Dear David,
What you describe is a very, very common problem for golfers at all levels. Using the hands to start the action is the cause of the problem. The cure is to move the putter back solely by moving the lead shoulder down to push the triangle as a whole unit from one of its corners so it pivots the apex (putter head) back.
The cause: The only way the body can move the hands from one location in space to another (ignoring simple hand rotation by forearms) is to change the wrists, change the elbows, change the shoulder joints, turn or bend the torso, or walk. Joints move parts. The most common way to "move the hands" at the takeaway is to use the shoulder joints and/or the elbows. Using the shoulder joints means moving the arms independently of shoulder frame motion, and this opens or closes the arm pits. When the shoulder joints are uninvolved, the arm pits stay unchanging. Using the elbows invariably means "lifting" the forearms by "closing" the elbow angles to some degree. Either using the arms or the elbows sends the putter out beyond the line at the takeaway.
The arms do so because moving the lead arm across the chest forces the arm out away from the body (the inside of the upper arm rolls out over the rib cage / pecs). This particular action also makes the forearms "roll" open going back, and this opens the putter face. Not good.
Using the elbows by lifting the putter head back away from the ball also sends the putter head out beyond the putt line. The only way the elbow can "lift" the forearms and hands is out away from the body. This action may or may not cause changes in the putter face.
The cure: If the "triangle" consists of two shoulders and the putter head, with this "upside down triangle" suspended on a pivot halfway between the two shoulders at the midpoint of the base of the triangle, then making a straight stroke means simply tipping the lead corner of the triangle down. The direction of the tipping downward can be aimed vertically down even if the triangle as a whole is tilted, or can be aimed on a tilt that is the same as the triangle, or can be aimed on some other angle, just so long as the triangle goes back and forth in its starting plane, and does not skew out of plane. This action will always send the putter straight back from the ball on the same line as the putter is aimed.
This shoulder action does not in any respect send the putter head away from the feet or across the putt line. You would have to setup askew of square (shoulders aligned open) for this action to send the putter beyond the line. So, if you set up square with shoulders parallel to the putt line, and start the putter back by tipping the triangle, the putter CANNOT cross the line and will in fact move straight back.
The only complication in this is that sometimes the putter head wants to settle back towards the feet as soon as it starts moving away from the static holding position at address behind the ball. If you setup the putter behind the ball and then gently breathe in to raise the whole torso, thus lifting the putter sole off its resting place on the ground, and the putter head wants to sink towards your feet, your setup is probably not optimal. Sure, you CAN take care of this problem by increasing tension in the arms and hands, but that's not the ticket. The better cure is to learn how to set the putter down initially to get rid of this "sinking back" tendency.
Once you place the putter on the ground, the sole needs to be flat to the surface, whether the surface is level or tilted some way. Once the putter is sitting there correctly aimed and soled, then "bring the body to the putter" with the arms and hands hanging the way they should be in a good stroke. This will fit the hands to the handle, probably lower than you are used to. It will also create a certain angle between top bones of forearms and tops of thumbs down the putter handle or shaft angle. IF you have a sound head position and arm hang, AND IF the putter correctly fits your setup, then the forearm line will match the shaft line and the hands will be angled down as if at the end of a fly-rod cast. The lifeline inside the palm directly on the handle will run along the edge of the putter handle in alignment with the shaft and forearm bone. All this being the case, there will be a certain minimal tension in the grip that supports the putter against "sinking back" by the bottom fingers under the handle as formed in the grip pressure. That's a lot better than tightening the arms and grip to prevent the sinking back at the beginning.
But if the lie of the putter is off for your setup, you have to do something different. usually, the lie is too flat, and this makes the putter head extend too far away from the feet in the setup and requires greater "support" in the grip to prevent the sinking back action. The farther away the putter head is from the feet, the more the putter head is angled out from directly beneath the shoulders, and this increases the potential for sinking back once the takeaway starts. So there is a happy medium with ANY putter, good lie or bad, that can be attained in setting up. I call this "dangling the line" down a pipe.
If you had a fishing line and hook (or sinker) suspended off the bottom of the putter beneath the sweetspot, and imagined a section of pipe vertically reaching up from the ground a few inches right behind the ball, you could lower the putter head into position behind the ball as if dangling the fish hook down inside the pipe. This is something you do with setting the whole torso down to the putt, and not by extending the elbows out. Sole and aim the putter, take up the grip with arms hanging by "bringing the body to the putter handle," and then use breathing to raise and lower the torso to lower the putter head behind the ball in this fashion. Once done, the tendency to sink back at the takeaway is eliminated (or handled in a minimal way).
So far so good. Now, to test it, before initiating the takeaway, breathe in to poise the sole of the putter on the tips of the grass, so it is not resting down on the ground. Doing this fixes a very precise and stable relationship between the pivot in the base of the neck and the bottom of the putter at address. The putter should not sink back any when raised in this fashion, and this indicates that the setup is right for that putter.
At this point, with the putter poised just hovering above the ground, in contact with the grass tips, it is time to make the takeaway by "tipping the triangle.' That is, move the lead shoulder socket down so the triangle moves straight back on the pivot. This poising of the putter head makes for a very, very smooth and accurate takeaway.
Let me know what you think.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Theorist and Instructor
Geoff Mangum's PuttingZone
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