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This short podcast tip on the Eye Dominance in Putting aired on Golf Smarter Tips.com Friday, 17 October 2008.
Eye Dominance Test
The putting podcast is now available for free on the Golf Smarter Tips website and also is archived on the PuttingZone and in the iTunes podcast "store" (also a FREE download). Anyone wishing to pose a question for response on the Golf Smarter Tips.com "Fridays Free" program, please use the "Ask the Experts" link on the Golf Smarter Tips.com website. If your question is chosen for the air, you will receive a FREE gift from me, such as a free copy of the new book Optimal Putting, a free "PuttingZone" logo shirt, sweater, wind breaker or the like in your specified size, a "PuttingZone Preferred" training aid, or similar gift as Thanks!
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Showing posts with label putting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label putting. Show all posts
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Eye Dominance in Putting: Golf Smarter Tips Podcast 10-17-08 (Fixed Link)
Saturday, September 20, 2008
The "Bermuda Triangle" of Short Putts: Golf Smarter Tips Podcast 09-19-08
For this week's podcast, LISTEN now (audio, 10 min, 16 secs.).
This short podcast tip on the "Bermuda Triangle" of short putts between 2 and 8 feet aired on Golf Smarter Tips.com Friday, 19 September 2008.
To view a 22-minute television program on the Bermuda Triangle from the History Channel (2006), hosted by Leonard Nimoy, click here.
The putting podcast is now available for free on the Golf Smarter Tips website and also is archived on the PuttingZone and in the iTunes podcast "store" (also a FREE download). Anyone wishing to pose a question for response on the Golf Smarter Tips.com "Fridays Free" program, please use the "Ask the Experts" link on the Golf Smarter Tips.com website. If your question is chosen for the air, you will receive a FREE gift from me, such as a free copy of the new book Optimal Putting, a free "PuttingZone" logo shirt, sweater, wind breaker or the like in your specified size, a "PuttingZone Preferred" training aid, or similar gift as Thanks!
To subscribe to the Golf Smarter Tips podcasts on iTunes, click here.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
Geoff Mangum's
PuttingZone
PuttingZone Clinics
PuttingZone Blog & Podcasts
Flatstick Forum
PuttingZone Channel on YouTube
PuttingZone Picasweb Image Gallery
Golf's best putting instruction book: Optimal Putting: Brain Science, Instincts, and the Four Skills of Putting (published 2008, 282-pages, $34.95 hardcover with free shipping, $15.95 ebook download -- click this link for details and to order your copy today).
Golf's most advanced and comprehensive putting instruction -- you're either in the PuttingZone, or not.
Over 2.5 million visits -- 200,000 monthly from 50+ countries -- and growing strong.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
What makes Tiger Such a Good Putter?
Why is Tiger Woods Such a Good Putter?
Let's get a handle on Tiger's putting performance so far for the start of the 2008 season. Here are some Tiger stats:
* Total putts 9th with 27.75 per round after 4 rounds and 111 putts (Tour average 29.37);
* Putts per GIR 1st with 1.638 putts/GIR with 95 putts on 58 greens hit in regulation;
* Birdie conversion of 39.66% (1st) or 33 birdies out of 58 GIRs in 10 rounds;
* GIRs 80.56% 1st (Tour average 64.89%);
* Scoring average 66.12 (1st), 3 strokes better per round than #2 and 5.18 strokes better than Tour average;
* Proximity to the Hole: average distance from the hole 35'4" (T57th) in 54 GIRs (Tour best 27'5", average 36'11");
* Average distance of putts made 108'10" (1st);
* 3-putt avoidance 1.39% (16th).
These are obviously very strong stats, but then again it's early in the year. Most of these stats are derived from just a small handful of rounds. My experience is that stats don't mean much until about May. Even so, comparing the start of 2008 with the end of 2007 tends to indicate that Tiger had a great putting year in 2007 and is right on track to equal or better that in 2008.
2007 final stats:
Total putts: 28.93 (48th)
Putts per GIR: 1.733 (4th)
GIRs: 71.02% (1st)
Scoring Average: 67.79 (1st)
Birdie Conversion: 31.98% (8th)
Proximity to Hole: 32'2" (3rd)
Average Distance of Putts Made: 80'7" (7th)
3-putt Avoidance: 1.85% (5th)
2008 early stats:
Total putts: 27.75 (9th)
Putts per GIR: 1.638 (1st)
GIRs: 80.56% (1st)
Scoring Average: 66.12 (1st)
Birdie Conversion: 39.66% (1st)
Proximity to Hole: 35'4"" (T57th)
Average Distance of Putts Made: 108'10" (1st)
3-putt Avoidance: 1.39% (16th)
The comparison that strikes me is Tiger is hitting more greens this year and putting from farther away but sinking more for a higher birdie conversion rate. This means he has gotten a better handle on distance control and on sinking putts in the 12-20' range. That's a pretty frightening development!
Steve Williams has told Tiger that according to detailed stats, the most important stat for Tiger is 3-putt avoidance, since the stats show that if Tiger can avoid a 3-putt for all 4 rounds of an event he has an 85% chance of beating every golfer in the field of 150+ golfers, and all other golfers taken together have no better than 15% of besting Tiger (which is 6 chances of 7 for Tiger and only 1 chance in 7 for everyone else collectively).
Technically, Woods' stroke is "okay" and gets the job done of rolling his ball where he aims it. Now he has added better pace control on a consistent basis. But probably more than that, he reads putts very well in the range of 12' and out and then marries the read to his touch and his commitment to start line. It may not seem too dramatic, but apparently doing this consistently takes a lot of guts that other players just don't have.
