Report

78 today at Minnesott (36 front / 42 back) - a new first with an even par on the front.  A big day of up and downs for par.  Only 26 putts against 4 GIR and 5 nGIR.  Was a CPO (cart path only) day due to recent rains.  Overall game was on - until 18 where I was looking at having a first “no-sixes” and made a triple 7 (tee shot in the lake, 2nd tee in fairway, shot 4 approach to right of green pin high, shot 5 bogie on the green, long two putts for triple 7.  Still a solid round and new personal best. 

I believe that 76 bpms is the tour average (or somewhere around that). I think that's from taking it back to impact. I'm not 100% sure of exactly how it works since a typical pendulum is already moving when it starts going back. The putter on the throughswing ideally would work pretty much exactly like a pendulum though. To get the exact same time period from starting the putter back to impact, you'll have to accelerate it a lot faster on a longer putt right at the beginning until it gets to the speed it needs to be to make the putter move the right distance. Probably all way too much to think about while actually hitting a putt, but bottom line is I agree entirely that a metronome is a good thing to use if you're working on your putting tempo. As to the split between backstroke and downstroke, the tour tempo lot said 2:1 is the ideal. 3:1 for full swing. 2:1 for short game and putting. Whenever I go on a SAM I am about 1.7:1 I think and I can't for the life of me get my backstroke to be slow enough to get it to 2:1. Ho hum. Last comment - if you do have a perfect pendulum putting stroke and you have the ball slightly forward of the center of your stance, then the putter should be just starting to rise again at impact and with the way that pendulum motion works, it should be very slightly decelerating at impact, which I believe someone may have suggested once 😛 

Was going to chime in on Erik’s videos - they were and are solid teaching on better putting.  

I'm a big fan of the metronome. I forget what my actual numbers were, but something like 0.59 seconds: my backswings, regardless of the length of the putt, is 0.59 seconds (or 0.72 or whatever the actual number was). The period of a pendulum is determined by the length of the pendulum. So, to hit a putt harder, you take it back farther… in the same amount of time. So you have to swing it faster, and thus, it comes through faster. The putter head has to travel faster to travel farther in the same amount of time. Everyone tends to have a "beat" that they like. For some it's slower, and they have to make bigger backswings to make a putt go the same distance as someone like Brandt Snedeker. It also has a metronome IIRC. 😄 

Day 141 (20 Sep 24) -  Late getting to the weekly men’s scramble, plus the course was under a delay (rains yesterday saturated the course) so it was a solo round day. The course was 100% CPO (cart path only) so shot placement was key.  Opted to play the Diablo Edge Irons as “in my mind” the chunky, wide soles play better in wet turf coupled with Eye2 wedges (50.5 & 57.5).  Had best front nine ever - an even 36 (one bogie, one birdie and seven pars), back was typical at 6-over (could have been easily 3-over if not for the triple on 18 - can we say 1st drive into the lake, approach to the right of the green a s a long two putt) .  Long story short - as new personal best of 5 over for a 78.