This episode of the 2nd Swing Thoughts podcast features 2nd Swing master fitters Larry Bobka and Tyler Fitzel discussing golf putters and revealing Larry’s new Handmade Stix LB-02 putter, which is modeled after the original Wilson 8802 putter. Additionally, Larry and Tyler share their takes on the 8802 putter design, how golf putters have changed over time, and more.
0:00 Intro
0:45 Larry’s LB-02 Putter
5:54 History of the 8802 Design
12:05 Is this Putter Still Effective Today?
18:40 The Anser and Modern Designs
24:25 Impact of Green Speed
30:30 The Feel Element
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The 2nd Swing Thoughts podcast, presented by 2nd Swing Golf, covers anything and everything in golf equipment and club fitting. The 2nd Swing Thoughts will feature experts in the golf industry sharing insights and latest trends in golf clubs and club fittings. 2nd Swing Thoughts will also cover the latest in professional golf.
Hey golfers and welcome back to another edition of the second swing thoughts podcast and today we’ve got a two for one if you will we have two guests here both Master fairs or second swing we’ve got Larry bobka and we have Tyler fitzell and today’s topic is a little
Bit kind of almost like a niche discussion but it also pertains to the modern golf world as well so um number one priority is to to uh let Larry introduce his new putter that’s been available on handmade sticks MH uh so we’ll start there and then we’ll kind of
Uh broaden the discussion a little bit into maybe the history of the shape of this putter so first Larry you’ve got it with you introduce the the new putter this is your second handmade sticks putter that you’ve designed it’s my second handmade sticks putter you know
I’d love to take the credit for the design the first design came in 1962 is you know the Arnold Palmer designed by putter by Wilson um there’s been other copies since then you know especially the khaw design uh by Cleveland you know there’s a Corey paven one you know very
A very known design of Putters uh one of the things that I did though was I took a um an original and went out and just you know basically took the specs took everything from that and turn in the same some of the newer versions of this putter have
Been made and they’re a lot heavier I don’t think this putter really works being heavier okay and there’s a couple reasons why um my friends at nipon also went out and made me a very special shaft that tried to get us close to the old um speed model that was made by
Wilson was a True Temper shaft back then um and you know and then to me I put on the iconic putter grip of all time which is a ping blackout uh because you know the original ones had leather my favorite putter grip of all time was the
Old Golf Pride Pro only that you know was very thin and but they don’t make that anymore either so uh I wanted to put something on there that you know uh you know tiger talks about khaw talks about you know trying to feel the weight
Of the putter I didn’t want a big heavy grip on there um I’m I’m a firm believer of your hands working together on a smaller grip will will give you better feel you know it’s kind of like Travino says he goes what’s what’s holding on to
The golf club these things so you want to make sure you use these things especially in putting I think you want to use your fingertips and use your thumbs right so it’s you kind of I like I mean if you haven’t been first of all following some of the stuff that
Handmade sticks and Larry especially has been designing and and releasing in making available uh it’s really cool stuff and it almost you kind of like to even like look back and and bring you know history of golf and the golf clubs into your designs here that’s kind of
What this is a little bit it’s it’s you know in a lot in many estimations out there it’s the most iconic putter shape that’s been designed I mean and it’s it’s a very known putter especially when you know was you know when cruncha decided to use it and and win his golf
Tournaments and a couple masters with it you know and him being such a great putter it it you know it it it kind of turned into it turned into his kind of put his putter you know but originally was designed for Palmer back in the day
At Wilson so um yeah you know a lot of the designs that I do is well first of all I’m old Drew so I I don’t like to see the thing I don’t like to see things in the game go away you know I think there’s a lot of great technology out
There I think there’s a lot of great designs out there but uh but also at the end of the day if you’re being kind of a golfing purist if you want to stand on the Range and hit golf shots you know what do you want to feel what do you
Want to you know to really get better you know I think you need a set of Blade irons maybe not play them all the time and I also think you need I also think you need some Pimon Woods too or at least a Pimon driver to go out there and
Find out how good your golf swing really is I mean if if you can hit that you can hit anything that’s what you know Todd Dempsey’s doing in the school of Champions doing yeah you know and then you take this putter I mean what’s putting he’s just rolling the ball mhm
You know I remember the time being down with Jackie Burke down at Champions and you know and Jackie’s got some putter from the 1930s and he’s just sitting out there making putts and making putts and he’s like well you know you’d like to think there’s magic in the putter but there’s
Really magic in the stroke M but how can I how can I really tell if I’m creating a magical stroke unless I got something like this to putt with or at least something like this to practice with on occasion to really figure out if I’m doing it the right way if I’m really
