Keeping Head Still While Putting

[Ty_Webb]

I saw a post on twitter today showing video of Tiger putting and the person who created it had put a circle around Tiger's head to show how it doesn't move at all through his stroke. It was kind of eerie how still it stayed.

I go through periods of thinking I should work to be better at this. If I film myself putting, my head moves a little towards the target on the backswing and then moves back away again on the downswing. I think what's happening is I'm rocking my shoulders and keeping a point somewhere in between my shoulders still, then, because my head is attached to my shoulders (yes it is even if it doesn't seem like that sometimes), it is moving in tandem with my shoulders. If I try to keep my head still then it feels to me like I am manipulating moving that point between my shoulders away from the target on the backswing and towards it on the downswing to make my head stay still while that's happening.

Questions:

1. are my shoulders supposed to rock in the putting stroke? I can move it just with my arms, but then I need to do some other manipulation with my arms to make it work

2. should my head be staying still?

3. how can I disconnect the movement of my head from the movement of my shoulders? Is it just that this is what I should be doing and I need to figure it out? Or am I thinking about this wrong somehow?

Thanks!

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Ty_Webb said:

I saw a post on twitter today showing video of Tiger putting and the person who created it had put a circle around Tiger's head to show how it doesn't move at all through his stroke. It was kind of eerie how still it stayed.

Your eyes play an important role in putting, and keeping them pretty quiet is on the list of things that are somewhat important.

1 hour ago, Ty_Webb said:

I go through periods of thinking I should work to be better at this. If I film myself putting, my head moves a little towards the target on the backswing and then moves back away again on the downswing. I think what's happening is I'm rocking my shoulders and keeping a point somewhere in between my shoulders still, then, because my head is attached to my shoulders (yes it is even if it doesn't seem like that sometimes), it is moving in tandem with my shoulders. If I try to keep my head still then it feels to me like I am manipulating moving that point between my shoulders away from the target on the backswing and towards it on the downswing to make my head stay still while that's happening.

Geometrically and anatomically, it depends on what that specific point is. If it's forward of the actual point of rotation, it'll feel as you describe. If it's behind the point of rotation, it'll feel in sync with your head.

And if the point is not an actual fixed point, who knows what it will do or feel like, because it may be moving in an oval or a circle or something.

1 hour ago, Ty_Webb said:

Questions:

1. are my shoulders supposed to rock in the putting stroke? I can move it just with my arms, but then I need to do some other manipulation with my arms to make it work

2. should my head be staying still?

3. how can I disconnect the movement of my head from the movement of my shoulders? Is it just that this is what I should be doing and I need to figure it out? Or am I thinking about this wrong somehow?

1. There are several ways you can power the putting stroke.
   1. Wrists
   2. Elbows (my preferred method)
   3. Shoulders
   4. Torso (ribs)
2. Perhaps. There are Tour players whose head moves a bit during their putting stroke.
3. Good luck. If you think about it, your neck will have to move at exactly the same rate and in the opposite direction as your shoulders in order to remain "still." Or, to put it another way, you'll have to move ONLY the vertebrae in your back that move your shoulders and not the last one or two below your skull. So, like I said… good luck.