The elephants on the green
How many times do you stroke a putt, it tracks with the line and speed you intended and then, in the last few feet, veers off-course jinking the wrong way? What’s going on? Sinister forces at play If the ball had just rolled past, missing by an inch, you know it...
When a loss is a big win
Golf can be a harsh game when you’re not playing well, you get injured, or you snatch defeat from the jaws of success. But what about when you have a 3-point lead a get beaten by an amazing 5-point birdie? That can hurt. But it didn’t. No pain at all. Spring Cup...
These guys really are Masters
There comes a time when you realise you’re not going to qualify for the Masters. For me it hit home last week after I hooked my drive into the car park, owned up with a note on the windscreen and paid for the damage. In Augusta the car parks are set way beyond the...
‘You wouldn’t believe your eyes’ – An amateur’s adventure to Augusta.
The Masters is famous for exciting final rounds, creating endless stories of what might have been for the losing contenders and ultimate joy for the champion. For one young Englishman, his chances of qualifying for the Masters as the British Amateur Champion were...
PuttBANDIT Colours
Clear line of sight The ability of the eye to distinguish shapes and the details of objects at distance (visual acuity) is a critical factor that enables the PuttBANDIT marker to target a putting line direction or aiming point from a distance. Colour contrast, the...
Happy first birthday PuttBANDIT
One year ago today, the PuttBANDIT website went live and we made our first sales of PuttBANDIT ball markers. It’s been an amazing year, full of Covid challenges, putting insights, learning new skills and building new customer relationships. Here’s a brief review of...
Why I love golf
Why on earth do we keep playing this game? I asked myself that question a lot during a very poor round of golf last week. Let’s just say my score was just short of a total that gets the crowd on its feet at a cricket match but less so in golf, unless it’s to go to...
Mulligans – For fun’s sake take it again
How many times, during a purely casual, informal, non-card-submitting round of golf, have your mates forgiven you a poor shot and you returned the favour, just for the sake of having a pleasant time? Ever given a gimme? Just for fun To be crystal clear, getting a...
Golf in 2022 – Exciting!
For me, once the Christmas and New Year festivities have finished, I start to get really excited about golf again. Not just my own game and how I’m going to become a better golfer, but the professional game, new equipment, playing on new courses and visiting some...
Golf resolutions 2022
When it comes to making New Year’s resolutions, I don’t make many, let alone write them down and publish them. But this year, I’m making an exception when it comes to golf goals. I really want to get to a single-figure handicap index by year end. It’s going to take...
Why I change golf balls in winter
Do you play with the same type of golf ball all year round? I don’t anymore. And here’s why I choose to switch when the seasons change and the colder days set in. It all started back at school. Not Q-School, more like Grange Hill without the glamour. School physics...
Go and play winter golf
Historically in the winter, when the phone rings and those words ‘Fancy a round of golf today’ emanate from someone’s lips, my usual response would always have been ‘I’m busy’. It’s cold and the air's damp, the course is wet and muddy, the bunkers are hard, the...
Putting the percentages
How often do you step up to a 6-foot putt and expect to sink it? What about 10 feet? I always have great expectations of my putting but then I looked at the data from the PGA tour. They miss less putts than me, but to be fair, they don’t have wet, bobbly, winter...
7 principles of highly effective golf shoes
It is with great sadness that after 27 years of faithful service, I have to announce I have finally laid my favourite golf shoes to rest. It’s time to move on. But how do you choose a new shoe? Spikes go soft It was in 1995 that I met my old friends in the pro shop...
Strictly come golfing – Hovering, hip action and quiet eyes
How do you go about learning to be a better golfer? Do you get lessons from a local professional, watch YouTube videos, read books, blogs and magazines or just use good old trial and error? Why my swing looks like Jack’s I first started to learn to play in the...
How NOT to play a new course
Most golfers like us play the same 18 holes to get our membership money’s worth. But how do you approach your game when you visit a new and unfamiliar course with no local knowledge? The 7 P’s You’ll probably remember the adage, proper planning and preparation...
Brooks vs. Bryson – The Match
We thought it was all over when they embraced at the Ryder Cup, admittedly after strong encouragement to kiss and make up from their USA teammates. Perhaps peace had finally broken out. But after 2 years of exchanging blows on Twitter and jabbing away about speed...
Ryder Cup 43 – Youth 19 – Experience 9
With the European women winning the Solheim Cup against the odds in Ohio, I had high hopes for the men at Whistling Straits. But it was not to be. It started to look like an uphill climb after day one. Young and talented The ranking stats indicated that Team Europe...
Does the PuttBANDIT improve putting?
We think so. But what about hundreds of real customers up and down the country? Is the PuttBANDIT improving their putting too? We’ve done some research to find out. August 2021 customer research We conducted our first customer feedback survey in the last week of...
One down, one to go for Team Europe
This September’s epic spectacle of Europe vs USA in both Women’s and Men’s golf is well under way. On Monday 6th September, Team Europe won and retained the Solheim Cup, 15-13, in a brilliant exhibition of some of the best golf you will see anywhere, by any team....
