Pop on your putt

[Sheep]

In slow mo it seems like most pros start the back leg push off before the arm swing. It's a kind of lag that helps the arm feel more weightless because it's already being carried by the body's momentum before the arm tries to lift itself without that help.

Uhhm. yeah...
Pretty normal physics stuff there with body mechanics.

Benji nailed the explanation though.

 

[disc-golf-neil]

If we think about inertia again, this might start to seem obvious.

For maximum easy power, you'd want to use the legs to get the whole system moving (including the shoulder and arm) and only then, when you've stopped accelerating with the legs, add a bit more with the arm.

Imagine you're sitting in a Ferrari trying to throw a ball. If you're traveling at a steady 60mph, and throwing at 30mph, the ball will come out at 90mph. Nice and simple. But if you're accelerating hard from 40 to 80mph, so that you feel like you're being thrown back into the seat, and you throw the ball just as you hit 60mph, the same muscular effort as before is not going to add +30mph. You'll need to overcome the inertia that your arm is experiencing, which will cost you speed. The ball won't come out at 90mph.

So it makes sense, in putting, to use the legs to get moving and then, while moving (but no longer accelerating), use the arm.

Of course, there's lots of different styles and some people don't use the legs at all. But accelerating with the legs at the same time as the arm is generally pretty inefficient - you want that lag.

Yeah, I think maybe that cue is just a good enough starting point of trying to do it at the same time and then people who keep optimizing develop that delay by feel / intuition despite still thinking about that cue as accurate.

In slow motion it's actually kind of surprising how much motion you see in the lower body before the arm moves in many cases. As I'm watching I'm like...when is the arm gonna move.. lol. I've experimented with this for a while now and whenever my putt starts not feeling good it's a cue I keep returning to where I press up from the legs first and the arm just floats up and I get clean releases again.

 

[Sheep]

*sigh*

All the information in the world at peoples fingertips and..

Cart still gets put before the horse.

 

[BenjiHeywood]

From a brief watch of the relevant segment, i think he's suggesting something quite different. He's talking about maintaining balance, so as the arm goes out to throw, the back leg goes back as a counterweight. You can see he's pretty stationary on that front foot - rather than trying to gain power, i think he's just trying to keep his weight in exactly the same place through the putting motion.

I can see the logic of that too, inside the circle. But it's not going to gain him extra power, obviously.

 

[timothy42b]

From a brief watch of the relevant segment, i think he's suggesting something quite different. He's talking about maintaining balance, so as the arm goes out to throw, the back leg goes back as a counterweight. You can see he's pretty stationary on that front foot - rather than trying to gain power, i think he's just trying to keep his weight in exactly the same place through the putting motion.

Another possibility is that whatever power comes from the leg motion is glute dominant rather than quad. The motion is not a small range of motion split squat, it's a single leg dead lift from a hang. In weightlifting/crossfit terminology. I say that because the weightbearing leg in front doesn't straighten much, but the angle between torso and front leg changes.

 

[disc-golf-neil]

32:28 is a nice example of the delay between the back leg press and arm lift

 

[Kennets]

32:28 is a nice example of the delay between the back leg press and arm lift

Not to sound like an idiot, but..

That's literally one of the first thing I noticed when I began to practice my putt and I've done it ever since. I'm not sure if my background with badminton all my life came in handy, but I find it like the most natural thing in the world (not that I drain my putts anyway, but I can putt from pretty far out).

I thought it were "common knowledge" for most people, if not, I'm glad you put it "out there"

I've hear and read different opinions on it, but each to their own. Putting strokes are wildly different from person to person

 

[disc-golf-neil]

Not to sound like an idiot, but..

That's literally one of the first thing I noticed when I began to practice my putt and I've done it ever since. I'm not sure if my background with badminton all my life came in handy, but I find it like the most natural thing in the world (not that I drain my putts anyway, but I can putt from pretty far out).

I thought it were "common knowledge" for most people, if not, I'm glad you put it "out there"

I've hear and read different opinions on it, but each to their own. Putting strokes are wildly different from person to person

I think it's easy for a lot of people to try to do them at the same time because it's easy to think "go" and to start both instead of not jump the gun with the arm and let the sequence unfold.

Also interesting is to notice the difference in vertical vs horizontal motion from the back leg press. With Ben's style of putting I think more vertical motion and the lag between the back leg press and arm are more beneficial for getting that easy pop for the initial loft. Whereas with a spin putt style I don't think the delay is as helpful and the back leg seems to press the body more horizontally forward instead of vertically from what I've seen and felt myself.