I don't tecah any special impact technique but I do teach a targeting and touch plan, plus a special-case touch control.
In my teaching, every putt has a target spot on the fall line above the cup a certain distance. The plan for the putt selects this target with a given sense of touch or delivery speed to the hole, and the actual putt itself has to be executed with the SAME sense of touch (or else a different target is needed). The way I select the target uses a "just get there" delivery speed, so I teach putting "at and to but not thru" the target spot. The golfer aims straight at the spot on the fall line, ignores the tilt of the surface, and putts as if to STOP the ball ON the target spot. That way, the putt has the correct energy for the anticipated break and rolls as far as the cup.
As a correllary to this system, I teach that EVERY putt is in the last instance an issue of touch -- too much energy is as bad as too little energy. If you want to sink the putt, you have to get the touch right. There is no guessing about what is needed -- roll the ball so that (if the green were level and flat) it would come to a stop on top of the target spot. One way to make half of this clearer is to observe that any putt that crosses the fall line has too much energy and is bound to go thru the break. On the other hand, any putt that fails to have enough energy to make it all the way to the target spot (if the green were not tilted) must necessarily fall short / low on the amateur side. It's all about touch.
The special-case touch technique is a way to deal with especially slick / sloped greens for downhill putts. Normally, I prefer the usual tempo with just a short stroke. Sometimes, however, there is a lingering sense that stopping the ball at the target spot will be esepcially "iffy" for the given putt and there is a substantial chance of the ball rolling significantly too far. In that case, I teach slowing the tempo itself. This is done by introducing tension thru the upper torso (pecs and shoulders and upper arms) well above the usual relaxed setup. This tension "gums up" the tempo and slows it down artifically. When the stroke is made, I think "even, even" in a slow cadence to make a slow-motion stroke that has a backstroke ("even") the same size as the forward stroke ("even") -- not free flowing, but symmetrically managed in slow motion. This slowed tempo seems to allow very good control of especially slick slopes downhill (although some slopes and green speeds cannot be managed at all).
I hope this helps.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Theorist and Instructor
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