Hitting the center in the face sure that’s kind of what golf club and and putter manufacturing has become now is sort of trying to hide the natural putting stroke of somebody or at least fix it in a way and so I know like you know we were talking about this the
Other day Tyler where how that design has gone away almost completely and new putter design or new putter technology has their mil version of it but you know it’s their putter so why why wouldn’t you do I mean rarely you guys probably never fit somebody for something like
This nowadays very rarely right so like I mean I guess Tyler from your perspective can you kind of just go over what you know the in your mind the history of of this and maybe why it has kind of faded away a little well the first the first thing um when I
Saw that Larry had had made this it kind of dawned on the beginning of my golf career which was in the early 90s it’s when I started to play and at that time this putter was still winning Majors it was still winning tournaments and so I had something very similar to this and
Even to that matter is my very some of my very first clubs I had wooden Woods right you know and pretty much hand me- down blades that that I had around to get started with mhm and so it was kind of that that love of history and it was
Also a highlighted time with Harvey penck and Harvey penck had had uh Ben khaw as one of his longtime students along with Tom Kit’s kind of a storied history there and so even for that I had I had purchased a a harvey penck putter that was made just like this um some
Something to the Red River or down in Austin Texas and um so for me I remember even um I believe it was like 1994 95 like uh the first three Majors uh were one with this style putter it was uh it was Ben khaw there I think there was
Cory paven in the US Open and then it was uh John Daly in the British Open so even in my my kind of growing years into this game that to me was relevant technology right and so I’d kind of thought as as this come out I had said
To Larry one day I said what happened to all the classics yeah you know and there aren’t really many on the market some really expensive stuff if you want to go back and buy one of these now right um but to me it was the technology where
There it was it wasn’t even aim and shoot it was kind of hole and roll it was just look at the hole and just kind of let let the ball roll towards the hole and that to me um I putted with one for many years played a lot of really
Good golf too um but also thought about you know where has this been well Phil Michelson won with it you know the the PGA Championship a few years ago right so I like this is actually still a winning style this isn’t there’s not as much of the adoption to the tour level
To that right so I I could that’s one of the things I posed to Larry about this was like whatever happened to these they’re they’re good they kind of Swing themselves well you know it it’s kind of like you know you look at a you look at
An old painting right and and it’s this beautiful painting that somebody painted and you know and and now it’s kind of like oh it’s you know this computer generated picture and it’s like oh it’s amazing and how simple it was and it’s absolutely perfect well you know golf clubs back in
The day weren’t ever really perfect I guess they were only perfect in the hands of the person that used it you know this design you know like I said came from you know Palmer’s relationship with Wilson you know up to that point he had putted with you know a very similar
Model which was you know Tommy armor iron master which was a end shafted blade had a bigger hosle and the shaft went inside you know so you know having worked for Bob mandrella and have had a few cocktails over the years after work you know there a lot of conversations
About you know how things were and you know when I was you know my early to mid 20s working in Wilson yeah I wanted to know everything so it’s like come on bab go buy you a couple cocktails tell me about the 8802 and it was really you know it was
It was an idea of trying to move more mass into the head you know Putters back then I mean this putter is compared to Modern stands is light I mean this is 310 G everything’s 3 you 350 370 400 yeah I mean they’re you know but this
Putter was light but they were trying to move even more weight in there and and they they had thought about you know and Palmer had seen you know cuz John reuter had come out with Busey and buse eyes were buse eyeses were kind of the first popular over the hosle putters so it’s
Like well hey why don’t we kind of take like the over the hosle here we can thin this out put more weight in here you know and there’s more mass behind the putter you know let’s let’s go from let’s go from 285 G in the head to 310 oh my God go
That’s that’s a huge step back in 1962 I mean you’re talking you’re talking two years after I was born she Liz um so that’s where it kind of came from was the idea of doing that you know and then Palmer and Wilson parted ways and then it turned in the
8802 which actually was just kind of of the model number that that it was kind of just the the part number they gave it right it just stuck yeah it just stuck is well we’re just going to call it the 8802 um you know and then like I said
You know won a lot of golf tournaments it you know Travino won his Majors with it I mean there a lot of major golf tournaments won with this style of putter but then all of a sudden it it it’s not I mean gez you look at this and
