My first post here and it is probably an odd question.
I have been working with a sports psychologist to try and get more focused on the course. I am trying to advance in the State Am this year and figured my thinking and attitude could be better. I have found many of his ideas to be pretty good and I hope they will translate well under tournament pressure.
Anyway.....one of his observations of me during a practice round was how I seemed to be trying to see too much when I putt. I want to see the putter swing and see if I hit my sweet spot, and see if I hit my intermediate target, etc.,etc. So he has me practicing stroking putts with my eyes closed to try and develop better feel and to stop analyzing myself so much. To a degree, I think it has made me more relaxed over the ball and narrowed my attention to just visualizing the hole and trying to feel the putt.
Now for the problem.
I can't seem to hit the sweet spot of my putter with my eyes closed and it is driving me nuts. I probably manage to hit it about 20% of the time. How can I be so dependent on my eyes to hit the center of the putter? Is my stroke just a mess of compensations or does everyone have the same difficulty? It just seems to me that I should be able to take a putter back a foot or so and return it to the ball on the sweet spot nearly every time!
In all honesty, my putting has not been good for the last several years and I have been trying so many mechanical ideas that I fear I am losing my way, and this non-mechanical approach was my last hope to get back to where I was.
You may be limping a bit at present, but I don't see any sign that you are permanently a "cripple"!
Putting with your eyes closed puts the focus on the feeling of the stroke, okay, but your real focus ought to be on the feeling of HOW THE STROKE IS MADE SO THAT THE STROKE FEELS A GOOD WAY. This is really to first learn how to move to make a GOOD stroke, then pay attention to the feeling of THIS stroke, and then learn to LIKE this stroke's feeling so you reproduce it all the time without thinking much about how to make this good stroke.
First things first: Does your stroke roll the ball where your putter aims without much special technique or attention or hand-eye coordination requirements? If not, then you haven't been properly taught and haven't independently learned what you need to know, and I'm pretty sure a golf psychologist wouldn't be able to know one way or another whether you have a good stroke or a not-so-good stroke. (A golf psychologist who is ALSO a putting teacher above and beyond the psychology MIGHT know a good stroke from a bad or indifferent stroke, but I don't know very many golf psychologists with this extra knowledge about real putting technique.) For example, it sounds to me that your distance back from the ball at address is probably not the best, and I've never met a golf psych who would be able to spot this issue or know what to say about it.
Only after you get a sound technique for setup and stroke movement should you close your eyes to become familiar with the feeling of a good stroke. Otherwise, you are just experiencing a not-so-hot stroke's feeling and mistakenly accepting and learning that feel as good or best. Error.
Because you are worried about "sweetspot" contact, this tells me that you aren't mainly watching to see whether your ball is rolling consistently and accurately where your putter face aims at address. Many golfers miss the sweetspot but do so consistently, and their balls still roll STRAIGHT where the putter face aims. A SQUARE PUTTER FACE THRU IMPACT is vastly more important for online rolls than either the STROKE PATH or SWEETSPOT IMPACT. And any sacrifice in distance due to non-sweetspot impact may not matter at all, if you are consistently using the same point of impact and therefore adjusting the speed of impact and ultimate rolling distance to account for the less-than-solid impact physics. So pay attention to the roll first, and not so much to the point of impact.
If you want to improve the point of impact WITHOUT causing problems to the line integrity of your stroking, this is probably done most effectively by modifying your distance back from the line a little closer or farther away than the current usual, and perhaps by moving the ball position slightly more forward of the "bottom" of your stroke movement than at present. This gives you a little breathing room for resquaring the putter face before contact with the ball.
The most usual way people miss the sweetspot is with impact closer to the toe. this happens in two main ways: a loop out across the target line in the backstroke inadequately compensated for to result in a "cut" stroke from outside to inside thru impact, or standing too far back from the ball at address so the arms and hands are slightly reaching out of natural hanging in gravity, and this out-reaching loosens in the forward stroke and allows the putter head to drift slightly towards the feet, causing toe-ish impact. Most people suffer from both problems at once.
