Having just watched The U.S. Open, I want to share some observations on the putting stroke. I hear announcers constantly talk about the stroke and what should happen. They reference keeping the putter low, releasing the putter and acceleration, to name a few things. In my opinion, releasing the putter and acceleration should happen naturally. If you follow the advice about keeping the putter low, you may develop the yips or already have them. Here is why:
You simply must understand the design of the golf club, or in this case the putter. It is essentially a weight on a stick, and the shaft goes into the head at an angle, usually around 70 degrees. What that means is that it is supposed to travel on an arc, and it should be allowed to come out of the ground. The head of the putter will travel up on the backswing, and come down into the ball before eventually going back 
up.
If you keep the putter low on the backswing, you are putting downward pressure on the club. The bottom of the arc moves inches behind the ball. At this point, you have two choices; you can let it swing and hit the ground behind the ball, or you can accelerate the putter with the right hand and arm to try and get the bottom back to the ball. The finish will be severely high.
If you continue to rely on your right side to bail you out, a motor pattern gets established between your brain and the firing of the right hand. It may take years, but eventually the right hand is ready to go before the stroke happens. It knows that it will be pressed into service momentarily. A twitch develops. All because the putter has been kept too low and the bottom of the swing has moved behind the ball. Add in tension and anxiety, and the putter is kept even lower going back. A vicious cycle has occured.
I recently wrote an article for Texas Links Magazine talking about some of the ways pressure is applied to the putter at set up. I will post it when it comes out. For a quick video demonstration, look to my post on the article from The Dallas Morning News and there is a link.
The PGA Tour is full of players who keep the putter low going back. It can be done, but it takes impeccable timing and steady nerves. Loren Roberts comes to mind. However, strokes like these have their good and bad days, even good and bad holes. They tend to not hold up under pressure.
If you are an astute watcher of professional golf, the evidence is everywhere. Peter Kostis did a nice job of illustrating the differences in the strokes of Brian Gay (correct) and Robert Allenby (too low to high.) I enjoy watching Phil play, and I am certain he could dominate me in ping pong or pool with his hand-eye coordination. Yet primarily because of his tilt at setup to his left, his putter goes back much too low and he tends to pull and push putts under pressure. He is simply out of position and has to work too hard to square it up at impact.
Jim Furyk is so far over the ball at set up, his eyes are slightly outside his line. He puts a great deal of downward pressure on the shaft and his putter goes back extremely low and with resistance. He is forced to rush it forward. Same thing with Ricky Barnes, hence the claw. Sergio now uses a belly putter, with a fixed point for the butt of the club. He must be leaning on it, or "kickstanding" it, because he is defying the odds by having his putter go back too low. Show me a guy who is struggling with the putter at any level, and I will show you a backswing that is too low. It goes against the design of the club!
If you want to see less effort and more freedom, look no further than Tiger, Geoff Ogilvy, Zach and Anthony Kim, to name a few. They allow their putters to swing freely. They do not try to keep the putter low. Remember, there is no try in golf. It equates to tension and effort. Putters are accelerated from the weight of the club swinging. It is natural if your backswing is free. There is no need to force acceleration.
Finally,from a "physics for dummies" standpoint, of whom I am clearly one, the putter head has the farthest to travel in a swing, followed by the handle (hands,) followed by the shoulders. They should not all travel together, there is a sequence that needs to happen. The shoulders move, but they respond to the swinging of the head and the hands. If the wrist joints are free (see the grip), the head will travel further than the handle. I will continue to preach that the set up determines EVERYTHING. When you are set up correctly, the stroke happens as it should, based on the design of the club. Let it work for you. The best strokes are the ones you don't remember...
