Dear Herbert,
The term "feel" is one of the most vague terms in all golf instruction. Basically, I don't believe golf instructors or golf writers know what they mean or express what they mean very clearly when using the term "feel." The notions involved are very cloudy and indistinct. This vagueness in terms like "feel" in the language of golf leads to sloppy thinking and poor instruction, learning and performance.
So, that makes your question a great opportunity to inflict some improvement!
VAGUE DEFINITIONS OF "FEEL" (AND "TOUCH")
"Feel" lacks scientific definition, and therefore cannot really be studied, understood, or taught. The role or function of "feel" is not really comprehended. This is a typical sentence: "Keeping your head still will promote good feel and touch, and aid consistency." (
Dave Pelz, Stop Moving!, Golfonline.) Or this:
"The Hearthstone Review: The subject of
feel comes up quite often. Many people believe that it's something elusive, something that can't be studied and quantified and improved. I know you disagree.
Pelz: Absolutely. We have drills and games we use to develop
touch and the great putters have to have it. The truth of putting, it's true for the whole game: you can't be a totally mechanical player and be any good at all. And you can't be a totally
feel player and play any good at all unless you are a God-gifted, naturally born, perfect mechanical putter - and there aren't very many of those."
(
Dave Pelz Interview, Hearthstone Review.)
Or this:
"GCG: How do you address the subjects of
touch and feel?
DP: People think
touch is a God-given talent. They think Tom Kite was born with great
touch and D.A. Weibring was born with great
touch. They weren't. Learning
touch is the easiest part of the system I teach, but it's the last part I teach. That's because a putting stroke that is not consistent, that doesn't do the same thing every time, preludes you from ever learning how to putt. You must learn a good mechanical stroke that is repetitive before you can learn
touch, because
touch is the repetition of a consistent stroke and watching how that behaves on the green. If you don't have a consistent stroke, the result changes every time. But
touch is actually very easy to learn. It does have to be learned on the green, on the golf course. You can't learn it at home or in the office, on carpet.
GCG: So a golfer should practice
touch on the course, but practice the stroke mechanics away from the course?
DP: That's very close to what our system is. The Dave Pelz belief is that you practice putting mechanics, with feedback, away from the golf course. Those four fundamentals, the mechanics you practice, you practice in your office, your den ... away from the course. When you go to the course, you practice
touch. I never practice my putting stroke mechanics on the putting green, because there's no feedback."
(
Dave Pelz, Gulf Coast Golfer, July 1991).)
Or this: "Consistently striking the ball out of the Ôsweet spotÕ, will greatly improve a player's
Ôtouch and feelÕ." (
Paul Hurrion et al., Coaches Info.)
Or this from Tiger Woods:
"Some players take a more mechanical approach to lag putting, using a formula for how far the ball will roll according to speed and distance. My dad taught me as a kid to develop my putting
touch and feel through visualization. "Putt to the picture," he would say. "
Feel the stroke." Whenever I'm struggling and need a tune-up, I return to those basics.
The objective in lag putting is to roll the ball at a speed that will give the ball a chance to go in but, if missed, leave a kick-in second putt. As a player who controls the speed and direction of the putt with his right hand, I try to
feel the speed of the greens in that hand. Sometimes I've even practiced one-handed to develop my stroke. I concentrate on speed, because if my speed is off, the line really doesn't matter."
(
Tiger Woods, Golf Digest, June 2005.)
Or this: "Designed by short-game design legend Roger Cleveland, with input from Phil Mickelson and other Callaway golf staff Professionals, the new X-tour Wedges are forged from 1020 carbon steel for exceptional
touch and feel around the greens." (
Callaway Magazine.)
Or this: "Develop Your
Touch and Feel. This is a big one for me. As part of my self improvement program, I bought a laser rangefinder. I took it out religiously for a few weeks, trying to dial in the distance from all of the familiar points on the course. Then, I realized that I didn't need it. I began to look at the shot, and then hit the shot. I keep reminding myself of that Hogan line: "I don't want to know."
