I was reading a news article recently that quoted ball golfing great Ben Hogan about putting. He said that with enough work, a player could become a good putter. However, to be a great putter, you have to be born that way. All I know is that I put in a lot of work and hope to one day become a good putter.
Putting comes down to form, practice and confidence, with confidence being the most important part of that formula. Prior to this year's Discraft Great Lakes Open in Ann Arbor Michigan (one of the top SuperTour events every year), Scott Stokely came in and hosted one of his throwing clinics. Scott's clinics are really good, and even serious pros can learn something from him.
Scott has gone to the effort to collect videotapes of the best players in the world throwing shots. Based on his video breakdowns, he has developed certain principles of throwing any particular shot. Scott was telling us the basic principles of putting, and mentioned that he looked at the best ten putters in the world based on his evaluation and found they all do things a little different, yet all follow basic principles. Someone in the crowd asked Scott who he thought was the best putter at the moment. He hemmed and hawed, but when finally pressed, he conceded that Cameron Todd was probably the best at the moment. I can't argue with that, and this was before Cam became the 2001 World Champ.
Later at the Great Lakes Open, the top four players were assembled to shoot off a final nine holes with a very large gallery in attendance. The players were Scott Martin (leading by a handful), followed by Cam Todd, Al Schak, and Mike Raley. Not a whole lot changed in terms of the final finish, but they did have $1500 in skins money to fight over. Cam Todd grabbed the first skin for a couple hundred bucks; Al took the next for a hundred. Then the skins carried over... and carried over... and carried over. By the last hole of the final nine, it was pretty evident that Scott Martin would win with a five stroke lead, and the excitement was all about the skins.
The final hole is a 450-foot shot you can only reach throwing a monster power S through a high, tight tunnel. Cam was the only one of the group with a truly fabulous drive, and was looking at a 28 foot putt for deuce. The other players all struggled up for pars, and Cam was left with a putt for 1200 dollars. I was announcing the final nine, and there were a few hundred people gathered to watch.
Before Cam's critical putt, I walked over and asked if he minded if I announced the putt. As expected he said fine, no problem, so I cracked on the bullhorn and blared: "Ladies and gentlemen! If hit, this putt is worth second place in the Open division and $1200 in skins!" The crowd went nuts. Cam calmly walked up to the mark and threw a perfect strike in the middle of the chains.
The reason I tell this story is that most players would consider themselves worked just by someone asking if they minded the announcement. That would of course have worked most players, but I know Cam well enough to understand that it would not be a problem. He has mental game, and it showed that afternoon.
It's amazing how much putting is a function of pure confidence. 95% of putting is above the shoulders.
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He Got Game...Mental Game.
