1 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:06,000 You want to make sure to keep your head down through the stroke, no 2 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:09,160 matter what kind of putting stroke you're doing, a lot of people have a 3 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:13,119 tendency to want to see where the ball is going, and they lift their 4 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:17,480 head out last second, which will either pull the putterface close or leave the 5 00:00:17,519 --> 00:00:21,640 putterface open, and they're missing putts, and they're wondering why. If you 6 00:00:21,719 --> 00:00:27,320 watch almost every single PGA pro, watch them after the ball leaves the putterface, 7 00:00:27,679 --> 00:00:32,920 that heads and those eyes stayed down for an extra second while the ball 8 00:00:33,039 --> 00:00:37,399 is maybe rolled already four or five feet, So that, in my opinion, 9 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:41,359 is like one of the most important things. All right. This is 10 00:00:41,359 --> 00:00:45,000 still a singer from Bowling Green, Kentucky man I play at Indian Gills Country 11 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:51,560 Club. This is Golf Smarter number eight nine, the Emerging world of competitive 12 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:59,320 putting with World Putting League Sideline reporter brought Gillespie. This is Golf Smarter sharing 13 00:00:59,399 --> 00:01:03,079 stories, hips and insights from great golf mines to help you lower your score 14 00:01:03,159 --> 00:01:08,599 and raise your golf IQ. Here's your host, Fred Green. Welcome to 15 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:12,319 the Golf Smarter podcast. Brock. How you doing, Fred, Happy to 16 00:01:12,359 --> 00:01:17,640 be here. Great to have you on because I think this is going to 17 00:01:17,719 --> 00:01:23,319 be a topic that's gonna tantalize a lot of people around the world who are 18 00:01:23,719 --> 00:01:29,560 fascinated by what's going on talking about competitive putting. It seems like it's a 19 00:01:29,599 --> 00:01:34,560 whole new world that's starting up in competitive putting. There's been a huge surge 20 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:38,120 Fred and it's a very exciting time. I run the National Putting Tour. 21 00:01:38,799 --> 00:01:42,480 I do putting competitions mainly in the Southwest, but I'm starting to branch out 22 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:46,760 into the East coast. And then there are a number of other entities that 23 00:01:46,799 --> 00:01:53,319 are coming out that are really making a big push to popularize competitive puttings. 24 00:01:53,319 --> 00:01:59,159 So it's a very exciting time for competitive putterings. And how did you get 25 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:01,319 involved in this? So, I don't know if you heard of the major 26 00:02:01,439 --> 00:02:07,719 series of putting. This came out in twenty seventeen. They were funded by 27 00:02:07,719 --> 00:02:12,919 a guy by the name of Gui la Libertai who owned CERC de selt. 28 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:19,439 A lot of people don't know this, but French Canadians love putting, and 29 00:02:21,039 --> 00:02:24,000 yeah, it's pretty random. Yeah, yeah, they're In fact, about 30 00:02:24,039 --> 00:02:29,520 maybe thirty thirty five years ago, there used to be a television show I 31 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:34,719 think they called it Putt Putt and it aired in French Canada, Quebec, 32 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:38,520 mainly Quebec, and it was all the rage for a little while, like 33 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:42,599 most TV shows that eventually went off the air. But yeah, the French 34 00:02:42,599 --> 00:02:46,120 Canadians love putting. And this guy Gui la Liberte and a guy by the 35 00:02:46,199 --> 00:02:51,840 name of Guillaume Belande who now heads up Pop Strokes Putting Tour, which is 36 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,240 owned by Tiger Woods. They started this thing called the Major Series of Putting 37 00:02:55,759 --> 00:03:00,759 and they did these nationwide putting contests in many USA cities and a little bit 38 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:07,039 in Canada. They built a big, huge putting stadium behind Planet Hollywood and 39 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:13,000 to your viewers, they can go to Google and just search MSOP Putting stadium 40 00:03:13,039 --> 00:03:16,960 and do an image search and see this phenomenal putting stadium that was built. 41 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:23,120 It was just magnificent and the putting stadium only lasted for one year. The 42 00:03:23,319 --> 00:03:28,879 MSOP, the Major Series of Putting lasted three years and unfortunately they couldn't turn 43 00:03:28,879 --> 00:03:30,879 a profit and they went out of business. But that's how I first got 44 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:35,879 into competitive putting, and I started doing these competitions. I live in San 45 00:03:35,879 --> 00:03:39,159 Diego and I started doing these competitions and I finished in the top three in 46 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:44,879 San Diego two years in a row and made it to their finals and fell 47 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:49,560 in love with competitive putting, and so that's how I got started with the 48 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:54,360 major series of putting. Now, there were entities doing putting competitions well before 49 00:03:54,400 --> 00:04:00,599 this. Some of your older viewers might remember the TV show that was on 50 00:04:00,159 --> 00:04:03,039 in the late seventies and early eighties. I believe it was on ABC, 51 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:06,680 but it was on one of the major networks on Saturday morning, and they 52 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:11,479 would play what are called the put putt courses, which are miniature golf courses 53 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:15,079 that are flat, that have like these railings, these flat metal railings, 54 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:20,879 and you made like like bumper bowlings. You know, it's sort of like 55 00:04:20,959 --> 00:04:26,000 that. Not all the holes require bounces off