Putting

[bladehunter]

So. This is a putting vid or two not swing. But I suppose it’s still applicable to this section (maybe)?

 

Thought I’d share a few vids of me on the armlock. Pay no mind to the last stroke on the down the line( or the junk cars behind my shop lol ) .... Putter grabbed the turf coming back and I just went ahead and smacked it.

 

What do do you think ? Not as wonky as some would guess ,with my past putting woes. Right?

 

 

[Rory4Pres]

I think it's a pretty good stroke overall. I wouldn't say change anything overall but a couple key things for you to think about while practicing putting...

1) having the same backstroke direction (whether straight back or slightly outside on your take-away)

2) if you forward press, do it every time. If you don't, don't. I saw a little variation between shots in that.

3) I feel like if you struggle with this form, it'll be because you get too hands-ee. May focus on using the shoulders as your primary source for moving the putter back and forth.

I'm not a pro so it's okay to write off anything I've said that you don't like. Just offering things to think about mentally while practicing and tinkering around with your stroke. Overall it looks very good like I said.

[bladehunter]

yep. I hear you on those points. I don’t really intend to forward press , but I do like to feel that the grip is leaned and locked in so to speak so what you see there is more like a check to feel that.

 

im rolling it well with the armlock. But I’m not dead set on it mentally. As in i don’t care for the idea that I can’t putt without it. Like I need a crutch. In working on a conventional setup as well. I’ll post a clip of that tomorrow as I get a sec to do so.

[Socrates]

Not bad. It looks kinda like me when I putt lefthand low. Sometimes I release the club nicely. Most of the time, it feels like I don't release the putter head and I push it down the line. But, when I get it right, it's money. I use it as a drill and maybe one day, more than that.

[b.helts]

Looks like you pick up the putter head a bit.

 

[bladehunter]

Yep. And that’s how it’s been used for me. It’s trained me to have some forward shaft lean , and the release. That’s exactly what I feel like I fight. Releasing the head. With my conventional grip and stroke I struggle to have any arc , and when I do I tend to hook putts badly. But ok working on it. The armlock is a nice gap filler in a way. But I’m one who wants to learn to do things properly. That And I fear the armlock could be banned anytime ... so I’d like to feel confident with a normal setup.

[bladehunter]

Good eye. I do and it’s due to the tendency to drag the putter coming back. I blame that on playing on grainy Bermuda which is more prone to catch it. So my miss on the putter face is thin at times. So my fix for that in the conventional stroke is a hover/trigger and it’s lead to a much more solid feeing strike , more often.

[SC-TX 88]

How do you like the fastback head as an armlock? I turned a slant neck spider x into one and have been pleased with the results but am curious to try a smaller head as well.

[Rory4Pres]

If you struggle with this, try taping it on the ground behind the ball once or twice, then when it comes up after the tap, have a very brief pause then start your take away.

[bladehunter]

 

 

http://youtu.be/4PWhVOaWABACouple more videos here. These are of the conventional stroke with a hover trigger start.

And of course Lucy the wonderdog had to make an appearance. 92lb Great Pyrenees pup can go wherever she pleases I guess. lol.

 

 

[bladehunter]

It’s a great head for it in my opinion. Not really that much smaller than the spider x. I too have a spider x armlock. I had it first. Very similar. The fastback is heavier ( 20g) Weight and has a nice click sound at impact.

[b.helts]

In my opinion the putter works too much up and down with too much face rotation.

 

just my opinion

[bladehunter]

Not going to disagree with anyone here. Would be rude to do so.

 

But i I do find it funny. I’ve recently worked hard to add face rotation. As I previously held the face off coming back and going through. As in no arc.

 

As for up and down I assume you are meaning up in backswing and then up to target ? I guess I’m not sure how you’d keep it low and still hit it hard enough ? As in it must come up no? Maybe a by product of being tall ?

 

at any rate I appreciate the feedback so far. It’s telling me that there isn’t a set way to proceed. Which is both reassuring and maddening all at the same time.

[b.helts]

Agreed. Lots of ways to make putts.

I just think you’ve got some pieces mismatched. Again, just my opinion.

[bladehunter]

i wouldn’t argue against that in a broad way based on the lack of putting performance ive had before armlock , but I’m not sure what these mismatched parts are. Obviously I guess. If I did they wouldn't be mismatched. Lol.

[b.helts]

Well, like I said, I think there is too much face rotation.

 

the mismatch comes from if there is face rotation the putter head should come inside just a bit. It looks to me like you’ve got a straight back straight through stroke with face rotation and too much vertical arc.

 

id like to see the putter traveling closer to the ground and a bit inside with that much face opening on the backstroke.

