Hands to pivot in putting, who knew?

[O.B.Left]

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.