walls, but a lot of 56 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:30,759 them do. And so that was sort of the beginning of things. The 57 00:04:30,759 --> 00:04:33,360 the the TV show that was on in the late seventies and early eighties, 58 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:39,319 that was sort of the beginning of this this competitive putting landscape. And then 59 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:44,040 there was nothing really you know, those those competitions still went on, but 60 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,759 nothing was televised. And tell the major series of putting in twenty seventeen, 61 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:54,399 Fox Sports picked it up and they did a TV show. Unfortunately, it 62 00:04:54,439 --> 00:05:00,720 went out of business because it's very tough to make money throwing competitive putting turna 63 00:05:00,959 --> 00:05:04,759 so it went for three years. But what it did is it spawned all 64 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:11,240 these other entities to kind of jump into the game. And so that's where 65 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:15,959 I initially started as a player, and then I did the major series of 66 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,040 putting and then that kind of spawned what I run now, which is the 67 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:25,600 National Putting Tour, as well as some of these other putting entities. Unbelievable. 68 00:05:25,959 --> 00:05:31,120 Does having the long drive competition becoming so popular, does that help bring 69 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:36,040 along this putting Tour and all these various putting tours? A lot of people 70 00:05:36,079 --> 00:05:42,079 have mentioned that, and yes, I do think that that that there's that 71 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:46,199 helped a little bit. I think it's just one of those things where and 72 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:50,680 this is just like my own personal opinion, but the American public is always 73 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:57,040 thirsting for something new. Now you have your major sports that have been around 74 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:00,120 forever, National Football League and you know, the NFL, Major League Baseball, 75 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:06,360 National Hockey League, et cetera. NBA of course we're going to playoffs, 76 00:06:06,439 --> 00:06:11,319 yeah, but you know, the American public has a thirst for something 77 00:06:11,399 --> 00:06:15,399 new and I think one of the things that kind of helped searge this thing 78 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:23,040 was COVID. Um all the major sports went that they shut down for a 79 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:27,040 while, right the ES, ESPN and some of these networks were starving for 80 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:30,199 content, so they were putting on a lot of people. I have seen 81 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:35,399 cornhole on television now, uh, And there's a numerous there's a there's a 82 00:06:35,399 --> 00:06:42,959 lot of other small time sports that we're getting some run. And I think 83 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:48,279 that that the fact that the Americans are in search for something new, as 84 00:06:48,319 --> 00:06:54,279 well as COVID kind of bringing some of these fringe sports to the forefront. 85 00:06:55,079 --> 00:06:59,000 I think it's kind of allowed this thing to flourish. And then also keep 86 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:04,639 in mind, COVID made golf explode. And I remember before COVID my local 87 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:09,800 municipal that I used to go play. I could get on anytime. Now 88 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:14,879 I can't even get a tea time on a Tuesday at eleven am. So 89 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:17,800 golf is two weeks in advance. Yeah, two weeks in advance exactly. 90 00:07:18,199 --> 00:07:24,160 Golf has experienced a boom and people are really interested in golf related things. 91 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:29,120 And then the msop doing their thing. From twenty seventeen to twenty nineteen kind 92 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:31,680 of made some of these other entities realize that, oh, you know, 93 00:07:31,759 --> 00:07:36,000 there's something here with competitive putting, and so I think that that all of 94 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:41,759 those were factors. Yeah, unbelievable. Now we're not talking about miniature golf 95 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:46,759 courses. Here are these like normal type of greens. How does this work? 96 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:51,160 Well that's a great question because there is not a norm right now. 97 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:56,120 Okay, So the TV shows that I told you about years ago, we're 98 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,600 done on what are called put put courses. These are courses that are mostly 99 00:07:59,639 --> 00:08:03,079 flat, that have railings that you bounce it off of or you just go 100 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:07,439 straight at the hole. Right then there don't forget and the clown's mouth and 101 00:08:07,519 --> 00:08:11,439 the windmill and those kind of things. No, I'm getting to that. 102 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:18,279 So courses don't put put courses usually don't have those types of things on the 103 00:08:18,319 --> 00:08:24,120 course. Okay, But then there's what's called mini golf courses okay or mini 104 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:28,399 put Okay. Mini golf is like what you see at the local Family Fund 105 00:08:28,439 --> 00:08:31,360 center where you're hitting your ball through, you know, past the windmill. 