Putting Engineer Daily Putting 2.0

Welcome to the first edition of Putting 2.0 Talk… today’s issue deals with a part of the only bit of Putting Wisdom (conventional) that actually stands up to scrutiny when tested…

Never Up, Never In. Let’s talk about everything outside of 30 footers.

If I could only change one aspect of your existing Putting, and it couldn’t be the Putter you were using, it would be to get you to understand the importance of getting ALL of your Putts to the Hole.

Not just the short ones… but the ones you might often three-putt, as well.

Here’s the short version of the strategy you’d need to employ…

Your 30+ footers don’t go in very often. I know that, as do you. But you could probably double or triple your makes outside of 30 feet, by simply doing one quick change… simply increase the depth of your backswing.

Sounds stupid, right? Taking the Putter back farther… what will that do?

Actually, it’s what has worked repeatedly with Golfers these past two years, as the quickest way to getting them to hole 30 footers.

Now, I could give you all the scientific reasons why… but today, I won’t. Today, I just want you Putting Better. So do me a favor… go hit 30 Putts from 30 feet, with your old technique. Then, hit 30 again, by simply taking the putter back a few inches more on the backswing.

Watch the balls roll into the hole at a greater frequency.

Email me at oriongolf@ymail.com with the results.

Here’s the Second Edition…

Short Breaking Putts… what’s the Speed Strategy?

Normally, when a Golfer has a decision to make, whether to hit a short breaking putt extra firm, to negate the break, it can be one of the most crucial decisions of the round. Jack Nicklaus, as a young player in the Masters, once faced that decision, and rammed home a short double breaking putt, and caused Bobby Jones, watching it on Television, to nearly jump out of his chair. Jack went on to win that Masters.

On modern greens (moderately to severely fast, and firm), the strategy of hitting the putt extra firm is less effective than years ago. However, there is one certain case where giving the putt added speed makes some sense… uphill putts.

The cup will only allow putts traveling at speed a smaller effective fall radius. How big is it? Well, at very slow speeds, your effective radius is nearly 2″. But if the putt is traveling at 3 feet per second (pretty fast for being at the hole) the radius can drop to nearly 1″. That would mean about half the normal hole size, in effect.

When putting uphill, you have a very slight advantage where the back of the cup is raised above the front, so that the ball can catch more of the lip solidly, if it is near the “fall zone”.

The other factor, is that uphill putts would normally break more severely given the slope, so having the putt die into the hole uphill on severe break would also work against you.

Put those two factors together, and use this strategy… hit short uphill breaking putts with a bit less break, and a bit more speed. You’ll make more of them.

The Third Edition…

Data Doesn’t Lie…

Well, significant and valid data, at least.

We like to allow Golfers to develop their own data set in testing, so that they experience first hand what we do daily. What do we do? We let the Truth in Putting reveal itself, by using the science of Statistics and Probability.

Without the ability to quickly see the truth (which is really what S&P allows us to do) it would be far more difficult to make “real” improvements. Why? Because we’d go down too many “blind alleys” and waste time chasing phantom improvements.

Our favorite maxim is “Proof is in the Putting”. If your theory isn’t matched by empirical data that stands up to mathematic scrutiny, well, maybe your physics and geometry is faulty to begin with. We don’t give any theory much credit, until it has been well proven in repeated tests.

So, do yourself a favor, and learn to follow some simple rules.

First… if you want to improve, design (or adopt) a Plan to Improve. We can provide this for you. Ours works… every time.

Second… if you want a high confidence level that what you think is true really is… design a robust test plan, and execute it.

Third… if you doubt at all any of the claims by the traditional Putter Companies or Gurus, you’re Right! Nearly Every Time!

Call me at 407-844-7885. Let’s talk about Your Putting, and how you’re going to immediately start improving.

The Fourth Edition…

Why Can’t Johnny & Jane Make Long Putts?

Imagine for a minute you’re on the green with two average golfers, a husband & wife. They love golf… but they are frustrated with how hard it is to make putts.

So they step up to a tough 25 footer, take a 2 minute mini-lesson, with a Hawk or Swan in their hand, and suddenly start making more putts than they ever have, in fact, more than most professionals do from the same distance.

Believe it? No? You ought to… It’s my daily life.

So why don’t all you Johns and Janes make putts now?

Simple. Your Putter doesn’t let you. IT WASN’T DESIGNED TO MAKE PUTTS.

It was designed to “sell”.

Still don’t believe me?

All Putters (except the Black Hawk & Swan) have major defects that prevent you from making putts. One, they don’t putt where you aim (would you fire a rifle with faulty sights?) and Two, they have “sweet-spots” so small the Tour Pros can’t even hit them.

I have nothing but skeptics before they putt, and raving apostles afterward. Why?

It ain’t just because of my well developed sense of humor…

Email me at oriongolf@ymail.com, and invite me to make you into a great putter too. I enjoy it… but I bet, you will even more.

The Fifth Edition…

I was fortunate to visit a slice of Heaven in the NC mountains yesterday, and Putted on a practice Green that rivals any for quality. Several of the members commented upon using the Black Hawk or Swan, that they would use their practice green even more because they now see how good their green really is, by all the Putts they were suddenly able to hole.

It got me thinking… how valuable is it to have a Putting Green that is (all by itself) reason enough to travel long distance to? Or… To make the members want to practice their putting?

My thanks, and congratulations, to Green Superintendents that make their Putting Greens into jewels of the Game… a place to not only learn upon, but to enjoy.

Back to Putting 2.0…

While on the green for 7 hours, I observed a number of issues that limit Golfers trying to hole out putts… and the rapid improvement when they actually understood and internalized the solutions suggested to them. Let’s deal with just one today, but a very common one… the Grip.

We teach a very simple, Ten Finger, Thumbs down the shaft (top), and Very Firm grasp of the Putter Grip.

Now, I know… you’ve always been told to hold the Putter lightly…

But it doesn’t help you to Putt Better, when the Putter is not well controlled.

The Ten Finger, as we teach it, does three very important things for you…

1. It gives you a longer “Lever-Arm” against Pivot.

2. It places more surface area, times pressure, in place to minimize face twist.

3. It puts more nerve endings in play helping your subconscious feel the stroke.

There is more to it than that… but these three things are reason enough to use it, and even more importantly, when you test the grip, you’ll see your improvement immediately.

Now, if you are still using your old putter, it won’t be as effective. There are good reasons for that too. You want to better understand why, call me at 407-844-7885, and I’ll explain this, and other aspects of Putting.