Here is the post-WGC assessment by Stewart Cink and Tiger Woods about the inner game:
"I think he just has such a strong sense of belief in himself that he's just never out of it," Cink said. "He's never going to mess up. He's just always in control. He never loses his composure.
"He gets mad; that's not what I'm referring to. But he never loses his composure. He always stays very poised, and he doesn't very often throw away a shot."
Woods sees things more simply, though.
"I love winning and I hate losing," he said. "My father was the same way. Anyone in here who knows my mom -- my mom is probably more fiery than my dad. That's kind of the household I grew up in.
"We were always competitive. You never backed down to anybody. And that's the fun part about competing; it's the fun thing about playing sports. My dad, in his former occupation, you back down, you die. So you can't have that mentality." PGA Tour News.
The composure does not automatically accompany determination -- that's a learned combination. In other words, Tiger is composed because he has learned that composure helps him reach his determined goal of succeeding with each shot and of winning the event or match. The only way you remain composed under the so-called "pressure" of the PGA Tour is to convert the pressure into fuel for composure -- like it, want it, thrive on it, and convert it to composure.
The instincts really don't like fear when it comes to precision. The instincts are just fine when it comes to "getting the heck out of Dodge the quickest and shortest way possible", but that's not what sort of instincts are needed for precision-based success in putting. For that, the instincts want a base of mental and physical relaxation or composure. Then the well-bucket comes up brimming full from the depths of the well, whereas under stress the bucket has cracks and holes in it and you have to haul it up as fast as possible to minimize the spillage.
So why doesn't "determination" result in stress? The usual way we think of determination is "gritting the teeth" and "bearing down". This sort of "tightening up" determination is not really what Tiger has going on. For Tiger, I believe, his determination drives him to "playing the game with his best skills". He really, really LIKES when his skills succeed, whether it is an approach shot or a putt. Over time, this "liking" has addicted him to enjoying himself when he plays golf even at the highest level. That's why Tiger most intensely enjoys the really competitive matches: against Bob May, against Jim Furyk, against Mark O'Meara, against Aaron Baddeley. The intensity of competition requires him to resort to this addictive enjoyment of successful execution of skills. So he just relaxes and has fun, and this composure lets the instincts make their valuable contribution to the precision of the shot or the putt. Does anyone recall the next-day playoff against Tom Lehman Tiger had very early in his pro career: Tiger stepped up and nailed a shot to inches and polished the contest off with the first blow.
Perhaps another key to all this is Earl Woods' "calm, nice demeanor". That's primarily what his father was known for when he was a young athlete, the first non-white baseball player on the Kansas State Wildcats team in the racism-filled 1950s. Earl was quiet, never ruffled, and always nice. Tiger was Raised by a Wildcat, Tulsa World, Aug. 3, 2007.
If you re-read Tiger's comments above, there is a curious combination of "life and death competition" with "the fun of sports". He talks about the military warrior's absolute necessity to "never back down" or else the warrior dies, and then he associates this with the reason why sports are "fun". Some people might consider thinking that way about a game was a little less than sane and healthy. Never backing down in sports is the equivalent of embracing life and avoiding a violent death in combat. I imagine that Jung would see a very high energy level in this mental configuration. In the language of the archetype, Tiger is on a "quest" to fulfill his "heroic destiny", albeit in the social-historical confines of a "game". One wonders how well Tiger would have held up on Iwo Jima or under repeated assault in Sergeant Ernie Savage's "lost platoon" on the knoll in the Ia Drang valley of November 1965. Battle of Ia Drang.
Earl Woods (Pops) joined the Army after graduating from KSU and became an officer. He was in Vietnam before 1963, trained as a Green Beret at Ft Bragg NC in 1963, and returned to a second full tour of Vietnam in 1970. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. he was nearly killed any number of times, as could be expected. The pressure of combat seems to have combined with his natural personality and the military discipline of the officer corp for responsibility of the life or death of others to result in "focus and concentration" on the reality at hand and getting the job done right. All of the "mental toughness" training that Earl used in raising Tiger as a golfer stems from this experience.
So, for Tiger, a golf tournament is a battle with life and death consequences, and he enters the field with this sort of focus and concentration. As a kid, Earl was the father UNTIL it became tournament time, and then Tiger became the father and told Earl when they had to leave the house, when the tee-time would be, how long he had to practice after his round, and when they could head home.
Earl Woods: "'The idea of me as a controlling father is 180 degrees from the truth,' he says. 'It was never a question of me forcing Tiger to play golf. Everything came from him. We transcended the father-son thing when he was five. We became best friends, equals. The normal way of things is that the father is always in command. That wasn't the case with us because when we went to a golf tournament I would be the father until we signed in, then Tiger took over as the father and I was the son. He would tell me what time we had to get there, when his tee-time was; he learnt to compute travel time and warm-up time and practice time. After the tournament was finished he would always practise. He would tell me when it was time to go home, and then as we were checking out of the hotel or going to the airport, our roles were reversed back again. I became the father again." Old Father Shrine, London Guardian, Observer Sports Monthly, Apr. 7, 2002. At tournament time, Tiger takes over command.
