Sure! Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
The
Easy Putt trainer is a "vertical plane" stroke trainer -- finally!
Whereas the True Plane trainer, the Putting Arc, and the InPutt are all trainers that use some form of tilted stroke plane, which makes people erroneously think the putter has to arc inside, the Easy Putt "stands the arc up properly" for a vertical stroke plane. All strokes have some form of arcing, but the plane of the arc of the putter head itself may vary from vertical to some tilt angle to perfectly flat on the ground, depending upon how the body is moved. The exact shape of the arc varies from golfer to golfer a little, depending upon golfer size and proportions and his putter design and his setup and stroke mechanics. But basically, the arc looks like a "smile" or "upside down rainbow" shape.
This photo illustrates the shape of the arc, where the hand is resting:
Notice that the arc is standing up vertically.
The key difference in using the Easy Putt comes from the attachment that fits on the shaft of the putter just above the hosel. This attachment has a piece extending back from the shaft that fits onto the top of the arc and glides back and forth along the top of the curved shape.
Thus, when the golfer makes a stroke, the putter head is constrained by fitting to the top of the vertical arc so that the putter head moves in a straight line back and forth that rises going back from the ball and rises going forward of the middle of the stroke in accordance with the shape of the arc. That is, the putter head moves as a result of body action that produces a vertical plane stroke.
There are three things of special note about the piece that fits on top of the arc.
First, the piece can angle off the shaft at various angles, depending upon the lie angle of the putter. This renders lie angle mostly irrelevant to the motion that results in the putter head, although lie angle is still important somewhat for defining the exact shape of the arc. (More on this in a bit.) Thus the Easy Putt works essentially the same for different lengths and lies for putters (but the company says it is not designed to work with broom handle putters).
Second, the piece "rests" on the top somewhat in the fashion that a railroad wheel rests on a track. This means that the golfer is discouraged from "lifting" the putter during the stroke, and simply hangs the arms and hands in a relaxed fashion -- otherwise the piece might get lifted off the track and spoil the stroke. This is a very good and useful feature, and it tends to keep tension out of the arms and hands and leave the focus on the feel in the shoulder action, where the real treasure lies.
Third, the piece holds the putter face square throughout the stroke -- the face otherwise could fan open going back and closed going forward. he InPutt stroke trainer with the "fork prongs" off the back of the putter shaft running along the flat but tilted board also keeps the putter face square back and forward, but the Easy Putt does so with a vertical-plane stroke. This design feature has a very important biomechanical effect in the training, as it constrains the elbows and wrists from altering to "help" move the putter head back or forth. With these two limb joints out of the picture, the golfer is trained to use the shoulders, and to leave the arms and hands "dead" so that the putter face orientation will remain unaltered by the stroke from its initial "square" aim.
The one criticism I have is that the front-to-back length of the arc is not long enough. Because it's made from plastic, there's really no design requirement that prevents it from being longer. In these two photos, you can see Padraig Harrington using the trainer on a fairly short putt on what appears to be a reasonably fast or slick green surface, and he is using ALL that the trainer allows for the size of his backstroke and then his follow-thru:
In my experience, it is important to train the form of the stroke motion without artificial constraints on the size of the stroke. Cramping the size of the stroke has a very deleterious effect on timing and comfort and ease of learning. The asy Putt would be a more valuable training aid if it were about twice as long.
The one caveat I have concerns the shape of the arc. The actual shape of the arc that corresponds to a particular golfer's vertical-plane stroke depends a little on his size and proportions and the putter design, setup, and actual stroke mechanics. If you start with a golfer making identical vertical-plane shoulder strokes, but vary his putter's lie angle, the shape of the arc changes. The least radiused arc (closest to a horizontal track) corresponds to an upright lie. Even with a lie angle of 90 degrees, there will always be some minimal radiusing based upon the length of the system from top of track to pivot in golfer's body (base of neck). Taller golfers will have a more gentle radiusing, as their action sweeps a grander arc. As the lie angle flattens, the same golfer's arc looks more and more like that of a shorter golfer -- a sharper radiusing in a less grand sweep. Ultimately, with the shaft of the putter aimed straight out horizontally from the base of the neck, a vertical-plane shoulder action sweeps an arc that is no wider than the width of the golfer's shoulders and is radiused in a circle of the same small diameter. The upshot of all this is that the exact shape chosen by the makers of the Easy Putt is necessarily a "one size fits all" arc geometry. That's not that big of a deal, but in a perfect world, the shape of a specific golfer's arc would be tailored or fitted to his body, putter, setup and stroke.
Overall, in comparison to other available trainers, the Easy Putt stroke trainer gets the basics right whereas the other aids don't -- it uses a vertical arc and it keeps the putter face square. That's really fantastic and very useful.
The Easy Putt also has portability to recommend itself. The current price of 67 British pounds plus 10 for shipping and handling is roughly $150 US. I'm sure the designers deserve every penny, but I also hope this price declines a little. The ProAim glasses started out at US$130 plus shipping and handling and later declined to US$60. That would make the Easy Putt much more accessible to amateur golfers. I also hope they find a good US distributer and a good US PGA Tour rep, to help their product along.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Theorist and Instructor
Geoff Mangum's PuttingZone
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