There is only one type of putt. You have speed and direction to judge. If the putt has no break, then the direction is 0! Or we might want to call it a vector, because we want to add vectors if we have multiple breaks on a putt.
I mentioned in a prior post that putting ought to be trivial as the club ball interaction is static. We are not trying to hit up nor down on the ball, nor will we try to curve the ball. I've heard that Bobby Locke, from South Africa, was reported to be one of the best putters of all time, and liked to hook his putts! I guess it can be done and one might want to consider use of a axis tilt to mitigate directional vectors. But we can save that for another time.
So we have two problems, adding the directional vectors to arrive at a putting line and then with that line in mind decide on a ball speed.
Then we line up to the putting line and wack the ball to get it up to speed. Then we are done and wait for the envious remarks, stares, or grudging, or genuinely admirational remarks from our playing companions.
I've been told that it doesn't always go that way. Let us look into this a bit further, though I would suggest that the method described above is accurate and useful. One might decide on speed first and then plan a line to match. I wouldn't object to that and as we discuss further, I might even approve of that approach.
If we decide on speed first, how far do we want to hit the ball? The rule of thumb is 17 inches past the hole. This has been determined by Dave Pelz experimentally. And you will find it in The Physics of Golf , by Jorgensen. Jorgensen was astounded that Pelz came up the "correct" number even though he didn't use a model! Models are an interesting topic, and the old joke is that "All models are wrong, but some are useful." Jorgensen's implied amazement is sad in a way. At my old place of work they wrote a paper and sent it out for publication. During the peer review one reviewer commented that he'd like to see a model instead of the actual, empirical data! A sad state of science affairs!
Ok, we have a couple of folks who would suggest that 17 inches past the hole would be the best speed. So fast putts and slow putts will require differing forces for the same length putt.
Finally, I come to the question in which I am currently interested and I must report my father let me down on this one. It seems to me, due to my modest data collections that people putting and chipping and pitching are deathly afraid of being long or knocking the ball past the hole. This frequently results in some muffed or bladed ball or short putt as the mind kicks in during execution and alters the stroke to handle this fear. On a pitch or chip that can cause the club to flip and then you get fat or thin shots, neither of which are useful.
I passed this on my dad, a psychologist before retirement. Sadly his remark was that this might be due to habits. I was hoping for a bit ore depth on that question. Now as I type this, I can't discount that, but I don't think it's true. There seems to be a deep seated fear. I was thinking more along fear of failure or of success, but that doesn't fit either.
If you have seen the ball roll past the hole you have a very good idea of what the ball will do going back the same path (or close to it). And when we add in less break with more speed, we should be eager to give the ball a goodly wack.
You're going to gain in a couple of ways: making more putts by not leaving anything short and then less break and easier putting coming back. What is not to like? And I would answer that with the observation of the fear factor in these delicate shots.
A lot of putting instruction tries to take the hands out of the putting stroke, firm it all up and rock the shoulders! Use large muscles, they are better at handling tension! Stuff like is common. Which seems to acknowledge the tendency to come up short and is fear driven. Tension being the symptom of the inner fear?
So as a better approach to all of this, I would suggest the following:
- Be aggressive about getting the ball beyond the hole - either chipping or putting
- Use your hands if you are comfortable - but to take the tension out of it, I think a long smooth swing is a good approach.
- Decide on speed, then calculate line keeping in mind that there will be less break with more speed.
- Rear back and wack it. Monika Sorenstam has been quoted: "I never worried about the next putt!" Yes, pay attention and hit this one with excitement and solidity!
The above rules are new to me. Though I have played a round or two where my goal was to make sure every putt went past the hole. That seemed to help with the being short or afraid all the time.
I'm off to play tomorrow. I'll give this a try and pay attention to my inner fearful dialog.
I played a few times last week. I've not been feeling well and took more time off than I usually do. But I had a solid 76 on Thursday. It was one of those magic days where the pace and weather and company were in harmony. There is a penalty stroke in there, but 14 putts on the front nine and no three putts for the round.
The Friday round had some solid play, but the putts didn't go down and I felt rushed a lot of the day. So the scoring wasn't as good then, then, worst of all, the Costco hot dog upset my stomach! What was that all about? But as mentioned, I'm feeling better and have hopes for my usual cast, well seasoned, iron stomach.
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