106 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:35,759 Maybe there's a hole with like a volcano and you got to hit it into 107 00:08:35,759 --> 00:08:39,840 the top of the volcano or the one that people always joke about is maybe 108 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:41,320 there's a hole with a clown's mouth at the end and you try to hit 109 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:46,720 it into the clown's mouth, or stuff that is really outside the box, 110 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:50,320 crazy wild kind of stuff, maybe even some of the stuff that you would 111 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:52,240 see on the TV show Holy Moly, you know where you've got all these 112 00:08:52,279 --> 00:08:56,399 wild things going on. That's considered mini golf. And there is what's called 113 00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:01,399 the US Pro Mini Golf Association, which is headed by a guy by the 114 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:05,000 name of Bob Dettwiler who is an absolute legend in the field, and they 115 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:11,840 still do putting competitions and mini golf. Then with the MSOP, it brought 116 00:09:11,879 --> 00:09:18,600 to the forefront what I term is just putting courses. Okay, These are 117 00:09:18,639 --> 00:09:20,799 not putt putt courses with where you're bouncing it off the walls. These are 118 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:24,440 not mini golf courses where you're hitting it in the clown's mouth. These are 119 00:09:24,519 --> 00:09:31,600 just higher end putting courses that are built to represent more of putts that you 120 00:09:31,639 --> 00:09:35,919 would see on the golf course, the holes mimic puts that you would see 121 00:09:35,919 --> 00:09:39,759 on the golf course. And there are companies like the Nicholas Group, the 122 00:09:39,879 --> 00:09:46,000 Nicholas putting entity. They build these putting courses, and they actually built the 123 00:09:46,039 --> 00:09:50,360 putting course that was at the Putting Stadium in twenty seventeen. Nicholas has a 124 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:52,360 Jack Nicholas has an entity that does that. I'm sure a lot of you 125 00:09:52,519 --> 00:09:58,360 of your viewers have seen commercials for companies like Back nine Greens, And there's 126 00:09:58,399 --> 00:10:05,080 also a company called Puts Tech that's putting in these really cool putting courses that 127 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:09,879 resemble more of puts that you see on the regular golf course, and even 128 00:10:09,919 --> 00:10:16,600 a step further. Put Tech is building these incredible putting courses that actually look 129 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:22,240 like golf courses. So if you were to see an aerial shot of this 130 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:26,600 course, you might think it's a regular golf course, but it's all turf. 131 00:10:26,799 --> 00:10:31,919 And these courses have sand traps, they have water hazards, but there's 132 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:37,960 no real sand and no real water. They're putting courses that look like golf 133 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:41,919 courses. And one that has become incredibly popular that's owned by Tiger Woods and 134 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:48,320 a guy by the name of Greg Bartoli is called Pop Stroke, and Pop 135 00:10:48,399 --> 00:10:54,639 Stroke has been doing some phenomenal things. Tailor Made just bought a ten percent 136 00:10:54,720 --> 00:11:00,200 ownership Steak and pop Stroke and Popstroke does this thing called the pop Stroke Wor 137 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:05,000 Series that is ran by a guy by the name of Guilm Balonde who was 138 00:11:05,039 --> 00:11:09,039 one of the guys that started the major series of putting and they're doing putting 139 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:13,879 tournaments. You can actually see their website which I designed at Popstroke Tour Series 140 00:11:13,919 --> 00:11:22,120 dot com and they're doing these professional putting contests and the Popstroke stuff is absolutely 141 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:28,000 phenomenal. So there's a lot of different types of courses and different entities throwing 142 00:11:28,159 --> 00:11:31,639 tournaments on these courses. Now, the National Putting Tour, which is what 143 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:37,240 I run, I am not pigeonholed into one type of putting course for my 144 00:11:37,399 --> 00:11:43,240 tournaments. I like doing tournaments on all of these types of courses. So 145 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:48,720 the National Putting Tour kind of captures the essence of all of these putting courses. 146 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:54,879 And then some of these entities have kind of broken off, like Popstroke. 147 00:11:54,320 --> 00:12:00,960 There's another entity that has opened up called Putting World and in Scottsdale, 148 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:07,759 Arizona. Right, Yeah, so Putting World is doing their things and they 149 00:12:07,879 --> 00:12:11,679 build their course is more like the MSOP style. So anyway, there's a 150 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:16,159 lot of these different entities out there and National Putting tourd does tournaments on all 151 00:12:16,159 --> 00:12:18,840 of these courses. Oh, I need to learn so much more, and 152 00:12:18,879 --> 00:12:28,919 we're going to do that when we come back right after this. Now, 153 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:31,519 I didn't mean to interrupt you when you were starting to explain it, because 154 00:12:31,519 --> 00:12:35,360 I do want to hear more about Putting World in Scottsdale, Arizona. Tell 155 00:12:35,399 --> 00:12:39,519 me about this place. This seems to be a new business model. It 156 00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:46,559 is, and so i'd mentioned earlier in the last segment about how the MSOP 157 00:12:46,879 --> 00:12:50,600 has spawned these other entities. There's a guy by the name of Tim. 158 00:12:50,679 --> 00:12:54,200 I forget his last name, but his name is Tim. He's the head 159 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:58,879 pro at Putting World. He got the idea to start Putting World from the 160 00:12:58,919 --> 00:13:03,440 major series of put he had played in their event in twenty seventeen, fell 161 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:07,759 in love with the putting course, got with some high level investors as well 162 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:13,240 