Hands to pivot in putting, who knew?

Funny little revelation on the putting green yesterday, my shoulder stroke for years has been plagued by a small but noticeable OTT move. Going back, it gets inside, then an OTT move to correct it on the forward stroke. Ball positioning, grip changes, stance line changes, all of them could not correct this. But then I remembered that in the book the shoulder turn takeaway was always too low and to the inside, making a plane shift necessary, I just assumed that this only pertained to the full swing though.

I decided to put my "mind in my hands" and keep conscious monitoring of my hands during the stroke instead, and the putts were going in from everywhere. I do not feel any real independent hand or wrist movement, just a different awareness during the stroke, and all of a sudden, tracing became incredibly easy instead of a far-away goal. Its like what Lynn talks about, the body reacts to what the hands tell them to do (correct me if I am wrong). I want to trace a straight line with pp#3, so the shoulders respond to the hands' directions, and thats it. Do you guys think that this is how many of the pros putt, where they are using a shoulder stroke, but give the hands full control, but the only visible movement we see in their stroke are the shoulders moving in response? More of a conceptual question I guess, but it helped me immensely yesterday so I was just looking for some confirmation.

Thanks as always guys, have at it

I hadn't thought of that, but it sure makes sense. I can't wait to fool around with it. Nice find!

Kevin

Nice. Homer said Lag Pressure was the secret to good golf and I dont think putting is an exception.

The #3 is what its all about for me. I dont know what my shoulders are doing anymore. Dont care even as long as they arent throwing my hands around. Relaxation at the arm/shoulder connection is key for me in this regard. With my mind in my #3 pp, distance control is much improved I find. Lag pressure is distance control after all.

I take a long look at the hole just before I go. I "take a picture" of the hole so to speak, but at the same time Im sensing my pressure points, relaxing my arms and shoulders, grip is firm............and then as I return my eyes to the ball with zero hesitation, sometimes it almost overlaps.........I let my #3pp "putt to the picture" of the hole which I still have in my mind.

My revelation was that I couldnt relax my arms and their connection to the shoulders when staring at the ball.......... so I dont. Dave Stockton apparently returns his eyes to point a few inches in front of the ball (Aiming point).

I dont even get picky about the weight of my practice strokes anymore, they're more for awakening the pressure points. Like throwing a ball underhanded. You dont need an uptight practice rehearsal with arm motion monitoring etc, you dont look at your hand when doing it either. For me when I "putt to the picture", I liken it to say somebody blind folding you just before you do that under hand lob. You memorize the target and thrust the ball accordingly. This little trick revolutionized my putting.

Also the #3 pp given a normal right hand low grip, is also conveniently located at the top of the Sweet Spot Plane. So monitoring the #3pp is monitoring, controlling the sweet spot as well. Its the Sweetspot we sense in our hands and take through the ball. A very nice thing. And perhaps a missing element in a shoulders controlled hands putting procedure.

Is it still a shoulder stroke for me? Id say yes. But its Hands to Shoulders so to speak. I know Im getting it the other way round when the putter path starts getting wobbly and my knees start to move.

Originally Posted by laangels Funny little revelation on the putting green yesterday, my shoulder stroke for years has been plagued by a small but noticeable OTT move. Going back, it gets inside, then an OTT move to correct it on the forward stroke. Ball positioning, grip changes, stance line changes, all of them could not correct this. But then I remembered that in the book the shoulder turn takeaway was always too low and to the inside, making a plane shift necessary, I just assumed that this only pertained to the full swing though.

I decided to put my "mind in my hands" and keep conscious monitoring of my hands during the stroke instead, and the putts were going in from everywhere. I do not feel any real independent hand or wrist movement, just a different awareness during the stroke, and all of a sudden, tracing became incredibly easy instead of a far-away goal. Its like what Lynn talks about, the body reacts to what the hands tell them to do (correct me if I am wrong). I want to trace a straight line with pp#3, so the shoulders respond to the hands' directions, and thats it. Do you guys think that this is how many of the pros putt, where they are using a shoulder stroke, but give the hands full control, but the only visible movement we see in their stroke are the shoulders moving in response? More of a conceptual question I guess, but it helped me immensely yesterday so I was just looking for some confirmation.

Thanks as always guys, have at it

Try putting with a little float loading - it will train your #3pp and keep the lag pressure.

Originally Posted by mb6606 Try putting with a little float loading - it will train your #3pp and keep the lag pressure.

I saw Tiger practicing his putting at the Memorial last year with a little float loading on his practice swings. Which to me means he knows lag pressure. In his book he talks about feeling the weight of the putter head in his hands. Homer might suggest its actually the Longitudinal Center of Gravity he feels, which runs like a plumb line from the #3pp through the Sweet spot on the clubface.

I have recently adopted the Tour Tempo sounds for putt timing. Listening to the timing tones (2:1 ratio back to forward) I all of a sudden began to use float loading, and the ball rolls off the putter face with nary a bounce using much less effort which in turn lets the ball roll calmly towards the target. This works even for long lag puts

Originally Posted by Scottgas2 I have recently adopted the Tour Tempo sounds for putt timing. Listening to the timing tones (2:1 ratio back to forward) I all of a sudden began to use float loading, and the ball rolls off the putter face with nary a bounce using much less effort which in turn lets the ball roll calmly towards the target. This works even for long lag puts

Interesting Scottgas. Im not that familiar with the Tour Tempo stuff.

What do you mean by 2:1 ratio? Is there a rapid acceleration when putting , to that proportion?

Thanks

OB: Check out this link (if Lynn will kindly consent to posting it). They have added a 2:1 tempo for short game shots.

http://www.tourtempo.com/Golf-World-UK.pdf