Trying a new putting tool

Sports Illustrated senior writer John Garrity was a 42-year-old 8-handicapper when he suddenly lost his swing. Since December 1989 he has been looking for it -- a modern-day Odysseus adrift on the troubled waters of swing theory. As Garrity travels the world reporting on golf, he visits as many driving ranges as he can, avoiding the dreaded "mats only" ranges that prevent him from teeing it up.

Monday, June 9

CHICAGO -- The carpet in my corner room at the Palmer House Hilton is tinted green and has a nice tight nap to it. It's my guess that a putt rolled from the mini-bar toward the ottoman would break slightly to the right, toward Lake Michigan. Not that I'll check it out. I'm traveling with only four clubs, and a putter is not among them.

I do not practice putting. My pulse does not race at the sight of a 40-year-old Bulls Eye putter in a barrel at the equipment exchange. I do not scrutinize my putting alignment in elevator mirrors. I am not looking for a lost putting stroke. I have used only three putters as an adult, and if you asked me to name them I'd need to stop and think. And that goes for my current putter, which is a mid-length mallet that the Callaway people assigned me when I was fitted for clubs five years ago. (Odyssey, I learned then, is a brand of putter, not just an approach to life.)

Here's the predictable irony: Since I don't hold putting in high regard -- since I am, in fact, completely indifferent to the art that Ben Hogan described as "a different game entirely, not golf" -- I have no hang-ups about it. The pros at the Golf Digest School, the ones who put me in a straightjacket and helped me wreck my swing 13 years ago, loved my putting. "Don't change a thing," one of them said. "I wish I had that stroke," said another. One of them brought the other students over to see how I tapped the ground behind the ball as a "trigger" before I took the putter back. "Many of the best putters have a little mannerism like that," he said. "It takes the tension out of the stroke."

I'm not claiming to be a good putter. I three-putt often, the same as any other mid- to high-handicapper. But very few of my missed putts are caused by a bad stroke. They are caused by bad reads. Give me a three-foot putt on a stainless-steel slab in a no-gravity environment, and I'll allow for five inches of break. And leave it short.

It was with some puzzlement, therefore, that I opened a UPS parcel the other day and found that an unknown benefactor had sent me the Putting Arc, a training device for troubled putters. There were two Arcs, actually -- a furniture-grade deluxe model that looks like a cross between a surfboard and a dulcimer, and a lightweight plastic model that resembles a corner molding from a child's playhouse. The portable version, the accompanying literature explained, is light enough to carry in your golf bag.

"Great Putting is Not a Mysterious Art," a yellow sticker teased. "Great Putting is an Arc!"

I may not care about putting, but I love a great sales spiel. The brochure said that the Putting Arc is based on "a formula developed by Greek mathematician Apollonius of Perga, 2,200 years ago." It claimed that it was "the only training aid that teaches the perfect path for the putting stroke -- an inside-square-inside stroke." It boasted that the Putting Arc had played "a key role" in recent Champions Tour victories by Dana Quigley, David Eger and Tom Purtzer, "as well as a three-time 2003 PGA Tour winner."

I loved that I had to guess who that three-time winner was.

I was most interested in the contribution of Apollonius of Perga, who hasn't written a best-seller since about 200 B.C. This old Greek, a man with time on his hands, apparently was the first to calculate what kind of arc will be traced by a pendulum which is not quite perpendicular to the ground -- e.g., a putter. Apollonius anticipated the findings of the contemporary mathematician/philosopher, Dave Pelz, who theorizes that a short, stout man in loud trousers can, if he practices a lot, achieve a perfect pendulum stroke. "If you ask 20 people how the putter should move back and through the ball, 18 would say, 'Straight back and straight through,'" the brochure asserts, breaking mathematical precedent of its own by refusing to convert to the lowest common denominator. "Unfortunately, this is incorrect for the majority of golfers."

The Putting Arc at work.

I knew where this argument was headed -- to the ongoing battle between those who believe that the putter should stay low and square to the target throughout the stroke and those who believe that the putter should swing open and shut like a gate. This is not a conflict that fires my passions.

On the other hand. I'm always game to try out a new gadget. I put the deluxe version of the Putting Arc on my living room rug and sent the butler to the garage for a putter. With the putter in hand, I made a few practice strokes without a ball, keeping the heel of my putter against the curved rail of the Arc. The resulting inside-square-inside path was very subtle. But then, putting is a subtle skill -- unless you're Hale Irwin trying to backhand it into the hole from about two inches.

After about 10 seconds, my concentration started to lag, so I stepped away from the Putting Arc and took a couple of practice strokes employing my usual technique. There was no difference.

My analysis: I already have the putting stroke that the Putting Arc purports to teach.

You, of course, may be a Pelz disciple in a putting slump. In that case, The Putting Arc could be just what you need to put your putter on the inside path to righteousness. For more information, call 1-800-898-0701 or go online at www.theputtingarc.com.

In the meantime, I plan to maintain my putting stroke the old-fashioned way. By neglecting it.

Watch this space for another installment of Mats Only. To send John Garrity advice, share your experiences, or suggest a driving range, click here.

 

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