Many thanks for your site. Having never putted well enough to get below 4 handicap in 14 years I have thought it was about time to sort out my stroke.

I have recently aquired the Putting Professor and wonder what your views would be on this, how would you recommend it is set up. I like that the face is square to the stroke so no manipulation but what is the ideal arc?

Also do you have anyone you would recommend in the UK as a teacher?

I am interested on the theory that once the backswing is made it is automatic from there on but I have difficulty visualising the shoulder motion you describe

Sorry to fire off so many questions.

Off back to keep reading the site

Welshdentist

Dear Welshdentist,

Lechyd Da!

The Putting Professor (from Peter Kostis) is an adjustable stroke plane with an attachment on the heel of the putter that is designed to be used to keep the putter face square to the plane of the training aid. The heel attachment appears to be a later "cousin" of a design by Peter Schmidt from New Jersey, who designed the InPutt stroke plane and heel attachment in 2003 and presented it at the 2004 PGA Merchandise Show.

InPutt:



InPutt's heel-attachment to square face to plane, Peter Schmidt (left) with Joe:



The Putting Professor website does not offer any details about the use of the aid other than to say the angle of the plane is adjustable. I can't tell how much adjustment is allowed, but presumably it ranges from 90 vertical to the surface to some fairly "flat" setting like 30 degrees back off vertical (60 degrees lie angle up from surface plane).

Interestingly, if you watch the video on the Putting Professor website, the only stroke shown sinking a putt does NOT use the device as designed! The heel attachment consists of a bar oriented perpendicularly to the putter face with a hard plastic ball at each end. The design is supposed to be used so that each of the balls stays in contact with the (tilted) putting plane all the way back and thru, and hence the heel attachment keeps the putter face "square to the stroke plane" (as opposed to keeping the face "square to the target line" or "square to the vertical target plane arising from the target line"). But in the video on the website, the front ball clearly separates from the tilted stroke plane, which appears to be set on a tilt off vertical of perhaps 20-25 degrees.

There's a reason this happens. It's called geometry.

And this brings me to using ANY tilted-plane stroke guide to learn a good putting stroke. In a REALLY SOUND putting stroke, the putter head does NOT run on a tilted plane thru the impact zone. Instead, the putter head stays headed straight down the line for a brief span, with the sole of the putter flush to the plane of the surface and slightly rising and with the putter face "square" to the vertical plane that rises thru the line along the surface connecting ball and target.

This drawing illustrates how the sole of the putter remains flush to the surface plane while it rises thru impact:



This trajectory thru impact is the hallmark of a "do-nothing" stroke technique that leaves the putter-in-motion to follow its own momentum-defined path -- no manipulation by the hands or arms, and the shouldersframe-arms-hands-putter assembly being guided by the parallel-left alignment of the setup, especially in the shoulderframe alignment. When the shoulders are aligned parallel to the target line and the pivot at the base of the neck is stationary over the middle / bottom / center of the stroke arc and the momentum of the putting assembly defines the trajectory of the putter head as constrained by the shoulder alignment and pivot, the putter head rises off the surface thru impact flush and the putter face stays square down the line thru impact.

This sort of technique is not compatible with a tilted-plane stroke guide. And that is why the front ball of the Putting Professor comes off the plane going forward thru impact.

This drawing shows how on the Putting Professor tilted-plane the heel is supposed to hew to the plane all the way thru impact, and this results in a putter head that does NOT travel square and online thru impact, but curls up and to the inside in a glancing blow up across the back of the ball:



The widening shape at the bottom of the drawing illustrates what happens on the Putting Professor (blue stroke path) versus what will happen in a do-nothing straight-thru-impact stroke (in red).

SO WHAT DO YOU DO TO USE YOUR PUTTING PROFESSOR?

I would suggest either setting the plane of the aid to 90 degrees (vertical to its base, which is also the same plane as the surface it sits upon), OR set the plane at some tilt but allow the putter head to move in the forward stroke straight and square rising down the line with the front ball of the heel attachment separating off the Putting Professor plane surface.

