All-Around Missed Putt!

Barb found this photo in her files and sent it to me as evidence that she's never been a putter.  But I can tell you that I've never seen Barb use this putting style.  In fact, I've never seen anybody, man or women, junior golfer or geriatric hacker, try to putt like this.

I've studied this photo for a while and the more I look, the more amazing it becomes.

All of us who've ever plumbed a tricky green, hung over a ball, lined up for a crucial putt, forced the tension from our hands and bodies, followed Ben Hogan's advice and drawn that magical line from the ball to the cup and back to the ball, then taken our putters back and allowed them to swing forward like pendulums suspended from our shoulders, and held the putt while our balls rolled effortlessly forward on pure and true paths and dropped with a satisfying clunk into the sanctuary of the cups must surely be filled with gratitude.

THIS IS NOT THE WAY WE PUTT!

Pumpkin Cup Worries: My New Putter

Star Fort Pumpkin Cup 2012 Team

I've been deeply worried, in that secret, unspoken fashion that can disrupt my sleep and distract my attention from Hillary's comments on Washington dysfunction, about the wisdom of acquiring a new putter and trying to make friends with it 6 weeks before the Pumpkin Cup, which is an annual golf highlight in my life, right up there with my biennial matches with Wes.