In another post you claim to be a better putter than most of the players on the PGA tour. How did you determine this? Have you putted with a 6 or 7 figures on the line?

My fault! That was stupid of me. I couldn't possibly sink a two-foot putt with a playoff for the US Open on the line. I doubt I could lag 20 feet for a two-putt in a playoff for the Masters. I'm sure I would be peeing in my pants trying to catch my breath.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
PuttingZone.com
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In that case I'm a better putter than most of the PGA tour also. If you've never backed it up, why should I!?!

Dear Jonny,

All kidding aside, if you seriously believe that Tour pros are the best putters in the game, you must be very young. Today's pros are not really all that good in comparison to players in the past, and in reality there are not that many Tour pros who can be counted as excellent putters.

In fact, Tour pros either get a lot better than they are as putters when they first start out, or they fall off tour, like one-time winners David Gossett and Garrett Willis and many others. Sergio Garcia (the number 1 ball-striker) finished close to the worst putter in the field of Tour players last year, according to the statistics. Joe Durant (the number 2 ball-striker) is also very close to the bottom for putting, and has been for over twenty years. Chad Campbell is a top ball-striker who ranks in the lower half of bottom half of the field. What sort of a career would he be having if he actually improved his putting? Chris Riley formerly was considered one of the best putters in the modern game, but then his putting soured and he now ranks 179th of 182 players. D.J. Trahan grew up under the tutelage of his pro teacher father Don Trahan at Hilton Head and played on the NCAA Championship team at Clemson, but now ranks 179th of 182 in Tour putting; in Greensboro two years ago he had the lead on Sunday for $900,000 but putted horribly and blew $750,000 with 35 putts (7 more than his Saturday round). Tom Lehman has always struggled with putting. Nick Faldo won many majors but from 1997-2000 he ranked as the worst Tour player at putting, not just so-so, but dead last for four years, and he still has not recovered. And so it goes.

The idea that the top American golfers are the best putters around is shown to be false once every four years in the Ryder Cup, when the Europeans stomp them with their putting.

When Loren Roberts was learning putting, he practiced often with an amateur friend, and his friend routinely trounced him at putting. Roberts said fairly recently that his friend still beats him. Gary Nicklaus was one of the lowest-ranked putters out there when he briefly played some events on Tour. He has all the help he can wish for from his dad and coaches, but he still didn't putt worth a hoot. I once watched Andy Bean trying to show Gary how to putt. Andy is historically one of the least skilled putters on Tour, so it was painful to watch.

Ben Hogan hated putting late in his career. Sam Snead hated putting so much he got the yips and putted sidesaddle, and not that well, either. Johnny Miller had a nice run early in his career, but then he totally lost the ability to putt. he tried the Senior Tour a few years ago, and his putting totally stopped him. And he's one of the brightest guys in the game.

I've stood and watched and studied Tour players while putting for 10-15 hours at a stretch (as they come and go from the driving range to supper or elsewhere) for six to seven days at a stretch, and know pretty well what sort of putting gets done on Tour. I see what sorts of exercises and drills they use and how well they do. I also have studied Tour player statistics for decades and have gone further and studied the performance and skills of players from earlier eras back to about 1880. I've talked with numerous Tour players about their education for putting and what sorts of things they read and study, and what sorts of techniques they believe in. And then of course I know what I can do.

If your point is about the pressure, you need to distinguish between playing for a pile of money that someone lays on a table with playing while betting your own money. Just ask Lee Trevino or Ernie Els about the difference. Trevino: "You don't know pressure until you're playing for a $5 nassau with only $2 in your pocket." Els: "I couldn't believe how much more pressure there is when I was playing with my own $10,000 on the line." When you are playing for a million bucks prize money facing a four-foot putt, your attitude should be that of Walter Hagen: "Miss this putt for $2,000 -- not likely!"

Really great putters don't get jittery about putts under pressure. They're too hardened and calm about the game for that. Ask Stewart Cink, who blew a 2-footer at Southern Hills for the US Open and then hired a Fort Lauderdale psychiatrist he pays to tell him every Wednesday on the phone: "Get a life, Stewart. Golf is just a game."

