces a "tangential blow" on the ball with the putterhead moving on a circle around the heel at a point where the putterface is square to the target. The upper torso has to cooperate in this process by keeping the center of the base of the neck vertically in line with the heel at impact.
Lee is a little unclear about the role of the arms and hands in this, and he does not describe what he means by the "heave" to start the action. His explanation of distance control is pretty vague. He says that the putterhead at impact needs a bit of a "trap" on the toe end like a modern hockey blade, and he offers his own design for sale.
I would encourage anyone interested in this method to give it a try. I think it has some interesting points of technique, but I also think it is not as repeating and consistent and accurate as Lee suggests. The action of the arms and hands and the stability of the pivot is not all that straight-forward and these issues inject variability unless controlled in specific manners or techniques.
Also, Lee maintains that Bobby Locke and Ben Crenshaw have his same pattern. I mildly disagree about whether these golfers really continue the circle arc past impact, as I believe they use more of a down-the-line stroke at impact and beyond, even though the backstroke and downstroke is on something of an arc (not really a circle). Locke definitely has an ascending trajectory of his putter at impact coming at the ball from slightly inside to out. I think Crenshaw's impact stays lower but is still rising a bit and headed straight down the line for the first five or six inches before the putterhead curls inside. Lee does not comment on whether the putter stays level or rises thru impact, but he implies it stays level and the loft on the face launches the ball upward a little to start with.
And Lee seems to feel that his stroke "puts the whole body" into the putt, giving solid consistent results for distance, whereas a stroke more from the arms or hands without the full weight of the body gives a thinner blow with less length roll. Based on Theodore Jorgenson's book, The Physics of Golf, I do not believe that the body actually contributes much to the "send" of the putter's physics, and that all that really matters is putterhead mass and velocity during impact. The hands on the handle don't really communicate much force or torque in the putt by virtue of body mass, as the putterhead is more like a "rock on a rope."
At any event, I would welcome comments about David Lee's method so we can all get a little deeper insight.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Theorist and Instructor
The PuttingZone.com
http://puttingzone.com
Golf's most advanced and comprehensive putting instruction.