Dear Neville,
Hoseling, or the shape and location and manner of connecting the shaft to the putter head, is currently a hot topic for study among putter designers. Apparently, the location of the hosel matters substantially to the way the putter swings and performs. My guess is that at the least an attachment of the shaft that is on line with the putter's center of gravity during the stroke is where all this is going to end up, and probably not too far in front or behind the putter head's COG.
That said, there is the issue of how the hoseling influences the visual appearance of the putter at address and in motion and whether this positively or adversely affects the golfer's aiming the putter and making the stroke. Fo my money, I like a shaft that heads straight into the head on its necessary angle (at least 10 degrees required by the rules) without any twists or turns in it. Visually, that is, this sort of hoseling lets me see the sweets spot of the putter and does not obscure or even detract from the visual appearance of the sweet spot and the top edge of the putter face. Also, visually, I like the farthest edge of the shaft where it enters the putter head to be right at or next to the sweet spot, rather than set back some distance to the heel. I like the visual and physical sense of moving and seeing moved that specific spot of a balanced putter head. otherwise, your visual attention with a heel-shafted putter tends to get divided at odd times between the sweet spot and the hosel. The sense of moving the putter is more of a sense of where a laser shining straight out of the bottom of the shaft down onto the ground would point, and not so much where the sweet spot is located during its movement thru the air. So I like the two (shaft entry and sweet spot) to be close both visually and physically.
Gooseneck hosels are designed to locate the hands ahead of the putter face at address and impact. I don't care for this, as I like the bottom of the stroke to be right in the middle of my body, since this gives better cues for repetition and consistency. I also don't really subscribe to most of the lore about "true roll" requiring a hands-ahead or descending blow, which this hoseling encourages.
There are two other somewhat weird styles of hoseling; backwards and rearwards. Backwards is hoseling on the toe-end of the putter head and rearward is hoseling into the rear of the putter head, both with the sort of plumber bends you mention. These putters can work nicely, but I find them visually away from the direction of simplicity. I'm sort of waiting on the physics guys to tell me about how goosenecks, backwards, and rearwards hoseling affects the swing and balance and roll-imparting effects of a putter.
But like I say, my money is on center-shafted, straight in, near the putter head COG, and in a head where there is not much distance from shaft entry to the putter face. just "Plain-Jane" with decent physics.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Theorist and Instructor
Geoff Mangum's PuttingZone
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