Jared Willerson
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Say what you want about his swing. Best putter I have ever had the chance to play with. Congrats to him.
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Steven . Fox
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Jared Willerson
Super Moderator
US Am champ! UT-Chattanooga golfer.
Jared Willerson
Super Moderator
He played last year and the SMI last year.
Great comeback win for Fox. I felt kinda bad for Weaver. Was his strategy for the week to hit driver on 1? I almost seems like that missed put messed with his head. If I were his caddie, I would have broken that driver on the tee. I'm not a great player, but I was questioning driver as soon as I saw it in his hands, especially with Fox in the fairway.
Tony D'Antonio
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Par on 18 won the hole after Weaver had his par putt go in and horseshoe out. I'm a Cal Bear so I was watching with some interest and rooting for Weaver. He did hit that putt hard but it looked like it went in then out. Too bad.
Ryan Smither
Super Moderator
It was great to see choice of putting speed be the difference in a big tournament. "18-inches past" might be the most popular, yet stupid, misinformation in golf instruction history.
Mr. Fox's putt on 16, making the hole as large as possible, lipping in on the low side, vs. Mr. Weaver's putt on 18, hitting the hole in the heart but wayyy too hard, hence making the hole smaller, was a perfect example of how destructive - or beautiful - choice of putting speed can be.
"But, but, but, it can never go in if it never gets there!" ... Yep, and you can lose the U.S. Am by trying to hit it harder than you ought to.
If only the Cal Bear had a more well-rounded education, ...
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duckjr78
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I'm sure Trevino said something similar, considering his own grip and swing, but I heard that quote first from Harvey Penick.
Tony D'Antonio
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I first heard about the "18 inches past" rule from Dave Peltz. He is a scientist and did a lot of study on the subject. I think he arrived at his conclusion not because of the old "never up, never in" rule but rather as a way to combat what he called the "lumpy donut". He claimed the area around the hole was lumpy from golfers walking around it. To combat this unevenness a putt had to be hit hard enough to stay on line while it bounced to the hole. I trust Dave but I cannot putt like this. I'm not good enough to make all those 18 inchers coming back.
It was great to see choice of putting speed be the difference in a big tournament. "18-inches past" might be the most popular, yet stupid, misinformation in golf instruction history.
Mr. Fox's putt on 16, making the hole as large as possible, lipping in on the low side, vs. Mr. Weaver's putt on 18, hitting the hole in the heart but wayyy too hard, hence making the hole smaller, was a perfect example of how destructive - or beautiful - choice of putting speed can be.
"But, but, but, it can never go in if it never gets there!" ... Yep, and you can lose the U.S. Am by trying to hit it harder than you ought to.
If only the Cal Bear had a more well-rounded education, ...
faux_maestro
New
One thing that to remember is that Pelz mentions that 18 inches is just an average. Faster and smoother greens the number will be less than that, maybe less than 10 inches past. Since his books were written it's likely that many greens are somewhat faster and smoother with improved agronomy. Also, 18 inches is just a foot and a half, well "inside the leather". It's not like he is saying bang it 3 feet by.
I think with respect to holing speed I would rather go with what Geoff Mangum says. This makes the hole as wide as possible. Basically the speed should be so that the ball hits the bottom wall of the cup. He explains it very nicely in his 'Reality of Putting' video.
I've read Pelz and I understand the 'doughnut' around the hole can deviate the putt but I still think you have more chances of holing it if you use Geoff's holing speed.
I've read Pelz and I understand the 'doughnut' around the hole can deviate the putt but I still think you have more chances of holing it if you use Geoff's holing speed.
The 18" conclusion doesn't account for the various grasses for putting surfaces. Geoff Mangum touches on this subject in his book Optimal Putting (which I was again reading last night due to bad putting rounds on greens with a ton of grass that I had to hammer to get the ball to the hole).
faux_maestro
New
The Aimpoint folks have determined that a "go past" distance of 24" will reduce the capture width of the hole from 4.25" down to 2". As the SEC has proven, speed truly does kill.
Not that it matters, but wasn't Pelz's deal 17"?
It was 18" on average, with the distance going up or down depending on speed and how bumpy.
It does account for different grasses. Bermuda is generally more grainy and bumpy than bent and Pelz says bumpier greens may need a little more pace. It's in his books. I guess though that different men can come up with different data depending on conditions while running the same tests, I bet it's just as important to be consistent in your intention as what the actual number past is (within reason of course).
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