Name: Lea
Email: [email protected]
Street Address: 9389 Villas Drive
Street Address2:
City: Foley
State: AL
Zip: 36535
Country: United States
Phone: 850-261-9770

Question:

Hi Geoff:

GREAT podcasts!!!

A couple questions:

1) Would you extol the benefits of the center shafted putter vs. the end shafted. Is the stroke different dependending upon which shaft is used?

2) You frequently give inexpensive learning aids on your site. Do you have an inexpensive way to determine the optimum lie for your putter. I'm saying lie but I actually mean the angle formed if you measured the angle of the shaft with the ground (on a line from the heel of the putter to your feet) I hope I'm making this clear. I tend to think that this angle is not consistent with all players but rather would be determined by a person's height as well as the distance they stand from the ball. The next question would be, should the angle of the hole that the shaft is inserted in be different for different players (again dependent on the person's height)? Is this something that only tour players have access to or is it available to the typical player?

OK, that's more than 2 questions but they're things I have wondered about for quite awhile. I also will be interested to read why you disagree with crosshanded putting. I don't consider it a crutch as I have been using it for over 30 years because I consider it more fundamentally sound. I will say that I developed a putting test in grad school and found no significant difference when testing beginner golfers using the conventional grip vs. the crosshanded grip (as it was known then). Not sure how much that really proved but got a dissertation approved. LOL

Lea
Foley AL

Dear Lea,

Your question about the optimum lie for putters has been selected and answered on the podcast (click here to listen).

Your question about center-shafted and heel-shafted putters is answered in this recent Flatstick post.

I regard the "left-hand-low" grip form as fine, except for the "low" part. to make this hand "low" requires making the right hand "high" and this pokes the right elbow out, and this makes the right side more dominant and attention-grabbing than it should be. I just hand the right arm and hand as naturally as the left and put the right hand on the grip after the left hand gets there first, playing a support-only role. This keeps the shoulders level and neutralizes botgh sides for a relaxed, symmetrical setup and motion .

Thanks! You will be receiving a free copy of my book Optimal Putting in the mail shortly.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist

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