But what about the "courage" part? It's one thing to have mental toughness and to enter the field of battle, but it's quite another to surmount the paralyzing fear that comes with real war. During the first day's battle at Ia Drang, the North Vietnamese forces swarmed into Alpha Company at Landing Zone X-Ray, in the river valley at the base of the enemy's Iron Triangle stronghold of the Central Highlands plateau of Chu Pong Mountain. The Alpha Company was defended mainly by two M-60 machine gun positions:
"Covering the critical left flank from being rolled up by the North Vietnamese were two of Alpha's machine gun crews positioned 75 yards southwest of the company's main position. Specialist Theron Ladner (with his assistant gunner Private First Class Rodriguez Rivera) and Specialist 4 Russell Adams (with a-gunner Specialist 4 Bill Beck) had positioned their guns 10 yards apart from one another and proceeded to pour heavy fire into the Viet Cong forces attempting to cut into the perimeter between Charlie and Alpha companies. Moore later credited the two gun teams with single-handedly preventing the PAVN from rolling up Alpha Company and driving a wedge into the battalion between Alpha and Charlie.
Adams and Rivera were severely wounded in the onslaught. After the two were carried to the battalion's collection point at Moore's command post to await evacuation by air, Beck, Ladner, and Private First Class Edward Dougherty (an ammo-bearer) continued their close range suppression of the Viet Cong advance.
Beck later said of the battle:
"When Doc Nall was there with me, working on Russell, fear, real fear, hit me. Fear like I had never known before. Fear comes, and once you recognize it and accept it, it passes just as fast as it comes, and you don't really think about it anymore. You just do what you have to do, but you learn the real meaning of fear and life and death. For the next two hours I was alone on that gun, shooting at the enemy." Battle of Ia Drang.
Combat "bravery" apparently means accepting that you cannot avoid the overwhelming fear and yet still must function or die. There certainly is some of that spirit or attitude that comes thru Earl's training of Tiger. Tiger was named after the Vietnamese officer Vuong Dang Phong, who saved Earl's life more than once. Earl nicknamed him Tiger, and later named his son Tiger in the hope that his son would be as courageous as his friend in combat. Matt Doeden, Tiger Woods, p 5.
I think the bottom line is probably something about WHY Tiger is able to view golf with this "life and death" potency, when everyone knows it's really just a game. I suspect it is Tiger's way of honoring his father's dignity, by which he was enabled to embrace life despite a world with racism and the horror of war.
Earl Woods on Scotland, the Home of Golf: "That place sucks. It's for white people. People had better be glad that the Scots lived there instead of the soul brothers or golf would never have been invented. We wouldn't have been stupid enough to go out in that weather and play a silly-ass game and freeze to death. We would have stayed inside, listening to jazz, laughing and joking and drinking rum." Old Father Shrine, London Guardian, Observer Sports Monthly, Apr. 7, 2002.
Quite right. And so Earl played jazz for Tiger when Tiger was only five days old. Tiger's father Earl Woods dies at 74, USA Today, May 4, 2006. And Tiger fixing Pop a Jack Daniels and ginger one Thanksgiving visit home from Stanford:
Earl Woods: "He didn't drink before he went to Stanford, but this time he came home for Thanksgiving and I was lying on my bed having a drink and he says "What are you drinking Pop?" and I said a Pepsi and he said, "Give me that." He went and fixed me a drink in the kitchen - a Jack Daniels and ginger - and then he comes back in the room and says "Come on Pop, let's have our first drink together". We walked down to the little park down the street and we sat down and reminisced about his school, what he was doing and how wonderful it was to sit there and have our first drink together. That's the one Jack Daniels and ginger I will always remember." Old Father Shrine, London Guardian.
And so, golf is war.
Ear Woods: Playing golf with Tiger
"It's a war, but it is also an exquisite pleasure. The last time we played together was two Christmases ago, at Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach. The thing I remember most about the day is that Tiger made a hole in one and then I almost put one right on top of it and the only thing he said was "good shot"." Old Father Shrine, London Guardian.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
Geoff Mangum's
PuttingZone
PuttingZone Clinics
Flatstick Forum
PuttingZone Channel on YouTube
PuttingZone Picasweb Image Gallery
Golf's most advanced and comprehensive putting instruction -- you're either in the PuttingZone, or not.
Over 2 million visits -- 100,000 monthly from 50+ countries -- and growing strong.
Let's get a handle on Tiger's putting performance so far for the start of the 2008 season. Here are some Tiger stats:
* Total putts 9th with 27.75 per round after 4 rounds and 111 putts (Tour average 29.37);
* Putts per GIR 1st with 1.638 putts/GIR with 95 putts on 58 greens hit in regulation;
* Birdie conversion of 39.66% (1st) or 33 birdies out of 58 GIRs in 10 rounds;
* GIRs 80.56% 1st (Tour average 64.89%);
* Scoring average 66.12 (1st), 3 strokes better per round than #2 and 5.18 strokes better than Tour average;
* Proximity to the Hole: average distance from the hole 35'4" (T57th) in 54 GIRs (Tour best 27'5", average 36'11");
* Average distance of putts made 108'10" (1st);
* 3-putt avoidance 1.39% (16th).
These are obviously very strong stats, but then again it's early in the year. Most of these stats are derived from just a small handful of rounds. My experience is that stats don't mean much until about May. Even so, comparing the start of 2008 with the end of 2007 tends to indicate that Tiger had a great putting year in 2007 and is right on track to equal or better that in 2008.
2007 final stats:
Total putts: 28.93 (48th)
Putts per GIR: 1.733 (4th)
GIRs: 71.02% (1st)
Scoring Average: 67.79 (1st)
Birdie Conversion: 31.98% (8th)
Proximity to Hole: 32'2" (3rd)
Average Distance of Putts Made: 80'7" (7th)
3-putt Avoidance: 1.85% (5th)
2008 early stats:
Total putts: 27.75 (9th)
Putts per GIR: 1.638 (1st)
GIRs: 80.56% (1st)
Scoring Average: 66.12 (1st)
Birdie Conversion: 39.66% (1st)
Proximity to Hole: 35'4"" (T57th)
Average Distance of Putts Made: 108'10" (1st)
3-putt Avoidance: 1.39% (16th)
The comparison that strikes me is Tiger is hitting more greens this year and putting from farther away but sinking more for a higher birdie conversion rate. This means he has gotten a better handle on distance control and on sinking putts in the 12-20' range. That's a pretty frightening development!
