I’m not a great putter so it infuriates me how much of your total golf score comprises of putts. Fiddling about with slopes and tap-ins and aim point, claw grips and arm locking, the knap, the mysterious effects of water, arc and angles and roll… It’s by far the most boring, time-consuming and fiddly element of our majestic game. Putting is the least golf-like thing about golf. And I love golf. I love the feeling of making a solid swing and getting a booming drive away. Of making that carry on the par-5 of playing an accurate iron into the heart of a green. Those athletic and, or measured blows should be given more emphasis. Here’s a practical scenario that explains why I think that.
On a 500-yard hole, one could smack a 300-yard drive. The perfect launch a beautiful flight with a touch of draw, piercing and fizzing its way through the air and covering nearly a fifth of a mile… One shot. Then a majestic 5-iron from 200 out, into the heart of the green, beautifully struck with the right power and the right shape. It sounded like a gunshot when the club made contact, the ball towered into the air, flew as straight as an arrow and landed softly 20 feet from the pin… One shot.