Amateurs over-engineer their swings. They get all wrapped up in their Pelz-inspired swing thoughts about 7:30, 9:00 and 10:30. If you play a lot, you look at the shot and then hit the shot. You don't need to know how far it is. You don't need to think about your backswing in the middle of your backswing. To me, the Dave Pelz theory of distance control is too mechanical. It might be useful while you're struggling to understand distance -- because you don't play enough. Sooner or later, you'll be better off if you don't pretend you're a puppet with some higher power pulling your strings."
(
Leith Anderson, Golf Today Magazine.)
As you can see, no one is clearly defining what they mean by "touch and feel." The assumption seems to be that the terms are self-explanatory. Well, they aren't. Not even close.
Here are some definitions implied in the above, extracted from how the instructor or writer is using the terminology in context:
Dave Pelz: When asked about "feel", he discusses "touch" instead. Touch is not defined, but appears to mean something sort of like "non-mechanical performance during play". Pretty vague.
Callaway Magazine: wedge metal properties give "touch and feel" around the green. Apparently meaning "control."
Paul Hurrion: Solid impact improves "touch and feel". What is it and how does solid impact improve it? Expanding the context, Hurrion writes: "The more consistent a player can be in transferring energy to the golf ball, the greater control they will have on the speed of the golf ball. The distance a golf ball travels is determined by speed. The speed of the ball, dictates how much the ball will break and therefore the line of the putt. Consistently striking the ball out of the Ôsweet spotÕ, will greatly improve a player's Ôtouch and feelÕ." So he really means "control."
Tiger Woods: "touch and feel" equates to speed / distance control via visualization and the "feel" of the green speed "in the hand." What is the feel of the green speed and how does it get in the hand?
CLEARER DEFINITIONS OF "TOUCH" AND "FEEL"
The best option is to abandon the vague terms "touch and feel" altogether, and just be more descriptive and accurate in speaking of distance control, stroke, and the like. Distance control is instinctive timing, not feel. Stroke control is a propitious setup posture and sound movement strategies. But golfers as a herd are not likely to leave the comfort zone any time soon. So, let's merely insist on sharper definitions so we have a functioning vocabulary for teaching and learning.
A prinicpled approach for giving definition is to first ask "what use" the definitions will be put to. The short answer is: to play better. The long answer is: to understand how to play better so we can teach, learn and perform better.
To understand "touch and feel" in a useful way, in my view, requires a focus on the human body in putting, and that means focusing on the relationship of the putter itself to the body and the putter-in-motion during the stroke as experienced by the body, so the golfer can understand what feedback he should get from a sound stroke, in terms of cause and effect. This is a combination of neuroscience, physics, and stroke technique.
The neuroscience is mostly about haptic sensation and somatosensory processes and awareness and movement strategies. The physics is mostly about mass, weight, inertia, gravity, pendular swinging, momentum, impact, vibrations, and sounds. Good stroke technique corresponds to specific sorts of "good feedback" in the neuroscience from the physics, and evil stroke technique generates evil feedback. (I prefer the moral slant to feedback.)
A good stroke is a straight stroke that rolls the ball the right distance. This usually or optimally requires a square putter face moving straight down the line thru solid impact with the ball. A good stroke is also usually a solid stroke and is performed with the same tempo or timing back and thru, employing the same-every-time biomechanics.
This "good stroke" technique REQUIRES "good" feel that is distinct from "evil" feel.
The putter's shape and size and flex properties and metal characteristics and overall weight and momentum properties all AFFECT feel, but in general a well-designed and fitted putter for a sound stroke does not add or substract too much from the sound physics generated by good technique. The differences in "feel" of one putter versus another should not be the determining factor in what technique the golfer uses, and if the not-so-hot putter generates "evil" feedback, the golfer needs to learn to ignore this and stick to good technique despite the fog and smoke of "evil" feedback. Putter designs either promote good technique or encourage evil technique. You first need to know what good feedback happens with good technique, and then you can assess what the putter does to add or subtract from that.
