Hi Geoff

I was reviewing your reply to Bastian's question on practice strokes on Nov 16th, 2004.
Part of your answer contains the statement "the thing that Pelz sort of gets right here is the looking at the hole while making a practice stroke beside the ball".

I want to relate this statement to one I read in a book on the practice stroke.

It states "the practice swing for a short putt is vital. When you do one, do NOT aim it at the hole. If you do, you need to address the ball and change the angle. This is one of the most common reasons for aiming right. Instead, either aim the practice swing parallel to the putt or carry it out in a completely random direction".

I don't understand, as you do, the interconnectedness of the brain, the body and the eyes. To my layman way of thinking I would think that if you take the practice stroke 4 inches to the left of the ball, you should look at a spot 4 inches to the left of the hole and not at the hole itself. This would keep the same relationship between the body, eyes and neck turn.

What is effect of practise putting parallel, but looking at the hole at a slightly different angle to when you are over the ball?

This issue does not examine the value of practice putting beside or behind the ball, and its relevance to better putting.

Kind regards
Neville Walker
Oz

Dear neville,

That's a tricky little issue you've spotted there -- but simple to resolve.

The practice stroke while looking at the hole is functionally a turning of the neck the correct angle and holding this posture while making a stroke for "feel" of the distance. So to that extent, Pelz is backing into something correct without knowing about it (the relationship between neck turn and touch). As usual, Pelz and most people who talk about this assume it is the eyes that are "programming" touch, but that's incorrect.

The resolution is that you don't really have to aim the stroke AT any target if your objective is to test out a feel for distance. In my system, there is NO practice stroke from beside the ball in order to avoid the problem of confusing the body about the setup-stroke orientation. The problem is that a practice stroke MAY reorient the body's aim and sense of how the stroke should proceed in space, unless you know how to avoid that. Standing beside the ball looking at the HOLE is fine if all you are working towards is a sense of feel for distance, but it may well reorient your sense of shoulder movement to the right unless you're careful not to. And the kinesthetic sense of the stroke in motion is more powerful than the eyes for informing the body about what needs to happen in the real stroke, so the potential for misperception is acute.

Tiger Woods and others make a parallel practice stroke beside the ball back off the ball about 6-8 inches, and then carefully slide the putter head straight away from their setup stance until it fits centered behind the ball. (Note that his feet do not follow the putter head out to the ball, so this in effect stretches his hands and arms out away from their natural hanging posture, and the real stroke proceeds from a posture OTHER than the practice stroke -- not a good idea.) This routine does not usually involve a look at any target when making the practice strokes -- whether to a spot parallel left of the real target or the hole itself. (Tiger uses a quick check-glance as far as the target and back to below his feet before making the practice stroke, so there is a hint he's hunting distance feel, but if so, he's not doing this very well -- the little quick side-glance ain't good for generating distance info -- too casual and quick and brief.)

So the functional purpose of this sort of routine is NOT gauging distance feel or targeting, but getting the stroke motion properly oriented and then moving the putter carefully into position so that the real stoke has the same orientation in space. I would suggest that anyone using this routine stop and think whether they really need to test drive their stroke form before pulling the trigger. Afterall, EVERY stroke anyone ever makes on a green ought to be exactly the same form as any other stroke, every day, every putt. What's to practice?

So you should distinguish making a practice stroke beside the ball for purposes of gauging the SIZE of the stroke (eyes on hole okay) from making a practice stroke beside the ball for purposes of testing out the FORM and ORIENTATION of the stroke at or to the target / hole. The latter just isn't necessary, and the former presents the danger of altering the latter unawares. It's much better to aim the putter face at the target, setup square to the putter as aimed, gauge distance with a neck turn that simultaneously informs the brain about the SIZE of the stroke while also informing the brain about the ORIENTATION of the stroke motion in the same-every-time manner, and that leaves the shoulders and entire setup unaltered from square.

The neck turn does both without involving the eyes except to stop the neck turn once the line of sight gets as far along the ground as it needs to go for the putt. The angle and pace of the neck turn works instinctively to generate the appropriate size of stroke for the required touch (with a stable tempo and your intuitive sense of green speed), and the orientation of the base of the neck acts like a clutch plate between the turning head and the still shoulderframe in the pravtice stroke prefiguring or previewing the real stroke when the head stays still and the shoulderframe rocks back and forth in the same plane.

Practice strokes beside the ball just aren't a good idea.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Theorist and Instructor
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