Unfortunately I have found a new way to pull and push a putt without breaking any of the rules of my putting stroke. The shoulders are not rising or falling in relation to the rib cage, the elbow angles and wrists are fixed, and the body is steady. What else could it be? Unfortunately the arms can still move so that the club face opens or closes. To see this, stand upright with the forearms horizontal and the upper arms vertical, with the elbows a few inches from the torso, and the hands together, with or without a club. Now rotate the arms and hands together, without changing the elbow or wrist angles or raising or lowering the shoulders. There is the tendency to do this with the shoulders coming along in the move, rising and falling, but it can be done without shoulder movement too. It is another way to open or close the club face. Too bad. This undesirable movement can usually be avoided but I would rather not have to think or worry about it, and suffer it unexpectedly, since it strikes usually at the worst moment.
I remember I had the same problem with my old stroke and the solution there can be used now. The elbows are moved in to the torso until they almost touch the torso, and if the putter length is right and the belly is the right size and the clothing is not in the way, the elbows slide just over the body surface, keeping them from doing the movement described above, and keeping the club face square. I'll try it tomorrow and even try it with my old stroke, so as to compare the old and new strokes.
So here I am the next day. I have tried these strokes and come to the conclusion that the close elbows works on Long's putting stroke, and you can do it on the typical upright putting stroke, but it is not so easy on the latter. When standing above the 90 degree torso-to-club shaft angle, that is, the typical stance, the elbows can be kept close to the body only if the forward elbow bends during the stroke. On the backswing it has to straighten so that the hands and club can follow the proper arc. Without straightening, the hands and club would have to come inside the proper arc, and virtually nobody putts that way because the putter would tend to swing out and cause heeled putts. So the elbow must be straightened a little and then rebent on the forward swing. This is hard to do right. If the elbow is not rebent enough on the forward swing, the putter scrapes the ground; rebent too much and the ball is hit thin or topped. It is especially a problem on long putts. But Ben Crenshaw seems to putt this way. That works for him, but he is more coordinated than I am. I'm looking for a more foolproof way to make the stroke. Most golfers don't keep their elbows close, do stand relatively upright, do raise and lower the shoulders in relation to the rib cage, and do take their chances. I'll have none of that. It is the worst of all combinations. So my next putts will be made with my new putting stroke with the addition of the elbows kept in close to the body. If it works properly it will then be added to the Long's Putting Stroke on the the Long Golf website.
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