Without seeing you putt to know for sure, I would suggest you stand a half inch closer to the ball, let your arms hang naturally, and see whether your upper torso bend and arm hang presents your hands to the same space as the handle without having to reach farther out and away to take hold of the handle. And I would also suggest starting the backstroke away from the static address position by shoving the bottom of the putter head either straight back or back and slightly inside (as opposed to outside across the target line) by using the lead shoulder socket to shove down thru the arms and hands and shaft to start the putter head back (as opposed to using the hands and arms to tug the putter head back from the ground).
With this setup and initiation of the backstroke, you should have less to do and less to worry about and making solid impact should be easier and more consistent. That means your stroke is better. SDo NOW go ahead and close you eyes to learn what this feels like. It will make you more aware of how the lead shoulder starts things with a straight down-back-and-under the base of the neck start, followed in the thru-stroke with the lead shoulder retracing this same movement path back to where it started and then continuing thru impact by the lead shoulder rocking straight up away from the ground, and not curling back to the rear of your upper torso.
Geoff is too nice a person to hurt your feeelings, so I will .. not because I trash you, it's because I want to help you. Try this and report back:
Putt with your eyes closed to develop a conscious stroke 'feel', just like blind people do to compensate with feel. You will need somebody to help you with this drill to place balls to enable you to do repetitions.
Set up over the ball with your putter sweet spot behind the ball .. close your eyes .. relax .. take a small backstroke, say 1 inch, and then stroke through. I'm sure you will contact your putter sweet spot doing this but don't open your eyes to follow the ball. The person helping you will place another ball in front of you, you will set up quickly again looking to place the putter sweet spot behind the ball, close your eyes and putt with a 1 inch backstroke. Repeat this say 10 times and then try keeping your eyes closed and returning the putter to address position. The person helping you can adjust your putter to the ball if you keep your eyes closed.
Progress to a 2 inch, 4 inch, 6 inch backstroke putting with eyes close. If you cannot return the putter sweet spot to the ball for the longer backstroke distances, you have inherent mechanical stroking problems that will require greater analysis than can be provided on this forum. You should have your putting stroke analyzed on one of those optical putting gizmos that tracks the path of your putts to determine your inherent flaw.
I suggest you do this drill with something like a bullseye or 8802 putter with the shaft planted directly into the putter head. A rube goldberg mallet putter with a multi-twisted or offset hosel will only confuse your blind putting attempts. Keep it simple stupid
Try this putting experiment for several days and report back to tell us what happens. Don't expect this to suddenly make your overall putting better, because putting is a lot more than fixing one problem. Geoff will explain all the factors involved because I can't. Hopefully you will develop a feel for the putter head location once you can return the sweet spot to the ball at impact. Good luck ....
Thanks sammy. I tried your drill tonight after my round. It appears I have a stroke issue since the longer backstrokes miss the sweet spot. I am good to about 3 inches then the missing starts.
I am going to have to figure out some way to get out to see Geoff. It's a long way from Texas, but I have lost all of my confidence and my putting continues to slide. I tried my belly putter today and took 35 putts. My round Friday with my regular putter was 35 putts. It doesn't seem to matter which putter I use. I have putted with a wedge and had fewer putts.
I am going to withdraw from my State Am qualifying in the next week if I can't make some progress with my putting. It's incredibly disappointing to average 13-15 greens a round and shoot over par. My birdie average has dropped to next to nothing and my up and down percentages are miserable. Unless I hit it inside of 3 feet, I am not going to make a putt.
I have tried to stay positive and keep the idea in my head that winter greens are tough to putt, but the fact remains that I don't hole putts. I miss left, right, long, and short. I pull them, block them, and just flat out miss them. My green reading has gone to heck because of my inability to commit to a line or speed. The knowing I am going to miss has really taken the fun out of practice. The more I practice, the worse I get.
All I know to do is to keep working and see what happens. I have video taped my putting stroke a few times and nothing seems out of place, which makes me even more irate.
Again....thanks for taking the time to respond to my question. I appreciate your input.
Otto
Seems that you've taken "putting" to a complicated level. The putting process should not be complicated, but simple. I can't imagine concentrating on hitting the sweet spot of my putter blade as you are doing. Your concentration on hitting the sweet spot may be causing you to not square up that putter blade to your line of putt. You said...
"I miss left, right, long, and short. I pull them, block them, and just flat out miss them."