There is plenty of room for improvement in Tour players' putting. The book "Flatstick" written in 2006 states falsely that Brad Faxon set the standard for top putting with 1.704 putts per GIR for a year, but this is manifestly not what the records show, if you care to actually look. Bob Heintz set the modern record at 1.682 in 2001, which is more than 20% BETTER than every player on Tour since the 1980s. Perhaps they all should putt a lot better.

I'm not here to convince you I know what I'm doing. I don't really recall making the statement you refer to, although it is entirely possible. I probably shouldn't say stuff like that. Even so, you can read and watch what I'm doing and make up your own mind about that, and I invite you to do just that. About all I can tell you is I'm a pretty thick-skinned individual who has seen a lot more important things in life than a missed putt OR a million bucks.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
PuttingZone.com
Golf's most advanced and comprehensive putting instruction.

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Geoff,
Who would you consider a good putter on the pro tours. I have been noticing that more of the Europeans seem to setup like you want - eyeline over ball and neck more parallel to ground. Why do you think this is?
I would love to key in on a few players who do it well. It is easy to pick a full swing you like and can follow, but more difficult to find a putting stroke to analyze.

Dear bgolfing,

Here are some golfers on Tour whose putting I like:

Ernie Els
David Toms
Padraig Harrington
David Howell
Bob Heintz
Henrik Stenson
Steve Stricker
Tiger Woods
Glen Day
Retief Goosen

Some of these I like for different reasons -- some for form, some for tempo and simplicity, and some just for sheer results.

The Europeans tend to follow a biomechanical / robotic approach to setup taught by Harold Swash that emphasizes setting the neck line (cervical spine) parallel to the ground to promote a pendulum stroke. I don't necessarily share this concept, but it happens to also get the golfer's face flat to the surface and (with eyes also over the ball). This results in the straight gaze I teach in a round-about accidental way. (You don't have to have the eyes over the ball or the head and face flat to the surface; all you really need is a gaze that aims the eyes out of the face straight at the ball like pointing the bridge of the nose at the target, which is why Ben Crenshaw can stand somewhat tall at address and still get good target perceptions.)

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
PuttingZone.com
Golf's most advanced and comprehensive putting instruction.

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Modesty Ain't My Thang March 13 2006, 7:50 AM


Dear David,

I'm humble, but not modest. I'm better than most players on the PGA Tour and getting better every day. At least I know what to work on and I work harder than anyone I know about! I'm usually better than my students, although some are quite good.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum


That was in response to the questions "How good of a putter are you?"

I didn't say all tour players are good. I said how do you know you are better than them.

Dear Jonny,

I guess it is fair to say that my students beat the average Tour player, and I beat my students (usually).

Tour players are not too familiar with what I show them in advance, and then they putt a lot better than they do when using the common techniques. That tells me something.

I have a good number of amateur students who shoot under 65. Several have shot 63 or 62. A 45-year-old casual golfer went from 10 handicap to scratch in 2 months after two lessons and won his club championship by beating a Wake Forest golfer. I taught an 18-year-old twice and he then shot 62-67 in the most important world junior event of the season to win, and next month won a national Open against adults with a Thursday 62. A twenty-year-old amateur took two lessons and then shot his course record 63. I beat these guys.

Occasionally I caddy in pro-ams while a Tour pro shows the amateurs a "read." My golfers listen to me and putts a lot better than the pro. So not all Tour pros are that great at the key skills of reading, aiming, touch and stroke. I see this in person quite a bit.

So, as I said, I shouldn't make statements like this, but the truth is Tour pros don't want to listen to you unless you're BETTER than they are. So I've been humping every day for 17 straight years to get that respect. What have you been doing in the last 17 years? Has Chad Campbell improved his putting in the past 17 years? Has Sergio figured it out yet? I think you can understand why I might have made my ill-advised claim.

Okay?

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
PuttingZone.com
Golf's most advanced and comprehensive putting instruction.