as Ping. Ping owns a piece of Putting World, and they started this 163 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:18,600 place in Scottsdale, Arizona called Putting World. Putting World is an indoor eighteen 164 00:13:18,679 --> 00:13:24,240 hole putting course. It's all synthetic. It does look kind of like a 165 00:13:24,279 --> 00:13:28,600 regular golf course, but there's no sand traps or water hazards and the holes 166 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:33,639 are are more standard and they're more like regular puts. Like Pop Stroke has 167 00:13:33,679 --> 00:13:37,159 like a bunch of crazy stuff going on with hills and sand traps and water 168 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:43,320 hazards. Putting World is just are just standard puts of all different shapes and 169 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:48,840 sizes. It's indoor and they also have a bar, a restaurant, a 170 00:13:48,919 --> 00:13:54,120 pro shop where you can purchase, you know, items t shirts, hats, 171 00:13:54,159 --> 00:13:56,840 etc. Another thing that Putting World has done which a lot of your 172 00:13:56,879 --> 00:14:03,960 listeners may be interested in. They have a full instructional facility inside Putting World, 173 00:14:03,799 --> 00:14:09,399 so they have pros that are in there that can fit you, and 174 00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:13,759 they do it's very reminiscent of like what the guys are doing now with track 175 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:18,279 Man, where they're tracking these different data points, and they have these really 176 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:26,360 high end booths where you can go in schedule a session where you're working with 177 00:14:26,559 --> 00:14:31,919 a certified instructor. They run you through a number of these tests where they 178 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:39,000 have these interactive sort of games or exercises where they can read all these different 179 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:45,039 statistics. With cameras and high tech equipment, they can read what you're doing 180 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:50,240 with your putting and fit the perfect putter for your putting style as well as 181 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:52,679 give you some tips on what you can do to be a better putter. 182 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:56,440 So I know a lot of your listeners are interested in instruction. You can 183 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:01,720 go to putting world dot com, or if you're in Scottsdale, just drive 184 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:05,240 down to putting World. Or if you're in the Phoenix area, drive over 185 00:15:05,279 --> 00:15:09,639 to Scottsdale, go down to putting World and get a super high end assessment 186 00:15:09,879 --> 00:15:15,200 on what you're doing wrong with the putter and possibly purchase a new putter or 187 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:20,759 find some adjustments to your putter that will help your putting game. What kind 188 00:15:20,799 --> 00:15:24,440 of footprint does um Putting World have? I mean, is it is it 189 00:15:24,519 --> 00:15:28,679 like an old Costco? Is a giant warehouse? Is it a storefront on 190 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:33,759 a strip mall? What? What kind of space? You know? I 191 00:15:33,799 --> 00:15:39,039 think you're sort of on the right track there. It's uh think of um, 192 00:15:39,159 --> 00:15:41,720 like let's just say you were to go to like your local Ross down 193 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:45,279 at like in a shopping center, like you know, ye, not as 194 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:48,080 big as not as big as Costco, but the size of maybe like a 195 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:52,879 Ross or something like that. Staples, Like you know that they're using the 196 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:58,320 same building that like a Staples would use or an office depot, which and 197 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:03,759 anyway, right, yeah, yeah, some of those locations might become Putting 198 00:16:03,799 --> 00:16:07,759 World locations in the future. But yeah, they're using office space of that 199 00:16:07,879 --> 00:16:12,879 size and building these eighteen whole putting courses inside these office spaces. It's quite 200 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:15,799 big. It's quite big. I don't know the square footage, but it's 201 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:18,120 quite big. And then, like I said, they got a bar, 202 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:23,919 a restaurant. They do all kinds of competitions. They have just started an 203 00:16:25,039 --> 00:16:30,120 entity called, here's another acronym for you, the World Putting Tour WPT, 204 00:16:30,639 --> 00:16:34,399 and they just threw their first event. I actually just played in their first 205 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:37,679 event. I finished thirteenth out of fifty two guys, which wasn't so bad. 206 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:44,000 Congratulations, thank you. And they're giving away massive amounts of prize money 207 00:16:44,679 --> 00:16:51,799 thirty thousand dollars. This last one was a purse of thirty thousand dollars. 208 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:56,080 It's three hundred dollars to enter with a two hundred dollars yearly membership fee, 209 00:16:56,120 --> 00:17:00,480 so the price to enter isn't too bad. And the first place prize was 210 00:17:00,559 --> 00:17:03,960 ten thousand dollars and it was won by a guy by the name of Kevin 211 00:17:03,039 --> 00:17:08,640 Lucas. Who's a local mini tour, you know, Club Pro Hotshot, 212 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:15,200 and he won this ten thousand dollars purse. So what Putting World is doing 213 00:17:15,319 --> 00:17:18,640 is very exciting. Now another little side note on Putting World, which is 214 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:25,240 which goes into a little bit of their vision. The Putting World entity are 215 00:17:25,279 --> 00:17:30,960 going to be opening up locations nationwide. Now, the cool thing about this 216 00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:38,039 is