Putting mechanics

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Another question - Johnny Miller said that good putters putt a 'heavy ball'. I think a lot people will have had this sensation from time to time and it seems to produce exceptionally good feel for distance.

Is there any science/physics to this?
 
Another question - Johnny Miller said that good putters putt a 'heavy ball'. I think a lot people will have had this sensation from time to time and it seems to produce exceptionally good feel for distance.

Is there any science/physics to this?

I'm guessing this "feeling" is just from a really solid strike. This is my feeling anyway.
 
I'm guessing this "feeling" is just from a really solid strike. This is my feeling anyway.

I think you're right.

But there are some players who looks to me like they hit the ball quite hard, but have it come off the putter rolling slowly.

Is there such a thing as a putter who is a 'good ballstriker'?
 
I think you're right.

But there are some players who looks to me like they hit the ball quite hard, but have it come off the putter rolling slowly.

Is there such a thing as a putter who is a 'good ballstriker'?

The "heavy ball" feeling is what I always felt when I made a slightly shorter firm stroke hit solid as I could with the ball tracking end over end.....line on the ball not wobbling at all.
 
But there are some players who looks to me like they hit the ball quite hard, but have it come off the putter rolling slowly.

Very interesting point Brendan. Thats what I do. I hit it hard but it doesn't fly off the club face. I can hit it hard from about 2 feet and it goes in, when I tell others to do the same it just goes 4 feet past. Haven't quite sussed it out yet, but I think it has something to to with the change of speed/acceleration in the last phase just before impact.
 
Todd - is everything other than the fixed pivot moving on the same plane, or a parallel plane, to the plane the clubhead moves in?

I can see that being easy, or at least easier, to do with a belly or a long putter. Less so with a conventional putter.

Birly, the shaft and sweetspot travel in-plane....with a face-balanced putter anyway. The left forearm should be on that plane from address to impact. The shoulders should turn on a plane which parallels the stroke plane. The upper sternum is a pivot which should remain fixed. But it is not necassarily the only pivot of the stroke.
 

Damon Lucas

Super Moderator
Damon,
Have you added any of your own thoughts to Geoff's method?

Geoff has a lot of thoughts!!!

I have also been influenced by Brian's approach whereby you take a stroke and manage it in a certain direction. David Orr has some great ideas too.

I like the basic premise that one should roll the ball on an intended line with good touch. There are obviously different ways to do this. I'll try and help people define their own strokes, and understand what causes them to putt well as well as troubleshooting when things go off.

I also credit people with a higher degree of fallibility than Geoff sometimes seems to. He has a lot of belief that if you do things the way he suggests, then you'll cope with any situation. So I might try some things to help people cope, be they idiosyncratic or otherwise.
 
Birly, the shaft and sweetspot travel in-plane....with a face-balanced putter anyway. The left forearm should be on that plane from address to impact. The shoulders should turn on a plane which parallels the stroke plane. The upper sternum is a pivot which should remain fixed. But it is not necassarily the only pivot of the stroke.

thanks todd

does the plane of the shoulder turn necessitate a particular posture or orientation of the spine?

Pelz thinks that the shoulders can move vertically quite happily. Others have criticised this as an unnatural movement, or at least one that is difficult to learn.

I think the stroke that Utley teaches has more arm movement than shoulder movement - partly because the arms swing "in-plane" whilst the shoulders rotate flatter, with the result that the elbows need to fold and extend in turn, back and through.

How do you measure the motion of the shoulders in-plane?
 
thanks todd

does the plane of the shoulder turn necessitate a particular posture or orientation of the spine?

Pelz thinks that the shoulders can move vertically quite happily. Others have criticised this as an unnatural movement, or at least one that is difficult to learn.

I think the stroke that Utley teaches has more arm movement than shoulder movement - partly because the arms swing "in-plane" whilst the shoulders rotate flatter, with the result that the elbows need to fold and extend in turn, back and through.

How do you measure the motion of the shoulders in-plane?

To execute a "shoulder-only" stroke, put a club under your armpits to "lock" the arms down. They are now "fused" in place. Now execute a an in-plane stroke, monitored by laser, plane board, etc. I actually find it easier to keep the upper sternum fixed when turning the shoulders parallel to the stroke plane, which is much closer to vertical than is a plane perpendicular to the spine. Sort of like Stack N Tilt.

As the arms swing independently from the sockets, with both hands on the club, one arm must be folding in at all times. Stan has described this well. Almost always, the stroke is powered by a combo of both shoulder rotation and arm swing.

Here's a video I did a while back, in the early stages of organizing this pattern, which shows the in-plane shoulder-only stroke
 
Todd -

Can a stroke have the left shoulder as a pivot point?

Sure, but to achieve impact at Low Point, the Low Point of the Hand Arc should be in-line with the back of the ball. The simplist thing to do is to position the back of the ball in-line with the upper sternum and make the center of the Hand Arc in-line with that point also, as is the center of the torso rotation.
 
typical bull ruined this thread a guy posted looking for thoughts on putting mechanics and as usual the thread gets watered down with I know best stuff. Can people not just post your own thoughts on mechanics and have people decide what they like, in fact I will put a post that offers teachers a chance to tell hwow they teach.
 

natep

New
I saw a few people mention that Locke, Crenshaw putt with a loop in their stroke. Does anyone know how they did this, with an outside in loop or square to inside or what? Thanks.
 

footwedge

New member
I saw a few people mention that Locke, Crenshaw putt with a loop in their stroke. Does anyone know how they did this, with an outside in loop or square to inside or what? Thanks.


I don't know Nate but I do know your p.m. box is full, empty some so I can send you a p.m....lol.
 
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