HI Geoff,
I know you written a lot on the motion of the shoulders but I am still having a hard time with the movement, esp. in the backswing. My hands are running away from the shoulders, pulling the putter back and not keeping the butt pointed in the middle of the triangle. It looks like I take the putter handle straight back and away.
I am 6ft tall and use a 32" putter. I am bent over pretty good trying to estableish a flat forehead to the ground and eyes in line with the alignment marker and throat parallel to the putter face. From this position, I have a hard time feeling the correct shoulder motion because it feels like my shoulders are almost parallel to ground as well so rocking down back and under feels strangle. I have tried moving my chest/pecs down and back but without great success. ANy other thoughts on how the shoulders should be set in the stroke and how to move them would be great.
My putting has vastly improved and I know if I can get this motion down a little better the best is yet to come.

bgolfing .... you present an interesting personal situation with your putting mechanics. To complete the picture, can you provide us with your weight, chest circumference, possibly your shirt arm-length and upper body shape? This will tell us about your body anatomy.

I have seen very stocky men with barrel-shaped chests having great difficulty with their putting mechanics. There seems to be too much interference between their arms and chest, as well as inability to bend over at the waist or hips. These 'big' stocky men would benefit from the longer shafted putters so they can stand more erect and just move the putter shaft in a pendulum fashion while the body is still. Their arms are clear of their chests and they can more easily swing the putter.

Thanks ....

Sorry, not stocky by a long shot. 6ft 170lbs.

Dear bgolfing,

Stand taller with a putter shaft across both shoulders, the butt-end of the putter extending beyond your lead shoulder and resting alongside the vertical plank of a door frame. Move your shoulder frame so that the butt slides down the plank and then back up the plank. The tendency will be for the butt to come off the plank headed back up. Now make the same motion with a rocking back and forth beneath a fixed neck / throat. Move everything simply by rocking only the lead shoulder down and under then back under and up.

When you do this with a putter held in the usual address position, don't bend over so much. As long as the eyes are aiming straight out of the face, you will have no trouble seeing a line straight sideways that matches the line the putter face aims along, and besides, this eye gaze and head posture is really only for aiming, and has little to do with the stroke itself. You can stand taller for the stroke itself, even with a head that is not "flat" to the surface.

The trouble with the takeaway is due to muscles in the forearms, so don't use them. These muscles "flex" the elbows, and this sends the putter over across the target line. Use the lead shoulder to shove thru the lead arm and putter shaft to the sole of the putter beneath the sweetspot, so that the sweetspot sort of "strikes" back like a match-head getting struck on the sandpaper of the green. You can coordinate the hands with this if you want, but be sure the lead shoulder is the main force-source. And as a nicety point, make sure the putter head starts moving back immediately with the start of the shoulder shove, instead of letting the shoulder push for a little before anything happens with the putter head.

Let me know if this helps.

Cheers!

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

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Thanks Geoff. I bought a centered shafted belly putter with the intent of cutting it down to my length for the advantage of a heavy head which I like. I have not cut it yet and have been fooling around with it as I would think it would be real good in keeping the butt fixed (obviously) and also to feel the putter fall. I worked last night on what you said; stood taller and let arms hang and just bent my neck/head into position and the stroke seeemed to flow much better. I think I was just to hunched over in the shoulders.

GEOFF, as of late my stroke has been going outside slightly, any tips,THANKS AS ALWAYS TIM

Which time is the stroke going outside?

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
RSS XML Subscription