Dear 300Drive,
Let me answer your 2 questions directly and then elaborate: Center-shafted, and the arm should hang fully relaxed with a nice grip.
SHAFTING
First, I just don't see the advantage of a heel-shafted putter unless you really want the face of the putter opening and closing in the stroke in relation to the path of the putter in the air. In the left-hand low setup, the biomechanics are designed to reduce or eliminate this gating action of the putter in relation to its path and to promote a more straight-thru stroke path without forearm and hand rotation. So the center-shafting is definitely better for this style.
The heel-shafting is basically an accident of history in that putters were originally not that different from other clubs, since there really wasn't a separate "green" surface specially prepared for "putting" the ball on the ground. The full swing for power has a lot more biomechanical issues than putting, and the heel shafting probably makes sense for irons and drivers or woods becuase of this. (Wouldn't it be interesting if someone explored the science of center-shafted drivers?)
On the other hand, a center-shafted putter doesn't exactly qualify as "traditional" in a conservative sense, for the same reason. The Schenectady putter used by Walter Travis in 1904 to win the British Amateur was a center-shafted putter, and it was considered to be too similar to a croquet mallet to be sufficiently "traditional" for golf and was banned by the R&A for about four decades. Unless the rule-makers roll back the hands of time, however, center-shafted putters are now solidly part of the game, even if not strictly traditional in an historical way.
Also, when the shaft is centered with the sweetspot of the putter, the physics are a little better (straighter, better on-line momentum), the feel is a little more "solid" at impact, and the relation between the line of the shaft and the sweetspot is coordinated to make the stroke path management and impact management easier and more consistent and accurate. When the putter is heel shafted, there is a disjuncture between the location of the hosel moving in space and the sweetspot moving in space that is not especially simple or helpful. In iron and bunker play, there is often a sense of swinging the hosel thru the impact zone, rather than the center of the clubface. This same sense comes up with a heel-shafted putter, but I don't think it compares all that well with the simplicity of the center-shafted putter, especially with better physics.
ARM POSTURE
The left arm ought to hang "naturally" with a little crook in the elbow that results from normal adult musclular development. But some of this "natural" crook gets removed by the grip, and possibly by a deliberate rolling inward of the elbow in the setup.
When you hang the left-arm fully in a relaxed way and then assume a grip on the handle, the grip will ordinarily have the wrist cocked down and outward to some degree to align the "tube" of the inside of the left hand more with the forearm bones, so the putter shaft aligns more with the forearm bones. (The lifeline of the palm is canted down to match the alignment of the forearm bones.) This alignment of the shaft with the left forearm is not strictly necessary, as the putter face will mirror however the left shoulder moves in space regardless of the configuration of the arms and hands, so long as the configuration does not alter durig the stroke. But it is sort of a way to streamline the tool of the putter into the internal body image and make the putter more an extension of the body rather than an appendage, or at least to minimize the awareness of the putter as an appendage extending separately out from the hands. So the shaft-forearm alignment makes it a little easier or less problematic to integrate the putter into the movement of the shoulder-arm as a unit. So, when the arm is hanging in a relaxed way and THEN the hand is angled down into what I call the "fly rod casting" orientation, this setting of the hand position is accomplished by forearm muscle tension that alters the ligaments (the butt of the hand is pulled back up along the forearm by muscles running on the bottom of the forearm from elbow to wrist). The elbow is stabilized in turn by muscles at the back of the upper arm. This stabilization in turn removes a little of the crook of the elbow. The end reult is that the elbow is a little straighter than the "natural" hang, but is still not "stuck" straight down deliberately to remove all elbow angle.
Reagrdless of whether the shaft is aligned with the forearm or whether there is an angling out of the hands of the putter, the putter head sweetspot and gaze direction of the face and line of sight (with the gaze aimed straight out of the face) need to meet behind the ball. This ends up being a lie specification that is determined only after the setup is decided upon, so that whatever setup is chosen, the putter soles flatly to the ground when the gaze meets the sweetspot behind the ball.
