Push putters, what do you do with your legs?

[hewittdallas]

Okay, so I moved into the push putting camp quite a while back, but have really struggled to find consistency in my form. It seems like every week I change something and end up starting all over. I think I have figured out the upper body portion of the putt, but am still trying to decide exactly what I should be doing with my legs. The two videos that have been most helpful for me are the Feldberg putting clinic and the Feldberg/Todd clinic.

From what I can tell, Feldberg seems to use more of a rocking motion to transfer the energy from his back leg to front leg to hit. Cam Todd seems to use more of a pop from both legs in an athletic position to create the hit. I seem to be leaning toward Cam Todd's popping method more as of late because I never found as much consistency in the motion Feldberg teaches.

Has anyone else experienced a similar struggle in figuring out the feet? Any advice that helped you push through (pun intended)?

 

[jtbingster]

I use a sort of combination of the two, I guess. I go down, bending both knees, and then push up from both knees but push from the back one a little earlier so that I get the kind of rocking motion but still get the pop.

If that makes any sense.

 

[hewittdallas]

I use a sort of combination of the two, I guess. I go down, bending both knees, and then push up from both knees but push from the back one a little earlier so that I get the kind of rocking motion but still get the pop.

If that makes any sense.

I think you are describing the Cam Todd style. Naturally, we have to push a bit from the back leg first to generate the forward motion. Feldberg starts in the athletic position (knees bent), then rocks back until the front leg is straight, and then drives forward into the hit. There is also a good article on DGR that summarizes his style, or very close to it.

For whatever reason, I just don't like this "rocking" motion. I've been trying it for a few months and just cannot get enough consistency with it.

 

[DiscJunkie]

I have struggled with the same thing.
Push Putting requires a lot of co-ordination between your lower body and shoulders and arms. I don't always get it right.
My best solution is a very consistent pre-shot routine that accentuates the putting motion. This helps get all my parts and pieces working together before i actually putt.
My latest solution is straddle-putting, which is less lower-body dependent. At least inside the circle.

 

[Apoth]

I use more of the Feldberg "rock style." From up close, its just a transfer of weight from back to forward. As I go further out, it becomes more explosive, resulting in me coming up on one leg.

 

[JTacoma03]

I kinda waffle between these myself. I can execute both, but I'm probably more consistent with a shorter "spring" style similar to the Cam Todd method you're describing.

...however either way it's pretty subtle, instead of thinking about rocking back or popping up, I try to just think about starting the energy in my legs and moving it up to my hand almost like shooting a basketball.

 

[cfair]

The same thing we all actually do. No matter how you putt we all use a process of Kinetic Linking (knowingly or unknowingly used by anyone in all physical activities).

One of the best descriptions of it is this


from bboys to football players, golfers to disc golfers we all use this process to increase and improve whatever physical activity we may be doing and you can break down a whole lot of stuff doing it.

So let me start over a little. Cam Todd and Feldberg, in their video, talk about using as little movement as possible. If you notice the closer a person is to the basket the less movement (kinetic linking) is needed to get it there. As you get further and further away you add energy in varying degrees in varying ways.

(note: they seem to use these in terms of order from what I can tell of their biometrics)

At the end of my putt I've found myself much in the same position as cam todd (if you watch the video with him and feldberg, check his wrist, elbow, body angle, and foot fartherst from the basket) but I start and use a totally different power area to get more distance.

Cam looks for as little movement as possible so he tries to use his knees, hips, torso, and elbow very little. He compensates by generating a lot of energy from his ankles, shoulder, and wrist. The farther he gets from the basket though, the more he uses his knees and elbow and he uses hip movement the least.

VS Feldberg who focuses on a lot of wrist, hip and knee movement. Feldberg really likes to keep his arm as straight as possible so he'll give more ankle and shoulder movement before elbow.

Then Climo who likes a lot of ankle, knee, hip, and wrist. The last followed by shoulder and elbow.

However... all these elements are needed to make longer putts. Its just a matter of what order do they fall in to dictate which is most dominant.