A fairly successful user of the long-putter described what he tries to do with his long putter – he simply rocks his shoulders.
The MGS response to that: most golfers feel that when they rock their shoulders, it is a movement around the sternum. However, this move was surely (as many in golf are) described by some famous teacher’s or player’s ‘feel’ on the subject, it certainly is not scientific, for 2 reasons:
1. There is no rod going through the sternum from front to back around which the shoulders can ‘rock’. The movement is actually a lateral flexion, and can vary each time, depending on which parts of the spine the golfer ‘rocks’ in any one particular swing – cervical, thoracic, lumbar, even sacral (- that is, starting from the neck and going down towards the base of the spine).
As the minimalist swing is all about giving every swing a maximum margin within which to err, by making minimum movements, rocking the shoulders is a big no-no – for ANY putter!
2. So, with the lead hand touching the chest (to stabilize the long-putter against), why have an axis (point) of rotation different from that hand itself?
A much simpler and more reliable movement is one where the trail (right, usually) arm simply takes the club back to the required minimal distance (no more and certainly no less) and then allows the follow-through to happen!
Watch out for the trail arm straightening out through impact. The trail elbow must retain the same angle it was set-up at, during the follow-through.