The second setup aspect that alters the "straightness" of the left arm is rolling or turning the left elbow inward a little towards the other elbow. This is accomplished by muscles from the chest and back attached to the shoulder, so the socket is effectively rolled counterclockwise a little, looking down on the socket. People's hands hang differently due to individual variations, so that for some the palms naturally hang flush with the thighs, while for others the palms point more to the rear. In either case, the rolling inward of the elbow is opposed by the rolling clockwise of the palm to match the handle of the putter so the palm is flush to the side of the putter handle. The effect is what I call a mild "wringing the dishrag of the arm taut" with the opposing twists of the elbow counterclokwise but the hand clockwise. This wringing the dishrag of the arm tends to straighten the arm a little also by removing a little elbow crook. The slight added tension in the shoulder socket seems to stabilize the configuration against the forces of the body-in-motion and against the forces of the putter/appendage-in-motion, such as they might be with a nice even tempo. The more smooth and even and slow the tempo, the less the need for these stabilizations of the elbow and shoulder, but in general wringing the dishrag a little seems to be a useful setup adjustment if not carried too far or given too much attention.
All that said, let me comment on what the "low" in left-hand low does that requires attention. The "low" of the left hand usually will lower the left shoulder at address to tilt the shoulder frame as a whole left-side-down, get the left hand closer to the ground than otherwise, and move the bottom of the stroke arc more forward from the middle of the body to the point directly below the left shoulder. All of this -- unless adjested for by moving the ball farther forward in the stance -- will promote a descending blow with a delofted putter on a path that results in the putter staying lower thru impact and into the follow-thru than otherwise, in comparison to a more normal thru-trajectory in which the putter rises naturally but only slightly after the bottom of the stroke. ordinarily, then, even if you desire these effects in the stroke and impact, you still probably want the ball a little more forward in the stance than otherwise, to respect the more forward "bottom" of the stroke with this style.
Part of this depends on what the golfer does with the right arm and hand. Usually, the right arm is allowed to keep some crook in the right elbow. The extreme of this is Bernard Langer's setup in which the right hand locks the putter handle against the inside of the left forearm. In any case, the right arm and hand is subordinate to the left arm in this style, as I believe it should be in any event. The crook in the right elbow keeps the right arm relaxed, especially in comparison to the left, so the somatic awareness of this combination makes the left arm seem to be the main functional unit for the action of the stroke. The differences of the states of the two arms is what helps promote a unitized action in the stroke of the left arm, uninterfered with by the overpowering tendencies of the dominant hand. The more there is this difference between the left and right arm positioning, the less the need to allow this setup to tilt the shoulder frame left-side-down. So I would not recommend allowing this setup to tilt the shoulder frame left-side-down, as this unnecessarily lowers the left hand closer to the ground, unnecessarily moves the bottom of the stroke more forward, and unnecessarily delofts the putter from the tilt of the shoulders. The tilting of the shoulders also injects a mild issue of whether the shoulder alignment remains square or parallel left to the putt line or is slightly reoriented to a push or a pull by the way the shoulder frame tilts. I would recommend just setting up with level shoulders, and this reults in the right arm more free floating and uninvolved but with the elbow crooked.
Actually, I don't see the need for the "low" in the "left-hand-low" setup. I like everything about the left arm and hand in control of the stroke, and I like the uninvolved subordinate role of the right arm and hand, but I think the right hand does not have to be kept 'high" on the handle. In my style, I put the ldeft hand on the handle and then wrap the right hand around the fingers of the left, so that the arms hang about equally and the shoulder are level and the right arm and hand stays uninvolved. The left hand being the main contact with the putter, with a little "fly rod casting" of the hand down and a little "dishrag wringing" of the left elbow inward, plus perhaps a little extra or differential grip pressure in the left fingers versus keeping the right hand pretty un-tight, ends up making the somatic awareness in the setup definitely left-sided. The chief stroke issues are then starting the stroke with the left shoulder dropping to push the putter back instead of the hands pulling the putter back from the ball, keeping the hands as naturally extended as they start without lifting by elbow or hand action, and making the hru-stroke purely a matter of the lead shoulder rocking up smoothly rather than powering the putter thru the bottom of the stroke with the hands or arms acting independently of the shoulders. So long as the transition in the vertical aspect of the stroke is from downward to upward at the middle of the body or a little ahead of that, and the ball position is significantly in front of this transition point, the putter will not be descending and delofted thru impact.
So I recommend "left-hand-not-low" with a center-shafted putter.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Theorist and Instructor
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