Nobody’s going to say this is flashy no okay for 1962 it was flashy okay for 2022 or 23 it’s not flashy it doesn’t have any excitement to it it doesn’t have any you know what are thei numbers what is it going to do for me how’s it
Going you know the the golfing world has come into the trackman quintech I got to have some great numbers I got to know what the Moi is I got to know what they did with the shaft how is it you know so it it loses a little bit it it it
Becomes a little bit more about science than it becomes about art but to me art is still you know know kind of like Tyler said still about rolling the golf ball I mean it’s like I tell my customers all the time I mean to me Ping’s like playing cornhole I mean I
Got the bean bag in my hand I’m looking at that hole I I just got to swing my arm and toss it the right distance well what am I doing with putting I’m standing on the side doing the same thing okay now can I do it with this of
Course I can do it with this a lot of people are afraid now we we’ve told the golfing public to be afraid of something like this because it’s not going to help you right well I kind of look at at the other side I think it really does I mean
You you know before we started we were talking about you know I think this is a putter that again and we didn’t price it crazy no you know so somebody hases have to feel like that they have to give up a mortgage payment you know that their
Wife’s going to kick them out of the house but it’s also something to be downstairs in their basement on their putting back hey let’s work with this putter MH why not putt with it all the time when I play but it’s going to help my putting stroke it’s going to tell me
If I’m hitting the center of the face because I’m going to tell you right now if I don’t hit it in the right place on this putter it’s going to feel favorite golf term it’s going to feel wonky yeah and it’s probably going to perform a little bit differently too absolutely
The ball’s not going to come off the way it’s supposed to right and it’s it’s to your point I’m probably one of those brainwashed individuals that like I see something that small and I am just like scared of it you know so yeah like I would how you how’d you play how’d you
Play my irons over Thanksgiving they were solid I will say they were solid yeah how to get used to him a little bit but once that happened it was good of course you did that’s probably check that’s probably I mean that’s probably how it
Would be if I took this and put one of these in the bag I and then I’m using a ping hardwood right now which is the complete opposite ofely uh so it’s just it’s fascinating because nowadays like there’s none of this out there it’s all about the technology like
You said the M like to me mallets are becoming more and more popular and so like is there like do you like would you guys say that there’s golfers out there maybe tour level or scratch players that would benefit from kind of leaving the
High Moi craze or or do you think I mean what do you you guys take on that I’ll take it one step I think there’s people that even are even higher handicaps that would benefit from it because they’d learn how to putt they’d learn how to
Hit the center of the face you know what happened when you know hey there’s my blade irons and behind me there’s a set of ping I twos yep okay well those were the rage in the 80s right you got to have it forget about those you got to go
To these okay what did some people find out some people found out that he I got a little sloppy with these am I really hitting the center of the face I can understand wanting to have you know better M hits okay but I also think there’s that point if you’re really into
The game and if you’re really a student of the game and the stud your golf swing I think you want to test yourself you know even if it’s just on the Range I think you want to be able to stand out there and you know what hey buy a seven
Iron buy a six iron you can buy a single Club go take it to the range or go in your go in your monitor downstairs in your basement and see what you do with it see how see if you really do hit the center of the face I don’t think there’s
Anything why wouldn’t why wouldn’t you want to challenge yourself I mean it’s like shooting right you got the target you’re not just trying to hit the piece of paper you’re trying to hit the bullseye right okay well so I’m practicing and practicing shooting my gun to hit that Bullseye well it’s the
Same thing I’m trying and trying to hit the hole or I’m trying to hit the green I’m trying to get tighter why wouldn’t I want to try to make my golf swing better by taking a step back to the things that won lots and lots of major championships challenge myself a little
Bit yeah yeah you you’ve seen that in your fittings too I imagine like a lot of there a lot of players that have that same perspective that I do where it’s just like I need all this forgiveness I need this Mass behind but in reality with their putting stroke maybe
Something as simple as this could could be effective yeah and the like the top level the PGA Tour and the LPGA Tour um they they create uh validity for the company yeah but they don’t necessarily create that validity for the product right so we all know that that they have
Very similar if not the same sort of equipment we can get but but the vast majority of them are playing things that we don’t get right right so what what that’s doing is it’s creating marketing and marketing really is kind of continued to spin off um we see uh we
See the S of putter but we only see it in a small select group and so if if it for instance if it was a style of putter that won three out of the next four majors that would be on the on the shelves everywhere it would oh yeah and