Swing like a Lady
With the AIG Women’s Open and the Solheim Cup nearly upon us and more women and girls taking up the great game of golf throughout the country, I thought it was time to visit one of my pet subjects – the female golf swing – and why I wish I could swing like a lady....
From T71 to Claret Jug
What a difference a week can make when it comes to golfing performance. One week, you’re struggling - the next, you’re The Champion Golfer of the Year. How does that happen? Can’t buy a putt At the Scottish Open, the traditional preparation and jet lag cure for The...
Open to learning?
It’s amazing what you can learn by just watching golfers play golf - live. Watching tournament highlights videos is ok but you just don’t get to see the player’s full process - the way they prepare, the studying of the data, their pre-shot routines, shot execution...
Scrambling a recovery
When you hit a poor shot and the ball ends up somewhere less than ideal, how well do you recover to make a nett par? Do you take your medicine and take a drop or the sensible route, adding up an extra stroke, or do you try and hit a heroic risky recovery shot?...
How does the weather affect your game?
I always take the weather into consideration when thinking about my game plan. Cold and raining = stay home. Sunny and warm = break out the shorts. Windy = just play the downwind holes. The problem is the weather variables keep changing. In April it was sunny and...
How big are your greens?
I’m not talking about the size of your vegetables but those patches of turf we spend our days trying to hit in regulation. How can you miss? My last round of golf included just 7 greens in regulation - that’s about 40%, compared to a PGA tour pro’s GIR stats of...
How a nightmare round improved my game
Three weeks ago I had a dreadful start to my round. It started very badly. With no hope of a low score, I stopped chasing a decent number and changed my mental approach. That decision has improved my game ever since and I think I know why. Beware brothers bearing...
Why PuttBANDIT?
Why do you need a PuttBANDIT? To us, the answer is obvious - which keen improvement-minded golfer doesn’t want to set their putting line better? We want to be better golfers We want to play better, shoot lower scores, maybe win a friendly four-ball now and then or...
Back to golf – Round 1 scorecard
After a 3-month lockdown break, it was great to be playing golf. The sun was out, it was warm and breezy with winds gusting above 30mph - so bright but a little challenging. The course was predictably packed with jabbed-up escapees and the pace was on the...
Don’t miss those short ones
I have to admit that the most frustrating thing for me is to miss a very sinkable short putt, or worse, a tap-in. We’ve all done it. Thankfully I do that less often these days but when I do miss a short one it’s very annoying because I’ve wasted a relatively easy...
Today I booked a tee time!
It was just by chance that I glanced at my phone. I had an email from my golf club saying the booking system had opened. Fantastic. It had been a massive 30 minutes since the email was sent, so fearing a panicky rush to book tee times, I panicked and rushed to book...
Things we never knew about golf
I like unusual facts, and although I have been playing golf for a long time, I still come across interesting facts that I didn’t know. Here are just a few of them. 4 under for the hole Scoring a hole in one on a par 5 or taking two on a par 6 is called a ‘condor’....
What do I do now?
Oh what to do without golf during lockdown? We’re getting PuttBANDIT up and running as soon as possible, despite the challenges that lockdown brings. But outside of that, I’ve worn a groove in my living room carpet, not just from putting, but by practicing my very...
Going the distance
Last week the R&A and USGA released ‘The Distance Insight Report,’ delivering a comprehensive 102 pages of research data and analysis about the contributors to, and long-term impacts of, hitting distance in golf. 100 long years If you pride yourself on your...
My golfing bugbears
Although I love the game of golf, and really miss it when I can’t play, there are certain things about the game, highlighted below, which can drive me up the wall, especially during a particularly bad round. You may agree or disagree or have others of your own so...
Vernier acuity
Vernier acuity isn’t the latest French golfing prodigy. It is the ability to detect misalignment amongst parallel line segments. Put plainly, it’s why stripes can help you putt better. Get perspective Imagine a long straight road - or runway. The farther you look...
Lockdown golf – Time for Plan B
I write as the UK chalks up the second week of another national lockdown, potentially lasting for months, to rightfully stem the spread of COVID, save lives and protect the NHS. As a consequence, courses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have been closed. Not...
Golf 2020: A bit different
Well, what a year 2020 has been in many ways, and golf was no exception. ‘Unprecedented’ is the word used almost daily when referring to COVID19, but it also applies to the changes golf has gone through in 2020. COVID golf I stopped being a fair-weather golfer a...
Winter golf – cold wet and perfect for game improvement
In the last few weeks I’ve learned to love winter golf. It’s been a great opportunity to keep fit, gather data and force myself to try different shots that help reduce my scores. Fair-weather golfer I’m usually a ‘fair-weather golfer’. For me, warm and sunny...
Wear glasses? Missing putts?
I’m passionate about finding repeatable and reliable ways to improve my game. I’m also very shortsighted and wear varifocal glasses. I’ve worn glasses since before I began golfing as a junior, and through the years, I’ve noticed how my eyes can sometimes deceive me...
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