the course is going to stay exactly the same in every location. The 217 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:44,960 tea boxes are done with this laser technology where they can move the tea box 218 00:17:45,039 --> 00:17:49,200 anywhere they want, which gives them an infinite amount of different courses that they 219 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:53,240 can do. And the cool thing is that the course is the same at 220 00:17:53,279 --> 00:18:00,440 every location, which means that they can throw nationwide tournaments using the same tea 221 00:18:00,519 --> 00:18:06,640 boxes, and instead of you having to fly to Houston, Miami, LA, 222 00:18:07,079 --> 00:18:08,960 New York, you can just go to your local Putting World, which 223 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:14,200 they're talking about ten locations in the next few years, and you can play 224 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:21,279 in tournaments against everyone nationwide and you don't have to fly to these other venues 225 00:18:21,319 --> 00:18:26,240 to do nationwide putting contests, which is really cool because one of the biggest 226 00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:32,200 things that holds back competitive putting contest nationwide are travel costs. It's very expensive 227 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:37,000 to fly and get plane ticket or get to hotel fare at these different cities. 228 00:18:37,559 --> 00:18:40,759 So you can just go to your local Putting World playing these huge nationwide 229 00:18:40,759 --> 00:18:44,759 putting competitions for big money and you don't got to travel everywhere, which is 230 00:18:44,759 --> 00:18:47,920 going to save the putters a lot of money. So that's one of the 231 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,400 exciting things about Putting World. Yeah, well, you know the first thing 232 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:53,480 when you're starting to say, oh, but every course is exactly the same, 233 00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:56,720 it's like, well, that's very unlike golf, because the beauty of 234 00:18:57,079 --> 00:19:00,559 golf is you can go anywhere and it's going to be unique unto itself. 235 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:07,559 But if now with having locations that are exactly the same all over the country, 236 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:14,160 starting the United States, you can compete remotely and you're competing apples to 237 00:19:14,279 --> 00:19:21,079 apples. That's brilliant it is and I think you your comment they're competing remotely, 238 00:19:21,279 --> 00:19:23,480 that was very well said. Thank That is one that is one of 239 00:19:23,559 --> 00:19:29,000 That is one of their main concepts. And so they're they're taken off. 240 00:19:29,039 --> 00:19:32,880 They had a really good turnout for their first event. They're trying to grow 241 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:37,160 their tour and the Putting World entity is is it's a very exciting thing. 242 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:44,480 Yeah, very exciting. Oh wow. Yeah, and congratulations on finishing thirteenth. 243 00:19:44,599 --> 00:19:48,200 Yeah. Along with along with running the National Putting Tour, I also 244 00:19:48,279 --> 00:19:53,720 compete in these events. I compete in my own events, and then I 245 00:19:53,839 --> 00:20:00,079 also compete with for events on these other tours. That's one of the reasons 246 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:03,880 why I throw these tournaments is so that there are tournaments for me to play 247 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:08,519 in. That's that's where That's basically where it started because when when the major 248 00:20:08,559 --> 00:20:12,440 series of putting went out of business, especially for West Coast putters, there 249 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:18,079 were no tournaments for anyone to play. The US Pro Minigolf Association, which 250 00:20:18,079 --> 00:20:21,920 I talked about earlier, they do all their stuff on the East Coast, 251 00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:26,519 mainly in South Carolina and some of these East coast states. There is another 252 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:33,519 entity called the PPA, the Professional Putters Association, and they do tournaments mainly 253 00:20:33,559 --> 00:20:37,000 on like what I was talking about with the putt put courses, some mini 254 00:20:37,039 --> 00:20:42,079 golf courses. There's also another entity called the AMA, the American Mini Golf 255 00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:48,240 Alliance, but none of those entities do tournaments on the West Coast. So 256 00:20:48,319 --> 00:20:52,160 I started the National Putting Tour so that there would be tournaments on the West 257 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:56,680 Coast for people to play in. So I know your listeners are probably their 258 00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:00,720 heads probably about ready to explode with all these acronyms. There's a lot of 259 00:21:00,759 --> 00:21:04,839 different entities out there throwing putting tournaments. But in this last year, you 260 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:10,680 know, Pop Stroke, Putting, World, National Putting Tour, we've all 261 00:21:10,759 --> 00:21:15,880 kind of experienced an uptick and there's been a lot more excitement for competitive putting. 262 00:21:17,599 --> 00:21:19,240 Well, I want everyone to make sure that they go to check the 263 00:21:19,279 --> 00:21:23,920 show notes because we'll have links to all these places in today's blog post and 264 00:21:25,039 --> 00:21:26,880 in the show notes for this episode. And we're going to take another time 265 00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:41,000 out right now. So with all these various putting tours that are really starting 266 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:45,480 to take off, here are you competing against amateurs or these professional golfers, 267 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:48,359 of these PGA Tour pros, of these PGA teaching pros. Who are we 268 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:52,920 competing against? That's a great question. So it's different for every tour. 269 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:57,400 Okay, with my tour, which once again National Putting Tour, you can 270 00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:03,400 check us out a National Putting Tour dot com. I try to include everyone. 