Steve Williams has told Tiger that according to detailed stats, the most important stat for Tiger is 3-putt avoidance, since the stats show that if Tiger can avoid a 3-putt for all 4 rounds of an event he has an 85% chance of beating every golfer in the field of 150+ golfers, and all other golfers taken together have no better than 15% of besting Tiger (which is 6 chances of 7 for Tiger and only 1 chance in 7 for everyone else collectively).
Technically, Woods' stroke is "okay" and gets the job done of rolling his ball where he aims it. Now he has added better pace control on a consistent basis. But probably more than that, he reads putts very well in the range of 12' and out and then marries the read to his touch and his commitment to start line. It may not seem too dramatic, but apparently doing this consistently takes a lot of guts that other players just don't have.
Here is the post-WGC assessment by Stewart Cink and Tiger Woods about the inner game:
"I think he just has such a strong sense of belief in himself that he's just never out of it," Cink said. "He's never going to mess up. He's just always in control. He never loses his composure.
"He gets mad; that's not what I'm referring to. But he never loses his composure. He always stays very poised, and he doesn't very often throw away a shot."
Woods sees things more simply, though.
"I love winning and I hate losing," he said. "My father was the same way. Anyone in here who knows my mom -- my mom is probably more fiery than my dad. That's kind of the household I grew up in.
"We were always competitive. You never backed down to anybody. And that's the fun part about competing; it's the fun thing about playing sports. My dad, in his former occupation, you back down, you die. So you can't have that mentality." PGA Tour News.
The composure does not automatically accompany determination -- that's a learned combination. In other words, Tiger is composed because he has learned that composure helps him reach his determined goal of succeeding with each shot and of winning the event or match. The only way you remain composed under the so-called "pressure" of the PGA Tour is to convert the pressure into fuel for composure -- like it, want it, thrive on it, and convert it to composure.
The instincts really don't like fear when it comes to precision. The instincts are just fine when it comes to "getting the heck out of Dodge the quickest and shortest way possible", but that's not what sort of instincts are needed for precision-based success in putting. For that, the instincts want a base of mental and physical relaxation or composure. Then the well-bucket comes up brimming full from the depths of the well, whereas under stress the bucket has cracks and holes in it and you have to haul it up as fast as possible to minimize the spillage.
So why doesn't "determination" result in stress? The usual way we think of determination is "gritting the teeth" and "bearing down". This sort of "tightening up" determination is not really what Tiger has going on. For Tiger, I believe, his determination drives him to "playing the game with his best skills". He really, really LIKES when his skills succeed, whether it is an approach shot or a putt. Over time, this "liking" has addicted him to enjoying himself when he plays golf even at the highest level. That's why Tiger most intensely enjoys the really competitive matches: against Bob May, against Jim Furyk, against Mark O'Meara, against Aaron Baddeley. The intensity of competition requires him to resort to this addictive enjoyment of successful execution of skills. So he just relaxes and has fun, and this composure lets the instincts make their valuable contribution to the precision of the shot or the putt. Does anyone recall the next-day playoff against Tom Lehman Tiger had very early in his pro career: Tiger stepped up and nailed a shot to inches and polished the contest off with the first blow.
Perhaps another key to all this is Earl Woods' "calm, nice demeanor". That's primarily what his father was known for when he was a young athlete, the first non-white baseball player on the Kansas State Wildcats team in the racism-filled 1950s. Earl was quiet, never ruffled, and always nice. Tiger was Raised by a Wildcat, Tulsa World, Aug. 3, 2007.
If you re-read Tiger's comments above, there is a curious combination of "life and death competition" with "the fun of sports". He talks about the military warrior's absolute necessity to "never back down" or else the warrior dies, and then he associates this with the reason why sports are "fun". Some people might consider thinking that way about a game was a little less than sane and healthy. Never backing down in sports is the equivalent of embracing life and avoiding a violent death in combat. I imagine that Jung would see a very high energy level in this mental configuration. In the language of the archetype, Tiger is on a "quest" to fulfill his "heroic destiny", albeit in the social-historical confines of a "game". One wonders how well Tiger would have held up on Iwo Jima or under repeated assault in Sergeant Ernie Savage's "lost platoon" on the knoll in the Ia Drang valley of November 1965. Battle of Ia Drang.
Earl Woods (Pops) joined the Army after graduating from KSU and became an officer. He was in Vietnam before 1963, trained as a Green Beret at Ft Bragg NC in 1963, and returned to a second full tour of Vietnam in 1970. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. he was nearly killed any number of times, as could be expected. The pressure of combat seems to have combined with his natural personality and the military discipline of the officer corp for responsibility of the life or death of others to result in "focus and concentration" on the reality at hand and getting the job done right. All of the "mental toughness" training that Earl used in raising Tiger as a golfer stems from this experience.
So, for Tiger, a golf tournament is a battle with life and death consequences, and he enters the field with this sort of focus and concentration. As a kid, Earl was the father UNTIL it became tournament time, and then Tiger became the father and told Earl when they had to leave the house, when the tee-time would be, how long he had to practice after his round, and when they could head home.
