As many of you might know, I started my golf industry career in the advertising and marketing world, and my first golf client was the Ray Cook putter company, which in the 1980s was still a very relevant brand, with a long history of PGA Tour use and over 150 wins, including all the majors. But it didn’t take me long to be drawn to the back end of the business, where putters were created and crafted.

Being the kid that was loaded with curiosity, I began to dive into the “whys and wherefores” of putter function. I read nearly every book I could find on putting and was blessed to be able to spend time with many teaching pros, PGA Tour pros, and mental coaches.

In the decade before I became focused on wedges, I became somewhat of a “junkie” into the cause-and-effect of the trilogy of putter design, agronomy practices, and technique evolution. And I created over 100 different putter designs for several companies during that decade.

To me, the modern history of putter design is kind of a chicken-and-egg thing. It’s apparent to me that the design of putters and changes in putting technique have evolved together. And that this “dance” has been driven by advancements in agronomy practices that have made greens ever faster and smoother.

A hundred years ago, when greens were probably not any better than the typical tee box today, putting was done with a lightweight club with considerable loft and a very wristy “pop” or “hit” of the ball. Bobby Jones and his peers were masters.

As greens got quicker into the 1960s and 70s, a more arms-and-shoulders stroke began to replace the “pop”, and putters like the Ping Anser, Zebra, and Ray Cook mallets began to replace the staid old blades like the Bullseye and 8802. Putters also began to get much heavier. This continued evolution of agronomy has pushed even typical green speeds into the 10+ range on the Stimpmeter, and the intertwined dance of putter design and putting technique has continued to evolve. The modern oversized mallet putters are many ounces heavier than their forerunners, and grips have gotten larger to take the small muscles out of the stroke action.

And whereas unconventional methods were rare 20 years ago, the “claw,” “armlock,” and “left-hand-low” are now seemingly the norm on the PGA and LPGA Tours. It is all driven by faster and faster green speeds. With that bit of my own historical perspective, let’s go to that research I’ve been conducting on my own the past few months.

One of my goals for 2021-22 is to shoot my age, which means I need that magical day of 2-3 under par to pull that off. To give that a chance to happen, I realized have to get more consistent on the greens – good shotmaking alone doesn’t put those scores on the card. So, I purchased a practice putting mat for the living room and made a commitment to not just practice my putting, but to return to my penchant for learning.

I’ve been studying what I have been learning along the way.

My personal favorite putter is a “modernized” take on the Bullseye that I designed for the Ben Hogan Company in the early 1990s. It has a then-patented approach to weighting that makes it face-balanced and pretty darn forgiving for the type of putter it is. And it is that forgiving thing that is the subject of what I want to share with you today.

As I hit dozens of putts several times every day, I have been exploring the effect of off-center impacts and different stroke paths. I’ll offer this disclaimer and tell you that this is pure visual observation, as I am not recording any of these putts with high-speed cameras or radar. And that I am watching putts of 5-10 feet on an indoor mat that probably runs about 9 on the Stimpmeter.

But what I’m observing goes against almost all of what we are told about putter “forgiveness.”

First, realize that the ball is in contact with the putter face for mere milliseconds on almost all but the longest putts. On a deliberate off-center hit – even ½ to ¾ of an inch toward the toe or heel – I am consistently seeing the ball leave the face on an exact right angle to the clubface angle at impact. And yes, while the face does recoil a bit from an off-center impact, the ball is obviously already gone so it is not affected measurably by that recoil. In other words, I’m seeing putts intentionally hit on the toe go straight at the hole, as do putts hit intentionally the same measure toward the heel. I have hit hundreds of putts with these kinds of misses and see the same result every time.

My toe hits go straight, and my heel hits go straight.

I then began to watch the ball’s path when I altered the stroke path from extreme inside-out to extreme outside-in. I have been making a deliberate effort to keep the face square to the intended line, though the stroke is crossing that line from inside-to-out or outside-to-in. Again I am observing how the ball leaves the face of the putter, regardless of whether the putter is coming across the line from the outside or inside. And every single time, I see the ball leave at right angles to the face, rather than reacting at all to the direction of the putter head path.

My point of sharing all this is to encourage you to relax your focus on hitting putts perfect and get more focused on the hole . . . or rather your intended starting line. As long as the putter face is square to that line at impact, the ball will go pretty much where you are looking, regardless of whether your impact is perfect or your stroke flawless.

I expect this to generate interesting responses, and I look forward to seeing all of you chime in.