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 Get
ready to create a pure pendulum action
By its very nature, when you set up to a putt with
a long handle you are getting ready to make a near-perfect pendulum
stroke, the shaft of the putter fairly vertical as you set the
face squarely behind the ball. Personally, I find that I putt
best when I settle most of my weight on my left side, with a sense
of easing my whole body in the direction of the target, which
also gets my hands ahead of the ball. As for the grip itself,
I wrap my left hand around the butt-end, the knuckles facing forward.
The key to the right hand is to make sure that the forefingers
sit behind the shaft. As I will explain in just a moment, the
right hand really holds the key to setting your stroke in motion.
 Grip
and ball position are keys to success
One of the things that I find with guys who
use the long-handled putter is they don't get their hands far
enough forward at the set-up. This is something you have to be
aware of; set up with your hands too far behind the ball (as illustrated
left), and you will struggle to get the ball rolling properly
off the face at impact. I have always been a firm advocate that
to have your hands ahead of the putter is key to solid and consistent
striking with the long putter, especially on slower greens. With
the hands comfortably placed, I feel that the inside of the right
thumb takes the club back to start the stroke, while the forefingers
gently accelerate the putter on the way through.
 Feel
it in your fingers...and roll the ball on line
Having the hands work independently of one another
- or suffering some sort of breakdown in the wrists just when
you least need it - are common problems in putting: problems that
the long putter can solve very quickly if you adhere to a few
basic pointers.
The first of these is that the hands are placed softly on the
club. While the left hand really does very little other than sit
quietly on the butt of the club, stabilising the shaft, it is
vital that it is relaxed, not vice-like. With the fingers extended
as you see here, the right hand then provides you with a terrific
'feel' for the face. A gentle pressure on the inside of the right
thumb is all you need to ease the putter back, the forefingers
guiding the putter down the line towards the hole. The pressure
in the hands doesn't increase during the stroke-the feel is consistent
throughout.
Slight downward strike gets the ball
rolling on line
Another of my key beliefs is that the only way to get
a putt truly rolling property is to have your hands slightly in
front of the ball at the set-up, and that in the stroke itself
you then aim to hit slightly down on the ball as you release the
putter through impact. That may well go against the grain of many
putting articles, but if you watch the world's best putters (even
with the short stick) you find that they do tend to hit ever so
slightly down on it. Jose Maria Olazabal is a great example of
this. What you have to remember is that a putter is designed with
a certain amount of loft on the face.  Try
to hit 'up' on the ball and you only add to that loft, which causes
inaccuracy.
SWING THOUGHT 'Soft' and smooth
Once you are feeling comfortable at the set-up, developing
a stroke that repeats is all about making sure that your body
stays still through the entire motion; the hands, the arms and
the shoulders work together to give you a very simple and effective
pendulum action that sees the head of the putter stay low to the
ground as it swings back and forth on a consistent path.
Maintaining a soft grip pressure in both hands (particularly the
right hand) is another absolute 'must'. The original idea behind
the long putter was to take the pressure out of the hands, and
for me the key to a good putting day is to sense the flow of the
stroke in the palm of the right hand- you do literally pour the
ball into the middle of the cup.
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"I
first used a long putter back in 1989 in the British Masters at
Woburn. 
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