Friday, June 19, 2009

Putting, the world's great mystery

What makes a great putter? Why is it one day putts fall with the greatest of ease and the next day they don't? Will the U.S. Open come down to the Terror of the 10-foot Putt? This WSJ article got me thinking. Unless you have been in a tournament setting where it all comes down to that final putt, it is hard to explain in words what the pressure feels like. Those guys (you know Tiger, Cabrera, etal) play for millions of dollars so I can't imagine what that feels like, nor do I play regular golf, where I understand putting is very difficult.

However, I do play Disc Golf and putting can be extremely difficult or easy in our sport as well. For me putting is very mental and I have written a tongue in cheek essay about it. You can read that post here.

While that post is mainly about having a bad putting slump, I have had days where I am hitting every putt in sight and my advice about being a good putter is revealed at the bottom of that essay.

And before you ask, yes, I have been in a tournament where it has come down to the last putt. I won't reveal the outcome. Suffice it to say that one should approach every putt as if it is that last one the tournament outcome depends on, because in actuality it does. After all, it is the accumulation of all those putts that makes up your final score, not just the last one.

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