I I look back at the you take for instance some of the best who are the best Putters in the game like whether it’s modern or or just go back through history we you have to look at a guy like Jack Nicholas right he won 18
Majors but 16 of them with a putter like that you talk about Palmer you talk about um whether it was trino as a as a putter even crenchaw won countless tournaments along with Majors to this I think about some of the others in the game that that kind of Escape our mind
With it a putter like like that was in Nick faldo’s hand right for some some wins whether Jerry P Pate um Watson uh we talk about Craig Stadler uh we T we talk about that Putter and even if you go back from from that putter that was
Still the style we didn’t you know the the the Ping answer really created the counterbalance or bit more counterbalance pocket the shaping and The Styling and we know that’s very popular and that is probably as many if not more Majors than that style but it’s those two yeah it’s some version of the
Answer or some almost identical version of this as well right so yeah it’s almost like I I’m curious now because I wonder at what point did the Golf Community become enamored with options other than those two things because the answer model is the one that’s been you
Know or that shape you know other variations from different companies whatever right but that shape has has been sort of the really the only model that has supplanted this one in terms of success and like trophies on the big stage um and so it’s those two at what point did all these
Other shapes and sizes and and weights come in and and golfers thinking that that was a more valid option well you know you got the answer I mean you know I think he might have did the original design back for the answer late 60s I believe you know I’m not I’m not the
Biggest a story and then you had some guys win there was a guy that went on tour I can’t remember his name but the the one that most people saw George Archer won George Archer was a great putter back in the 60s and 70s and George Archer used the used the answer
You know um uh so you start getting people uh Howard Twitty great friend of mine who I’ll see in Arizona when I get down there and and Howard was a great putter putted with an puted with an answer you know so then all of a sudden you know you’ve got this great answer
Style and you know there’s variations there was the pal whatever answer two whatever you know then all of a sudden you get you know Mar omer’s putting Tiger’s putting with an answer two now all of a sudden you start you you get you know the Scotty Camerons of the
World and you know it’s like well hey this is great but I can make it better you know I can make it a little heavier you know maybe maybe marcoz or or U tigers had some lead tape on it to get the weight up to 330 G well now let’s
You know let’s make it you know Tiger’s putter by the way is 326 gram U maybe a little more now put a little bit of lead tape on it so it might be might be a little heavier now okay but you know but that’s where then all of a sudden you
Know the the answer style blows up right you know then all of a sudden the technology comes in you know I mean I can’t tell you that some of the things that we were doing and Wilson back in the 80s trying to get a better idea about what shaft Fleck somebody needed
And whatever you know then all this all this moment of inertia the metal woods start coming in and titanium Woods everybody starts talking about size and resistance to the twist well well you know it kind of filters down it kind of filters down you know and to me it kind
Of started you know pink kind of started a little bit of everything with with with irons and Putters yeah I you know yeah everybody kind of played everybody kind of played off that I mean hey I design the Wilson Ultra irons back in the 80s well what were they well they
Were competitors to those yeah you know yeah custom fit and you know cast us cast product and you know something you so you know everybody starts so now all of a sudden it starts snowballing you know and then all a sudden somebody comes up and goes well hey this you know
Carston saying this has got more resistance to twist than this putter does well we better have one yeah that kind of we better have we better have one because if every you know they’re the number one selling putter we got to do something we got to do something now
Right so then it just you know then it just everybody starts snow you know and it’s really for the to be the hard person to be in the room and going hey you know what let’s stick with this you know this is tried and true we sold we
Sold a whole bunch of these let’s stay with it and you know it it’s hard right you know because you want to make money right well I and now I’m at the point right now it would be very hard for me to putt with anything but a mallet
That’s just where I’m at mentally I’ve used a mallet now for gosh a decade yeah and I every time I put one down I I look at it my confidence is just gone and that’s not again that’s that’s combination of things going on in my
Brain because of that but I mean it’s it goes to show how everything has changed in putter design we we see that we see that all the time people bring in and you know and especially especially you know you’re a hell of a lot younger than
I am Drew and but you see that and people walk in and see people see what they see on TV well when I was growing up this is what I saw on TV this is what was win and tournaments and when I was in my you know when I was when I was
Playing high school and college golf you know I’d want to have one of these but hey they originally sold for about $15 or $20 and people were reselling them for two3 $400 at that time because that was a big collector and that’s what players were playing with you know it’s