271 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:07,680 I have a beginner division that's free at most of my events. It's 272 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:11,160 free there is a five dollar labor fee that we charge just to help pay 273 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:15,240 for materials and employees to help work the event, but the beginner division is 274 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:21,240 free. So with the National Putting Tour, I'm trying to cater towards everyone. 275 00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:26,519 Okay, In my beginner division, we oftentimes will have women and kids 276 00:22:26,559 --> 00:22:29,839 and maybe seniors that aren't the greatest putters in the world. They want to 277 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:34,039 come out have some fun. I'll give the beginner champion a twenty dollar prize 278 00:22:34,079 --> 00:22:37,559 just to make make, you know, give it some excitement. So I 279 00:22:37,599 --> 00:22:41,880 have a beginner division. I also have an amateur division that at most of 280 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:45,119 the events that I do, is just twenty dollars plus the five dollars fee. 281 00:22:45,599 --> 00:22:51,079 The amateur division usually consists of players in the seven to twenty five handicap 282 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:56,000 range. Okay, Then in my on the National Putting Tour, I also 283 00:22:56,079 --> 00:23:03,000 do a pro division, which is of mostly scratch golfers. Many tour players 284 00:23:03,839 --> 00:23:10,599 club pro guys, instructors or people to just think they're good at putting right. 285 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:14,880 So that's how the National Putting Tour works. One of the bigger tours 286 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:19,119 in the nation, which is the Popstroke Tour series. Popstroke is catering more 287 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:27,039 towards the professional putter. I think it's because they have limited space, meaning 288 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:32,599 when they throw these events, they don't close the Popstroke location down, so 289 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:37,079 they don't have room for tournaments of hundreds and hundreds of people. They have 290 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:44,920 gone with more of a model of the professional putters. So Popstroke really caters 291 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:48,880 towards the professional putter, the high level putter, and they've kind of gone 292 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:53,160 that direction, and they don't have an amateur or a beginner flight putting world, 293 00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:57,599 which us the entity. Well, yeah, do you think that they're 294 00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:03,200 going in that direction to get TV exposure because you know, we're not going 295 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:07,359 to want to watch beginners and amateurs putt, but watching pros compete on a 296 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:15,680 putting competition would be pretty compelling TV. So, Fred, you're a very 297 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:18,759 insightful guy, and once again you've asked a great question. Not only are 298 00:24:18,759 --> 00:24:22,839 they catering towards it, they've already done it. So last year they had 299 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:29,000 their Pop Stroke Tour Championship and it was in Sarasota, Florida, and I 300 00:24:29,039 --> 00:24:30,920 played in it. It was a lot of fun they had. They did 301 00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:36,400 a TV show that aired on the Ballet Sports Network nationwide as well as the 302 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:40,799 Golf Channel. It aired twice on the Golf Channel in late last year and 303 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:45,240 early this year, so they are already doing a TV show. And yes, 304 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:48,400 I think because of the TV show thing, they kind of went with 305 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:52,279 more of a pro putter type situation. Sure, and what was the reaction 306 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,960 or the numbers as far as the views for that, And I'm sure it 307 00:24:57,119 --> 00:25:02,279 ended up on YouTube as well. Yes, you can look up on YouTube. 308 00:25:02,279 --> 00:25:04,960 The TV show isn't on YouTube, but they did some recap videos that 309 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:10,279 you can check out on YouTube. I also do videos on YouTube, and 310 00:25:10,319 --> 00:25:14,960 I did some videos for that Pop Stroke Tour series. So if you YouTube 311 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,319 search Popstroke Tour Championship, You're gonna see the videos that I've done. You're 312 00:25:18,319 --> 00:25:22,000 gonna see the videos that Popstoke has done. They did have a TV show 313 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:26,960 that aired on the Valley Sports Network and the Golf Channel, So yeah, 314 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:33,680 so they're catering more towards that and they do have more television shows planned for 315 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:37,319 the future. How the ratings were or what the ratings were, I really 316 00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:40,119 couldn't tell you. I'm not on the back end and I'm not privy to 317 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:44,279 that type of information, but I know that they do have plans to do 318 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:48,640 more television show stuff. So I'm assuming that it went okay, but I 319 00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:52,160 don't know how how well it did. Yeah, well it must be doing 320 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:55,680 okay if all of a sudden there's a lot of interest. I mean, 321 