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Geoff,
I think what you are trying to say is that you have studied putting more and know more about putting than most pros on tour. I believe you are also saying that putting is practically neglected by most pros on tour.
I believe these points are true. But, to say that you are a better putter than most pros on tour is over the top. It would be like me saying I'm a better driver than Dale Earnhardt Jr. because I've driven to work everyday for 17 years.
When you state that your students shoot 62, 63, etc.,. in big tournaments and that you beat them, what exactly does that mean? How do you beat them, on the practice putting green? If so, it's not the same as putting while playing golf. Many putts while playing a round of golf have varying significance and stress. Sometimes, a 10 footer for bogey after going out of bounds is a gut-check that if made, can turn around your momentum. A 10 foot birdie or eagle is hard to make sometimes because back in your mind, you don't "have to make it" whereas, a 10 foot bogey or par is a "must make" and you give it more concentration. Putts on the practice green just don't have the same significance as putts during a round of golf or in tournaments.

Dean

Exactly my point!

Dear Dean,

You're absolutely right. I don't like having my personal putting skill and / or performance being the issue, so let's talk about the underlying issue, which is whether Tour players handle pressure putts well.

Everyone seems to think there is a big difference psychologically between practicing putting and "putting under the gun", and to almost everyone there is. But not to a great putter. I don't believe people understand this, and that's why people think my comments are "over the top."

Forget me. Golfers need to learn to "play" the game of golf, not struggle at it. You will never be a great putter so long as you are handicapped by your emotions.

Are most Tour players handicapped by their emotions? You bet. Why? Ask Stewart Cink. It's not the money, really -- the "6 or 7 figures" that people always blame it on. It's really worrying about what people think of you as a golfer, because you aren't secure enough in your own mind about who you are, what you are doing, and whether it matters. Once you get to "Tiger level," where you couldn't convince people "you aren't that good at golf" if you shanked every drive all week, you can afford to shrug off a few gaffs on the course and you can engage in season-long, trouble-filled swing changes. Nothing affects the public perception. But for the rest of us, we have something to prove -- to convince or persuade others to accept us as very good golfers, not just also-rans. That's why pros work so hard. They call it "pride", but more often it is really "fear of not being accepted in the top ranks." This is why the "World Ranking" and membership on the Ryder Cup is so valuable to pro egos.

Pros get treated VERY differently once they notch their first win. There are huge differences on Tour depending on whether the golfer is regarded as a pro who plays to keep his card every year and won't ever win (there are forty or fifty of these guys), a "winless" golfer on the way up fairly new to the Tour, a pro who has at least one "W", good golfers who can win repeated times but may not be a constant threat (Zack Johnson, Sergio Garcia), and serious threats in any and every event (Tiger, Phil, Ernie). And I mean the difference is in the way the golfers at these levels think and feel about themselves and how they are thought of AND TREATED by the other pros on Tour. Ask Boo Weekley, the 'gator wrestler from the Blackwater Bayou.

This whole business of the pecking order is just psychological defensiveness. The "bullet proof ego" of the Tour pro is a self-protective delusion because the golfer is not able to swim in these waters without the protection. That is, he is not sufficiently secure in himself mentally to get along without the protective ego. Tour pro quote: "If you're so f...g good at putting, why aren't you out here on Tour? Since you're not on Tour, Tour pros are obviously better than you." But this pro QUIT golf for four years due to his complete inability to putt and he is not that good of a putter today. At age 41 he has three wins dating back a decade, which hardly ranks him as a "golfing great", and in 2005 he ranked 74th in putting on Tour at a skill level that is BELOW 20% of the Nationwide Tour field as well as 20% of European pros on the European PGA Tour. If anyone on the Nationwide Tour accepted this bogus argument (if you're so good, why aren't you on Tour?) they wouldn't bother with trying to advance up a level. Ask Zach Johnson if he ever felt like he wasn't as good as the players on Tour, even though he wasn't.

Look again at the "personality" of the great putter: secure, cheerful, impeturbable, settled in his technique, not subject to searching for short-term fixes, emotionally stable, calm demeanor, good perspective on the relative importance of golf and family and world sufferings, and so forth. Billy Casper, Bobby Locke, Loren Roberts, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Paul Runyan, Brad Faxon, Horton Smith, Walter Travis, Dave Stockton Jr., David Toms, Payne Stewart, .... Do most Tour pros fit this picture? Hardly - and that's a big reason WHY they are not great putters. Did Zack Johnson fit this picture when he won the Masters? You bet! (Read his post-win interview.)