Kind of like having an m85 McGregor driver that you know if I wanted to try to get one in college it probably would have cost me anywhere from $500 to ,000 you know I got mine now cuz somebody traded one in at at second swing really you know and we don’t you
Know we don’t have any value and I sent it off and got it fixed by Nim bran who’s another part of handmade sticks and you know I now I got a beautiful m85 driver there you go thanks to him and thanks to some customer dropping it off
You know do you think cost me a little bit to get a I suppose I suppose uh do you think this is a a theory I’ll start with you but do you think maybe the speed of greens has changed some of this too as part of it like
We’re now a heavier putter head as as needed because of how fast greens are or maybe or am I off base there putting is unique yeah it’s the one thing that that gets I would say the most unique whether we’re talking about playing whether we’re talking about
Fitting yeah even if we’re just sitting here talking putting is unique to that and one of the I did ask Larry about that that question is one of the things that I was thinking in my own mind is have conditions changed enough where he certainly got to see with his work he
Got to see the majors and the condition at these golf courses that these were being played on right and I don’t think the speed of the green is the reason something’s going to work or not now the reason to that is if we have a putter
Let’s say for instance this is 310 gr M that’s really what even Scott Cameron balances that at 35 in 310 and his Putters were then what 320 if you got down an inch and if 330 if you got down an inch it’s like that’s how P Putters were balanced and all the
Major companies are doing this so this isn’t out of out of touch with reality today either but you’re going to have to take that and tour players are like this how many times do a tour player switch a putter with a different weight from golf tournament to golf tournament don’t mhm you know
And the the one thing that you may change if you’re talking about changes maybe adding or subtracting a wedge or doing something with spin around the green but for the most part we know that no matter the golf course no matter the condition you’re going to go out and
You’re going to play with your set of equipment you may subtract or add a club that’s more unique to that Golf Course um but I don’t think it is I think what what this does is this is more about how you tend to putt and the number one thing that’s
Most important for me in a fitting and and this is what we look for is are we going to get the right kind of launch and spin and speed you know if we look at a putt in general the number one thing I don’t care if it’s on fast or
Slow greens is is that ball get around that hole because if it’s around that hole it has a chance to go in and so um this idea to and and I do see this we see this in fitting someone will come in and say I’ve got a putter for fast
Greens and I got a putter for slow greens yeah I’ve heard that too and is that are you almost I’ll let you take that one yeah I mean hate it you disag hate it about as much as Center shafted Putters but no to to go along
With T I also think that the way people putt has changed also you know you look back in the days you watch you watched some of the Old Masters highlights from the 60s and the 70s and everybody’s kind of locked in and they’re putting very risty yeah I have noticed that well now
All of a sudden as as Putters came along everybody starts TI well we’re get to used the bigger muscles and we’re just we’re just going to swing our arms more well if I’m going to swing my arms more away from my body I better have something heavier on the end to do that
Okay I don’t necessarily believe that’s the that’s the best way for people to putt I mean if you look it’s still the best Putters in the world World their arms their upper arms tend to be a little bit locked in you know you see guys like like Keem Neeman and Justin
Rose taking their shirt because they’re trying to keep this connection and allow that putterhead to swing so I I think you know it kind of went to the extreme a while back maybe about 10 years ago where it’s like oh we’re just going to keep this triangle and we’re
Going to do well to a certain degree that’s correct but it’s not totally correct you know you still have to have some feel you have to allow that putterhead to to do its job which because it’s on an angle even if you take it straight back that toe is going to open it’s
Going to square and it’s going to close you know every golf swing is like a swinging door it’s Square it opens closes and goes past if I don’t go past then I end up holding the face well there’s a lot of Strokes now where where people are holding the face a lot more
Well if I’m like this yeah I I mean honestly I I don’t want a putter that’s 310 gram I’d rather have something at 380 or 400 that I’m just going to do this but right keep the face Square as possible but I I think that’s to me that’s too mechanical because in my
World the three most important things in putting are speed speed and speed okay if I don’t if I don’t get it if I don’t hit at the right speed it’s never got a chance to go in the hole right if I can’t hit at the right speed I can’t
Read the green and it and I mean everything just revolves around my ability to hit it you know that chair over there that’s out of sight folks in my ability to stand there and roll it to one of the legs of that chair that you
