Who putts like Bobby Locke?

[turtleback]

I once briefly had a putter called a symple putter that was designed to use that video stroke. I had no idea of the background of the idea of it, but it was very flat and based closely off the left thigh from setup.

As to the possibile penalty BL ducked, I was under the impression Tiger was one of early players to have first been pursued on ball movement by a camera. Its nothing new.

Yup, a random newsreel feature is just the same as having every shot you hit videoed in HD.

[natureboy]

@natureboy I will save some space and not quote your post. I find it interesting you would mention Matt Kuchar, 128 tourneys and 50 top tens, with 5 wins, and slightly more than a 40% one putt average. Evidently he leads the PGA in that stat. I think I will make it a point to watch him more this year. Thanks.

Kuchar's short game probably stacks up to what Locke had - maybe even better. Kuchar (in 2013 at least) also has a good 3-putt avoidance so his 1-putt to 3-putt ratio was top shelf Locke's long game may have been well above average for the field in that era too, while Kuchar's is more top 50 to 100. Not as good as Hogan's though.

Years ago, I tried to emulate Bobby Locke, one of my favorite golfers, unsuccessfully. However, it is still fun to see how different his putting stroke was, compared to players of today (14 second video)...

This next item is a little off topic, but still is about BL's putting:

Another reason Bobby Locke is remembered is his victory at the 1957 British Open, despite not replacing his ball on the 72nd green...

"At the 1957 British Open at St Andrews Bobby Locke, then aged 39, marked his ball one putter-head off the line of his playing partner Bruce Crampton’s putt at the 72nd hole. When he came to putt, he forgot to replace his ball marker in its original spot and putted from the wrong place. The error was only picked up on newsreel film and reported to the Royal and Ancient officials after the trophy had been presented. As Bobby Locke had a three shot lead over Peter Thomson, the Championship committee after an eight-day delay concluded that he had gained no advantage. Citing the equity and spirit of the game, the Committee decided that he should not be disqualified."

http://www.barryrhodes.com/2009/10/ball-marker-penalties.html

The video shows him using the Walter Hagen type stroke. Here's a still from his book on golf that shows his technique nearer his prime years. It was more arm swing and much less wristy - if any. I think the change may have been an accommodation to age or maybe faster greens.

I once briefly had a putter called a symple putter that was designed to use that video stroke. I had no idea of the background of the idea of it, but it was very flat and based closely off the left thigh from setup.

As to the possibile penalty BL ducked, I was under the impression Tiger was one of early players to have first been pursued on ball movement by a camera. Its nothing new.

See video comment above.

[trickyputt]

That last pic is more the stroke that I was expecting. The handsy flip in the first video was kind of shocking and disappointing.

[joekelly]

'To duck' is an active verb.   BL did nothing, as far as i know, to avoid any penalty from his error on the British Open putting green.  The relevant authorities considered the matter, months after the event, and made their decision.

[trickyputt]

'To duck' is an active verb.   BL did nothing, as far as i know, to avoid any penalty from his error on the British Open putting green.  The relevant authorities considered the matter, months after the event, and made their decision.

I liked their decision. I would not care to slight a dead man. I appreciated the fact that those who judged reckoned no different outcome. However, I am a modern guy. My responses are more tuned to fellow like yourself who bring levels of detail that are often missed. Let me say he ducked 100 years too early.

[turtleback]

I liked their decision. I would not care to slight a dead man. I appreciated the fact that those who judged reckoned no different outcome. However, I am a modern guy. My responses are more tuned to fellow like yourself who bring levels of detail that are often missed. Let me say he ducked 100 years too early.

Under the current rules it wouldn't even be an issue, the Committee could not have disqualified him.

b. Stroke Play

In stroke play, a penalty must not be rescinded, modified or imposed after the competition has closed. A competition is closed when the result has been officially announced or, in stroke play qualifying followed by match play, when the player has teed off in his first match.

Exceptions: A penalty of disqualification must be imposed after the competition has closed if a competitor:

(i) was in breach of Rule 1-3 (Agreement to Waive Rules); or

(ii) returned a score card on which he had recorded a handicap that, before the competition closed, he knew was higher than that to which he was entitled, and this affected the number of strokes received (Rule 6-2b); or

(iii) returned a score for any hole lower than actually taken (Rule 6-6d) for any reason other than failure to include a penalty that, before the competition closed, he did not know he had incurred; or

(iv) knew, before the competition closed, that he had been in breach of any other Rule for which the penalty is disqualification.

But the rules in effect in 1956 were different, but they did allow the committee to waive a disqualification in exceptional individual cases, which is how they were able to wave his DQ.

For anyone interested, this is a link to the 1956 rules:

http://www.ruleshistory.com/rules1956.html

[natureboy]

That last pic is more the stroke that I was expecting. The handsy flip in the first video was kind of shocking and disappointing.

Plus I would guess it's an anchored stroke.

[natureboy]

I don't know much about Locke other than studying his putting stroke. When I used it, I still was a 'terrible' putter, though probably reasonably close to the average for my handicap.

To get in the spirit of his approach I got an old 8802 knock-off blade. One thing I discovered this off-season was that I was aligning to the ball about 1/2 inch off the sweet spot. When I tested the putter using Phil Rodgers' advice (tapping the face), I remarked the alignment spot. Sweet spot was closer to the longer / beefier than average hosel. Putting on the carpet, I get the 'pock' sound regularly now and almost never heard it using the old alignment spot. Probably a classic beginner mistake, but if you go with a blade, make sure you test for the sweet spot. Off center contact increases face misalignment as well as probably distance control issues...on top of any swing technique problems.

[natureboy]

I read his putter was longer than those of the day. what does that mean? 38"?

My reading put it at 36" (he was fairly tall) and about 68* lie angle.

I think his real outlier skill lay in his long / approach putting. His setup may have had something to do with it. BTW - re. your first post, unless the putt flies in the air a significant fraction, it's not going to hook no matter what your path is and it will go straight as long as the putter face is square at impact. If the path is radically off line, the ball may spin like a top a bit, before the friction of the grass makes it roll end-over-end, though.

This SAM Lab graphic makes me think his prime years style had similar elements to a 'modern stroke'. It does seem to have lacked the de-lofting, but perhaps the unique setup helped to effectively de-loft somewhat. His follow-through is noticeably shorter than these tracks.

Here's a GIF of his 'prime' style. Note the pics include a post-impact shot that has different background than the others, but I don't think there's any better sequence available online. There is some wrist involved with a flattening of the L wrist going back and a flattening / extending R wrist past impact. What is also interesting is the way his left elbow moves around his left side slightly - allowing the R arm to come through down the line sort of like Nicklaus' R arm piston idea.