You don't really need to worry about the backstroke, so long as the heels do not separate from the PP surface going back. The sin in the backstroke is directing the putter out away from the feet across and beyond the line of the putt. This "line of the putt" is the same as the bottom edge of the PP, where the tilted plane intersects or meets the surface. So allowing the putter to rise up and back inside in the backstroke may not be perfect, as compared to straight back on line, but this will really not do harm. The reason is that so long as you maintain the HIP alignment as the SAME AS IT STARTS while the stroke is underway, even if the shoulders or arms curl inside a bit in the backstroke, the free-fall allowing of the putter assembly to define its own trajectory under guidance of gravity will utilize the midrift tissues and muscles as an elastic "memory" to resquare the putter coming down back to the initial address orientation. During the backstroke, the tissues and muscles attached to the hips "remember" just how out of whack the upper torso gets in a less-than-perfect turning back in the backstroke, and then upon "relaxing" this "memory" guides the form of the downstroke back on track.

From the bottom of the stroke forward, with the momentum-driven trajectory once again square, the pivot at the base of the neck stays back over the bottom of the stroke and this constrains the putter assembly to rise up, moving the lead shoulder vertically up from the surface and guiding the putter head straight and rising square down the line.

TEACHER RECOMMENDATION

I like Adrian Fryer as a teacher in England, but there are others trained in my techniques, including Keith Williams and Carla White. There are also teachers near Bristol, if that is close to you. let me know your location and I can see who is available.

Adrian Fryer:



As far as the "feeling" of the shoulder stroke, you can at first just "fake it." Take a club shaft or broomstick and lay it across the front of your two shoulders so the front part of the stick or shaft extends against the inside of a door jamb. Rock the lead shoulder down-and-back tracing the inside of the door jamb with the stick, and then rock the same shoulder forward-and-up, retracing the earlier body movement of the shoulder and also retracing the inside of the door jamb without losing contact. In the "do-nothing" stroke in which the down-under-forward swinging/falling momentum of the putter assembly tracks the target line due to shoulders being aligned parallel left, the only part of this door-jamb motion to focus upon is the part coming forward, from the bottom of the stroke thru impact and a little beyond the initial point of impact. When you attempt to duplicate the door-jamb action of the body away from the door frame, try to allow the momentum of the putter assembly to go "whithersoever it's desire taketh it." The momentum of the putter assembly, since it has a steady muscle tone to preserve its shape in the hands-wrists-arms-shoulders, will simply direct the lead shoulder VERTICALLY up away from the surface plane of the floor, which happens to be perfect for putting straight. So allow it to do so and learn how to relax in the downstroke so that neither the hands, nor the arms, nor the shoulderframe and upper torso as a whole interferes with the desire of the putter head to rise straight and square down the line.

You should also notice that the pivot at the base of the neck, conceptualized as the end point of the top bar of a swingset supported by the stable legs at address and paired with an imaginary opposite support in front of you, must stay over the mid-point of the stroke arc thru impact in order for the momentum of the putter assembly to direct the lead shoulder vertically up from the surface. If the momentum is allows to affect the pivot itself, the pivot "top bar of the swingset" will swing across the mid-point of the stroke following the putter head, and this directs the lead shoulder horizontally to the inside instead of vertically up, and this results in a "pull" stroke path.

Let me know how this works for you, or if I can clarify matters more.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
PuttingZone.com
Golf's most advanced and comprehensive putting instruction.

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Many thanks for the detailed response. I have spent a good deal of time making my way through you site in detail. I had briefly viewed it some time ago but was put off by the complexity, I realise the concepts are simple but with a thorough explanation.

I am based near Ascot.

Diolch a hwyl!

Gareth

Just a extra thought, this really does get you thinking Geoff!!! From all you say would that make the Putting Professor only square to the target line at the moment of impact and at that moment only?

