I know you have compiled everthing on putting. Do you have anything on sidesaddle putting or midsize putting like Paul Azinger and Vijay Singh are using?
I just don't know what disadvantage there would be on midsize - it would not allow you to break wrist.
Your swing would be as square as your shoulders. The only flaw could be moving the head.
Phil Rodgers taught Paul Runyan a technique of holding the top of the putter against his belt, with a split grip with the right hand low. The purpose of this style was to make the stroke as close to a pendulum as possible. Runyan adapted this stroke and then started using a 41-inch putter, resting the top of the putter handle against his rib cage and gripping the handle about a foot lower with his right hand, keeping his right index finger down the shaft to prevent the hand from getting ahead of the clubhead. Hubert Green has a similar split-hand grip but with a small putter. The British illustrator Paul Trevillion advises a split-hand grip for a shortish putter. He currently has a book and video about his technique called Missing Impossible! And then bernard Langer made famous the clasping of the shaft against his left forearm to prevent left-wrist breakdown.
I understand the "midsize" putting style to be one that takes advantage of this cluster of characteristics. The possible "downside" is the same that affects all styles: targeting, aiming, and stroke motion. The style cannot cure problems of targeting and aiming, but it can fit well with optimal targeting and aiming uses of the body. And it is really too much to expect the style in and of itself to cure problems of the stroke motion. While these style techniques can help AVOID problems and can help AMELIORATE poor movement control, the movement is still a matter of integrating the movement with the targeting and of movement control for consistency and accuracy. It's quite possible to make a "midsize" stroke that is not aimed well (even if otherwise perfect), that is too fast, that twists the face in the stroke, that suffers from a pivot shift, that plays the ball in a poor location in reference to the bottom of the stroke, that does not generate the proper force, or that suffers from a poor stroke path.
I think this style probably emphasizes the shoulderframe motion more than a lot of other styles, and that is great for removing the influence of the hands in powering the stroke. But in that move, the hands don't GUIDE the stroke either; the shoulder-rock does. Getting the stroke on line is still a matter of integrating the visual cues of where the stroke ought to send the putter's sweetspot back and thru with the motor planning and execution of the stroke movement. This is mostly a targeting problem for settling the stroke movement pattern into the correct path and then finetuning this sense of how and where to stroke the ball with specific visual cues (how the putterface squares to the ball itself, a spot 3-4 inches behind the ball on line with the backstroke's start, the line thru the ball as defined by the putterface's square orientation matching the perceived startline of the putt, a spot maybe 5 inches out front on the puttline to roll the ball over, etc.).
So, I believe various putting styles or techniques CAN be very effective, but this does not so much depend upon the technique itself as how the technique specifically helps you integrate targeting with stroke movement. People who do well with these techniques are solving the same problems in slightly different ways.
What I am after is the optimal way to solve these fundamental tasks in putting for everyone in general. While it is true a specific individual may have slightly different problems or even different capacities (vision problems, back problems, etc.), everyone has essentially the same brain perceptual and movement processes, and the task of any given putt is the same for everyone, so there is a great deal of commonality in putting -- much more than most people believe.
So, I say try midsize, but don't rely upon it as a cureall. You still have to do the green reading, targeting, and stroke. The problem is to get all these functioning well together at the same occasion. I would say think of midsize as just a way to avoid problems, but the essential task of putting is all about you, not the style.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Greensboro North Carolina USA
"Your personal putting assistant."
http://hometown.aol.com/puttmagic
"The World's most comprehensive putting resource."
Here's a putter designed to rest the handle under the left armpit, so both hands are on the grip with a fixed-pivot pendulum stroke. You can get a free video of the technique. The putter is 54.5 inches long. The T-Roll Putter: http://www.golfputter.com/index.htm
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Greensboro North Carolina USA
"Your personal putting assistant."
http://hometown.aol.com/puttmagic
"The World's most comprehensive putting resource."
I would like you to know about my good friend Simon Moore, Cambridge New Zealand, who makes belly putters and publishes the Belly Buzz Newsletter (February 2002 issue, http://www.18pars.com/bb1.htm). To subscribe: email sifi@xtra.co.nz with YesBelly in the Subject Line. And visit his website for All-Things belly putters: http://www.bellyputter.com.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
The PuttingZone.com http://puttingzone.com
For Performance You Just Can't Beat!