00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:59,559 if you yeah, you know, you've got these different entities showing up, 322 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:06,119 You've got businesses growing around it, and it's kind of obvious that there would 323 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:08,839 be this kind of attraction because yeah, you know, everybody is a good 324 00:26:08,839 --> 00:26:11,920 golfer, but there could be some really good putters out there. Well, 325 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:18,359 one thing that they did to try to enhance the television experience, they had 326 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:22,960 what they called the Tailor made twenty five thousand dollars showdown. What that was 327 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:27,680 is the winner of the team event. It was won by two guys, 328 00:26:27,799 --> 00:26:32,880 Jacob Stats and Chris Johnson, who are considered two of the best competitive putters 329 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:37,880 in the world, faced off against Ricky Fowler and Paula Kreamer in a twenty 330 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:44,880 five thousand dollar winner take all match in which Jacob Stats and Chris Johnson won. 331 00:26:45,319 --> 00:26:49,079 Okay, oh yeah, Now it was a little bit unfair because they 332 00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:55,839 threw Ricky and Paula out there with hardly any practice and these guys that Jacob 333 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:59,200 Stats and Chris Johnson that won, they got they had days to practice on 334 00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:02,839 this course, So it was a little bit unfair along those lines, but 335 00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:07,119 it did put things into perspective. A lot of people wonder, you know, 336 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:11,200 how good are these top competitive putters compared to the PGA pros, And 337 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:15,920 it kind of proved that, yes, these top competitive putters are as good, 338 00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:21,359 if not better than the top PGA pros. Now, don't get me 339 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:26,160 wrong, if Jordan's Speed and Justin Thomas dedicated themselves to competitive putting, they 340 00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:30,240 probably would be at the top of the leaderboard, right. But these competitive 341 00:27:30,279 --> 00:27:36,880 putters competitive putting, it's a unique thing and you have to get used to 342 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:41,400 the format, the feeling of it, how the tournament works. There's been 343 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:48,640 a lot of mini tour guys and low level pros come in and try to 344 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:52,000 shark these events, thinking that, oh, well, I'm on the corn 345 00:27:52,039 --> 00:27:53,880 Ferry Tour, I'm on the Hooters Tour, I'm on the Outlaw Tour. 346 00:27:55,319 --> 00:27:59,319 I should be able to come in and just destroy these guys that frankly, 347 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:03,480 most of them are older gentlemen with pot bellies that don't look like they're in 348 00:28:03,559 --> 00:28:08,920 shape. Because one thing interesting about competitive putting is that the guys that are 349 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:12,200 really good have been doing it for fifty plus years. Like, for instance, 350 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,920 there's a guy by the name of Gary Hester who just finished second in 351 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:22,519 the last pop Stroke event and who just won the world the first World Putting 352 00:28:22,599 --> 00:28:26,319 League event, which we'll get into in a second. Gary Hester has been 353 00:28:26,319 --> 00:28:30,799 doing competitive putting for fifty plus years. His teammate, Rainy Stadium, who 354 00:28:32,039 --> 00:28:34,960 is an absolute legend who a lot of people know. Rainey State has been 355 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:41,079 doing competitive putting for fifty years. So these young sharks I call them, 356 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:45,680 that are good at many tour golf and professional golf, they come in and 357 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:52,400 they can't beat these guys. So it's kind of interesting. It's really interesting. 358 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:56,799 Now are the outdoor events, and I'm you know, I got the 359 00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:04,359 sense that Putting World, that Scottsdale and the franchise it's growing. That's all 360 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:10,200 indoors. But everything else is outdoors. Yes, everything else is outdoors. 361 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:15,640 Besides Putting World, there are some the US Pro Mini Golf and the American 362 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:21,319 Minigolf Alliance and also O Street Minigolf up in New York. They do events 363 00:29:21,359 --> 00:29:23,240 at mini golf courses that are indoors. But other than that, most of 364 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:29,200 the stuff is outdoors. And are the outdoor courses grass or they turf as 365 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:33,039 well, because maintenance wise, I would think that you want to have soul 366 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:38,920 place, they're almost they're almost all synthetic. However, there are some outdoor 367 00:29:40,039 --> 00:29:45,799 putting courses that exist. There's a very popular outdoor putting course at the at 368 00:29:45,839 --> 00:29:52,440 the at Indian Wells Country Club in Palm Springs, and I've never done a 369 00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:56,200 tournament there, but they do their own tournaments and they do nighttime stuff with 370 00:29:56,319 --> 00:30:00,960 laser light shows and stuff. Also at the j You Marry Out in Palm 371 00:30:00,079 --> 00:30:06,440 Springs there's an outdoor putting course. So there are that's that's real grass. 