The Art of Putting

The Art of Putting All of the golf experts have written books, made videos and given classes on the proper way to put. The putter has gone through hundreds if not thousands of modifications over the years. It has gone all the way from a stick with a flat surface to the modern high tech state of the art perfectly weighted and a lined work of art. Along the way we have seen putters of all lengths from short to the extended ones that must be at least five foot tall. I have one of these and it is great when your are playing the local fun tournament that allows you to move the ball a club length also when you use it to measure where to drop your ball after a penalty. We went from the standard blade head, to the mallet, to extended alignment marks or ball design. There are even ones that look like some type of advanced farm implement or like a space craft that Luke Skywalker would love to fly. I even have one that looks like a cigar. It is very versatile, you can use it to put right handed or left handed, you can even put off the end of the toe or heel. Golfers also have to deal with the advanced golf course equipment that mows the greens so close that it is near imposable to see the individual blades of grass. If that is not enough we have the roller that smoothes and packs the greens in order to speed them up. There is always the “Stint Metter” that tells us how fast a ball will role on the green. We used to, some of us still do, figure this out by putting a ball on the green and watching it roll, after which we would are will express our pleasure or displeasure in the appropriate words. With all of the things that must be considered while putting, right putter, type of grass, break, speed, grip, grain and weather conditions it is a wonder that all golfers don’t have a nervous breakdown. Many of us do it is called the yips, it keeps the sports psychologist busy. But we keep coming back. We realize that aproxamently one half of all the strokes in golf are made with the putter. So here is my opion of the Art of Putting, which is quite simple. Find a putter that feels good to you. Choose the grip you want to use and practice, practice and more practice until you are confident that every put is going in the hole. Unless you are like me if you have enough time for all of this practice would you rather be playing another round of this great game. After all it is a game.