Dear sammy,
1. In your opinion, is a straight stroke proper and superior, while a gated stroke is wrong and unreliable? Why if so?
Neither. For me, a stroke only counts in the forward part, from just before the bottom and then well past the impact zone, a span of merely 7-10 inches total. I don't believe that the stroke needs to be symmetrical in the backstroke from the middle back to the top of the backstroke and in the forward stroke past the middle t the top of the thrustroke -- just moving straight and square down the line when it matters. So, in a certain sense, I think that the back half of the straight-back and straight-thru stroke style is not all that necessary, albeit preferable if the golfer is properly trained and it's not a distraction or bother that interferes with the main job; and I also think that the front half of the inside-square-inside stroke style is wrong and harmful to good putting.
2. Some golfers claim to be "natural" arc strokers, and cannot seem to execute a straight putting stroke. Why is this? Is this an anatomical or mental impediment?
Poor training. The teaching of how to perform a straight stroke is incredibly simple, but I've never seen it done effectively in print by any golf instructor. All you have to tell someone is setup with shoulders square (aligned parallel left of the target line) and then hold the pivot still while moving the shoulder frame in a vertical rocking action back and thru, with no change at all in the arms and hands.
3. When you teach do you attempt to convert an engrammed arc putter into a straight line putter and feel confident that there will be no recidivism? How is it done and how long does it take to be sub/non-consciously altered for an automatic stroking action?
I teach a "do nothing" stroke action in which the golfer has to learn NOT to use the hands or the forearm muscles, and to stand still at the top of the body while relaxing the middle of the torso and the shoulder frame, and this is usually quite a trick for golfers to get used to this. But once the golfer experiences this, AND learns that the size of the backstroke alone handles ALL of the distance so there is never any need to "hit" thru impact or to torque the putter down and thru the ball in an attempt to "get the ball there", then good things manifest themselves and slowly the golfer starts to like it. Mostly it's combating bogus notions about what "must happen" in putting.
4. There are putting training devices such as the Putting Arc and various vertical and inclined straight putting rails that promise to train the putting stroke in the various styles. Are they effective or are they only unnatural restraint gizmos that will not engram anything on the brain level?
The brain needs to learn about the body motion in a cause-and-effect way about the "form" of a stroke that delivers the putter head square and moving straight on line thru the impact area. This is the combination of balance, stable pivot, and relaxed stroke action of the shoulder frame, arms, hands, and putter as a unitized assembly. Training aids give a false promise of "perfection by repetition", an outdated notion of sports science folks from the 1970s that obviously does not make a golfer have a great stroke. besides, the stroke is simply part of putting, and the golfer needs an integrated set of skills combining touch, and aiming, and stroking, with reading putts for targets. In addition, stroke planes artificially mask what actually would happen if the aid's surface were not there to preclude the heel of the putter from coming closer than the surface, so there is a false security engendered by the stroke plane. It's best to just pay attention to what you are accomplishing with your body motions. Judge whether the putter flattens out at the bottom, judge whether the putter face returns square to the mid-line where it started, judge whether the timing was spot on, judge whether you refrained from lifting the hands coming forward or pulling the putter along behind the hands or using the forearm to drag the putter thru impact, judge whether the ball rolled straight away on the line the putter face initially aimed along, and judge the delivery speed of the ball at the cup. These are all indicators as feedback for whether what you were trying to do with your movement caused the right results.
For example, today I was judging whether it made much difference if I initially thought of and felt the lead shoulder before starting the stroke, as opposed to just starting the stroke, and learned that consciously "feeling" the shoulder helps avoid a problematic backstroke. So today I was consolidating the idea of specifically feeling my lead shoulder before starting the backstroke, as something helpful and good, associating the plan of movement with the good results I was mindfully paying attention to in a cause-and-effect way. To me, that is true learning of skill in an exploratory manner, sorting out what really works with some insight into why -- not just ad hoc stuff like "this seems to help, so I'll stick with it as long as it helps."
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
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