You truly need to concentrate on keeping that putter blade square with your intended line. In order to do this, I like the straight-back, straight-thru stroke with less error for the putter blade to be off-line. For a 10 foot putt, if your putter blade is open or closed just one degree at contact with the ball, your putt will miss the center of the hole by 2-1/2" accordingly! With the hole being 4-1/4" in diameter and the radius 2-1/8", if your line-of-putt is 1° offline, your putt misses the edge of the hole by 3/8". As far as I know, these stats are pretty accurate.
And for a longer putt, your putt misses the center of the hole even further. So, you can see how important it is to keep that putter blade perfectly square to your target line.
In my opinion it is important to hit the sweet spot, but more important that your putter blade is perfectly square to your target line.
Regards & good luck in qualifying,
Larry
ThePuttingEdge.com
I agree wholeheartedly that I have made putting way too complicated. I have been struggling for the last few years with poor putting. My putting has caused my early exit from several state amateur tournaments in the past few years and I am losing my enthusiasm for beating my head against a wall of poor putting. I have run the gamut with mechanical techniques trying to find the answer. I have had several big name teachers look at my putting stroke and all have pronounced me good enough to make putts. So, it's extremely disappointing to me when I can't buy a putt. It seems like I have lost my way and I can no longer find my way back.
It's not that I am necessarily focused on hitting the sweet spot to the exclusion of everything else, it is that I realized that I couldn't hit the sweet spot with my eyes closed. It was disturbing to me and I was surprised by my failure. I practice my stroke so much I was fairly certain that I could hit the sweet spot with my eyes closed.
Going to a sports psychologist was sort of my last gasp attempt to simplify my approach to putting and to recapture the feel I used to have. The psychological techniques I learned have made me a better player everywhere but on the putting green, which is where I really wanted help. The irritating part of the whole sordid mess is that I was a good putter in college and my confidence over putts in competition was never a problem. Those days are now long gone now. I actually know that I am going to miss every putt outside of 4 feet. I only feel relief when a putt goes in. I honestly cannot remember the last time I had less than 30 putts in a round and I can't remember the last time I made a putt outside of 10 feet. Very frustrating!!
So...here I am, trying to find some magic bullet or some idea I have not tried, in a last ditch effort to save my competitive golf career. If I can't make a major improvement in my putting, I will be forced to retire to casual golf.
Otto .. do you know how to get to Augusta ?? ... Lots of practice ...!!!
Okay so once your backstroke is greater than 3 inches, you can't return your putter sweet spot to the ball. But what did I tell you to do??
I said 'practice' for several days before you report back to the forum !!!
Now just to backtrack a bit ... do you have a straight back and through putting stroke .. or are you putting on an 'arc' where you loop the putter head inwards and then attempt to return it back to where it started??
If you have an arc putting stroke, you will have a whole lot of issues to resolve before you can hope to hit the sweet spot .. unless you limit your stroke to a 3 inch backstroke and vary the amount of energy you apply through your hands. I'll let Geoff explain the details of doing or not doing this.
Also please tell us what your body looks like ... because stocky-chested and obese golfers tend to degenerate into an arc putting stroke because their anatomy doesn't really accomodate a straight through stroke path. Sorry if this is you.
An arc path putting stroke requires returning the putter face perpendicular to the intended putting line at impact so that you are in effect putting off a tangent. Do you know what that means??
Why do I get this feeling that all you can do is swing the putter head back only 3 inches to maintain a straight through putting path??!!
I have a simple easy solution to your problem. You want to keep the putter moving like a pendulum straight back and straight through right? The easiest most constistant way to do this is by putting sidesaddle. Read mine and Geoff's previous post for more reasons. If your using a belly putter you should not have any issues in switching or at least trying it. The only problem with trying it is that no major manufactures make em so you can't go to your local golf store to try one. You have to order one. Most of the companies making them offer trial periods. I would encourgae you to look at several of the sites but I really like the putter sold at www.puttmagic.com for 2 reasons. The main reason is b/c of the bends he has in his shafts. His shatfs make is the easiest and best sidesaddle putters. The other reason is cost @ $109 his are $80 cheaper than the closest competitor.
But a straight back and straight thru stroke will help you more than you can imagine and that stroke can be produced in 10 min with a sidesaddle putter. Then from there on forward all you do is concentrate on 2 things and 2 things only. Line and Speed. The rest of the putting stroke comes naturaly.
