Respect the short ones....

**albatross** · July 10, 2008

I was playing in a match this morning with a buddy from work and had him dormie on the 17th hole. All he needed to do was 2 putt from about 3 feet and we would've gone to 18 with me only 1 up and 18 is not a good hole for me.

I gave him a ton of short putts during the match, but I made him putt this one because it was a slippery down-hiller. He missed it and it settled less than a foot from the hole.

Before I even had a chance to say "pick it up", he marched over and hit it so hard that it lipped out!! He three putted from less than 3 feet. He pulled a Greg Owen. Remember that one?

It wasn't the Masters or anything but hell I won a free breakfast!

Respect the short ones!!!

**Cody** · July 10, 2008

Yeah i normally play with family and we just do gimmes if its less than a foot. We stopped doing that and now we all miss them....

**Q.Q.Quillume** · July 10, 2008

I was playing in a match this morning with a buddy from work and had him dormie on the 17th hole. All he needed to do was 2 putt from about 3 feet and we would've gone to 18 with me only 1 up and 18 is not a good hole for me.

Actually

you were dormie. "dormie -- The status of a match when a player is up as many holes up as there are holes to play. In an 18-hole match, a player is 3-up and dormie, when he/she is 3-up after 15 holes. (Quotation from http://www.usga.org/committees/conte...e_CWS_2006.pdf ),

**albatross** · July 11, 2008

Thanks for correcting my typo.

**Shindig** · July 11, 2008

Before I even had a chance to say "pick it up", he marched over and hit it so hard that it lipped out!! He three putted from less than 3 feet. He pulled a Greg Owen. Remember that one?

I remember it and I reference it!

People periodically ask me why I practice 3- and 5- foot putts on the practice green (instead of the 50-footers they seem to all like to do). Sure, I don't get the "I am Tiger Woods" feeling that they get on the (rare) occasions that they sink a 50-footer on the green, but I do get the "This is what Tiger feels like" when I'm fearless on those putts on the course. I second it. Respect the short ones!

**RX Phoenix** · July 11, 2008

If you putt cross-handed on the short ones you will rarely miss one, it makes a huge difference.

**elementz** · July 11, 2008

What's cross handed?

**sonicblue** · July 11, 2008

If you putt cross-handed on the short ones you will rarely miss one, it makes a huge difference.

With all due respect, that's a lousy statement. Maybe it works for you, but there is absolutely no physical tip that will instantly turn any one into a "rarely miss" putter from any distance. If you don't have the head for it, you can miss anything, regardless of distance or grip.

IMO, the shorter the putt, absolutely, the more mental it becomes. Margin of error for reading both speed and line is reduced. I've been putting cross-handed (left-hand low, for rightys, elementz) for years, and I have absolutely crossed a threshold when it comes to making putts inside 6-feet, and it has nothing to do with anything below my neck.

**Franco!** · July 11, 2008

I was playing in a match this morning with a buddy from work and had him dormie on the 17th hole. All he needed to do was 2 putt from about 3 feet and we would've gone to 18 with me only 1 up and 18 is not a good hole for me.

Ahhh, the strategy of match play.

I love it, make them pick up all day, then make them putt the last 3 footer. I actually played with a kid who I was giving everything to then on 16 he had like a 2 footer, I guess he assumed I was going to give him it, and he just picked up his ball. It was either a stroke penalty or loss of hole, it didn't really matter, he still lost the hole and the match.

**Grogger31** · July 11, 2008

It's never a good idea to assume anybody's going to give you any putt. If you go in thinking you're going to have to putt a 4 incher, it will be tough for your opponent to get in your head.

**seanYsean** · July 11, 2008

Personally I practice 2 and 4 footers because after chips or long putts, I have those left and I have full confidence now when playing tournaments or matches.

**albatross** · July 11, 2008

It's never a good idea to assume anybody's going to give you any putt. If you go in thinking you're going to have to putt a 4 incher, it will be tough for your opponent to get in your head.

This is great advice that I totally agree with. I've started going in with this mentality.

Also, a piece from Harvey Penick about actually picking up the ball when someone says "that's good." I hate when people say ok and then still take a swipe at the putt and miss it. Like Penick says, everyone knows at that point that it wasn't a gimmee and there should be an extra stroke on the card. If you are going to play with gimmees, don't still putt it when someone tells you it's good.

**Bourbon and Coke** · July 11, 2008

Ahhh, the strategy of match play.

That's just a dick move more than anything. It's one thing to make a guy putt by telling him to putt, but when you're on the 17th hole and he picks up on that assumption, you're really just being an ass to force the hole after the fact.

Golf is a gentleman's game first and foremost. There are a number of rules we all bend in practice to speed up play, etc; when you are okay with bending the rules and then, when given the opportunity, use a technicality to take advantage, you're really missing the underlying basis of golf.

**albatross** · July 11, 2008

That's just a dick move more than anything. It's one thing to make a guy putt by telling him to putt, but when you're on the 17th hole and he picks up on that assumption, you're really just being an ass to force the hole after the fact.

I agree with this. Did you really throw your clubs in the lake?? I'd like to hear that story if it's true.

**Bourbon and Coke** · July 11, 2008

I agree with this. Did you really throw your clubs in the lake?? I'd like to hear that story if it's true.

Well first let me explain that at one point in the late 80s/early 90s my dad was around a 10 handicap when he quit in similar fashion because his friends were all near-scratch golfers and were impossible to deal with on the golf course.

I started playing golf senior year of high school when I was 6'1"-6'1.5" with a set of old standard LLL Titleist DCIs I bought from a friend for $50 bucks. I was never so much as decent and freshman year after I played a round where I either pushed, topped, or sliced every shot that wasn't less than 25 yards from the green. I put 4 balls in a pond at the 18th tee box right in front of the clubhouse and was out of balls. I went to the cart, grabbed my bag, and tossed it from the ladies' tees into the pond. I borrowed some clubs to play in the spring (again, standard LLL) with a buddy of mine who was a PGA Pro when he graduated from college and a couple other friends. I was able to make more consistent contact by bending over a lot and bending my knees a good deal (I'm now 6'3"), but it wasn't anything playable and it hurt like hell. He told me he could fix my swing if I got fitted for clubs, so I went and bought my Callaways and sure enough, I broke 110 for the first time in my life in the second round I played with them. I got my bag from a friend, and dug through the basement to find my dad's cheap set of Dunlops he bought from Sears so he and I could play a little Par 3 with my soccer team in middle school.

***iacas*** · July 11, 2008

If you are going to play with gimmees, don't still putt it when someone tells you it's good.

Sure, but too many people concede too many putts*, and if someone tells me something's good, I'm likely gonna putt it anyway.

* not in match play, but stroke play events - southern point scoring, etc.

krb · July 12, 2008

People periodically ask me why I practice 3- and 5- foot putts on the practice green (instead of the 50-footers they seem to all like to do).

Indeed. And not being afraid of 3 footers makes you less afraid of 50 footers.

**Franco!** · July 12, 2008

That's just a dick move more than anything. It's one thing to make a guy putt by telling him to putt, but when you're on the 17th hole and he picks up on that assumption, you're really just being an ass to force the hole after the fact.

He was trying to get up and down for par which he would've.

I had a putt for birdie and made it. Get the **** off of my case. It's his fault, would've lost even if he made it. Unless I say, 'pick it up' or 'that's good' you're finishing the hole. He lost, it doesn't matter.

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