Picked me to put it to yeah if I can’t do that you know and that’s where that’s where all the tech technology in the world doesn’t help anybody mhm I don’t care if you have no technology or a ton of Technology if I don’t have that inheritability in my stroke to do that
And that’s one of the things that quintech does for us is help people with speed because now they get the right launch they get the right overspin they get the right s spin which in essence gives you the proper speed gives you a gauge on what prop giv you a gauge of
What the proper speed and how the ball should come off my putter now I can go practice and now then you have the gauge in the field that’s I kind of almost like that’s where this conversation is going is there’s a there’s a feel element that and you know a classic
Model that you know you’re maybe designing or some of these other um I guess these Boutique brands that you’re seeing the the the Dempsey and the the wooden clubs or the Pimon clubs right like there’s this there’s a feel element to these things that a golfer can get
Out of that they’re not going to get out of the newest technology or you know I I can tell you for a fact I I like my hardwood butter uh I like that it you know performs pretty well on on the M hits that I have but they feel the same
If I hit it off the heel I hit it off the toe I hit it the center that thing feels the same right um so and and to your point and well both your points like I don’t get the feedback that I probably need to actually improve my
Putting stroke because of that well I mean it’s just all you know and again kind of relate things back to shooting but think about it if I’m shootting you know you ever you ever gone shooting I have not but okay I might have to after
This I don’t know well if if I grab a 22 you know I’m going to shoot a 22 I can hold that with one hand and just pop them off yeah because there’s no power to that gun it’s not coming out very fast it’s a very light handgun I grab a
44 magnum I don’t care what Clint would did the movie I better have two hands on that because if I don’t that thing’s going to come back and hit me that thing’s going to come back and hit me in the head but it’s a much heavier gun and
It’s a much more it’s a much more aggressive shot okay so there’s feel there’s feel in that okay there’s feel in the guy that that shoots shooting a basketball yeah okay I I can I can get in the proper position I can do it but I
Still need to know how hard yeah you know why’s proper touch involved with yeah if you ever played any basketball on a basketball team why do you stand there for an hour after practice shooting free throws because you want that feel when the nerves get in there
That you can do the same it well it’s kind of the same thing with putty okay yeah you want that feel in your in your long game you want to feel in irons but hey when it comes down to where do people all of a sudden you know where do
The Yips come from where do where you know all of a sudden you know a had a guy in a really nice putting stroke but man I could see the white in his knuckle I mean he’s just in there getting a putter fitting yeah like dude what do
You do what happens when he goes I’m gripping it light today I’m like holy wow I mean you know this doesn’t work anymore I don’t care how much putter head you have there that’s why you know you you kind of want to get that feel of
The head you want to get out there to to allow that putter to do its work and it’s hard because if I’m in a full swing you know I I I really you know I’m swinging so hard and I’m swinging so fast that yeah well how’d that feel well
Feel off a titanium driver or the modern golf ball is really to me a little irrelevant because there really isn’t a lot of feel to it you might feel if you hit it in the toe but there’s there’s so but when I get around when I get on the
Green now and I’ve hit two beautiful shots say I’m playing Chasin I’ve just hit a great Drive I’ve hit a wedge on the green and now I gotta nice little six-footer that breaks left I mean I want something that I feel like I can just feed it to the hole you know and
For you because you’ve always putted with a mallet yeah that’s what you do with I don’t like doing it that way cuz that’s not how I grew up and that’s not how I saw the best Putters when I first got out there and started working with tour
Players and you know tried to play for myself a little bit you know it hey we’re just we’re just feeling we’re just we’re just rolling The Rock what does everybody say rolling The Rock right and I think if if you were to pull the top players in the world either the
Men or the women in terms of the putting stroke itself not not the result uh the putting stroke itself I think the number one thing that they would answer with that’s that’s important to them is feel yeah got have a got to have a feel for
It right we hear that over and over and over over again and not we do see a bit more of the the putters that are less traditional from from years past as well bigger mallets and such yeah I think like Ricky Fowler’s a good example you know with the putting stroke
And and you know him right you get to watch the kid grow up yeah the putting stroke with an answer style to now to now all of a sudden yeah is his game revitalized with h the new putter the you know the long broom broomstick type big Mallet it is but the
Same thing that he wanted with the other putter is the same thing he wants with this feel MH yeah and you know and it it becomes you know hey you got a bag full of golf clubs I don’t I don’t care if you got a bag full of mine stuff with
Todd Dempsey Pimon Woods or you have a bag full of of ping I twos or you have you know the most modern set of Callaway irons and woods and Odyssey Putter what are you looking for in your golf B what’s the number one thing you’re look you’re looking for
