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In your putting stroke...which moves first?

dhartmann34

dhartmann34

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I've been a pretty good putter for as long as I can remember. Most of it is probably because that's all I could do all winter long (you know the 9 foot foam fake grass putting greens up a slight incline) when I was a kid since the snow outside prevented most full swing stuff. Last January I starting taking lessons at GolfTec.... a 15 lesson thing that didn't help me much looking back. A couple of times my instructor looked at my putting stroke and wanted me to focus on turning my shoulders back and forth instead of taking it away with my hands/arms as I had always done previously. My putting was pretty sub par all of 2014 and just recently have I gone back to trying to get my old putting stroke back.

My question to you is what moves first and drives your putting stroke? Your shoulders? Or your hands/arms? And do you think it matters for a putting stroke?
 
Always the shoulders/upper arms for me. On the good putts, they are really the only thing that move
 
My core/shoulders/big-muscles.
 
I've tried that whole "forward press to start your putting stroke" thing and it just doesnt work for me
 
I am a SeeMore user, neutral everything hands and stance. I "feel" like I start my stroke with my left shoulder. My hands are passive but I don't feel like they are uninvolved. I think this is due in large part to the grip I use which keeps the putter in the fingers. Keeping the lowerbody quiet is a big focus of my indoor practice routine.

I used to be a forward press as a trigger person, then I went and a mission to eliminate variables and stumbled upon SeeMore and THP for that matter. SeeMore just made some much sense to me, with the forward press there is no guarantee of setting up in the same position each time. This impacts the loft of the putter, lie so on and so forth. It works for many people, I just wanted to find something different.
 
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Slight forward press for me is the trigger. Been that way for 40+ years.
 
For me my first move is a slight forward press, that's what 'starts' my stroke. Then everything from there is a rocking of my shoulders.
 
dhartmann34 said:
I've been a pretty good putter for as long as I can remember. Most of it is probably because that's all I could do all winter long (you know the 9 foot foam fake grass putting greens up a slight incline) when I was a kid since the snow outside prevented most full swing stuff. Last January I starting taking lessons at GolfTec.... a 15 lesson thing that didn't help me much looking back. A couple of times my instructor looked at my putting stroke and wanted me to focus on turning my shoulders back and forth instead of taking it away with my hands/arms as I had always done previously. My putting was pretty sub par all of 2014 and just recently have I gone back to trying to get my old putting stroke back.

My question to you is what moves first and drives your putting stroke? Your shoulders? Or your hands/arms? And do you think it matters for a putting stroke?
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I try to make sure that my hands/arms never move, that I swing only at the shoulders.
 
My shoulders control the stroke, and they should be the only part moving. My arms and hands shouldn't move in relation to my shoulders; the "V" between my arms and shoulders should always remain intact.

When I really miss a putt, i.e. when it really goes off the line, I can pretty much always feel it in my stroke, most of the times my hands tried to "help" to get the ball moving. I've installed a jumbo grip on my putter two weeks ago, that should eliminate it.
 
I try to feel like my obliques and upper back start my stroke and the arms and hands stay dead. In reality its my shoulders that move first.
 
Shoulders rock is what I try to feel. No hands/wrists.
 
In my experience the hole seems to always move first but only right after I'm done looking at it.:D
 
I'd like to say my hands because I press a little but I'd suspect if I was on film it would be my head, hence the reason I'm a mediocre putter at best.
 
Shoulders.


If you ask Orange Hog. It's my backside because I do a little shimmy before every stroke.
 
Shoulders swing like a pendulum do. Quiet hands and arms. Works some of the time.
 
I used to be very unsure about this. Shoulders, hands (press), all kinds of methods out there. Recently in Hubbard, Chris told me to try focus on moving the sternum. It's helping me sync my arms and shoulders and swinging a nice pendulum stroke
 
Shoulders - left shoulder leads the stroke hand stay in place in relation to shoulders(V)
 
My thumbs actually. I learned from my SPI instructor that I needed a trigger. So I leaned to move my thumbs to initiate the stroke. Then it's all big muscles,
 
The shoulders are my first move I guess. I am trying to move everything as one piece. (shoulders, arms, hands, putter)
I used to be a forward press guy, but that led me to taking the club back in more of an upward motion too much.
 
I try not to think about it. Have worked towards being less mechanical over the last 2 years and be a more natural putter. Has made a huge difference for me. Call it the ATLgolfer ....ur....Dave Stockton method, where the goal is to make putting an athletic move.
 
The arms and shoulders
 
I don't think about it I just putt
 
If it is a good stroke the left shoulder is what I want to feel move slightly downward. Of course with that the right shoulder moves slightly up.
 
I don't know never really noticed anything but that my best putts have no thing moving but my arms
 
Thinking about this kind of stuff is what made my putting go down the tubes.

I used to be an instinctive putter & putted great with an occasional pull. To fix the rare pull, I started trying to "putt with the big muscles" & "keep the v thru the stroke" & its made me a mental case.
 
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