Earl Woods: "'The idea of me as a controlling father is 180 degrees from the truth,' he says. 'It was never a question of me forcing Tiger to play golf. Everything came from him. We transcended the father-son thing when he was five. We became best friends, equals. The normal way of things is that the father is always in command. That wasn't the case with us because when we went to a golf tournament I would be the father until we signed in, then Tiger took over as the father and I was the son. He would tell me what time we had to get there, when his tee-time was; he learnt to compute travel time and warm-up time and practice time. After the tournament was finished he would always practise. He would tell me when it was time to go home, and then as we were checking out of the hotel or going to the airport, our roles were reversed back again. I became the father again." Old Father Shrine, London Guardian, Observer Sports Monthly, Apr. 7, 2002. At tournament time, Tiger takes over command.
But what about the "courage" part? It's one thing to have mental toughness and to enter the field of battle, but it's quite another to surmount the paralyzing fear that comes with real war. During the first day's battle at Ia Drang, the North Vietnamese forces swarmed into Alpha Company at Landing Zone X-Ray, in the river valley at the base of the enemy's Iron Triangle stronghold of the Central Highlands plateau of Chu Pong Mountain. The Alpha Company was defended mainly by two M-60 machine gun positions:
"Covering the critical left flank from being rolled up by the North Vietnamese were two of Alpha's machine gun crews positioned 75 yards southwest of the company's main position. Specialist Theron Ladner (with his assistant gunner Private First Class Rodriguez Rivera) and Specialist 4 Russell Adams (with a-gunner Specialist 4 Bill Beck) had positioned their guns 10 yards apart from one another and proceeded to pour heavy fire into the Viet Cong forces attempting to cut into the perimeter between Charlie and Alpha companies. Moore later credited the two gun teams with single-handedly preventing the PAVN from rolling up Alpha Company and driving a wedge into the battalion between Alpha and Charlie.
Adams and Rivera were severely wounded in the onslaught. After the two were carried to the battalion's collection point at Moore's command post to await evacuation by air, Beck, Ladner, and Private First Class Edward Dougherty (an ammo-bearer) continued their close range suppression of the Viet Cong advance.
Beck later said of the battle:
"When Doc Nall was there with me, working on Russell, fear, real fear, hit me. Fear like I had never known before. Fear comes, and once you recognize it and accept it, it passes just as fast as it comes, and you don't really think about it anymore. You just do what you have to do, but you learn the real meaning of fear and life and death. For the next two hours I was alone on that gun, shooting at the enemy." Battle of Ia Drang.
Combat "bravery" apparently means accepting that you cannot avoid the overwhelming fear and yet still must function or die. There certainly is some of that spirit or attitude that comes thru Earl's training of Tiger. Tiger was named after the Vietnamese officer Vuong Dang Phong, who saved Earl's life more than once. Earl nicknamed him Tiger, and later named his son Tiger in the hope that his son would be as courageous as his friend in combat. Matt Doeden, Tiger Woods, p 5.
I think the bottom line is probably something about WHY Tiger is able to view golf with this "life and death" potency, when everyone knows it's really just a game. I suspect it is Tiger's way of honoring his father's dignity, by which he was enabled to embrace life despite a world with racism and the horror of war.
Earl Woods on Scotland, the Home of Golf: "That place sucks. It's for white people. People had better be glad that the Scots lived there instead of the soul brothers or golf would never have been invented. We wouldn't have been stupid enough to go out in that weather and play a silly-ass game and freeze to death. We would have stayed inside, listening to jazz, laughing and joking and drinking rum." Old Father Shrine, London Guardian, Observer Sports Monthly, Apr. 7, 2002.
Quite right. And so Earl played jazz for Tiger when Tiger was only five days old. Tiger's father Earl Woods dies at 74, USA Today, May 4, 2006. And Tiger fixing Pop a Jack Daniels and ginger one Thanksgiving visit home from Stanford:
Earl Woods: "He didn't drink before he went to Stanford, but this time he came home for Thanksgiving and I was lying on my bed having a drink and he says "What are you drinking Pop?" and I said a Pepsi and he said, "Give me that." He went and fixed me a drink in the kitchen - a Jack Daniels and ginger - and then he comes back in the room and says "Come on Pop, let's have our first drink together". We walked down to the little park down the street and we sat down and reminisced about his school, what he was doing and how wonderful it was to sit there and have our first drink together. That's the one Jack Daniels and ginger I will always remember." Old Father Shrine, London Guardian.
And so, golf is war.
Ear Woods: Playing golf with Tiger
"It's a war, but it is also an exquisite pleasure. The last time we played together was two Christmases ago, at Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach. The thing I remember most about the day is that Tiger made a hole in one and then I almost put one right on top of it and the only thing he said was "good shot"." Old Father Shrine, London Guardian.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
Geoff Mangum's
PuttingZone
PuttingZone Clinics
Flatstick Forum
PuttingZone Channel on YouTube
PuttingZone Picasweb Image Gallery
Golf's most advanced and comprehensive putting instruction -- you're either in the PuttingZone, or not.
Over 2 million visits -- 100,000 monthly from 50+ countries -- and growing strong.
Friday, November 02, 2007
PuttingZone Book Available
Finally, the PuttingZone book, Geoff Mangum's PuttingZone: Science, the Brain, and the Mechanics of Instinct for Putting -- A Professional Guide, is available as a PDF eBook. This book will also be published later in December 2007 as a limited first edition hardcover, signed and numbered in a first run of 1,000 copies, from Hornberger Druck GmbH in Maulburg Germany.
