Ian Wood: Putting streak ironed out my kinks

Published on Sunday 13 September 2009 23:12

I WAS recently caught by a blast from the past when a booklet based on the teachings of a golfing guru called Mr X came my way and reminded me of the days when hopes were still high and my feet weren't killing me. The articles were serialised in the Golf Monthly magazine and were avidly devoured by suffering souls in golf clubs around the country.

Indeed, a few of the photographs I thought were a little harsh on the subjects, for in some cases they were informal snaps of people simply standing about having a chat. Nevertheless, Mr X's beady eye had picked them up and they were ruthlessly analysed. Dave Thomas and Harold Henning, hands in pockets and having a laugh between themselves, are shown and it is noted that "both stand with the pelvis basin well UP in front and with the buttocks IN." Doug Sanders, in deep conversation with Henry Cotton, is shown as "a splendid example of posture for golf," though Mr X recommends that he should "get some flesh off his abdomen".

A picture of Peter Alliss watching the result of a putt, shows that everything is tickety-boo on the pelvis front, but a "slight inward kink" is detected in his lower spine. However, the Ryder Cup man must have been braced by the author's concluding bit of advice: "If I were Alliss, I would do exercises to strengthen the spinal and corset muscles." Incidentally, going by Alliss's demeanour, it looks as if the putt didn't fall, so there could be a hint of slump in there which might go some way towards explaining the "kink".

Certainly, as far as putting is concerned I'm in a more or less permanent state of kink, but, should the happy day arrive when I'm sinking everything, I'll stand ramrod straight like a guardsman. Curiously enough, I had a brief respite from the rubbish last week when I didn't three-putt often and single-putted two successive greens, the first, from five feet, for a birdie 2 and the second, from 15 feet, for a par 4. I record this sequence not because it's anything special, but because nothing like it has happened for years. Now and again, of course, I have holed second and third putts from close range, but very few which actually mattered in the way of influencing the outcome of holes in match-play situations or in building significant scores in stroke-play.

Mr X introduced us to "toe pegs" and "shin posts" and placed great emphasis on posture. The posture part I found distressing on the re-reading, for it brought home the fact that I can't really stand up properly any more without holding on to something.

Probably the most vivid illustration of how rare an event last week's two-hole run was, is provided by the reaction of my golfing partners and other members of the company who foregather to toss their quids into the sweep on a weekly basis. They went feral. There were moments when I was in fear of being bitten. From their outpourings it would seem that I was forever holing putts and was an imposter in handicap terms and a notorious magician on the greens. Two half-decent putts in two years and this is what I have to put up with. It'll be something of a relief when the wheels come off again. When I get back to missing everything, then perhaps things can return to normal.

That might be sooner rather than later, for I've been reading all about putting from George Duncan, winner of the 1920 Open at Deal, and if that doesn't blow the fuse, nothing will. The golfers of that era can't have had nerves. Duncan talks about things to do on the greens, the very thought of which sets the eyes rolling in the head and brings sweat to the brow. In these days of shaven greens and space-age putters, it seems incredible that at one time professionals advocated hitting the ball on top and, if necessary, with a slightly lofted club. Hitting below centre with a bit of loft might have caused "drag" and made the ball more easily kick off line.

Duncan, therefore, favours a descending blow with a slightly lofted putter – on top – in such a way that the ball tends to hug the green. He also says that if drag is required in order to slow the ball on slick greens the ball should be hit out of the heel or else struck below the equator using a mid-iron or something with more loft. However, Duncan warns of the dangers of attempting to apply drag on greens, saying: "It cannot really be applied with a putter. It is a bad shot to try for."

He advocates as a means of slowing a putt, keeping the ball in line with the club shaft. He was sorry the Schenectady putter was prohibited after Walter Travis had used it to win the Amateur championship at Royal St George's in 1904, for he thought it met all the requirements for slowing a putt. Dolefully, he records that only one such putter remained at his club, Hanger Hill, and it had been converted by a non-golfing dressing-room attendant into a coal hammer.