My putts appear to have a hook spin on them. When I practice putting I tend to hit the toe side of the sweetspot. My ball usually misses on the right side of the hole (straight putt)if it doesn't hook enough. The putter head appears to drop inside during the takeaway. I have putted this way for years. Somedays good and some days not so good.

Even though I work on my alignment in the mirror (hands directly below shoulders) as well as stroke path with putting rails and Pelz's putting tutor (I often hit the right brass ball off the board) I eventually go back to my old habits.

When I repeat the square stroke path it feels like I am manipulating the putter head with my hands which feels unnatural and I have little distance control. I am a 2 handicap and practice several hours a week on the range and practice green.

Can you explain why this is happening (inside to out swing path with closed putter face??) and some drills to fix it.

Thanks,

Hooker

Dear Spinelli71,

I suspect that your backstroke tempo is too quick and inside and this is pulling your pivot back inside just a little (maybe as little as 1/8th an inch). The pivot is in the base of the neck where the clavicle meets the sternum (there's a little "hole" there above the sternum. I would bet that if you placed a dowel rod across the front of your shoulders at alignment and then made your normal backstroke and stopped at the top to inspect the dowel rod, you would find that the dowel rod is twisted off sqaure to the right a little (just a little). This makes your stroke altogether from start to finish feel nice and comfy going back and then you have a good delivery in the thru-stroke, but (oops) the shoulders get twisted right by the top of the backstroke, so the whole thru-stroke feels fine but misses right.

The shoulder twist due to the pivot sway going back is real hard to notice. Basically, your going back inside is a choice that doesn't work well with any vigor in the tempo.

Stan Utley teaches a style that has the forearms rotating clockwise going back and then counterclockwise going forward, and the common flaw of golfers who putt this way is to miss to the right, especially under pressure. The feeling of needing to get the putts more hooked left (righthander) is probably a mistaken interpretation of the need to get the timing more precise. The key timing is to reachieve the position of squareness just before ball impact. The enemy of this is too quick a tempo, for 3 different reasons: 1. going back to fast twists the pivot and shoulders out of square and spoils the whole motion pattern; 2. coming forward too fast reduces the "window of opportunity" to get the face resquared for impact and usually means the resquaring is "late" so the putts go to the outside (right) from the putter face still being a little "open" at impact; and 3. timing is just tougher when you are moving faster than necessary.

So I would suggest slowing down and relaxing as my main advice. Keep your inside back-stroke if you like, but just don't go back too vigorously or come forward too abruptly.

A drill for form that you can do is to set up the putter inside the middle of a doorway aimed at one side of the door frame -- place a straight piece of masking tape or bandaid beneath the putter's sole to indicate the address position of a square face: putt so that you always reach the "square line" at the reachieving of the address position and time the transition from backstroke to thru-stroke right on this "bottom" of the stroke; then deliver the face of the putter flush against the board of the door jamb. The stroke path needs to stay straight and the putter face remain square from the bandaid or tape to the board. When you get to making this stroke well, start paying attention to whether your pivot keeps its place from start to top of backstroke.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Theorist and Instructor

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My swing tempo is very fast so I am sure my putting tempo is the same. It is amazing you are able to diagnose putting problems without seeing the stroke. I will certainly practice this drill at home and let you know how I'm progressing.

Thanks Geoff!!