[bladehunter]

i see. Probably so. I think my putting path Mirrors my full swing. I don’t fan the club open and inside to try to get back to square and down The line for a full swing either. The recent try to get the face to rotate open coming back probably is wrong when paired with not sucking it inside as well. Now that I think on it. Going back to holding the face off or square coming back isn’t an issue. It’s actually a natural move for me.

[BIG STU]

I like it. Even when I was a good putter i tended to pick the putter up some and rotate the face. Like you said it is a product of playing Bermuda greens and any Anser Style putter will drag going back on Bermuda greens. I like the position of the face at contact and through the strike. In my hey days I was an arc style putter with of course face rotation. Now with age and meds my hands do not work like they used to. In the last 2 years I have tried everything. tried the claw grip for a while and it was on and off. Recently I got to messing around with Bulls Eye putters trying to get some feedback and feel back into my hands. Started putting left hand low and started getting things back together again. Went back to an old school Lamkin wrap grip too and that has helped feel wise too. Had messed around with my rusty Santa Fe so much with grips etc and discovered I had 20 grams of lead tape on it. Pulled it all off along with putting an old school grip on it. I know one darn thing I putted lights out with it the last time I played 3 weeks ago.

Yep IMHO keep on going in the direction you are going because it seems to be working well do not sweat the small details like face rotation etc. I do not normally comment on this sort of subject but since it is you I felt inclined to.. And BTW don't worry about the junk cars around your shop IMHO they are like old blades they add character

[bladehunter]

Lol. You haven’t seen junk cars yet Stu . Those outback are nothing compared to the ones waiting in line for their turn under the knife. Wish I had some looks on people’s faces on tape when you show them a $20-40k pile of Shelby or Boss rust. But when they come out the other end they bring #1 book value. Literally bringing them back to life.

As for putter . It’s just such an interesting topic to me .

 

Mostly because of the absolute polar opposite feelings I have about a putt vs a full swing , it defies logic to feel more in control of a full swing than a tiny little putt . It’s as if on a full swing I can tell you what it’s doing and how far it will fly ( inside reason ) just from the feel of impact before I look up . And on a putt , I’m shocked every time one starts online And rarely know it until I see it happen .

 

I dont know , maybe I’m asking for too much ? But I’ve had days where I get in control of putter , So I know it’s possible , but it’s oh so rare .

 

[BIG STU]

Blade I did not know you did all of that----- But on a putting subject--- I had a dear old Great Aunt that did not play golf but believe it or not liked to watch it on TV when it came on back in the day--- LOL she was a Palmer fan----- She told me this one time and it has stuck in my mind to this day---- " Golf is a funny game where a 1 foot putt counts the same as a long drive" She was right and honestly I found it easier to hit a hole from 3 feet as opposed to hitting a fairway ( in those days) from 250 out. Lately since my swing is not as long and fast I can hit a fairway pretty decent but can not make a putt in a washtub. But I am bouncing back from the last part I think. But it is kinda like the addage of draining the swamp--- Get the ball in the hole with as few of strokes as possible how ever you can do it

[James the Hogan Fan]

Hi Blade,

In the second video set down the line, I noticed that you set up on the center ball of the putter for the hover, and when you come back through you catch it between the center and right ball. In the super close up, you can see the path of the head back and through. It traces a sort of 8.. Those putts also seemed to leave with a slight push. Is this intended? (I ask because it kind of is in my own stroke) Could that shift of position slightly change your shot line vs. setup line?

I agree with the slight lift of the putter through the stroke as mentioned by others.

I do love how still your legs/upper body are. I cannot do that and I shake all over the place.

Question: Do you enjoy 7-10 footers with 6-18 inches of break more than dead straight 6 footers? Or which would you rather have?

Respectfully,

James

[bladehunter]

100 /.% dead on.

The figure 8 isn’t on purpose it’s what I’m fighting , when I come inside I hit hook putts that I cannot start online , they dive left

 

and Yes Most of my birdies made are from either 2 putt par 5s or 7-15 footers with a foot or more break , I detest a straight putt

 

[James the Hogan Fan]

Yeah I can see you're doing what I do... Afraid of the pull so the face stays open and you take the slice and rely on break to bring it back. But on a straight one you don't get that luxury!

Have you tried moving the ball forward in your stance? I'm a big believer in using ball position changes to experiment with strokes. If you moved ball forward and maybe a little further away, such that you have to delay the 8 or reach for it, that's helped me with path issues

On my putter, I added lead tape as well because the extra weight made me feel the rotation and clubhead position better. I do occasionally slice putts still but I've almost eliminated pulls and hooks.

[bladehunter]

Yep. I’ve moved it forward and what’s get then are big pulls or A hook.

moving farther away does help the backstroke path. But. It then makes it very hard for me to see down the line. You see I’m extremely left eye dominant. And I have a lot of trouble seeing when over a putt. I usually have my left eye directly over the ball. But that absolutely makes sense as to why it causes the figure 8. I don’t have room to swing it inside I guess.