Your "instructions" to go practice before I reply strikes me as a bit funny. I probably practice more in two days than 95% of the golfers practice in a month. All told since reading your last reply I have close to 6 hours of practice under my belt along with 36 holes of practice on the course. You see sammy......I play a lot of golf.
This whole idea that an arc stroke is somehow inferior to the SBST is pure nonsense as far as I'm concerned. Tiger, Crenshaw, Locke, and a host of other Hall of Fame players putt with an arc. It is the repeatability of the stroke and not the stroke that matters. There is no "loop" in a proper arc stroke any more than there is manipulation of the hands in a proper STST stroke. I have worked with Pelz and I have worked with Pat O'Brien. I have even managed a lesson with Stan Utley. I can assure you that I am pretty familiar with different types of strokes and I know enough to know that the dogmatic approach to one stroke being superior is hogwash and is a waste of time. Tour winning putting is quite possible with either stroke. All I need to do is to get my putting average down to around 28 and I can compete effectively. I have to get my birdie average up and my up and down percentages back in line.
As for my body type, I am 6'1" tall, 190lbs. My arms are slightly longer than the norm as I wear a 44 long jacket. My fitness is quite good and I work out 4 times a week. Obviously, I am physically quite able to perform either stroke.
It was 33* with a 25 mph wind, so I only practiced for an hour and a half.
Now, as to my inability to hit the sweet spot past 3 inches, maybe I have left a wrong impression. Inside of 3", I am 100% with sweet spot impact. At approx. 5", my accuracy drops to around 90%. At a 10" backstroke, I am still above 50%. These numbers are all with my eyes closed. With my eyes open, my sweet spot accuracy is quite acceptable at any length of backstroke. That was my concern. Is it normal for all players to suffer reduced sweet spot impact with eyes closed over eyes open? Is it a mechanical issue, or is it a perceptual issue?
My initial post was a request for help because I was struggling to hit the sweet spot consistently (which I consider 90% of the time or better) with my eyes closed. As far as I can ascertain, no one has actually stated that they are just as good with their eyes closed as they are with their eyes open.
Now, I will be the first to admit that my putting has gotten considerably worse over the last few years, but my stroke pattern is basically unchanged since college and I was a very good putter in college. My entire effort is focused on returning to a standard I already have achieved. I am quite disappointed in my results so far, and I will also admit to a feeling of desperation. But, I don't see the need to completely toss out a stroke that has won tournaments before. It's possible that my stroke has degenerated to the point of no return, but before I scrap it, I will need someone like Geoff to tell me that I am hopeless with what I have.
I have an additional concern that when I use my belly putter, my sweet spot impact with my eyes closed is not any better, which seems odd to me. Plus, as far I know, it is physically impossible to putt SBST with a belly putter since the putter must swing around a fixed point. Only by manipulating the putter with your hands can a semblance of a SBST stroke be made with a belly putter. I guess one could bend over so much that your belly button was pointing directly at the ground, but I don't see that being a reasonable position to maintain. If the spine is at any angle other than parallel to the ground, the belly putter must arc around the spine.
Again, I appreciate the reply and know I take everything you say into consideration. I am open to any suggestion and I am happy to try most anything. My competitive golf career depends on my finding better putting results.
you say your open to try anything. I'm just curious does that include sidesaddle or hammy style? Obviously I noticed you did not respond to my sidesaddle response.
Sure your stroke has won tournaments before so did Sam Sneads before he changed, so did Berhard Langers and VJ's and many many others. It seems kind of wierd to me that in order for you to change your stroke you would need someone like Geoff of someone else to tell you your current stroke is used up. Why? If a new stroke or method works who cares what anybody else says. If I relied on somebody to tell me to chuck my old conventional ways of putting.....I would still be putting convetionaly I would just have many more putters in my garage, many more hours of practice, many more putting lessons and would be able to tell people about all the different grips I have used over the years and how they worked for about a month and then I moved on. I would also have about 6 more shots on my handicap. To switch to a style like sidesaddle, hammy style even belly or long it takes guts. You use the belly style from time to time so obviously you have the balls to make a change. You have to be a golfer that does not give a s&%t what other golfer think. It takes balls just like it did for Sam and VJ and Bernhard and many others. Putting is not that hard why golfers continue to try and make it hard is laughable for the thousands of sidesaddle putters who can sit on the sidelines and watch someone practic for hours and hours and then step onto a green and out putt them in 2 minutes. There is no reason for it other than ego. kymani
I didn't mean to disregard your reply to me. I replied to sammy during a break at work and didn't have time to get back to you. I just got in from playing golf this evening. (ain't daylight savings the greatest thing?)
