Putter Boys

This game that we love is actually two completely separate endeavors, the first being golf and the second being putting.  I've always considered myself a decent putter, though far too inconsistent and streaky.  And while those that actually watch me putt have on occasion expressed concerns, who are you gonna believe, me or your lyin' eyes?

So I was intrigued when the Willow Ridge golf shop announced an opportunity to spend an hour with Dr. Robert Neal, who is the founder (along with Karen Harrison) of Golf BioDynamics (golfbiodynamics.com), 

Karen and Robb strapping me in.  Theresa was quite pleased that
the purple straps matched my shirt.

which provides biomechanical feedback on your golf swing or, in our case, putting stroke.  Rob and Karen have been doing this since 2000, and their base of operation is at Jim McLean's highly-regarded teaching facility at Doral (Ooops, excuse me, Trump Doral) in Miami.

The session begins with Rob and Karen strapping the victim subject into a full-body harness, and calibrating the computer to read body and putter movement.  The equipment is bulky, but a few practice putts is all that was needed to acclimate.  Perhaps the strangest part was the sensor attached to the shaft of the putter, but no worries with a silky smooth stroke such as mine.

With the client sufficiently anesthetized, the work begins.  Rob had me make ten putts to a cup some 10-12 feet away, measuring the slightest movements of your body.  The results are then shown on an oversized monitor and Rob identifies the salient issues to be addressed.  For me, his first concern was excess body movement, which was not a bolt from the blue for me.  Most of my issues in this game are the result of too many moving parts, and just that morning playing partner (and loyal Unplayable Lies reader) Phil Drogin had told me every part of my body was moving as I "calmly" made a 2-footer.  

Here's how Rob delicately phrased it in his report:

Improve the stability of your body movement throughout the stroke (i.e., no sway of the head and pelvis; no thrust forward and backward of the pelvis, reduce the amount of rotation of the pelvis).

Maybe it would be easier to simply list the body parts that weren't moving? 

To address this, Rob had me widen my stance and concentrate on being really stable over the ball, which is good advice for any of us.  Tish Certo, with whom I take lessons, was laughing at this point, as not a session goes by without her pushing me to to widen my stance on full shots, so this made complete sense to me.  As a humorous aside, a couple of days earlier there was a small outing at the club, and one of the players was putting on the practice green with his feet completely together, literally touching each other.  It looked incredibly awkward, and I could barely make a short stroke with that stance.  Funny how these things go, isn't it?

And, as the reader will no doubt guess, once I widened my stance I was rolling the ball beautifully and felt like I knew where it was going.  Whether that will still be there when I go out later today, who knows, as that's the crazy game we've gotten ourselves hooked on.

Next up, Rob focused me on the graph below, which as per the title is a top-down view of the putter path.

  

You'll notice that there's a consistent slant from top-right to bottom-left of these lines, which indicates that I was pulling the putter to the left.  Rob had indicated that my original aim was not the issue, it was the path of the putter that needed to be released more down the target line.  We spent a little time working on this, using some readily available putting aids that would prevent the putter from going to the left.

This diagnosis came as a surprise, and it will no doubt be a difficult fix.  Rob had some practical advice as to how to utilize the putter path aids, but we all tend to revert back to our bad habits out on the golf course.  But since everything affects everything else, I find myself wondering whether a wider and more stable base will make it easier to release the putter down the target line.  Or not...

Lastly, Rob found my backstroke to be too short, and urged me to lengthen it.  He placed a tee at the point he wanted my putter to reach for our short putts, and I didn't have much success there.  I've always been conscious of keep the back-swing short as a means of ensuring acceleration through contact, and old habits die hard.  Rob also encouraged me to use a metronome while practicing putting, so I suspect I'll work on lengthening the stroke in conjunction with that.

I was the last paying customer, but Rob and Karen were good enough to spend some time with Kent St. Charles, our young masher and my principal caddying client.  Kent had some issues I'll get into in a sec, but first let's have some fun with the data.  One of a plethora of graphs is of horizontal displacement, i.e., where on the club face the putter is making contact.  I've placed the corresponding graphs for Kent and myself below, can anyone identify which is the young professional's and which is the aged but still spunky amateur's?

 

Yup, it's all about consistency, and nothing like a scatter diagram to expose a pretender.  But a more stable stance and a corrected swing path should pinch those data points.  At least that's my theory and I'm sticking with it.

Kent, under the microscope with head pro John Reeves
in the background.

As good a player as Kent is, Rob identified two significant issues.  the first was really an alignment issue, as Kent was lining up approximately 3 degrees closed (to the left).  Kent uses a solid line on his ball, but notwithstanding that he has a bias to the left.  Rob suggested some good common sense ways of making sure the line is, in fact lined up, including looking at it from further back.  Once he gets the line on target he'll have no further issues, as he lines up the putter to the line without issue.

Secondly, Kent was actually adding loft to his putter through excessive lead wrist extension.  But that which he does is done with consistency, so if he can successfully make these subtle adjustments he should see quick results.  Tish and I were speculating that he probably adjusts his swing length for the added loft, so it would be logical if he blew a few putts long as he implements these suggestions.

That last point might be a short-term revenue opportunity for your humble blogger in our evening matches, but clearly I'll have to raise my game as well.  Or, in the alternative, we could simply make Kent play as a +3 instead of at scratch.

I found the process quite interesting, as Rob and Karen do quite the good job of explaining the process and results.  The feedback was focused and helpful, as like any good teachers they understand the limitations on our ability to absorb information.  But like any instructional process, the burden remains squarely on the player to implement the changes.  Damn that!