David Lee's "Putting on the Arc"

[cloran]

Anyone have a clue about what the heck he is talking about?

I've tried an open stance-push stroke in the past with decent results, but I don't have a clue as to what he is trying to say here:

[cloran]

Ok, I'm going to take one for the team. I just ordered the video and I'll report back at a later date with my review.

Can I count this under "continuing education" on my tax return?

[cloran]

Here's a good story for you...

On David's website it gives you a number to call if you want to pay by credit card for the dvd. So I did just that.

"Cricket" answers the phone (I'm going to assume she is David's wife). I start asking about purchasing the dvd and she says: "I don't believe we have anymore, but David is standing right here if you'd like to talk to him."

Sure!

I spoke to David Lee for about 15 minutes regarding putting. He said if I call back in 2 or 3 weeks he'll be able to burn me a copy of his dvd...

He believes that the greatest putters used a little counterfall with their body and hit the ball with their body mass, not their hands/arms. He leaves his hands free to focus 100% on feel. He said the move is very subtle, but if you know what to look for you can see this action in the "old" Tiger, Crenshaw, etc.

I asked specifically about his open stance in the video. He says that it allows him to freely move his mass through impact and counterfall without any restrictions. Setting up square, he feels, is too restrictive for most players (apparently not for the previously mentioned "best putters ever" however... just my view).

On a side note, he builds/sells his own putters. He said he has a heel shafted/ face balanced putter in the works that allows you to "put on the arc" (still not sure if he means a "gate" stroke or something else) but without the need to excessively close/open the face. This is something I found on my own actually. I use a face balanced putter, but I make no attempt to go SBST. The face balanced aspect simplifies the closing of the putter face for me.

Lastly... this is where things got funky, lol. He said another putter he is working on will have varried lofts across the face. Higher loft towards the heel, lower loft towards the toe. This will allow a player to close the face down when they are putting with the ball below their feet but still hit the ball with the correct amount of loft (when struck towards the heel)... and vice versa.

Interesting idea.

I will follow up with him in a few weeks and order a copy of the dvd. Cricket and David were both super nice and I am always amazed at just how accessible people are in the golfing world... I don't get that kind of access in my day job so it's nice to actually speak "to the man" when you want to.

[kamandi]

Wow, they seem to be very accommodating. That's pretty good.

I think you're right, the arc is probably the gate type swing, which he considers superior to sbst, probably in the same way some proponents of flatter golf swings say their swing is superior to more vertical swings.

The arc should feel more connected than the sbst, but it isn't superior ... just a matter of preference.

The way he talks about using the whole body with an arc swing, versus primarily arms in a sbst swing suggests he believes in an athletic putting swing, like Utley does, as opposed to trying to freeze everything. That would probably explain why he favors an open stance to get your body out of the way immediately, like with pitching/chipping. In contrast, early on, didn't Jack used to putt with his knees pointing towards each other which would probably prevent his hips from opening up during putting?

On the topic of hands, I think the best putters have full confidence in their hands. Didn't Trevino even use some english on his putts? I hope he isn't trying to limit the hands participation the way Haney did with Tiger's golf swing. (off-topic - Tiger had confidence in his hands ... Haney should not have made him use a grip that would lessen their influence on his swing).

It should prove interesting, but if you do decide to order it, I'm thinking the material there might be something you already know.