I'll be honest with you and admit that I have never considered side saddle or a hammy style putting stroke. I am not sure I can bring myself to such a drastic change. It took over a year of debate before I purchased a belly putter, and another several months of practice before I took it to the course. I guess I not desperate ENOUGH yet. It might come to that......but I am going to fight that battle another day.
I feel your pain. I too am trying to improve my putting to get to the "next level", and when you're where you are with your game and swing (I've seen some of your videos), putting plays a very huge role in your scoring. I did play in the state AM last year so I can relate to what you're trying to do.
I'll make a few suggestions although Geoff is the expert and will have more ideas for you I'm certain:
1) Buy Geoff's book. It has more good, innovative, science-based advise than any instructional book I have on putting BY FAR (and I have a bunch of those books)!
2) Have you tried a shorter putter? My initial impression looking at your video is that you don't look very comfortable at set-up. Lots of elbow angles and although I can't tell for sure it looks like your putter sits "toe-up". My guess is you have a 35" long putter and might try a 33".
3) Not sure if you're trying to use Utley's technique or not, but there seems to be a bit of "independent" shoulder and arm/hand action. That just seemed to jump out at me.... arms move, then shoulders, then arms.
4) I'm pretty sure Geoff would recommend you get your face more perpendicular to the ground to assist with your aiming. His principles on how to aim (straight out gaze, apple-on-a-stick head movement) are very good and are such an integral part of good putting. If you can't aim worth a lick (or don't know where you're aimed) then the quality of your stroke is moot.
I've been working on changing my putting approach (using more of Geoff's techniques) for a few months now, and pretty diligently. I'm not where I want to be, but I can tell I'm on the right track. I still miss some 3 and 4 footers, but my roll is better and my speed is much better from outside 12 feet. That means better lag putting and fewer 3-putts. It's not "instinctive" yet but I don't think about giving up on it just because I had a couple of marginal putting rounds. Stay patient and realize it takes some time to make the changes needed.
I broke down last night and purchased Geoff's book. I hesitated because I tend to become obsessive with mechanics. I have big ears and I tend to try everything I hear or read. I am a compulsive tinkerer and I feel like that obsession with a perfect stroke has worked against me to a large degree. I am never satisfied with my game (especially putting)and I seem to spend a lot of time un-learning new techniques. I honestly feel like my putting woes began after I spent time at a Pelz school. I received the 3 day school as a gift from my future ex-wife, and I became convinced that the SBST stroke was king. Well, I never mastered it and I have never completely found my pre-Pelz stroke. The feel and confidence I had before have not returned.
I have tried a shorter putter. My current putter is 35.5". That is due to my Utley lesson, as you noticed my Utley influenced stroke. I don't think I have any "toe-up" but I'll double check tomorrow. My experience with the shorter putter was mixed. Some days it was good, some days....not so much. Very inconsistent (like my putting with every putter I own) Strangely enough, my putting stats with my belly putter are consistently worse. My experience with the belly does not match anyone else I know that uses one. I am better at long putts than I am on the shorter putts. Three footers are not automatic like everyone told me.
Part of the problem is that I live in a backwater little town with no reputable club fitters or pros qualified to fit a putter or analyze a putting stroke. I was on a Sam Puttlab several years ago at Haney's place and I was praying that the Sam would tell me why my putting was getting worse, and lo and behold......that day my putting was right on target. Talk about disappointed!!
I really believe that there is still a good putter trapped inside of me somewhere. I was hoping that the sports psychologist could help me find him, but apparently my brain turned a positive suggestion (putting with my eyes closed) into another problem I didn't even know I had. LOL!!
I am going to read Geoff's book and see if there is something there that I can grab a hold of and repair the damage to my putting. I may have to figure out how to get to North Carolina if the book doesn't help.
I am not giving up yet, but I AM running on fumes. State Am qualifying begins with regionals next month. I am running out of time and I am no where close to where I need to be.
By the way, are you playing in your state am this year?
