Geoff... why have you concentrated your efforts on putting, something that is considered incidental to most recreational golfers?

Why not the golf swing that most golfers believe is the essence of the game of golf together with the newest equipment?

You speak of "sports science" .... biomechanics, motor learning, exercise physiology, sports psychology, other sciences.... knowing that the game of golf is still mired in ancient history and emotional mysticism.

Most golf swing "teachers" are ball-beaters who have acquired some nominal game skills and the ability to promote their reputations. Few comprehend the application of science to the golf swing because they are poorly educated.

You must admit that beating balls is not conducive to expanding the mind and results in a dearth of intellect and a minimal intelligence.

Perhaps sports science will never penetrate the game of golf, for the golf swing and putting, because the masses that play golf only do it for mild recreational fun and the relief of delusion. Gullible golfers are ripe for exploitation.

Learning and practice are not "fun" because that means going back to school, and that turns off the child in all of us. Golf is a childish-like game perhaps not deserving of scientific knowledge. Perhaps those that golf prefer their clownish incompetence, the masochism and the obsession with new equipment. Blissful ignorance, so to speak.

Attempting to explain basic physics and neuro-sciences to monkeys is futility. The few with willing, inquiring minds are basically helpless anyway, even pro golfers.

Again, why have you devoted yourself to putting... to roll a ball that will eventually stop, somewhere?

Dear sammy,

As a human, I think any physical sports skill is neat and fun and challenging. I have some great tricks for balling up a receipt and slamming it over three Mickey D employees (with fair warning) into a distant trash bin with PIZAZZ while looking elsewhere!

I like darts, I like bowling, I like archery, I like Kuyoda (zen archery), I like tracking animals, I like touch football and basketball with my grandsons, I like racing barefooted against kids, and I like golf, plus a few other things like that.

I like probing the boundaries of human "mind" and animal human. others can think about the hereafter. Not even intrigued by that. I like what I see here and now and want to stick my fingers in a few sockets before my hands get cold and don't warm back up.

As to golfers, some really like challenges too, so there are quite a few of us who run off into the "woods of golf" apart from the majority who mostly muck about. We have plenty of fun together and they really do like to get better, competitive SOBs that they are, who always seem to fit into my slender "friends portfolio."

For the rest, if they are presently alive, I'd surely like to help anyone willing, can safely ignore anyone not willing, and hope to make a dent in what future golfers start out accepting.

Bottom line: if nobody wants what I'm selling, that's okay with me. I'm still going to get to the bottom of the issues as deep as I can go, and try to come up with some real keepers for others.

So far, the tally of newly minted great stuff for golf and putting is about 8 previously unsolved issues and technique inventions. I am even getting deep enough into neuroscience to know a bit more deeply a few things guys at UCLA and USC, and NYU, and Oxford, and Yale and Harvard get paid lots for studying, so that's quite a real kick.

Why would I stop now?

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
PuttingZone.com