On monday, during the last playoff hole of the U. S. Open, it did my heart good to see Mr. Goosen choose his putter from about 15-20 yards off the green. He did have to adjust for the hilly slope, but of course the fringe was cut very short which made ideal conditions. I always stress that one should use the putter whenever possible, less room for error, and especially under the conditions that Goosen was faced with...very close-cut fringe and pretty flat all the way to the flagstick. Unless one is very proficient at chipping off the hard ground, I would always go with the putter as long as the fringe is short and you have smooth sailing to the flagstick. I talk about this in The Putting Edge as well as how not to miss those two-footers as Cink and Goosen did the day before on eighteen. I'm just very surprised that Goosen didn't get that approach putt closer to the flagstick. Evidently, his knees were knockin' pretty good at that moment. There was some fantastic putting in that tournament. I especially liked the putt that Garcia made when his ball went around to the back of the cup and fell in from the back side.
Regards,
Larry Stanley
The Putting Edge
Elk Grove, CA USA
OnePuttLarry@aol.com
http://www.ThePuttingEdge.com