I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find in Geoff's book. I'm on the 2nd reading of it now and many concepts are getting clearer. I'm also a tinkerer when it comes to my technique (full swing and short game), but there is so much logic to Geoff's approach that I doubt I'll try anything different when it comes to putting. As I said, I've worked at it and don't have it down yet, but there are many encouraging signs.
You'll probably have read Paul T's comments by now and I second all of them. Although a trip to NC to see Geoff would be nice, I think you'll be able to make some good strides with his book and with his YouTube clips. You obviously are able to interpret and implement technique from a book (ref: your Utley based motion which seems to match up nicely with Stan's instruction) so you might be surprised with your results after digging more into Geoff's concepts.
I managed to qualify for the Texas State Am last year and will be trying again in 08 (it gets tougher every year, especially at my age). I know the kind of competition you're dealing with and I can understand the level of putting competency you're trying to achieve.
I, for one, found the podcasts - Geoff being interviewed on internet radio - to be extremely helpful. I think that I got more out of the book because I'd already heard Geoff talk about the technique.
The podcast which was the "best" one was the first time I ever heard about Geoff. Unfortunately, it costs $'s to access this particular podcast now:
Geoff talked for nearly two hours, iirc, and only touched upon 2 of the 4 aspects of putting .
The Fred Greene - GolfSmarter - podcast is very good (and free). It's only failing is that it is too short (only 1/2 hour or so)! Greene is a great interviewer and knows how to tease important stuff out of his interviewees.
There is a third podcast, but I can't find it at the moment. They were all listed somewhere on this puttingzone.com website.
For me, hearing Geoff talk about why instincts work so well, and how the turning of the neck is coupled to one's instincts, instantly "changed" me.
Click.
I "got it".
And, "it" is simple.
And - even better - my desire to over-analyze is completely satiated - I can analyze and understand it, I can study it, then I can surrender to my instincts ('cause that's what the studying logically concludes).
Hearing him say these things (instead of reading them first) convinced me very quickly. In fact, I keep the GolfSmarter interview cued up on my iPod and listen to it frequently (often while driving to the golf course). The book is great, because it lets me delve deeper, but every now and then, I just have to hear Geoff speak about how simple it really is.
This message has been edited by Paul-Tarvydas from IP address 72.138.20.230 on Mar 11, 2008 5:29 PM This message has been edited by Paul-Tarvydas from IP address 72.138.20.230 on Mar 11, 2008 4:36 PM
Sorry for being a tad annoyed with your response to my initial posting, but I intended for you to do the repetitive 'blind' putting drill for more than 2 days .. more like 5 days or more. After that you will have engrammed yourself to feeling your putter and hands while focusing on the ball during your putting execution.
You said you had satisfactory control up to a 3 inch backstroke, but beyond that you deteriorated, which means you did not practice enough. The other thing you revealed about your putting stroke is that you are losing hand and arm control with only a very short putting stroke.
To make matters even worse, your 3 inch putting stroke means that you can only control your hands only for about 1 1/2 inch ... because your hands only move about half the distance the putter head moves. Why do you think you lose control of your hands when you move them only about 1 1/2 inch in your putting backstroke ???
Obviously, your putting woes cannot be solved on a forum website, and only somebody with a deeper knowledge can help you ... like Geoff.
No worries sammy. I would never take offense to honest opinions. I tend to agree with you that I have some stroke issues and I agree that I probably need personal time with Geoff. I probably need to turn off my tinkering and just commit to one idea and work it until I either get it or drop dead.
It has taken me several years to get this bad so I shouldn't be surprised if it takes several years to get better. I just really wanted to play the State Am this year. The rest of my game is good enough.....but my putting is just too poor to make a run at it.
In watching the video's you provided it appears to me that you reverse pivot at impact. Your video from down the line was the first video I watched. It appeared to me from that view that you might have been "peeking" at impact. Stopping the video at impact shows this isn't so. But watching the side view video it appears that your head moves to the right an inch to two inches at impact. This movement in the down the line view is what caught my eye that had me thinking you were peeking. Could this have an impact on your consistency? It would be nice to see five or six strokes from the same position. Since you did it in both views I'm going to falsely assume this is a constant.