Using these principles, let's describe my "feel" in as many different aspects as we can:
STANCE FEEL
The stance is balanced, athletic, and stable but still a bit reactive.
1. Both feet are spaced about shoulder width
2. Both big toes are offset from the putt line the same distance
3. Weight distribution is "rooted" in the earth like in martial arts, with neither left nor right side favored, and perhaps favoring the balls of the feet slightly more than the heels
4. knees slightly flexed and stabilized with steady muscle tone in backs of thighs and calves to accommodate anticipated maximum violence in forthcoming stroke forces
5. cocyx slightly hiked to counterbalance forward lean of heavy torso, shoulders and head out towards ball
6. arms and hands hanging naturally, with elbows vertically below shoulder sockets and vertically above balls of feet, and hands hanging about over big toes
7. line of throat feels set to match orientation of leading edge of putter face
8. head and neck set so that eyeballs aim straight out of face when looking down at putter head sweetspot and back of ball (not really adopted until after grip, as final positioning in setup)
GRIP FEEL
The grip feel expresses itself in several ways: form, tension, orientation, change.
The feel of a good form of the grip, to me, is:
1. left hand on first and most in contact with handle, bringing the left hand onto the handle however it ends up being oriented in space after soling the putter flatly behind the ball with good aim
2. leading top edge of handle conforms to life line of left palm
3. thumb tip of left hand flat to flat surface of handle but not punched down into handle material, just a nice full contact between skin and handle
4. sidewall of left palm flesh fully in contact with leading side of handle
5. left index finger not stretched down side of handle but resting with upper side of index finger tip lightly contacting underside of handle
6. last three fingers of left hand wrapped with good contact on underside of handle
7. last three fingers have finger tips touching rear-side edge of handle, not free floating in the air off the handle
8. overall tightness of grip in left hand is about the same used to shake hands with a genteel lady of high regard -- not weak and not aggressive, perhaps 1.75 or so on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being a death grip
9. tightness of grip in left hand not obviously different from muscle tone in left forearm or left upper arm or top of back muscles along shoulder frame behind neck
10. left elbow rotated inward slightly with counter-rotation rearward of left wrist onto handle similar to a dishrag wringing
11. alignment of left forearm bones in same plane as flat back of left wrist, with mutual relationship maintained by standard grip pressure (no special attention to this)
11. last three fingers of right hand laid over lightly on top of left with triple overlapping of last three fingers, with right hand fingers offset lower 1/2 finger to rest in valleys of left hand fingers
12. knuckles of left hand's last three fingers fit into base of fingers of overlapping right hand
13. right thumb tip laid on top and along rear side of left thumb, without "pinching" down onto handle
14. right index finger not stretched down side of handle but resting with upper side of index finger tip lightly contacting underside of handle
15. avoidance of "power grip" or "precision grip" with right hand by deliberately NOT allowing a tight connection between right thumb tip and a crooked right index finger
16. matching of hands onto handle so that both elbows feel parallel to target line and shoulders feel parallel to target line
MOVEMENT FEEL
1. pivot point at base of neck with throat line matching leading edge of putter face is set stationary like the top bar of a swing set in anticipation of start of takeaway so that shoving of lead shoulder will not drag pivot left of mid-line or back off right of mid-line
2. start of takeaway is initiated by left shoulder shoving thru arm and hand and shaft to move putter head back and away on a slight rise with pivot / throat line stationary
3. takeaway by lead shoulder is something of a ballistic "toss back" after which the arms, hands and putter simply swing to some non-defined position and coast to the top of the backstroke without deliberate stopping of the stroke to define the top
4. possible momentary tightening of grip pressure right at the start, but kept to a minimum and immediately reset to address pressure level as soon as possible
5. elbows move back in same line above balls of feet
6. thumb tips experience no shear or stress or strain on flat handle surface