I suppose that I am claiming that the best route to "mental toughness" on the putting green -- in competition, under the gun, when "6 or 7 figures" are on the line, when the Ryder Cup team and whole nation depend upon you, facing the five-foot kneeknocker to win the US Open, etc. etc. -- is thru the self. Golf psychs teaching "mental toughness" talk about a myriad of approaches and separate tricks and tips, but I believe the real, most secure route is thru the self -- getting a good perspective on yourself, on the game, and on the relative meaning of your playing.

Ben Hogan played for "pride" but he also played to provide for himself and Valerie -- to win enough money each tournament to pay his room rent, eat food, pay for gas to the next event, pay his entry fee for the next event, and possibly keep a little. Byron Nelson had one goal the whole time: make enough in golf to afford a ranch for himself and his wife. Paying the mortgage and providing for your children's welfare -- now that's real pressure. But that sort of pressure comes up only rarely -- the last three holes of Q-School trying to get a card, Monday Qualifiers, trying to make the cut on Fridays, trying to reach the 125th spot on the money list in the last three months of the season, match play, and the five golfers out of the whole field who might have a chance on the back nine on Sunday at Augusta National. Everyone else pretty much knows the deal when they tee it up on the first hole -- playing for points, playing for a top-10 finish, playing to survive the cut and then try to advance up the prize-money list, etc.

Ask me if I'm mentally tougher than "most" Tour players, without the "ego", too. Honestly, yes. But forget me personally. The point is that great putters NEED to be secure in themselves BEFORE stepping into the arena.

This is what you point out in your question: "Putts have varying significance and stress. Sometimes, a 10 footer for bogey after going out of bounds is a gut-check that if made, can turn around your momentum. A 10 foot birdie or eagle is hard to make sometimes because back in your mind, you don't "have to make it" whereas, a 10 foot bogey or par is a "must make" and you give it more concentration. Putts on the practice green just don't have the same significance as putts during a round of golf or in tournaments." Everything that makes you question what I say relates to psychology ("back of mind", "have to make it", "must make it", "significance"), and by that I mean "emotional" force.

Here are a few quotes to help get a good handle on this:

"I'm a better Tour player in 2007 than I was in my rookie year because I'm not so caught up in the hoopla." -- Boo Weekley

"I was having a lot of self-doubt out here about two or three years ago. I was having trouble out there and I knew that it was something that I was not going to be able to just wipe away," Cink said. "I tried doing that for a few years. I tried to just put it away. I tried all kinds of different fixes. I see guys during these tour events do the same kind of things I was trying to do all the time. That's not the answer. The problem for a lot of us out here is we work on things that are external, not emotional. I see guys trying new grips, new clubs. Even in the interview process I hear the same kind of things in guys' answers all the time. If you're emotionally sort of out of whack, it's impossible." -- Stewart Cink

"Q. After the round, Vaughn Taylor said, "If you're not Superman, you're Superman's brother." Tiger and Retief had 14 majors combined and you held them off; who are you?
ZACH JOHNSON: I'm Zach Johnson and I'm from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Laughter) That's about it.
I'm a normal guy." -- Zach Johnson

"Until you win a tournament, you're just a day laborer, really working hard trying to get there. Until you win a tournament, it is easy for people to attach a label to you that you make a lot of money but don't want to win. It was starting to bother me that couple of years. (On being the leading money winner without a victory before Bay Hill in 1994)." -- Loren Roberts

"The game lends itself to fantasies about our abilities." -- Peter Alliss

"In golf, as in no other sport, your principal opponent is youself." -- Herbert Warren Wind

"Of all the hazards, fear is the worst." -- Sam Snead

"The three things I fear most in golf are lightning, Ben Hogan and a downhill putt." -- Sam Snead

"The person I fear most in the last two rounds is myself." -- Tom Watson

"The longer you play, the more certain you are that a man's performance is the outward manifestation of who, in his heart, he really thinks he is." -- Hale Irwin

"You can talk about strategy all you want, but what really matters is resilience. On the last nine holes of the Masters or Open, there's going to come at least one point when you want to throw yourself in the nearest trash can and disappear. You know you can't hide. It's like you're walking down the fairway naked. The gallery knows what you've done, every other player knows and worst of all, you know. That's when you find out if you're a real competitor." -- Hale Irwin

"A well-adjusted man is one who can play golf as if it were a game." -- Anonymous

"I just try to put it on the fairway, then the green and not three putt." -- Peter Thompson

