Webb Simmson's putting stroke

[Loki]

Is it just me or does it seem strange and kind of sad that so many golfers Ollie's age (23 is it?) are already going through all sort of contortions to stave off incipient yips?

 

I hear ya. but i teach alot of juniors and alot of them do left hand low at 13-14 its insane. they mimic what they see work on tv so by 23 nothing is off the table but I agree why not continue to groove the stroke that got you there so it responds better to pressure situations?

 

I'm not a teacher, but I do have an opinion. Putting is 90% (if not more) confidence. Why not teach the "yip proof" (if such a thing exists) set up from the start. The more putts a young person sinks, the more confidence he/she builds. Why start with one stroke until it fails under pressure a few times , and THEN start messing around?

People putt average for three reasons

 

1) cannot control speed

2) cannot read break

3) cannot match up face and path

 

When you combine two of these, this when people start putting bad and then eventually they will fall to the remaining issues and have the full blown yips.

 

Most golfers cannot read break, don't understand how to control speed and have bad face control.

 

When don't anything right to begin with, what are you suppose to be confident about.

 

This why I say its almost impossible for someone above an 8 handicap to have a good mental game. There is nothing they are average at in their game so what is there to build confidence on

 

I think a better statement is "most golfers cannot interpret break as related to speed of the ball." Anyone with eyes can see the break, they don't know how hard they will have to hit the ball to get it in the hole using the proper line.

[Santiago Golf]

Is it just me or does it seem strange and kind of sad that so many golfers Ollie's age (23 is it?) are already going through all sort of contortions to stave off incipient yips?

 

I hear ya. but i teach alot of juniors and alot of them do left hand low at 13-14 its insane. they mimic what they see work on tv so by 23 nothing is off the table but I agree why not continue to groove the stroke that got you there so it responds better to pressure situations?

 

I'm not a teacher, but I do have an opinion. Putting is 90% (if not more) confidence. Why not teach the "yip proof" (if such a thing exists) set up from the start. The more putts a young person sinks, the more confidence he/she builds. Why start with one stroke until it fails under pressure a few times , and THEN start messing around?

People putt average for three reasons

 

1) cannot control speed

2) cannot read break

3) cannot match up face and path

 

When you combine two of these, this when people start putting bad and then eventually they will fall to the remaining issues and have the full blown yips.

 

Most golfers cannot read break, don't understand how to control speed and have bad face control.

 

When don't anything right to begin with, what are you suppose to be confident about.

 

This why I say its almost impossible for someone above an 8 handicap to have a good mental game. There is nothing they are average at in their game so what is there to build confidence on

 

I think a better statement is "most golfers cannot interpret break as related to speed of the ball." Anyone with eyes can see the break, they don't know how hard they will have to hit the ball to get it in the hole using the proper line.

 

Good green readers don't use their eyes to read putts

[Lodestone]

 

Good green readers don't use their eyes to read putts

 

Are you trying to say that good green readers don't use their eyes at all?

[Santiago Golf]

Good green readers don't use their eyes to read putts

 

Are you trying to say that good green readers don't use their eyes at all?

 

good green readers use their feet and use their eyes to notice general humps on the greens

[Lodestone]

Good green readers don't use their eyes to read putts

 

Are you trying to say that good green readers don't use their eyes at all?

 

good green readers use their feet and use their eyes to notice general humps on the greens

 

Ok, I'll buy that. But that's a bit different from saying they "don't use their eyes".

[PowderedToastMan]

Good green readers don't use their eyes to read putts

 

Are you trying to say that good green readers don't use their eyes at all?

 

good green readers use their feet and use their eyes to notice general humps on the greens

So in other words, what you're saying is good putters use their eyes to read putts.

[Lodestone]

Ever had the yips so bad you hit 2 and 3 footers with your eyes closed? I have.

[hell_is_chrome]

Watched yesterday and only caught a brief vid of his stroke, (the forearm brace), but unlike Kutcher's, it looked like he was left hand low and it sure looked like the right hand was pressing the the grip to the left forearm. I thought that particular method was/is non conforming? If it's not than no big whoop, but if it is, then what? I'm just curious that's all. I'm still one of those folks that think the R&A and USGA had/have the heads sequestered in a rectal orifice. The following is offered to just reinforce the position.

 

 

Anchored Putters Aren’t New

Strangely enough, it may have been Simpson’s success at the U.S. Open in 2012 that was one of the catalysts of the rule change.

The USGA and R&A were happy to look the other way for 25 years or so between the time Johnny Miller debuted a belly putter at Pebble Beach in 1985, bracing the putter against his forearm, and 2013.

When Charlie Owens made his own to use on the PGA Tour Champions circuit in 1986, they looked the other way. They were fine when Miller won at Pebble Beach in 1987 using his long putter. They didn’t make noise after Orville Moody won the U.S. Senior Open in 1989, maybe because Moody threatened legal action if they banned it. Rocco Mediate with broomstick? No problem. Paul Azinger using a belly putter? That was OK. Cost Knost winning the U.S. Amateur with a belly putter. Nobody batted an eye. Ditto Webb Simpson. He started using a long putter in his first year at Wake Forest.

Why Did the USGA & R&A Rule Against Anchored Putting?

The USGA and R&A were ok for a quarter of a century with long anchored putters and belly putters. Then they weren’t.

 

It’s likely the R&A’s hair was on fire at that point, and when Adam Scott won the Masters the following spring, the collective heads of the USGA and the R&A exploded. Hello? It was OK for 25 years, but not when three players won the U.S. Open and the British Open and then the Masters? That’s when it was an actual problem?Keegan Bradley became the first golfer to win a major with a belly putter in 2011 at the PGA. It was the first ripple. Then the next year, Simpson won the U.S. Open with a belly putter. A month afterward, Ernie Els won the British Open with a long putter, after Adam Scott, using a long putter, faded over the finishing holes, and Tiger Woods’ charge ran out of gas.

The timing of the change made the two organizations look petty, particularly considering they had ignored it for a quarter of a century. However, they make the rules, and presumably, they decided they would make a rules change.

 

Longer than 25 years. Phil Rodgers used a belly anchored putted in the 1960's.