CHANGE IN PUTTING

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 124, 27 May 1937, Page 25

CHANGE IN PUTTING

c. a: whitcombe's advice Some advice that will bear pondering, though it need not change the stance or putting style of the successful putter, is contained an an article by C. A. Whitcombe in "Golfing." Inspiration is all very well, he says, but what the seasoned player will seek is a fool-proof method of putting. One thing he recommends is to place all the weigh* of the body on the left leg, which tends-to prevent sway. This, he contends, makes it easier to rit the ball upwards. By this, he means bringing the club face into contact with the ball just after it has reached the bottom of its,swing,... This is just the reverse of the properly-playediron shot, and is another version of the idea popular with American golfers from the tee, thai more roll is got that way. If there is the slightest tendency to hit down on the ball, as with the iron shot, 'against the wind, he maintains that youare skidding yaur putt instead of rolling it. Passing over'the point that one method may be better than the other according to whether the greens are fast or slow, and that with very fast greens, such as possibly they do not get inpEngland, it is difficult to hit your putt lightly enough without overrunning the hole, there is probably a great deal to be said for hitting; the putt on the "upgrade" from the point of true running. ■••■.•:. Formerly the golfer used to be told to swing his'putter in an arc, as he does his other clubs. Whitcombe advocates, the method of putting brought in by Walter Hagen and the Americans in which the head of the putter is kept moving in a, straight line with the blade at right angles to ths line throughout the stroke. "I would liketo make it, clear that this is -an entirely different method.; from the old-fashioned plan in which' the nutter was swung from : the wrists,". he says. "If you aUowythei putter to swing, like a penduliim it cannot possibly travel in'a'^straight line, .because the wrists, Which are the. point of suspension, are not vertically over the ball. -Instead you get the head of the club travelling in something of an arc, with ..the toe turning slightly, outwards as it goes back. No doubt that is all right if.you can swing smoothly enough to bring ,the club forward, in exactly, the same way as you took it ■back, but with- the ;modern method it is much leSsI'easy to. go wrong. ■ • ■

In the modern method the' left wrist is completely in charge of the backswing; the head of the club being i shoved back in a straight line, and kept as close to the ground as. possible, with the face at right angles to the line of the putt all the way., In the downswing Hhe right'hanjd jakes'charge, to: bring 'the'Jciubhiadfclrwatd: wlthr.'theij blade still, at right angles to-the}, line, The blade does n'ptjturn at. any jstage" of. the swing,'., ■" ; ; '.- ''• ,' Ybu'Mll find it' very .'difficult, how-, ever, to keep the':clubhead moving-in a straight line if you grip the sh'a*.' of the putter in the same way as you do your other clubs. . . ,

The secret of straight-line putting is to get the left hand well round underneath the shaft. Instead of having the back of the hand on top of the shaft, none of the knuckles should be showing at all. Of "course," with the left hand in this position you ; no longer have the two hands "acting together." It would now be mqre true to say'that, they are acting against :6ne another', the left hand taking charge in,shaving the club back, the right in'bringing it forward. But if you can practise doing this until it. becomes absolutely mechanical, you will-find that the method is pretty nearly foolproof. There is practically no room to go wrong, for the blade of the club is never off the line.