Dear Steve,
When the stroke has the shoulder frame rotating horizontally (partially so or completely horizontally), this has an undesireable effect of changing the PIVOT from a point to a line segment. By "shoulder frame rotating horizontally" I mean that the plane of the upper torso (chest) twists in the stroke back and thru.
If you had an arrow stuck in your chest, the shaft of the arrow would swing to the right going back (right hander) and then swing back to straight out and continue swinging to the left in the thru-swing. The "pivot" for this sort of stroke is not a point inside the body somewhere, but an imaginary line up inside the back, and this whole line needs to a) stay straight, and b) only rotate in place. If instead of your chest, you held a broom stick up at an angle and had an arrow sticking level out of it, and then twisted or rolled the broom stick in place, so that the orientation of the broom stick remained in the same attitude although it was spinning in place, the arrow head's tip would be the point of the pivot that has to stay in the same spot inside the broom stick.
ARROW STICKING OUT OF CHEST
What really happens with this sort of stroke is that the top half of the upper torso is less constrained in its connection by tissue to the skeletal structire of the body than the lower half: this allows the upper half of the torso to twist farther than the lower half, out of syncronized coordination with the lower half of the torso, and this in turn MOVES the point of the arrow head in a curl back and thru. There is an unwanted degree of irregularity in this curl, and an uncertainty of the location of the pivot during the stroke, that adversely affects timing and accuracy. It is as if the broom stick is rubbery and get out of line during the stroke, instead of simply rotating in place. The arrow head is on the upper part of the rubbery broom stick and so gets carried left and right in the stroke motion. People who use this sort of stroke struggle throughout their lives trying to get a solid bead on what is required to make the system work. Timing the return of the putter to square at the initial address position just before impact in the forward stroke is needlessly (if not completely hopelessly) complicated.
In contrast, if the intention in the movement is to move the whole shoulder frame in a plane that parallels the line of the putt (as defined by the aim of the putter face), then the upper torso does not twist at all. There are two "planes" of shoulder frame motion to pick from: a) vertical (to either gravity or to the surface, and I mean to the surface), and b) not vertical (or tilted at some indefinite angle off vertical). Either of these motions leaves the upper torso facing square into the putt line throughout the stroke. An arrow sticking out of your chest in either sort of plane shoulder stroke would result in the shaft of the arrow spinning in place, without any swinging left or right. Consequnetly, the PIVOT for either of these strokes is a true POINT and not a broom-stick line segment. The pivot is the point where the two clavicle bones join the shoulder bones to the sternum. This point is where the arrow is stuck. It simply spins in place, and the shaft of the arrow also simply spins in place.
A tilted-plane shoulder stroke is NOT the same as a stroke that sends the shoulders horizontally with a twisting of the upper torso. The two are not all that closely related, due to the diffeent problems (or ease) of pivot management.
PELZ TRACK
The Pelz track is two rails on legs to run the putter head between and sets up with the sides vertical to the surface and side rails slightly curved vertically. The TruePlane trainer is a plexiglass plane set at a specific angle the designer chose as a one-size-fits-all angle with a red "smile" on the plane surface to run the heel of the putter along.. The Pelz track defines the inside and the outside of the stroke at settings from 4" wide to 5.75" wide with extra spacings dor 6" and 7" if desired.
Using the Pelz track, the idea is to keep the toe and heel square back and thru inside the guide rails. This is a nice idea, but unless there is practically no gap between the toe and the outside rail and the heel and the inside rail, there is a problem. When there is space between toe and heel and the rails, the natural tendency is to make a stroke motion to avoids contacting the rails, and this is MOST EASILY done by allowing the putter head to open going back and then STAY open all the way thru. Only when the rails are set to tightly confine the toe and heel flush to the sides of the rails is it not possible to flare the toe open going back. (The lead side of the plane of the toe would stick into the outside rail if the putter head twisted open.) But when there is a gap between toe and heel and side rails, this twisting is the BEST way to make it thru the stroke without contacting the sides -- opening the face in effect makes the putter head less wide and thus easier to move thru the width of the track.
TRUEPLANE TRAINER
The TruePlane trainer is used by running the heel along the tilted plane. Thus there are ONLY three possible ways to know whether the putter is not flaring open any or is only doing so in a consistent way (and one of these is required to be known for good putting): 1) watching the putter head in the backstroke; 2) sensing the putter handle twisting inside the hands; or 3) sensing the flat plane of the heel of the putter coming off flush against the plane of the trainer. Based upon my knowledge of putter heads, they don't make the heel with a flat surface that will sit flush on the plane of the trainer (the rules of golf discourage any putter design that looks like a second striking surface, even a flat heel or toe), so the third option above is not available. Watching the putter head during the stroke is probably not a good idea, as almost everyone seems to agree on this, so the first option is also not desireable. Sensing whether the putter handle twists inside the hands is a very desireable skill to nurture, but it is also a pretty tricky skill. In my experience, even the best, most experienced golfers with a putter in their hands for decades can't quite tell whether the putter head is opening of closing in the stroke based solely upon the feel of the handle inside their hands at the ends of their arms, while their arms are swinging back and thru. The senses of body part locations in motion is too complicated and requires quite a load of attention SOLEY to the hands in space during the stroke for this "feel" to be a reliable partner in the stroke. Instead, I think it is better to simply understand what body motion moves what body part where and how. For example, if you move the lead shoulder vertically down and under the neck on a track that parallels the line of the putt and the aim of the putter, and DO NOTHING with the arms and hands, the shoulder will AWAYS send the hands straight on a parallel path WITHOUT ANY TWISTING. That is, using the shoulder to move the handsm ONLY, leaves the hands square at all points in the stroke, and this obviously leaves the putter face square at all points in the stroke as well (unless perhaps you have a putter designed by someone trying to make the putter do something in addition to what you are doing, which is unfortunately common these days).
In summary, neither of these putting aids is "perfect" (let me say it that way -- not as controversial as speaking more plainly). In addition, there is a persistent problem that comes with any "gizmo at your feet" training aid -- the brain becomes dependent upon the perception f the gizmo in order to arrange and carry out the motion, so that when you get away from the gizmo, the making of the motion is like trying to ballroom dance naked. You may have lots of practice in the stdio, but danving naked is still a difficult art. If you're going to dance naked, you probably should practice that way and use what is Avalaible when you're naked for cues to help arrange and execute the stroke. In general, "putting naked" means that the best training aid is the body and a putter -- the cues available in this situation (visual, kinesthetic, etc.) are really the ones you need to know and use.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Theorist and Instructor
Geoff Mangum's PuttingZone
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