“Go play golf. Go to the golf course. Hit the ball. Find the ball, repeat until the ball is in the hole. Have fun. The end.” -- Chuck Hogan

"When I putt, my emotions collide like tectonic plates. It’s left my memory circuits full of scars that won’t heal." -- Mac O’Grady

"You must attain a neurological and biological serenity in chaos. You cannot let yourself be sabotaged by adrenaline." -- Mac O'Grady

"The guy who chokes least wins the most." -- Hubert Green

"Don't let the bad shots get to you. Don't let yourself become angry - the true scramblers are thick-skinned. And they always beat the whiners." -- Paul Runyan

"Of course I'm disappointed. Of all the ones I've let get away, this was the worst. You play poorly and you pay the price. That's all there is to it. My putting was out of sync, my rhythm was out. That's all I can say. I just didn't get the job done. But I'll wake up tomorrow morning and, hopefully, I'll still be breathing. Some times things work out on the golf course and sometimes they don't. Life will go on. (On losing the 1996 Masters)." -- Greg Norman

"Hell, it ain't like losing a leg. (After losing the Masters)." -- Billy Joe Patton

"Most golfers prepare for disaster. A good golfer prepares for success." -- Bob Toski

"Golf is just a game - and an idiotic game most of the time." -- Mark Calcavecchia

"It's only money. Spend it. If you run out, go get some more." -- Mark Calcavecchia

"I don't want to be a millionaire, just live like one." -- Walter Hagen

"Golf puts a man's character on the anvil and his richest qualities - patience, poise, restraint - to the flame." -- Billy Casper

"Always count your blessings. Be thankful you are able to be out on a beautiful course. Most people in the world don't have that opportunity." -- Fred Couples

"We tournament golfers are much overrated. We get paid too much." -- Tom Watson

"Professional golf is the only sport where, if you win 20 percent of the time, you're the best." -- Jack Nicklaus

"In golf you've got two continuously merciless competitors, yourself and the course." -- Tommy Armour

"Golf is more fun than walking naked in a strange place, but not much." -- Buddy Hackett

"It's so ridiculous to see a golfer with a one foot putt and everybody is saying "Shhh" and not moving a muscle. Then we allow nineteen year-old kids to face a game-deciding free throw with seventeen thousand people yelling." -- Al McGuire

"Golf is said to be an humbling game, but it is surprising how many people are either not aware of their weaknesses of else reckless of consequences." -- Bobby Jones

"Bad putting is due more to the effect the green has upon the player than it has upon the action of the ball." -- Bobby Jones

"I always like to see a person stand up to a golf ball as though he were perfectly at home in its presence." -- Bobby Jones

"Short putts are missed because it is not physically possible to make the little ball travel over uncertain ground for three or four feet with any degree of regularity." -- Walter Hagen

"I'm certainly not a saint out there on the golf course. In fact, far from it. Like when you make a three-putt and become upset. I take one step back and remember there are more important things going on in the world than golf." -- Bernhard Langer

"Golf is a nice game, but that's all. It's never going to be an exciting game to watch on TV. It's not a circus and never will be one. The audience for golf is not going to change significantly. It's always going to be people who play it, understand it, and love it." -- Jack Nicklaus

"Whatever anyone may care to say about golf, at least one thing is mercifully certain, namely it is a voluntary affair." -- Henry Longhurst

"I'm the best. I just haven't played yet." -- Muhammed Ali

"Who's the best putter I've ever seen? You're looking at him." -- Harvey Penick

"Don't hurry. Don't worry. You're only here in a short visit so don't forget to stop and smell the flowers." -- Walter Hagen

"I try to be semi-humble. If I started going around saying how good I was, everything would go wrong." -- Johnny Miller

"Nobody ever heard Jack Nicklaus say: 'I don't know' about anything." -- Johnny Miller

In my effort to teach the best putting a golfer can perform, there are two separate matters: technique and management of the mind and emotions so as not to interfere with excellent technique. The pressure that you concern yourself with is something all golfers need to get a firm handle on, and the best way to do that is to "know thyself", as the Greek philosophers say.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
PuttingZone.com
Golf's most advanced and comprehensive putting instruction.

Visit the new PuttingZone Blog for podcasts of putting tips:
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