Putting: Elbow impacts and looped strokes

I was on the putting green this morning and noticed a few things.   I have been trying to take the club straight back and I wish it would do that automatically, but it just doesn't always happen, so today I decided to let the head go whatever way it wants. The result was better putts. That makes sense. Concentrating on the direction of the takeaway does something bad to the stroke. It was more important to get the club speed right and the one piece swing intact. So the idea now is to keep the practice of the takeaway, and probably many other aspects, as a special exercise, and not worry about it during putting that is supposed to get the ball in the hole. Concerning the takeaway problem, I am proposing that it has mostly to do with the natural plumbed position of the arms and putter.  The putter and arms "want" to hang further from the body, in accordance with the laws of gravity, as I discovered by relaxing the muscles that hold them in the address position.  The arms and club swing outward if I let them.  Without a club in the hands the arms swing out even further!  What this means is that I must have muscle tensions holding both arms at a certain distance from the body.  The problem is especially evident when the arm-putter system goes from putter sitting on the ground to putter held off the ground at the beginning of the stroke. When the putter is resting on the ground, it's not holding my arms down much, so the muscles must do the job on their own. When I pick up the club it pulls the arms down, which means that I have to use less force to hold down my arms. In the transition from the first state to the second state, I have to control the easing of tension on the muscles that hold the arms down. Smoothly decreasing the muscle tension is I believe more difficult than smoothly increasing the muscle tension. Anyway, the result is that I ease the tension too much and the club swings outward instead of going straight back on the backstroke. Solution: Pick the club off the ground for a short moment before starting the backswing, thus allowing the muscles time to adjust to a static position with the full weight of the club held in the hands. Then start the backswing.

I have been trying to use my Long's Putting Stroke with the elbows in close, but have had some problems with it. The right elbow is the problem. It is not naturally close like the left. When it slides on the torso during the stroke it seems like a bumpy ride, and around the time of impact it seems to run into the belly. Maybe it even causes me to pull a putt.   I can't remember how exactly but it came to pass that I found a way to solve this problem.  I did it by adding about an inch to my putter's length, which moved my arms up and moved the right elbow out of contact with the torso. Now the forearm instead of the elbow brushes the belly. I don't yet understand the geometry but the sliding is smoother and without a clash with the belly that would close the clubface. Problem solved.