If you are interested in pre-ordering the hardcover limited first edition, the advance price is $34.95 US and Canada or $39.95 International (includes S&H). If you pre-order now, I will immediately ship you the eBook in the meantime for free. And if you would rather simply receive the eBook only, the price is $19.95 US and Canada or $23.95 International (includes S&H) for the electronic version (compressed PDF) in email plus the same (larger size PDF) on a CD mailed to your address. TO ORDER: Mail check or money order to Geoff Mangum's PuttingZone, 518 Woodlawn Ave, Greensboro NC 27401, and for questions simply email me at geoff@puttingzone.com. Or you may send payment to PayPal at genehammond@catalist.net. Sorry, but I do not yet have access to a credit card account for payments.
Here are the contents in the current state of the book before final publication (there will be a few additions between now and then):
Geoff Mangum’s PuttingZone: Science, the Brain, and the Mechanics of Instinct for Putting -- A Professional Guide (publication date December 2007):
Table of Contents
The Mechanics of Instinct
& the Four Skills of Putting
The Brain & the “Mechanics of Instinct” 1
Conventional Lore 2
A New Paradigm 7
Learn Skills from the Ground Up 10
Controlling Distance: Theory 12
Definition of Touch 12
Optimal Delivery Speed 12
Observing Optimal Delivery Speed 15
Five Factors for Touch 18
Definition of Tempo 19
Gravity and Movement on Earth 20
Physics Characteristics of Pendular Motion 21
Inherent Timing of Pendular Objects 22
Gravity Timing and Insinct 23
Human Instinct and Gravity Timing 25
Strength of Instinctive Gravity Timing 26
Choosing an Optimal Tempo 27
What is a Backstroke? 29
Controlling Distance: Praxis or Application 31
Green Speed Appreciation 31
Tempo Controls Putterhead & Impact Speed 32
Optimal Touch is Instinctive 33
Head-neck Motion Primes Distance Sense 33
Instinctive Move Sets Backstroke Size 34
“One Potato...Two” Tempo is Non-conscious 36
Tempo Timing & Accurate Timing Performance 38
Green Speed Appreciation from Core Putt 38
Uphill / Downhill Effects 40
Special Case: Slick Downhill Putts 42
Special Case: Steep Tiers 43
Delicate Strokes 44
Short-Putt Touch 45
Summary of Touch 45
Stroking Straight 45
Carpenter’s Square off the Foot 46
Straight Stroke Movement 47
Shoulder Starts Takeaway 48
Gravity-Tempo Downstroke is Effortless 48
Keep Hands “Dead” in Downstroke 49
Hands Stay Out Where They Start 50
Hands Do Not Rotate, Grip Stays Constant 50
Lead Shoulder Lift Sends Ball Straight 51
Throat line Holds Square at Midline 52
Lead Hip Anchors Backstroke 53
Head Motion in Thru-Stroke 54
Aiming Accurately 55
Stand Back Same Distance as Putt 55
Use Dominant Eye Behind Ball 55
Use Shaft as Visual “Ruler” 56
Anchor Perceptions on the Ground at Ball 56
Keep Perspective Walking into Ball 56
Use Achors at Ball to Aim Putterface 57
Ball Shape as Indicating Line 57
Squaring the Putter Face 58
Two T’s of Putter and Ground Lines 58
Setup for a Straight Stroke as Putter is Aimed 59
Grip Form and Setup 60
Homogenous Muscle Tone for Form 62
Checking the Aim of the Putter Face 64
Squaring the Skull Line to the Putter Face 65
Head Turn to Check Putter Face Aim 66
Reading for Target 67
Read the Green as a Whole from Fairway 67
Use References to Vertical & Horizontal 68
Local Hills & Mountains May Confuse Read 68
Read the “Stock Chart” of Highside Fringe 69
Beware Lobed Greens with Catchment Basins 69
Overall Slope as Rise over Run Percentage 70
Perceiving Elevation Change from Ball to Hole 70
Perceiving Green Surface Contour 72
Perceiving Green Speed 75
Visualizing Ball Rolling Speed 76
Other Perception Issues for Reading Putts 76
Find Straight Startline for Breaking-Putt Curves 78
“Apex” is Always Too Low for Startline 78
Find the Fall-Line thru the Cup 78
Aim Spot is Always on the Fall-Line High 84
See the “Spider” at any Green Location 85
Putting Routine 87
Purpose of the Routine 87
Pre-Round Preparation Routine 87
Approach Routine 87
On-the-Green Routine 89
Reading Routine 90
Seeing Green Speed 90
Perceiving Green Contour 91
Reading Elevation Change 91
Aiming Routine 91
Setup Routine 92
Checking Putter Face Aim Routine 92
Stroke Routine 93
Conclusion 95
55 Drills for Putting Skills
Reading for Target 97
Aiming Accurately 99
Stroking Straight 100
Controlling Distance 106
Appendices
Bibliography of Putting Books 1900-2007 110
PuttingZone Academies & Coaches 121
Get in the PuttingZone: Opportunities 128
About Geoff Mangum 129
There are limited opportunities to advertise your company, product, service, course, or school in the first edition, and if interested, email me (geoff@puttingzone.com) and I'll send details immediately. Deadline for copy and graphics is November 20.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
PuttingZone.com
PuttingZone Clinics
PuttingZone Blog / Podcasts
PuttingZone Flatstick Forum
PuttingZone YouTube Channel
PuttingZone Image Gallery
Technorati Tags: golf, putting, putter, putt, book, instruction, tips, expert,
If you are interested in pre-ordering the hardcover limited first edition, the advance price is $34.95 US and Canada or $39.95 International (includes S&H). If you pre-order now, I will immediately ship you the eBook in the meantime for free. And if you would rather simply receive the eBook only, the price is $19.95 US and Canada or $23.95 International (includes S&H) for the electronic version (compressed PDF) in email plus the same (larger size PDF) on a CD mailed to your address. TO ORDER: Mail check or money order to Geoff Mangum's PuttingZone, 518 Woodlawn Ave, Greensboro NC 27401, and for questions simply email me at geoff@puttingzone.com. Or you may send payment to PayPal at genehammond@catalist.net. Sorry, but I do not yet have access to a credit card account for payments.