Yes. Tilted-plane or inside-square-inside stroke paths are truly square to the target only at the precise bottom of the stroke arc. Golfers who THINK they are using (or teaching) a stroke like this, whether they call it "natural" or call a straight stroke "unnatural", AND who roll the ball the same line that the putter is aimed down, are probably really putting on a tilted plane or on an inside-square arc back and then forward up to the middle of the stroke but thereafter doing something to prolong the putter head moving square and straight online thru impact, however briefly and unnoticeably, such as "soft hands" or "hands ahead" or "a soft lead elbow" etc..

If the golfer really, really moves the putter head on a tilted-plane or inside-square-inside stroke path and the putter face stays everywhere square to the stroke path, and the ball is played somewhat forward of the exact bottom of the stroke, then the putter face will impact the back of the ball square, but with a slightly glancing blow up across the back of the ball while also moving closer in to the feet.

What actually happens when someone TRIES to putt on an inside-square-inside path is that the timing gets off, and the ball most often is lost to the outside with a toe flared slightly open thru impact. Sometimes the golfer gets too energetic about making the putter face close back to square and then the ball is pulled to the inside.

If the golfer instead just holds still and LETS the putter head rise square thru impact without manipulation and at the timing of the putter head and not the golfer's effortful timing, the putter face will stay centered and stay square thru impact. Ball position is not at all critical within a 3-inch range of acceptable positions in advance of the bottom. But you have to putt the bottom itself in form and timing, and not chase after the back of the ball.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
PuttingZone.com
Golf's most advanced and comprehensive putting instruction.

Visit the new PuttingZone Blog for podcasts of putting tips:
Site PuttingZone Blog
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I suppose my only question is how different is putting to full swing shots in terms on length time on the face affecting the line. I know my full swing coach teaches me club face angle at impact on the full swing is far more important than path within reason.

Although we don't expect to hole full shots!!!!

I have found I can produce what I feek in the correct shoulder motion without a club but it isn't very easy at all to reproduce your stroke with "normal" putters as they are not designed for the job.

I am about 5ft 11 and heavy build. Must have a look as custom fit stuff and get my guy to make up a putter this weekend.

Have a great weekend Geoff. I may annoy you soon with silly questions, this stuff is INTERESTING!!!!!

Dear Welshdentist and Everyone Who Thinks a Putter MUST be Stroked on an Arc,

A putter remains in contact with the ball roughly twice as long as the driver stays in contact with the ball. Putter-ball contact ranges from 0.0005 to 0.001 seconds (half a milesecond to one millescond), depending on ball softness and putter face material and speed of impact. Using back-of-the-envelope calculations, the contact persists roughly for under 1/8th of an inch, which is not inconsequential with the putter head moving somewhere around 120 inches per second on many putts.

Your statement: "it isn't very easy at all to reproduce your stroke with "normal" putters as they are not designed for the job" is one of the biggest problems I face in teaching the stroke. Golfers think they understand "physics" just by looking at a golf club. Pat O'Brien, Stan Utley, and many people with ZERO background in "physics" are frequently repeating the statement that "a putter shaft sits on an angle so it violates physics to try to move it straight back and straight thru." (I'm not making this up -- they really say and believe this.) Look, folks, the "design" of a putter does not dictate what you do with your body to MOVE the putter and "physics" does not in the least require an arcing stroke path or prevent a straight-back and straight-thru stroke path.

Any fool can simply setup a putter next to the baseboard of a wall and then MOVE the putter head back along the baseboard and then MOVE it forward, keeping the face square to the wall. If you pay any attention at all, you will notice that the ONLY THING YOU HAVE TO DO IS MOVE YOUR SHOULDERFRAME PARALLEL TO THE WALL -- i.e., lead shoulder vertically down and under the pivot of the neck with the chest not twisting out of parallel to the wall. The HANDS and WRISTS and ARMS are totally inactive, and have no role to play to keep the putter face square to the baseboard. Golfers just don't know how to move their bodies, but that doesn't mean they can blame the putter design for this lack of knowledge.

Get a broom stick, lay it across your chest, and rock the shoulders to run the broomstick out past the lead shoulder up and down the edge of a door jamb. If you can do this, then you need to stop blaming the design of the putter as making this impossible.