Confidence right I want Confidence from those things mhm because if I’m going to go play around to golf and you know hey none of us practice as much as a tour player does no right I think all three of us combined yeah all of us combined
Don’t and you know and especially at my age I don’t practice at all anymore so now you go out there you hit a few balls on the Range they loosen up you hit a couple putts and you go out and play well I want confidence in those I want
Confidence in the ability to hit the golf shot that when I’m standing out there that I can hit the wedge 95 yards I can hit my seven iron I w’t say how far my 7 iron goes because it goes really short these days you know but but
You want to be able to go out there and play and have some fun and go wow you know what I didn’t play my best but man I hit a lot of really good shots I got a lot of trust away throw them back in the
Trunk you know what I feel like I can play golf with with these M so you know I’m not saying that everybody should buy one of these Putters I’m saying you know what but you got to find a putter that you’re going to have confidence with
That you can go with you know the hardest the hardest fit for me and I can and I’m sure Tyler will agree is the guy that comes in with six different Putters yeah you know well I use this happen a lot oh I use this one on Tuesday I use
This one on Wednesday oh this one I used for a week I put it pretty then it went he’s got no idea what the Loft and lie of those Putters are they all have different center of gravities a lot of times they have different lengths different grips okay and then you know
You have the conversation what golf ball do you well whatever yeah whatever I find yeah I mean how where’s the confidence in that where’s where’s the there no feel in that right yeah there’s there’s Z there’s zero feel in that so now you know we’re trying to what we try to do
And and I I say it to customers all the time I’m just I’m actually trying to dumb down your putting game trying to make it simpler let’s take it back to the roots of where it is which is it’s like playing cornhole it’s like just swinging your arm and throwing the bean
Back okay let’s start doing that with the part let’s just start rolling at the right speed because usually the guy that comes in and you know him we’ve seen you know well how many time well you know three putt four times around well just think about this if I can fix your
Speed with the right putter the right Loft the right lie maybe a couple thoughts about your putting stroke and I can eliminate your your I can eliminate your three putts and there’s four of them around you average now I just you know I always shoot 82 I never broke S I
Never broke 80 well if I Canim for now I sudden I shot 78 yep and then doesn’t even count a couple more putts going in the hole so to me what we try to do it’s the same thing if you fit a driver you know and he’s really good at doing it it’s
Just you’re instilling confidence in that new club right okay I want you to be confident I want you to be able to to to swing the putter properly I don’t really care what it is you know personally I think everybody should have a putter a seven iron or a six iron and a
Pimon driver to test themselves if they’re that serious about the game you know and find out can definitely see the the potential benefits of something like that because I think because and I think even to a larger point the you know there’s a lot of I don’t
Want to say propaganda but you know Market you mentioned the marketing before there’s a lot of it out there now and it’s all about the Forgiveness Andi where the weight is and all these things and and the argument you guys are making is essentially like don’t feed into that
Automatically it can benefit you for sure but there’s also the benefits you might be losing switching to that if you go away from something more traditional that gives you the feel gives you the those elements that you might what are most human beings scared of do they’re
Kind of scared of finding out that it’s them and it’s not those right most golfers are afraid of that you know is it that they’re the problem that they’re that they’re that they’re the problem it’s not you it’s your clubs that’s what I’ve heard that’s you
Know but but it but it’s a two-way street it’s an it’s an absolute two-way street and and if you’re a top player it actually becomes kind of a four-way street because it becomes you becomes your golf clubs becomes your instructor and it becomes your physical trainer you
Know and you can even throw the five way in there with the psychology the sport psychology you know so now it becomes his five sided head but ultimately you know I got to be accountable for what I do when I play you know and it’s hard sometimes to
To do that but you know we do such a nice job I want to say nice nice is even we do such a great job at minetonka getting people to be confident in what they have and also saying hey you know you got a club here that you hit pretty
Good you know we’re going to give you a new drive we might give you you know what that three and five wood let’s leave it for now it’s an older technology but you just sit there and just absolutely roped it and they’re like yeah I mean like when I’m just if
I’m driving it bad you know the first thing I do is go to my 3-wood and I’ll hit one right down I’ll hit one 235 right down the middle of the F dude then why would we take that out of your back right okay when that stops happening
Come back and see us again right
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