Here are the contents in the current state of the book before final publication (there will be a few additions between now and then):
Geoff Mangum’s PuttingZone: Science, the Brain, and the Mechanics of Instinct for Putting -- A Professional Guide (publication date December 2007):
Table of Contents
The Mechanics of Instinct
& the Four Skills of Putting
The Brain & the “Mechanics of Instinct” 1
Conventional Lore 2
A New Paradigm 7
Learn Skills from the Ground Up 10
Controlling Distance: Theory 12
Definition of Touch 12
Optimal Delivery Speed 12
Observing Optimal Delivery Speed 15
Five Factors for Touch 18
Definition of Tempo 19
Gravity and Movement on Earth 20
Physics Characteristics of Pendular Motion 21
Inherent Timing of Pendular Objects 22
Gravity Timing and Insinct 23
Human Instinct and Gravity Timing 25
Strength of Instinctive Gravity Timing 26
Choosing an Optimal Tempo 27
What is a Backstroke? 29
Controlling Distance: Praxis or Application 31
Green Speed Appreciation 31
Tempo Controls Putterhead & Impact Speed 32
Optimal Touch is Instinctive 33
Head-neck Motion Primes Distance Sense 33
Instinctive Move Sets Backstroke Size 34
“One Potato...Two” Tempo is Non-conscious 36
Tempo Timing & Accurate Timing Performance 38
Green Speed Appreciation from Core Putt 38
Uphill / Downhill Effects 40
Special Case: Slick Downhill Putts 42
Special Case: Steep Tiers 43
Delicate Strokes 44
Short-Putt Touch 45
Summary of Touch 45
Stroking Straight 45
Carpenter’s Square off the Foot 46
Straight Stroke Movement 47
Shoulder Starts Takeaway 48
Gravity-Tempo Downstroke is Effortless 48
Keep Hands “Dead” in Downstroke 49
Hands Stay Out Where They Start 50
Hands Do Not Rotate, Grip Stays Constant 50
Lead Shoulder Lift Sends Ball Straight 51
Throat line Holds Square at Midline 52
Lead Hip Anchors Backstroke 53
Head Motion in Thru-Stroke 54
Aiming Accurately 55
Stand Back Same Distance as Putt 55
Use Dominant Eye Behind Ball 55
Use Shaft as Visual “Ruler” 56
Anchor Perceptions on the Ground at Ball 56
Keep Perspective Walking into Ball 56
Use Achors at Ball to Aim Putterface 57
Ball Shape as Indicating Line 57
Squaring the Putter Face 58
Two T’s of Putter and Ground Lines 58
Setup for a Straight Stroke as Putter is Aimed 59
Grip Form and Setup 60
Homogenous Muscle Tone for Form 62
Checking the Aim of the Putter Face 64
Squaring the Skull Line to the Putter Face 65
Head Turn to Check Putter Face Aim 66
Reading for Target 67
Read the Green as a Whole from Fairway 67
Use References to Vertical & Horizontal 68
Local Hills & Mountains May Confuse Read 68
Read the “Stock Chart” of Highside Fringe 69
Beware Lobed Greens with Catchment Basins 69
Overall Slope as Rise over Run Percentage 70
Perceiving Elevation Change from Ball to Hole 70
Perceiving Green Surface Contour 72
Perceiving Green Speed 75
Visualizing Ball Rolling Speed 76
Other Perception Issues for Reading Putts 76
Find Straight Startline for Breaking-Putt Curves 78
“Apex” is Always Too Low for Startline 78
Find the Fall-Line thru the Cup 78
Aim Spot is Always on the Fall-Line High 84
See the “Spider” at any Green Location 85
Putting Routine 87
Purpose of the Routine 87
Pre-Round Preparation Routine 87
Approach Routine 87
On-the-Green Routine 89
Reading Routine 90
Seeing Green Speed 90
Perceiving Green Contour 91
Reading Elevation Change 91
Aiming Routine 91
Setup Routine 92
Checking Putter Face Aim Routine 92
Stroke Routine 93
Conclusion 95
55 Drills for Putting Skills
Reading for Target 97
Aiming Accurately 99
Stroking Straight 100
Controlling Distance 106
Appendices
Bibliography of Putting Books 1900-2007 110
PuttingZone Academies & Coaches 121
Get in the PuttingZone: Opportunities 128
About Geoff Mangum 129
There are limited opportunities to advertise your company, product, service, course, or school in the first edition, and if interested, email me (geoff@puttingzone.com) and I'll send details immediately. Deadline for copy and graphics is November 20.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
PuttingZone.com
PuttingZone Clinics
PuttingZone Blog / Podcasts
PuttingZone Flatstick Forum
PuttingZone YouTube Channel
PuttingZone Image Gallery
Technorati Tags: golf, putting, putter, putt, book, instruction, tips, expert,
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Setup for Straight Strokes
A good setup for straight, consistent strokes is one in which the stance and bend are comfortable and stable, the arms and hands hang naturally without unwanted tension, and the shoulders are aligned parallel to the target line. From this setup, the golfer can make consistently accurate and repeating stroke movements defined in reference to the bottom of the stroke. (audio podcast, 6 mins. 44 secs.) LISTEN
Perfect Lagging
The two rules of perfect lagging, or indeed perfect distance control for any putt, are: 1. Don't go long; and 2. Don't be short. Functionally, the first rule really means: "Don't ever speed up the normal timing of your downstroke." The reason is because your brain relies upon the stability of your backstroke and downstroke timings to set the size of the backstroke for a given putt, and once the backstroke is selected by these non-conscious processes, the stroke is pre-loaded with 100% of the distance, and not 103% or some greater distance. The brain and instincts of all normal adult humans for movement control are THAT GOOD! Accordingly, it is not physically possible to send a ball 103% with a 100% backstroke UNLESS you speed up the downstroke, so don't. End of Rule 1. The second rule, don't be short, really means "Don't fear going long." We just sorted that issue, didn't we? The two ways golfers manifest the fear of going long are by not allowing the backstroke to reach its full size, and / or by tightening up in the downstroke so that the putter head at impact is slower than it would be in a free-flowing stroke. These two ways of "chickening out" always leave the putt well short, so don't chicken out in the backstroke or the downstroke -- just stick to the normal timings back and thru and let the instincts alone handle the size of the stroke. (audio podcast, 4 mins. 02 seconds). LISTEN