ANY putter with ANY lie angle and ANY length can be stroked along the baseboard with this BODY MOTION and the putter head will not drift away from the baseboard back or thru and the putter face will stay square without manipulation. Try this before you repeat the above statement in educated company.

I know my tone may be a bit "chastising," and I don't want to insult you, but I just can no longer abide this particular nonsense without direct response. I see it all the time, and it is completely ignorant, not only about "physics" but more importantly about what makes the stroke! The human body makes the stroke, not the putter.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
PuttingZone.com
Golf's most advanced and comprehensive putting instruction.

Visit the new PuttingZone Blog for podcasts of putting tips:
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But would it be easier if a putter is fitted correctly?

Dear Welshdentist,

Yes, in a sense, but not completely. The physical pattern of movement of the body in the stroke is the same regardless of the putter design -- the only difference is the tension and the arrangement of the hand posture to hold the putter firmly into the rest of the body's shape.

Putters that are too long make you choose between soling the putter flat to the surface by gripping very low on the handle/shaft or just sticking the toe up in the air with the arms nicely extended but lifting the putter handle out and away from the natural line of hang of the hands. Putters that are too short make you choose beteen soling the putter flat to the surface by gripping high on the handle/shaft or just sticking the putter head to the ground with the heel up in the air by bending over too much so that the handle is held too close to the thighs inside its natural line of hang.

If you always sole the putter flat to the surface so the length and lie cooperate, this becomes:

a) handle and hands hang "naturally" (which is NOT directly below the shoulders, but in front of the shoulders -- which are above the balls of the feet in a forward-leaning putting setup -- and over the toes);

b) handle and hands supported with tension too far away from the body, out past the natural line of hang; or

c) handle and hands restrained with tension in too close to the body inside the natural line of hang.

BUT, once the setup posture and tension is set, it's then just back to "move the body and forget the putter." That means, rock the shoulders the same as always and keep the muscle tone of the whole putting assembly free of change during the stroke. You can make exactly the same stroke in all three cases by making the same body motion, but the b) and c) setups just require more tension to preserve the overall shape you start with while the stroke transpires.

So, if you want a minimalist stroke with effective muscle tone kept to a minimum (i.e., a graceful and natural and seemingly "effortless" stroke with a relaxed body), you will choose setup a). This is the setup that orients the body and the total stroke apparatus in gravity while placing the least demands possible upon the muscles at setup and during the stroke to maintain the overall shape. yes, this setup has the line of the putter shaft the same as the line of the forearm and the same as the life-line axes of the palms, and that is VERY natural and relaxed in gravity (and no other setup posture is AS natural or relaxed), but the difference in the wrists-hands angle at address is certainly easily accommodated.

(This generates my "rule" for putting that the soling of whatever putter you happen to be using (good fit or indifferent fit) takes priority over getting the line of the forearms and life-lines of palms aligned with the shaft, so the proper use of an improper putter stills has the sole flat to the surface even if this dis-arranges the life-line angle to the forearms.

The Rules of golf require a minimum lie angle for the shaft angle to the ground of a flatly soled putter of at least 10 degrees back off vertical. The LEAST demand theoretically would of course be a putter with zero lie. But the difference between the tension needed for a ten-degree lie putter and the more standard 19-20 degree lie putter is not great at all. In the total system of arms and hands suspended beneath the torso holding and somewhat supporting "out away from you" a putter head at the end of a shaft, the relative masses are: Arms plus hands about 10 pounds; Putter head plus shaft about 1 pound. The added burden of mis-holding the putter with hands outside the natural line of hang increases only by the trigonometric functions resulting from the angle out of gravity.

Compare a one-pound putter with the putter head suspended vertically in the natural line of hang (putter head vertically below hands, hands slightly in front of shoulder-to-balls-of-feet line) versus one suspended at a lie angle 10-degrees out (putter head farther out from hands depending on length of shaft). The first setup has zero inward-outward support requirement imposed on the hands, and the only support required is a holding up of the handle in a vertical sense. The second setup, however, has a constant inward force of the putter head to swing back into the natural gravity alignment that is sine(10 degrees) of the overall putter center of gravity as held. If you simplify the putter as held to a massless shaft with the putter head mass at the end, the inward force is 17% of the mass of the putter head trying to fall inward, and so requires the same resistant force in the body muscles to keep it out there. A putter head is usually about 350 grams, so this is only about 60 grams of weight (about 2 ounces). For a putter held out on a lie angle of 20 degrees, the inward force is twice this, yes, but is still only about 4 ounces. That difference is about on a scale of holding two extra spoons.

