Dear Purehogan,
Distance control, of which long lags is a specific example, is no more than timing. Period. Not feel. Not even practice.
There are two "timings" to get down: the backstroke and the down-and-thru stroke.
You can have whatever timings you want, but there is one in particular that is best for humans on earth: gravity's timing. Gravity gives every stick of the same length one and only one tempo to swing from side to side like a pendulum -- the longer the stick, the slower the timing and vice versa. A human arm for an adult is about 35 inches long from back of neck to end of hand, and the timing gravity gives the arm as a stick is 1/2 second from top of backstroke to bottom of stroke. A "putter" that is 35 inches long also has the SAME timing in its pendular swing from top of backstroke to bottom of stroke (1/2 second) and about one full second from top of backstroke to top of thrustroke. Just like the human arm held away from the side and then freely dropped to hit the side of the thigh, 1/2 second regardless of how far away from the side the arm is held at the start.
This situation means that if the golfer uses gravity's free-fall timing for every putting downstroke, he will always make contact with the ball in exactly one-half second (or so, very slight variation per individual golfer) every single stroke, whether the backstroke is big or small. So that takes care of the downstroke timing.
The backstroke timing is fake, since the putter head starts at the bottom of a pendular arc from a dead stop, and is twice as long as the downstroke to impact. So the backstroke requires one full second from start of takeaway to end of backstroke, while the downstroke takes 1/2 second. I count this backstroke "one potato" -- a four syllable phrase like "one thousand one" and other normal ways to speak the duration of a second.
What happens is that any one specific backstroke length, coming down to impact, starts at zero at the top and then smoothly accelerates and reaches a peaks velocity at the bottom just before impact. For any and every backstroke length, there is one and only one putter head peak velocity at the bottom of the stroke. Increase the backstroke and this increases the putter head velocity at impact. Increase the velocity at impact, and the ball rolls further. Hence, on any given green, an increase in backstroke length results in an increase in ball roll distance. So long as you stick to the downstroke tempo.
So the mystery is how do you as a golfer get the correct backstroke length for a given length putt across a specific green with a given green speed (ignoring uphill-downhill issues)? The answer is "without trying." All you do is get a sense of green speed, turn to look at the target, and then count the backstroke. The size of the backstroke results from making the backstroke match the count. The initial shove-back of some long putts will be more "explosive" and so travel faster and farther going back than the shove-back on shorter putts. The neck turn from ball to target and back is what the instincts use to load the "black powder charge" of the takeaway to match the required backstroke length for the putt. All the golfer does is think: "make the backstroke last "one potato" for whatever charge my instintcs give the takeaway shove-back or toss-back move."
When I say count the backstroke, I mean start the putter head back with a shove after which the putter head coasts to a stop, so that the whole event ends the same time you end saying "one potato" and not before and not after. The putter head coasts to the top of the backstroke and comes to a momentary stop right as you finish the count "one potato." How far exactly the putter will go back for a given putt length is instinctive and you will not know the size of the backstroke in advance of pulling the trigger -- you just wait and watch what happens as your putter head coasts to a stop at the end of the count. Whatever backstroke results from this is highly likely to be very, very accurate for the length of the putt and the green speed. That's because your brain has decades of doing just this in many other contexts, every day -- getting the backstroke of a movement correct.
After the backstroke is fully achieved, the downstroke is not up to the golfer who uses gravity for this timing. The stroke just transpires of its own from the top of the backstroke, without effort and without trying. The peak velocity at the bottom of the stroke should be just right to roll the ball all the way to the target without being short at all, and without going by the hole much at all either.
The trick for golfers is to actually DO this backstroke. What golfers always try to do instead is manage the length of the backstroke consciously. Don't -- just get the timing right, and WHATEVER backstroke you end up getting is the one you need to learn to leave alone coming down to impact. That's the other thing golfers try -- managing the downstroke to impact. Don't -- just let gravity acceleration give the putter head a full head of steam coming off the mountain into impact. Don't shove the putter down, don't yank it down, and don't hold it back -- just let it gather speed on its own and enjoy the ride with your hands, arms and shoulder simply keeping up with the accelerating swing down and then thru impact.
To apply this to long lags, simply aim, turn the head along the line to target and back to ball to load the initial shove-back of the takeaway, then pull the trigger tossing the putter head back gently so that it coasts to a stop at the top of the backstroke right at the end of the count "one potato." Then let the putter head gather steam into impact at its own pace according to gravity. The backstroke takes one second, and impact always happens right on 1/2 second from when the putter head starts dropping down. The golfer first observes what gravity does, and then learns to say "one potato ... two" so the "one potato" times the backstroke to the top of the backstroke and the "... two" indicates 1/2 second from there down to impact. In all this, the correct backstroke just happens from instinct, so the correct putter head velocity at impact also happens for the green speed and distance, and the ball rolls the correct distance. Just timing.
If you observe this timing, the backstroke size has a distance-limit in it. The velocity at impact that corresponds to any one backstroke size means that there is a maximum range that backstroke can possibly send the ball. As it happens, the brain is so good that this maximum range is also 100% of the correct desired distance. This means that THE ONLY WAY the golfer can possibly go too long with the well-timed backstroke is to speed-up the timing of the downstroke. So don't.
If you get the backstroke TIMING correct, and leave the downstroke timing alone, you will get the correct distance even for long lags. If the backstroke timing is short, the putt will be short. If the downstroke timing is slow, the putt will be short. Backstrokes are almost NEVER too long, so don't worry about that. Downstrokes may sometimes be too slow (from tension, trying, guiding, and managing the downstroke timing instead of letting the putter head gather steam in a free-fall). More often, the downstroke gets "zipped" too fast, and that makes the putt too long. Basically, if you get the backstroke timing right, and leave the downstroke to freely gather steam into impact, you'll be right on the button many more times than otherwise.
This has nothing to do with "feel" -- as the Hunchback of Notre dame could exhibit exquisite touch on the greens so long as his timings were correct. You can putt as tight as a tick and get perfect distance so long as the timings back and thru are correct (not hurried, not slow).
This also has nothing much to do with practice or drills like putting to specific distances. The brain has already had plenty of practice at this over the previous decades. And practicing 30-40-50 feet putts etc. is a bit deceptive: you get one distance right, and the others are too easy. Plus, these distances only count on that specific green speed, so the practice doesn't travel well from day to day and green to green.
Just look from ball to target and back and then count your stroke timings back and thru.
The Two Chinese Golf Gods: Ty-Ming and Tem-Po.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
PuttingZone
http://puttingzone.com
Golf's most advanced putting instruction -- you're either in the PuttingZone, or not.