 

I just spent an hour on the green hitting purposeful cut and hook putts. Just experimenting with backswing and results. Believe it or not. When I take a wide open face and then cut way across it. I start a lot online. Lol. Utterly hilarious to me. No point in that statement except that I’ve tried everything once. Lol. Just doomed to the armlock or the “ old man stick “ as my wife calls it I guess. Which feels like a failure to me.

[bladehunter]

Another clip from today.

 

May have found something to get the path I’ve been looking for minus the hook at the end.

[Philomathesq]

Definitely not an expert putter, but I'll echo what @James the Hogan Fan stated above: You line the center of the putter head with the center of the ball, but you definitely make impact right-of-center (toe side). I think this impact point could be part of the reason you detest straight putts. Rather than moving the ball up or back in your stance, have you considered starting off with your putter head lined up slightly left-of-center (heel side), similar to what Bruce does (though I think he lines up right-of-center)? I know how much you love Bruce, so I figured I'd throw it out there. But really, it could help.
Also, I noticed that you have a much narrower stance with your traditional putter than with your armlock. I've never used an armlock, so I'm not sure if it necessitates a wider stance, but it did stand out to me as interesting that your stance is much wider with the armlock.
The only other thing I noticed is that on a few putts with the traditional putter, your putter head is slightly toe down at address just before you take the putter back; I only noticed it on three or four putts. It may have been the camera angle, but it definitely looked like your putter was toe down. This could be explained by the fact that you were hitting multiple putts in a row and it isn't something that you would actually do during a round. I guess I would say to just take a few seconds to reset completely before each putt just to make sure you are exactly where you want to be.

[James the Hogan Fan]

One other thing I noticed that might not be helping is the putt you hit in the videos is not straight, it's maybe two balls right to left, so it might be training the slice. I'm not saying regrade your yard, but I think if you can focus on getting the path to follow your feet and alignment instead of what the breaking putt is training you to do? The point of putting, as I understand it is to get the putter face perpendicular to the arc of the swing, having that coincide with the target line, and having it all occur at the strike of the ball. Pat to that point doesn't matter as long as at contact, you momentarily meet the above. Pulls on ball forward would be correcting the path but the putter already rotates/releases I'd imagine. Your mega-open mega-cut stroke just happens to meet these parameters (+/- some spin things that make up for path at impact not being down the line)

My go-to putting drill is indoors on carpet. Speed of carpet doesn't matter but smooth and repeatable does. Take a chair leg and place it 2-3 feet from the ball. If you want you can masking tape a straight line from ball to the chair but you don't have to. Stand at different angles to the line to the chair but get the ball hitting the leg repeatedly from each of them. Get a feel for what adjustments in hands/stroke you'd have to make for each stance. I'll hit the putting green and do strokes at stance 45 degrees open/closed to mix it up. I feel like if I can get into a rhythm banging the chair leg from any possible stance, I must have a decent stroke right? Then start lining up properly and keep rattling the leg. It may be a stupid drill, and it may or may not help, but it helps me and it's cheaper than buying new putters.

(p.s. In the spirit of WRX however, if you want to buy a new putter, some brick on a stick mallet (spider, vp5, etc) could be useful at drilling a less wavy stroke, I use my cleveland vp5 for that reason, though it will probably never see the course. It just sees the 2-6' chair putt)

Best of luck!

[bladehunter]

Yep I hear most of that.

 

Yesterday I moved setup position to heel side of center and instantly had middle contact. Made a lot of putts. ( then it got dark). But the “ why” in me wants to know why that band aid works? It obviously is accounting for some other flaw. Going to work some more today and see what video shows with the address position moved.

 

As far as the toe down. That’s a leftover compensation for a toe up condition I had as a beginner. I’m trying to lower my hands at address but I forget sometimes.

[bladehunter]

Yep. You’re correct on that putt. It moves if you die it in and doesn’t move it you ram it on the right edge.

 

I do have a couple straight putts though. But if I’m honest I only hit those sparingly. Some days I can get into an edge burning pattern and miss maybe 20-30 in a row from 6 ft. Which is quite demoralizing . I just don’t see straight putts. So I’ll vary speed to try to make it turn. lol. Now some days of I’m seeing the line I’ll make them all too if it’s straight . Such a perplexing thing I just don’t love putting like I love swinging a club I’d be fine with changing the game to include an auto 2 putt for every green hit in regulation . Pickup and move on .

Lol

 

Also have a nice mat inside that I can use for straight. And I do sometimes. But I prefer to be outdoors. I’ll go out if the wind isn’t bad and the sun is out down to 25-30 degrees.

 

[bladehunter]

Little follow up. Getting better. Results on course are already night and day better. I’m judging off feel and start line compared to aim. Im getting everything on line now.