Should we play with TWO different putting strokes; one for the long putts and one for the short putts?

[Fearlessgolfer]

I have played golf over 25 years and have tried many different putting strokes. And from my personal experience and from observation, long putts should be more flowing, (armsy & wristy if needed be) and athletic and less mechanical vs. short putts should be shorter back and through with firmer wrists.

For the long putts, I like Ben Crenshaw, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Brad Faxon, and as Stan Utley teaches; open to close and an arc.

For the short putts, I like Steve Stricker,  Snedecker, Lucas Glover as Dave Stockton and/or Dave Pelz teaches.

Please share your thoughts. Thanks.

[logman]

I use an L2 putter by John Ambrose. It's a face forward, heavy as hell, long handled thing designed for pendulum putting. Its great for those longer and medium putts but anything under about 10 feet gets a different"push" style stroke. John recommends this style on his site.

[Golfingdad]

Seems like style for longer putts is largely irrelevant.  You accidentally push or pull it a bit off line, but so what, you're mainly just concentrating on speed at that point.  When it's a long enough putt, I really am not able to keep any kind of 'proper' form.  I just whack it.

For shorter putts, on the other hand, I'm all about trying to have a nice smooth stroke and good form.

So, yeah, in my case, I guess you could say there are two different style strokes for long and short putts.

[logman]

Don't mean to crap on about the L2 but Johns putting technique is IMHO revolutionary. The motion of putting long or short putts is exactly the same. No hitting, no second guessing, it's a great way to putt. Check it out

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by logman

Its great for those longer and medium putts but anything under about 10 feet gets a different"push" style stroke. John recommends this style on his site.

Originally Posted by logman

Don't mean to crap on about the L2 but Johns putting technique is IMHO revolutionary. The motion of putting long or short putts is exactly the same. No hitting, no second guessing, it's a great way to putt. Check it out

Huh???  You not make the sense. ;)

I looked at his website ... it definitely fascinating.  However, there is no way I could feel comfortable putting like that in the first place, and it sure seems like his system is kind of useless with the anchoring ban.  (You can't exactly promote 'pure pendulum' without an anchored pivot point)

[logman]

Yeah it's a leap of faith, but if you concentrate on the task......ie. rolling the ball towards the hole it's just another way to do it. Just on the anchoring issue, John says he's worked out a legal way to use the anchor hand. So hopefully his style will continue into the future. For me, I don't play competitive golf so I'll just keep using the L2 method regardless. I've never been a putting practice sort of guy but it's not unusual for me to do 2 hours.......just putting. The L2 system is great fun, the way decisions are compartmentalized is cool as!

Gdaddy.......sorry.....bout.....my.....retarded.....posts....

[dak4n6]

Short answer - No. Just rock the shoulders back and through for all putts, only difference is length of stroke and speed through the ball.

[Fearlessgolfer]

Originally Posted by dak4n6

Short answer - No. Just rock the shoulders back and through for all putts, only difference is length of stroke and speed through the ball.

I partly agree that we should all use constant acceleration profile in our putting aka pendulum like stroke regardless whether we use shoulders, obliques and or hands/arms. However, when we putt short/medium down hill putts, most likely we take it back shorter and longer on the follower through vs. up hill putts are opposite when measured, imho.

In addition, on longer putts when swung/putt on a pendulum like method, there are shorter length follow through compared to backswing length due to the nature of energy transfer into the ball. Where as on shorter putts, it might be more effective going same length follow through as backswing which forces you to accelerate bit more than pendulum like.

[dak4n6]

Originally Posted by Fearlessgolfer

Quote:

Originally Posted by dak4n6

Short answer - No. Just rock the shoulders back and through for all putts, only difference is length of stroke and speed through the ball.

I partly agree that we should all use constant acceleration profile in our putting aka pendulum like stroke regardless whether we use shoulders, obliques and or hands/arms. However, when we putt short/medium down hill putts, most likely we take it back shorter and longer on the follower through vs. up hill putts are opposite when measured, imho.

In addition, on longer putts when swung/putt on a pendulum like method, there are shorter length follow through compared to backswing length due to the nature of energy transfer into the ball. Where as on shorter putts, it might be more effective going same length follow through as backswing which forces you to accelerate bit more than pendulum like.

Not disagreeing, but this would be waaay too much thinking for me. I just use 2 or 3 practice strokes to feel how hard to hit the ball, then step up and go. I tell my son: "Read, speed, commit"

[Fearlessgolfer]

Originally Posted by dak4n6

Not disagreeing, but this would be waaay too much thinking for me. I just use 2 or 3 practice strokes to feel how hard to hit the ball, then step up and go. I tell my son: "Read, speed, commit"

Yup, me too when playing. I use "look and shoot" once I go through my preliminaries. :)

[Dave2512]

Same method for whatever distance for me. The only thing I attempt to vary is the length of the stroke.