The real burden comes from the added tension needed to hold the mass of the ARMS AND HANDS outside the natural line of hang, not that needed to keep the putter itself out there.

So, to answer your question with some degree of clarity, it depends on whether you mean that a properly fitted putter is one that is held at address with the sole of the putter flat to the surface, regardless of the lie angle and length of the shaft. A "properly" fitted putter really STARTS by positioning the hands and arms in the natural line of hang, and THEN cutting the putter length so that the putter head soles flatly a specific distance out from the body with a lie angle of more than 10 degrees. The location where the putter head ought to sit depends on a combination of how the face and eyes are aimed at the ball at address and on the desired relation between the shaft axis and the axis line of the forearms and the life-line axis of the palms. But from the body's perspective, once the hands are hanging in the natural line of gravity, and once the muscle tone is set to keep the putter head out there throughout the stroke motion with an unchanging shape of the putter assembly, the only difference ends up being whether the life-line axis of the palms is the same or different than the axis of the forearms. This difference does not at all affect the body motion or significantly make anything about the motion "easier", as the forearm-hand angle at the wrists is set in shape with the same muscle tone as the rest of the putter assembly and then just kept that way in the stroke.

The basic idea here is one of a "mapping" function. In mathematics, a "function" is some process that transforms a number or set of numbers into another number or set of numbers, such as the function Y=2X, which transforms all Xs into Ys that are each twice as big as the input X. the stable shape of the putter assmebly as a whole serves this "mapping" function in the stroke in the sense that WHATEVER BODY MOTION the golfer uses translate thru the unchanging putter assembly postures/shape directly to the MOTION OF THE PUTTER HEAD. If you make a vertical rocking of the shoulder frame aligned parallel to a target line (such as a baseboard along a wall or a string line), and keep the putter assembly shape the same as it is set at address, the putter head motion will ALSO MOVE IN A VERTICAL ARC THAT IS ORIENTED STRAIGHT-BACK AND STRAIGHT-THRU. So long as the putter head is located at the same distance out with the same length shaft and lie, any differences in the way the golfer is required to hold that putter so that the head starts flat to the surface only shows up in the forearm-hand angle and does not affect the integrity of the mapping from shoulder motion to putter head motion.

If you take a series of ten ever-lengthier putters with changing lie angles so they all sole flat at points increasingly distant from the body and hold them with hands hanging in the natural gravity line and MOVE them all with the same body action (shoulder rock always the same as described above), EVERY PUTTER HEAD WILL MOVE THE SAME WAY THE SHOULDER FRAME MOVES without any "manipulation" of the hands or arms and simply by keeping the shape of the putter assembly the same. The only difference is in the tightness of the vertical arcing of the putter heads. A near-in putter head arcs only slightly (and one hanging vertically in the line of gravity has merely a circular arc the same as the full circle of the stroke motion extended all the way around the central pivot). Each increase in otward distance of the putter head only makes the vertical component of the arc more tightly radiused, and does not at all affect the straightness back and thru in the left-right or horizontal direction. Of course eventually the putter head comes off the ground it is held so far out away. Once the putter head and shaft extend horizontally out at the same height as the pivot itself in the base of the neck, the radiusing is SO TIGHT that the putter head simply spins in place as the shoulders rock, just like the pivot itself, and any left-right motion disappears. But other than that, NOTHING affects the basic left-right motion of the putter head being mapped by the putter assembly of setup postures trsnalting the shoulder motion pattern.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
PuttingZone.com
Golf's most advanced and comprehensive putting instruction.

Visit the new PuttingZone Blog for podcasts of putting tips:
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