Angled. A "no roll" feeling back and through is extremely easy.
With horizontal, there's plenty of room for error when swinging it open and then rolling closed. Not to say it can't be done, but it's difficult. On longer putts many people probably unknowingly horizontal hinge because of the longer stroke.
I've tried vertical, but no longer use it. It's nice because the face is always square to the plane line and target but the fact that it's a deliberate manipulation outweighs that benefit. Do you really want to be thinking about reverse-rolling on a downhill 6-footer to win a tournament?
Even so, the angled hinge with a putter is more towards a vertical hinge. As the club gets shorter and you get more "over" the ball, the "no roll" feeling of the angled hinge produces more layback than closing. Think about it on the other extreme - with a superlong 50" driver and an angled hinge, you're on a much flatter plane and "no roll" tends to be more closing than layback.
After looking at all of it, I believe angled hinging is the best to use. First because it's such a simple feel, and second because it's almost essentially a vertical hinge with a putter (but without the concious manipulation that vertical hinging requires).
Angled hinge is the choice I make. I have experimented with horizontal and vertical but found they added to the difficulty of controlling the club face so that I COULD MAKE MORE PUTTS.
On a different note. The simplest stroke has the face of the putter square to the "arc" the putter head in moving in. This would call for an angled hinge (toward vertical) for a large arc and an angled (toward horizontal) for a smaller arc (By smaller I mean an arc more approximate to a circle).
"Face deviations must be nil in putting" Homer Kelley
Selection of your hinge is so important. The layback, layback and closing, and closing only can determine your ability to putt. A total lack of knowing, understanding, implementation, and eventual habit formation of a selected hinge will cause players to steer, throw away, and yip it all over the golf course.
The horizontal hinge or the door closing only will fits the circle on the ground and I will tell you for certain this hinge has been used on the PGA Tour to win more tournaments than the vertical hinge. Amateurs though feel the putter face should remain square to the target line at all times. Why didn't they read The Golfing Machine?
As mentioned in an earlier post, the reverse roll feel of the vertical hinge is very strange to feel on the golf course. The no roll feel of the angled hinge is what "mother nature" gave us.
This goes back to a scientist that said everything should go straight back and through. Being the putter head was moving straight back and through the assumption was made the face of the putter should layback only or stay square to the line. But he was not Mr. Kelley and didn't give everyone a "feel' to go along with this layback only.
So this got everyone going on the greens attempting to keep the face of the putter square to the line and believeing it would be natural. No quite ladies and gentleman. The whole time the answers were setting in this little yellow book.
Thank you so much for posting this question about hinge. If there are any out there who don't totally understand the hinges and the feel of the hinges check out the Golfing Machine Basic on this sight. For those who do not agree. Come here and make your argument.
VJ great information. I have been experimenting with different hinges on the putting green. I find that the vertical hinge as you stated offers an unnatural feel. The angled hinge gives acceptable results but the feel on putts comes close to vertical (standing so upright) and there is the tendency to push putts right of the hole due to the open face.
I am now working on the horizontal hinge to see if I can get better results.
Question: Are you closing the putter face with angled hinge??
You are closing the face with angled hinging. By definition it is closing with layback. On the ground it will look as though the face of the putter is opening and closing when in fact it is an angled hinge.
You may in fact be using a true angled hinge although you are working on a horizontal hinge. There is nothing wrong with slamming the face open and closed on the putting green to see the horizontal hinge. However, under the gun you better not, it will go bump in the night if you do.
Rember, the feeling of a horizontal hinge is a "roll" but you may have used the "reverse roll" feel so long that a "roll" feel is actually angled. That is where a training aid which shows you angled would come in handy. Again, search through Lynn's and find discussions about hinge. It will give you a great headstart.
Angled hinge is the choice I make. I have experimented with horizontal and vertical but found they added to the difficulty of controlling the club face so that I COULD MAKE MORE PUTTS.
On a different note. The simplest stroke has the face of the putter square to the "arc" the putter head in moving in. This would call for an angled hinge (toward vertical) for a large arc and an angled (toward horizontal) for a smaller arc (By smaller I mean an arc more approximate to a circle).
"Face deviations must be nil in putting" Homer Kelley
What do you think of using horizontal hinging for long lag putts?
No you do not need to close nor open the face to compensate for the angled hinge. The ball is not on the face and there is not enough spin, speed, etc... for the angled hinge to cause a problem.
Remember also the longer the club the more shut the face and the shorter the club the more open the face for the hitter using angled hinging.
Tiger and those guys are most definitely using an angled hinge when they speak of "releasing" the putter head. Angled hinging looks like the toe has been "released" in front of the heel at finish. So I would not suspect he is using a horizontal hinge.
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There is nothing wrong with using a horizontal hinge for long, lag putts. It is alway funny to see Pelz hitting long, lag putts with the vertical hinge, his stroke is nearly chest high to chest high (Aquired Motion Stroke)
Here is a way to check it out:
Go to feet in front of the ball with a putter:
When the putter face is at a 30 degree angle to the target line so that the toe is almost down the target line it is a horizontal hinge.
When the putter face is at a 45 degree angle to the target line so that the toe is across the target line in an angled fashion it is an angled hinge.
When the putter face is at a 90 degree angle to the target line so that the toe is straight across the target line it is a vertical hinge.
You gotta love clubface control! And it is nowhere else but the MACHINE!
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