Grant85
Head Pro
I recently changed back to my old Cleveland 'Anser' style putter, from an Odyssey Versa small mallet (of the type Mickelson uses).
When I first got the Versa I felt the alignment aids really helped me over short putts. However the paint was all chipped, and this bothered me, although didn't impact performance. I am going to do a project over the winter to repair or replace the paintwork on this and at the very least, see if I can get it looking half decent again.
So I decided to give my old putter a go, just to see how things went. This is a milled face, rather than a smooth painted insert.
What a difference. Mainly in judging distance control, especially on longer putts. And not had any problems with shorter putts. I now have a renewed confidence in being able to at least 2 putt from longer distances on bigger greens.
Previously, when I got the Versa (2014) I didn't really understand that putting is more of an art than a science and so was happy to get all the help I could with regards to club tech. But I now believe it is far better to rely on instinct and feel, especially with regards to distance control.
I remember reading Darren Clarke's book and him recalling being on the practice green the night before the Open Championship in 2011. Dr Bob Rotella was there. Bob asked him what he was struggling with and he said, he just couldn't get the distance control on his putting. Clearly a big problem on the large links greens. Bob picked up a ball and threw it across the green to him and asked Darren to throw it back, moving further away and closer in again with each throw. Bob told him that neither of them were thinking about how hard to throw the ball, they were just looking at the target and letting it go.
Clearly you still need to practice in order to have that distance control, and I realise a putter change often yields disproportionately better results early on, but for me I'm going to be focusing on feel and instinct with a fair bit less metal in my hands. And will be applying similar theory to approach game from less than 100 yards, and especially less than 50 yards.
When I first got the Versa I felt the alignment aids really helped me over short putts. However the paint was all chipped, and this bothered me, although didn't impact performance. I am going to do a project over the winter to repair or replace the paintwork on this and at the very least, see if I can get it looking half decent again.
So I decided to give my old putter a go, just to see how things went. This is a milled face, rather than a smooth painted insert.
What a difference. Mainly in judging distance control, especially on longer putts. And not had any problems with shorter putts. I now have a renewed confidence in being able to at least 2 putt from longer distances on bigger greens.
Previously, when I got the Versa (2014) I didn't really understand that putting is more of an art than a science and so was happy to get all the help I could with regards to club tech. But I now believe it is far better to rely on instinct and feel, especially with regards to distance control.
I remember reading Darren Clarke's book and him recalling being on the practice green the night before the Open Championship in 2011. Dr Bob Rotella was there. Bob asked him what he was struggling with and he said, he just couldn't get the distance control on his putting. Clearly a big problem on the large links greens. Bob picked up a ball and threw it across the green to him and asked Darren to throw it back, moving further away and closer in again with each throw. Bob told him that neither of them were thinking about how hard to throw the ball, they were just looking at the target and letting it go.
Clearly you still need to practice in order to have that distance control, and I realise a putter change often yields disproportionately better results early on, but for me I'm going to be focusing on feel and instinct with a fair bit less metal in my hands. And will be applying similar theory to approach game from less than 100 yards, and especially less than 50 yards.