7. thumb-handle contact point feels like it rises slightly going back
8. timing of backstroke from start to coast to a pause is always the same "one potato", about the same as a full, relaxed one second
9. patience at the top of the backstroke as the stroke transitions in its own good time
10. hands, elbows, arms, putter head all drop under own steam from top of backstroke wherever gravity wants to take them (i.e., straight down) with line of throat remaining in place
11. no sense of "bringing" the hands and arms down from the top of the backstroke
12. feeling that hands and arms are swinging down to the bottom of the stroke and will then swing up the other side, all by themselves
13. timing of downstroke is always the same, about 1/2 second to the bottom
14. stroke acceleration down is perfectly smooth and regular, and hence "smooth"
15. gathering speed of stroke to bottom not accompanied with any anxiety that stroke is too fast or too slow and hence gathering speed respected for what it is and not impeded or added to
16. right shoulder follows putter head and hands down to "keep up" with falling speed, without adding to or subtracting from putter head speed
17. hands and forearms feel "neutralized" by overall coordination or matching of speed / timing of shoulders with putter head
18. momentum of falling / swinging putter head has a directional component defined from the bottom of the stroke forward by the biomechanics of parallel shoulders, and momentum of stroke by itself powers sending of lead shoulder vertically upward past the bottom of the stroke, wherever the putter wants to go
19. thumb-handle contact point feels like it rises slightly past the bottom
20. no attempt to define the end or even shape of the follow-thru once the stroke clears out of the impact zone
21. no attempt to deliver sweetspot of putter thru center of ball except when stance has ball significantly below or above feet to extent that arms dropping straight down from top of backstroke requires a little redirecting to keep stroke on line
IMPACT FEEL
1. trust minimal grip pressure to withstand anticipated rebound of impact
2. no grasping tighter in anticipation of impact
3. no "guiding" direction of stroke thru impact
4. no concern that impact rebound will misdirect face of putter
5. no concern that rising of putter into back of ball will "launch" ball off ground or cause excessive backspin or skid, as nice mild tempo never causes these problems
6. no concern about distance ball will roll, and specifically no attempt to "get the ball to the hole" and instead simply allow the stroke to transpire as powered by the instinctive size of the backstroke alone
7. the frequency / sharpness of post-impact vibrations in the hands depends mostly on ther size of the backstroke for the given putter and ball, and is not really the same for all "solid putts"
8. the sound of good impact is somewhat distinct from the sound of non-solid impact or a glancing blow impact, but the sound of a good short putt is not the same as the sound of a good long putt, so the idea that all good putts have one sound is not accurate
Overall, every stance, setup, and stroke "feels" the same and takes the same timing and proceeds in the same orientation in space. The only difference is the size of the backstroke, and that is set instinctively.
The idea that a golfer "learns feel" is false. The idea that the golfer needs to "build up a sense of touch and feel" for a given putt is also false. The only requirements for good distance control and sound mechanics are to use the same mechanics as always, to "intend" to perform astutely, to "remind" yourself about the speed of the surface and uphill/downhill factors, to pay attention to where you are in space and to where the target location is in relation to you, and to rely upon the NON-conscious instinctive processes of the brain to select the size of the backstroke for the putt. Then just start the stroke and enjoy your golf.
Good technique teaches the golfer to recognize "good" feedback as opposed to "evil" feedback. With time and experience and paying close attention, the golfer can make very fine discriminations between good and evil, and can reliably recognize and recreate the appropriate feels of a good stroke. Good technique has the same stance, the same grip, the same setup, the same stroke mechanics, the same timing. All the golfer does is set the pivot / throat into a stable position, start the backstroke instinctively, and thereafter "feel" the same old stroke transpire by itself.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
PuttingZone
Golf's most advanced and comprehensive putting instruction.
