11 replies to this topic

[iBanesto]

Interesting technique to keep everything locked in.

[Jim Waldron]

Interesting method, similar to one that I teach in our putting schools. I thinkj Craig and Elk are onto something vitally important here, in a more general "big picture" sense, that can really help anyone's putting, especially in the Super Short putt range of 6 feet and less. And that is - how can you increase the probablity of the face angle staying square to the path throughout the stroke so that your accuracy or line control is near perfect? Or, how can you decrease the probability of a small muscle "flinch" that will alter your face angle, causing you to miss the putt due to poor line control? Face angle stability is the goal, and there are several ways to get there. Using a non-conventional grip is the starting point, one - like the Claw or Paintbrush or Left Hand Low - that all by itself promotes face angle stability.

My method adds two more vital elements that will accomplish what Craig is recommending but is less extreme and does not require the golfer to change their body alignment to compensate for the face angle pointing left of target. First - triangle or sideways pressure in the arms, to provide structure to the arms and connect them to the torso. (not actual phyisical arms to chest contact "coninection" but simply a way of insuring that the arms and shoulder girdle move as a unit). Second is "wring the flannnel" pressure in the hands which will really "lock down" the radius and ulna rotation. This is a very subtle and gentle inward rotation of the hands/wrists/forearms toward each other, with equal pressure. Both of these arm pressure fundamentals are things I have also taught my students in the long game and short game shots, but have recently discovered the amazing value of the flannel pressure in putting.

Not only does it create 100% face angle stablity, it also activates your oblique abs to power the shoulder girdle rock, or your main power source in putting, and it also guarantees really good tempo, close to that perfect 1:1 ratio we all want in a pendulum stroke. Very tough to de-celerate or over-accelerate when you keep the flannel pressure all the way to the Finish.
The other thing I really like about this method is that the pre-activation of the two arm pressures is so totally opposite of the small muscle, twitchy, manipulative, hit impulse, steering impulse, hand-eye, "handsy/wristy" feel - the one that always leads to miss putts! - that it is very easy to learn it  and practice it into dominant habit. Your own feel sense awareness is so actue as to whether you are keeping the two pressures or not, that as soon as you lose the pressures, you will instantly feel it, and sometimes you can self-correct a bit in time to save the stroke. At a minimum, you will at least know with 100% certainty, why you missed the putt.

[iBanesto]

Does it position the players head a bit behind the ball due to that hip bump?

[3GWrX09]

Def an interesting technique. On a side note, Elks shirt is HIDEOUS.

[iBanesto]

Haha, Elkington is really into the technical side of golf and is usually a very classy dresser.

I just find the technique too much of a hassle.

[TeeAce]

The most relevant part of that IMO is the left hand grip. Been doing that about 10 months now and rarely miss from 2yds.

[Stretch]

 Jim Waldron, on 02 November 2012 - 10:13 AM, said:

Interesting method, similar to one that I teach in our putting schools. I thinkj Craig and Elk are onto something vitally important here, in a more general "big picture" sense, that can really help anyone's putting, especially in the Super Short putt range of 6 feet and less. And that is - how can you increase the probablity of the face angle staying square to the path throughout the stroke so that your accuracy or line control is near perfect? Or, how can you decrease the probability of a small muscle "flinch" that will alter your face angle, causing you to miss the putt due to poor line control? Face angle stability is the goal, and there are several ways to get there. Using a non-conventional grip is the starting point, one - like the Claw or Paintbrush or Left Hand Low - that all by itself promotes face angle stability.

My method adds two more vital elements that will accomplish what Craig is recommending but is less extreme and does not require the golfer to change their body alignment to compensate for the face angle pointing left of target. First - triangle or sideways pressure in the arms, to provide structure to the arms and connect them to the torso. (not actual phyisical arms to chest contact "coninection" but simply a way of insuring that the arms and shoulder girdle move as a unit). Second is "wring the flannnel" pressure in the hands which will really "lock down" the radius and ulna rotation. This is a very subtle and gentle inward rotation of the hands/wrists/forearms toward each other, with equal pressure. Both of these arm pressure fundamentals are things I have also taught my students in the long game and short game shots, but have recently discovered the amazing value of the flannel pressure in putting.

Not only does it create 100% face angle stablity, it also activates your oblique abs to power the shoulder girdle rock, or your main power source in putting, and it also guarantees really good tempo, close to that perfect 1:1 ratio we all want in a pendulum stroke. Very tough to de-celerate or over-accelerate when you keep the flannel pressure all the way to the Finish.
The other thing I really like about this method is that the pre-activation of the two arm pressures is so totally opposite of the small muscle, twitchy, manipulative, hit impulse, steering impulse, hand-eye, "handsy/wristy" feel - the one that always leads to miss putts! - that it is very easy to learn it  and practice it into dominant habit. Your own feel sense awareness is so actue as to whether you are keeping the two pressures or not, that as soon as you lose the pressures, you will instantly feel it, and sometimes you can self-correct a bit in time to save the stroke. At a minimum, you will at least know with 100% certainty, why you missed the putt.

This is a fantastic post. If I could rep it 100 times, I would!