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
The Secret of Reading Putts
The secret of reading putts is touch or distance control, which means the consistent ability to deliver the ball with the same ending speed or velocity right at the front lip of the cup, regardless of the length or difficulty of the putt. A golfer with excellent touch consistently delivers all putts to the cup with the same speed, whether the putt is a 50-foot snake for eagle or a knee-knocking 4-footer to save par. (A typical good-touch delivery speed is about 2 revolutions per second at the lip, in which the ball dives deep into the cup before hitting the back wall of the liner.) Touch is critical to reading putts because there are three factors that determine the real curvature of the roll of the ball -- the tilt or contour of the green, the green's speed, and the rolling speed of the ball over that section of green surface. Of these, the golfer is only in charge of the ball's rolling speed, and the section of the putt that really, really matters to whether the ball sinks or misses is the last 2 to 3 feet of the putt as the curvature enters the hole. Without good touch, a golfer is not going to be a good reader of putts and will not sink nearly as many makeable putts as he could. Accordingly, with good touch, the golfer's brain can successfully predict the actual curvature of the critical path of the roll at the end of the putt. This means the golfer visualizes the curvature of the break implicitly using his normal sense of delivery speed at the end. When the golfer visualizes with one sense of touch, he must also execute the putt with that same sense of touch, or else he is reading putts in English but putting them in Spanish. The secret of reading putts is "one speed, one read." See the break with touch and execute the putt with the same touch. (audio podcast, 4 mins. 50 secs.) -- LISTEN
Monday, March 05, 2007
GolfSmarter PuttingZone Podcast
In this appearance on Fred Greene's GolfSmarter Podcast, Geoff and Fred discuss the PuttingZone's revolutionary approach to putting that combines over 100 years of the best golf lore with modern neuroscience for putting targeting perceptions and stroke movement processes in the brain and body, resulting in the "Mechanics of Instinct" -- a new paradigm for golf science to replace the outdated engineering / robotics approach of the past quarter century. Learn what the brain knows about "touch" that golfers have never known about the body moving and acting on earth -- from the inside looking out. (audio podcast, 41 minutes) Listen.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
The Aim Gaze
The Aim Gaze is a tip to help golfers setup beside the ball and determine accurately where in fact the putter face aims along the green. (This has never been taught before by anyone in golf, although in the 1950s and 1960s tour pros used an around-the-elbow approach that avoided most problems.) Over 90% of all golfers, pro and amateur alike, do not accurately aim their putters where they think they are aiming on a ten-foot putt, and the vast majority usually are aimed outside the hole from this distance and farther but are not aware of the problem. There are only two simple skills to learn in order for any golfer to setup to a putter and to determine accurately where in fact it aims: first, the skill of running your line of sight along the ground sideways in a straight line, and second, the skill of matching this line on the ground to the aim of the putter. The first skill requires the golfer to use a "gaze" that aims the eyeballs dead straight and level out of the plane of the face and head and combine this with the turning of the head and face on the axis of the neck like turning an "apple on a stick." The second skill requires only that the golfer in addressing the putter align the line of his throat or neck to match the top edge of the putter face. Then when he aims his face and line of sight at the sweetspot of the putter with a straight-out gaze and turns his head and face towards the target like an apple on a stick, his line of sight will run in a straight line sideways along the ground to the spot on the green where the putter face is actually aimed. (audio podcast, 5 minutes, 17 seconds). -- Listen
Monday, February 12, 2007
The Putter "T"
The Putter "T" is the shape of the putter, with the top being the putter face and the stem being the alignment aid at the sweetspot directed away from the target. Consequently, every putter, once aimed, implies an opposite or mirror "T" along the ground showing where the ball needs to roll for a "straight putt." The "T" stem is a short line segment about 5-6 inches long running perpendicularly away from the putter face. The stroke needs to move the putter face square along this stem, with the sweetspot remaining on line and the face square, and the ball needs to roll down this stem and off its endpoint. The "T" always looks the same in a consistent setup, and all straight putts have the same "look and feel" for exiting the visual scene near the feet. Golfer's will never know how poorly they actually aim until they first learn how to putt straight where they in fact have aimed (audio podcast, 5 mins. 38 seconds) -- Listen
Friday, February 09, 2007
The Core Putt
A short tip for touch: appreciating green speed with the "Core Putt" technique (audio podcast, 3 mins 14 seconds) -- Listen
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