Thanks for the reply Mike. I watched my video again after reading your response and you are correct. I had never noticed this little quirk. That is probably one of the cues my sports psychologist noticed when he mentioned that my eyes were way too active and that it looked like I had to try and see everything all at once.
I got Geoff's book last week and I have completely rebuilt my posture, arm hang, and putter length. I played yesterday and had a one of my better putting rounds (30 putts, no 3-putts). I haven't spent enough time with the new set-up yet but I am committing to the process.
I will make a new video soon and see if I am still moving my head.
I am a high-handicap amateur golfer, but I love to study things to death (software, physics, EE, consciousness theories). At least my observations and advice are free ...
In the short term:
It sounds to me like you're trying to way-overthink your putts (something that I am truly familiar with, and struggling with).
It sounds like you have become a control freak and that, because of this, your game is digressing.
A human mind has two modes. Conscious and non-conscious. The conscious mind can think about only one thing at a time. The non-conscious mind (aka "instincts") can operate many parts of your body simultaneously.
For example, your spine is not a single rod-like bone. The spine is composed of a bunch of little bones (vertebrae) connected by soft tissue. If you stand up straight, and then try to pick up something from a table directly to your right and slightly below your hand, your spine will "wilt" towards the right and lower your shoulder/etc/hand combination so that you can pick the object up. You do not consciously 'will' every vertebrae in the chain to move to the right - your non-conscious mind ('instincts') perform the action that your conscious mind visualized / commanded.
What I've been learning (and deeply believe is true) from Geoff's book and teachings is that putting consistency comes from allowing your instincts to rule.
Carey Mumford says something in the same vein - you are at your best when you execute golf swings and putts in "habit" mode rather than "manual" (conscious) mode.
In the songwriting field this is called "Effortless Mastery" (Kenny Werner).
Surely, after playing so much golf and achieving what you have, your habits must be wonderful. Now, you need to get your conscious mind out of the way of your non-conscious habits.
When was the last time you f'ed up trying to operate a door knob? (Geoff's example from a podcast).
When you putt, do you put any more thought into it than when you operate a door knob?
If you do think about your putt more than you think about opening a door, then you are preventing your habits from running their course.
"Focus" ain't the problem. Allowing habits to function is the problem.
Geoff's prescription is to give your swing up to gravity and to instinct. Push the backstroke up (and back) with your lead shoulder, then let the whole putter-body mechanism drop and stroke due only to gravity. Your body frame and muscles simply go along for the ride. Your brain, your frame, your muscles already know how to do this - they have lived in gravity and have learned about gravity for all of your life. They know better how to cope with gravity than you do. Gravity is perfectly consistent. Muscles are not consistent (they get tired, over-eager, over-energized, hung-over, etc).
Look at the target point (according to Geoff's teachings), then don't f with the height of your backswing (your instincts know better than your consciousness) and allow the stroke to happen - push back, then let go.
Mumford's Clear Key stuff might also help. Mumford's idea is to use words (and imagery if applicable) to occupy (distract) the conscious mind during the crucial 13 seconds of shot-making. I.E. to allow habits to execute to completion.
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Frankly - I think that your conclusion is correct.
If this is truly important to you, then fly out and have some sessions with Geoff.
From the various things that I've studied in my life, I strongly believe that Geoff is dead-on right.
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If you are going to play competitively soon, don't read the next paragraphs !!! My observations (if at all correct) will f you up if you think of them in competition!
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In the long term...
Your putting setup looks nothing like Geoff's setup. Your back is arched, you are hunkering down, your head is too high up, your eyes are looking over your cheeks at the ball instead of "straight out of the skull" at the ball, you are gripping the club much too high (to my eyes, you should be on the bottom edge of the leather or on the steel) and you are using the wrong grip (read about Geoff's Dual Pistoleros grip). You have a 2000's "state-of-the-art" putting setup instead of a PuttingZone setup.
Stop obsessing about the sweet spot on your putter. Your instincts will 'choose' to hit on the sweet spot when it is appropriate.
The fact that you are not hitting the sweet spot might be due to a compensation your instincts are making to correct for a flaw in your conscious putting stroke.
If you've putted like this for a long time - which you probably have - it wouldn't surprise me that your "eyes closed" putt produces the same compensation.
Groove Mangum's gravity+instinct plus for a few days/weeks, then see what your "eyes closed" putt brings you.