Never managed to articulate it as well as you have Jim, but have generally thought of it myself in terms of "counter pressure" (ie. thumbs towards each other) of the hands on the grip. To me, this is the key that allows the simultaneous maintenance of both a light grip (which you need for feel) and a stable face alignment (which you need for, you know, not missing putts and stuff.)



Would love to hear more about the "triangle" pressure in the arms, if that's not giving away the whole store for free. Not quite sure I'm understanding you there.

[Jim Waldron]

Thanks, Stretch, I appreciate the feedback. The "flannel" pressure is inward with a tiny amount of "twist" and the triangle pressure is lateral and inward, ie no "twist". I teach that both are fundamentals to all golf strokes, not just putting. The flannel pressure is in the hand/finger muscles only, the triangle pressure is from your armpits to your fingertips. They are closely related, but still two different and distinct things, and they tend to reinforce each other.

When you maintain these two pressures along with your overall grip pressure ( I prefer medium pressure for medium distance putts, light on long putts and firm on Super Short putts)  and start from a proper setup, (hands hanging directly under shoulder girdle), and with a putter that fits you, and a good anti-flinch grip (at least for the Super Short putts of around 6 feet or less), and you use your oblique abs to power your shoulder girdle rocking motion as the ONLY moving body part, all of your stroke mechanics issues will end. The only issues left to master are Aim, Distance Control, Tempo, Routine and Trigger and the art of reading greens.


The cool thing about these two pressures, grip pressure and using the obliques to power the stroke is this - when you "lose" either of these elements - the sudden change is so startling to one's conscious mind awareness, it is like switching your tv from on to off. You can instantly feel it, and then just focus harder on your next putt. You will start to relate most of your missed putts (assuming you have reasonable skill in the additional areas I listed) to this loss of one or more of these pressures.

[Stretch]

Sorry Jim, I'm a slow learner. When you say "lateral and inward" along the arms, are we talking about (stated crudely) pushing your elbows together a little?

[Jim Waldron]

Yes - but without rotating them even a little bit. And not just the elbows - the two arms, from armpits to fingers, push very gently toward each other with equal opposing pressure. The tiny "twisit" pressure or flannel pressure originates in the hands only but kind of "leaks into" the wrists and forearm muscles by a very small degree. The two pressures make your arms/hands/putter/shoulder girdle one "firm unit" moved by the obliques. This takes all of the conscious hand-eye manipulation out of the stroke ( which is one of the base causes of the yips in the pre-yip stage) and literally turns you into a putting machine. It does feel very robotic at first, which is why I only recommend it for Super Short putts when first learning it, since it can impair your distance control to some degree. Which is NOT an issue on Super Short putts. I never use those two arm pressures (at least not consciously) on Long putts, where distance control is paramount.

[golftech]

Jim Waldron, on 02 November 2012 - 10:13 AM, said:

Interesting method, similar to one that I teach in our putting schools. I thinkj Craig and Elk are onto something vitally important here, in a more general "big picture" sense, that can really help anyone's putting, especially in the Super Short putt range of 6 feet and less. And that is - how can you increase the probablity of the face angle staying square to the path throughout the stroke so that your accuracy or line control is near perfect? Or, how can you decrease the probability of a small muscle "flinch" that will alter your face angle, causing you to miss the putt due to poor line control? Face angle stability is the goal, and there are several ways to get there. Using a non-conventional grip is the starting point, one - like the Claw or Paintbrush or Left Hand Low - that all by itself promotes face angle stability.

My method adds two more vital elements that will accomplish what Craig is recommending but is less extreme and does not require the golfer to change their body alignment to compensate for the face angle pointing left of target. First - triangle or sideways pressure in the arms, to provide structure to the arms and connect them to the torso. (not actual phyisical arms to chest contact "coninection" but simply a way of insuring that the arms and shoulder girdle move as a unit). Second is "wring the flannnel" pressure in the hands which will really "lock down" the radius and ulna rotation. This is a very subtle and gentle inward rotation of the hands/wrists/forearms toward each other, with equal pressure. Both of these arm pressure fundamentals are things I have also taught my students in the long game and short game shots, but have recently discovered the amazing value of the flannel pressure in putting.

Not only does it create 100% face angle stablity, it also activates your oblique abs to power the shoulder girdle rock, or your main power source in putting, and it also guarantees really good tempo, close to that perfect 1:1 ratio we all want in a pendulum stroke. Very tough to de-celerate or over-accelerate when you keep the flannel pressure all the way to the Finish.
The other thing I really like about this method is that the pre-activation of the two arm pressures is so totally opposite of the small muscle, twitchy, manipulative, hit impulse, steering impulse, hand-eye, "handsy/wristy" feel - the one that always leads to miss putts! - that it is very easy to learn it  and practice it into dominant habit. Your own feel sense awareness is so actue as to whether you are keeping the two pressures or not, that as soon as you lose the pressures, you will instantly feel it, and sometimes you can self-correct a bit in time to save the stroke. At a minimum, you will at least know with 100% certainty, why you missed the putt.

Jim, great post and very insightful.  Can't wait to get to the practice green and work on this.  Btw - it's been way too long since we worked together, yet posts like this bring back memories of our lessons in the past.  It's great to see your insights on golfwrx.  - M Clare

[Jim Waldron]

Thanks, Mark - glad you liked it. Let me know how this putting method works for you!