FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 |
PutterZone.com
interviews Putting Arc's V.J Trolio |
Friday, June 15, 2007
Insider Interview: Putting
Arc's V.J. Trolio
In honor of the U.S. Open, we take a closer
look today at the modern tour putting stroke
with V.J. Trolio, who is a teaching professional,
co-inventor of the Putting Arc and a leading
voice in the field of proper putting stroke
mechanics. V.J. is based at Old Waverly Golf
Club in Mississippi, which is one of Golf Digest’s
Top 100 Courses in the United States. The Putting
Arc is a training aid designed to instill the
feel of the optimal arc-type stroke. According
to the company, “The modern putting stroke
of the successful touring pro is the inside-to-inside
or arc-type stroke. This is the stroke used
by 95 percent of successful touring pros, and
taught by the top putting instructors in the
country. However, 95 percent of amateurs still
try to putt straight back and straight through.”
The Putting Arc is essentially a static piece
of plastic or wood (depending on the model)
that is strategically shaped to guide your putter
along the preferred arc. You simply place it
on the ground and set up with the heel of your
putter against the center of the arc. You then
conduct your stroke while keeping the heel flush
with the arc and the putter face in line with
the evenly spaced alignment marks. PutterZone.com
recently caught up with V.J. to learn more about
the origins and science behind the Putting Arc
and the arc-type stroke. Following is our exclusive
interview:
The Putting Arc is essentially a solution
to the problem of an imperfect putting stroke.
Can you describe why this problem afflicts so
many golfers—and how you ended up developing
a device that could solve it?
The Putting Arc was created out of necessity
by one teaching professional and two engineers
to accomplish two things: to get the right information
in the hands of players, and to offer a device
that enables a player to build a mechanically
sound stroke, thus creating proper feel through
proper mechanics.
The reason many amateurs have such poor strokes
is that they often lack the knowledge of what
constitutes a good stroke. Secondly, they don't
practice the mechanics of a good stroke, so
their feel is created from trying to get the
ball in the hole. What the Putting Arc does
is visually show the arc of the stroke and the
proper clubface alignment as the stroke is underway.
For years, the putting stroke was taught by
“feeling" with no real measurements.
Prior to the era of Dave Pelz (editor’s
note: Dave Pelz is an influential short game
instructor), many of the game’s greats
established the concept of a putter stroke that
moves inside to inside, just like the golf swing.
With Pelz leading the research of the short
game during the 1980s, the concept of the straight
back and through putting stroke took hold. Along
the way, short game instructors like Mike Shannon,
Scotty Cameron, and Todd Sones were doing their
research as well. They found that, in fact,
the putting stroke moved in an arc. I had encounters
with Pelz disciples and felt that it was very
incorrect for the putter to move straight back
and through. As a youngster I was a good putter
and my stroke never felt the way they taught
it. I have taken two putting lessons in my life,
and both were from Mike Shannon. Mike was the
first person to tell me that “the putting
stroke curves." After practicing his concepts,
I called him up and asked, "How big is
the curve?" He didn’t have an answer
for me then.
So with the help of laser and video research,
and the engineering minds of Dave and Joey Hamilton,
the ellipse or arc of The Putting Arc was born.
Ours was the first arc-type device to hit the
greens and we feel very good about the explosion
of "arc-type stroke" information that
our product initiated.
What kind of feedback have you received
on The Putting Arc from professional golfers?
The list of touring professionals who use the
Putting Arc is astounding. In fact, the better
players are our main customers. The reason is
because they understand how important good putting
is to good scores. The majority of tour players
tell us they like the product because it makes
their strokes feel the way their strokes feel
when they are making putts. So if their stroke
gets off a little, they can get their feel back
by using the Putting Arc for a half hour or
so.
Can you explain why you call the arc-type
stroke “the perfect putting stroke?”
The arc-type stroke is the perfect stroke because
the thoracic area of the spine (editor’s
note: the area of the spine to which your ribs
are attached) is neither vertical nor horizontal
at setup. When the shoulders move, the Triassic
area of the spine moves. So the plane of motion
runs from the thoracic spinal area to the sweet
spot of the putter. This is a very precise situation
and the variables involved grow exponentially
as soon as any other body part moves. So the
arc-type stroke is also considered the perfect
stroke because it has the fewest moving parts.
The less parts that move under pressure, the
better off we all are. It’s all really
very simple when you look at the setup of the
best players.
Do shaft placement (center shafted
or heel shafted), putter balance (face balanced
or toe hang) and/or moment of inertia impact
the pursuit of an ideal arcing stroke?
The center-shafted putter versus the heel-shafted
putter will not affect the arcing stroke. Now,
every person has tendencies, and if the tendency
is to leave the face open throughout the forward
stroke, a heel-shafted putter with toe hang
will enable them to feel the face staying square
to the arc. The low point of the putting stroke
is the spine, so the offset the putter has will
change the hands position at address, the shaft
angle at address, and the amount of loft used.
However the basic geometry of a great putting
stroke will utilize a plane angle that begins
with the sweet spot of the putter and runs through
the thoracic region of the spine. The sweet
spot then rides that plane back and through
with the face staying square to the projection
of that plane on the ground and—bingo!—we
have one less problem to deal with on the putting
green.
Can you please specify a few basic
setup tips that will help golfers make the most
out of practicing with the Putting Arc?
The basic setup tips are to get bent over comfortably,
with the eyes hanging over or just inside the
line. From there, confirm that the back of the
ball is even with, or up to a ball in front
of, the low point of your putting stroke. Adjust
your posture until your stroke automatically
follows the arc, and the clubface always lines
up with the lines on the Putting Arc. From there,
wear out your Putting Arc and have fun making
more putts.
Thank you V.J.! For more information, visit
the Putting
Arc web site and Trolio
Golf web site.
www.PutterZone.com
Toll
free: 1-800-898-0701