372 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:12,839 So there are real grass outdoor putting courses. There's also a putting tournament called 373 00:30:12,839 --> 00:30:18,920 the Georgia's State Putting Championship put on by the GSGA, the Georgia State Golf 374 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:23,119 Association, and they do. There's a putting course at a place called Bobby 375 00:30:23,279 --> 00:30:30,279 Jones Golf Course in North Atlanta that's this big, huge, real super undulated 376 00:30:30,839 --> 00:30:36,039 putting green that they do these these putting tournaments at so real golf putting courses 377 00:30:36,079 --> 00:30:41,559 do exist that are outdoors, but most of the high level tour stuff are 378 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:45,880 done on synthetic putting courses. Amazing at one more break and this time we're 379 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:49,759 going to figure out what's going to be happening this week with golf S Murder 380 00:30:49,799 --> 00:30:55,160 Mulligans. This week on golf S Murder Mulligans is number seven of nine in 381 00:30:55,240 --> 00:31:00,240 our annual Tony Manzoni series to help you launch this new golf season now. 382 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:03,880 In this episode, we go in depth with Tony about his and actually others 383 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:10,000 fascination and passion for Ben Hogan's golf swing. One thing Venturi told me when 384 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:11,480 I work with him, and it was really true, is that you can 385 00:31:11,519 --> 00:31:15,559 make that little lateral slide towards the target as far as you want. There 386 00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:19,400 is a point where your body will turn automatically. It's just that when you 387 00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:22,920 make the lateral slide and stop is when you hit that coil to the right. 388 00:31:23,359 --> 00:31:26,920 But if you make that little bumble where you transfer your weight and just 389 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:30,960 keep going, you will just rotate like crazy. It's a wonderful feeling because 390 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:33,960 it's a powerful feeling. Where we get into trouble is when we have weight 391 00:31:34,039 --> 00:31:37,160 on the right foot as we're hitting the golf ball, and then you can't 392 00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:41,119 turn to the left. You just can't do it. And that's where you 393 00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:45,000 get lower back problems when you don't get over to the left side before your 394 00:31:45,119 --> 00:31:48,440 rotation. You have to get on that left side. That's why setting up 395 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:52,839 sixty forty, you're closer to the pivot point because we're pivoting around the left 396 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:56,079 leg. The left leg is access for the right handed player. That's golf 397 00:31:56,119 --> 00:32:00,119 Smarto Mulligan's episode two hundred six, the seventh of nine featuring our friend and 398 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:05,839 mentor Tony man Sony. This is the only episode with Tony that was recorded 399 00:32:05,839 --> 00:32:12,039 on video on one of the first experimental online video chat platforms available to record 400 00:32:12,559 --> 00:32:16,200 that didn't survive, called Blab. You can watch it on the blog post 401 00:32:16,279 --> 00:32:20,880 for this episode. Check the show notes to learn how to get Tony's book 402 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:25,359 The Lost Fundamental One Simple Move, Better Golf Forever and gain access to his 403 00:32:25,599 --> 00:32:30,119 video of the same name. Please subscribe for free to both of our golf 404 00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:36,000 podcasts, Golf Smarter is published every Tuesday since two thousand and five, and 405 00:32:36,079 --> 00:32:40,759 our sister podcast that revisits the best of the Golf Smarter podcast called golf Smarter 406 00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:51,680 Mulligan's being released every Friday from wherever you're listening right now. You mentioned that 407 00:32:51,759 --> 00:32:54,519 this has gotten much more popular since covid as golf has gotten much more popular 408 00:32:54,599 --> 00:33:00,480 since everyone was locked down and needed to get out. I gotta believe that 409 00:33:00,599 --> 00:33:08,759 top the influence of top golf, is involved in the interest in putting opportunities 410 00:33:08,799 --> 00:33:15,319 like this. I think so, and especially with pop Stroke. Now I 411 00:33:15,359 --> 00:33:19,960 am not good friends with Greg Bartoli, who started pop Stroke. Tiger now 412 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:22,839 owns a significant piece of that. I don't know where he got the idea 413 00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:27,240 from it for for pop stroke, but when you go to a pop stroke, 414 00:33:28,039 --> 00:33:31,039 it's really hard not to notice that it does have a feeling of top 415 00:33:31,079 --> 00:33:37,599 golf. I actually call pop stroke kind of, you know, a poor 416 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:42,880 man's version of top golf, and that it's just smaller. It's basically just 417 00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:45,839 like top golf, but with a putting chorse instead of a driving range. 418 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:50,519 So I think that the emergence of top golf, the popularity of top golf, 419 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:52,880 I think it definitely made people realize, oh, like, there's a 420 00:33:52,920 --> 00:34:00,079 market for this, and there it's more than just your avid golfer. For 421 00:34:00,119 --> 00:34:04,200 instance, if you've been to any top golf. You're going to see you 422 00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:07,719 know, guys, men and women on date nights. You'll see a family 423 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:13,320 of people there that you know, the whole family's getting involved. So Top 424 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:17,480 golf has brought a lot of different types of golfers into the fray. And 425 00:34:17,519 --> 00:34:22,159 I think that that did play a role with the emergence of Pop Stroke and 426 00:34:22,199 --> 00:34:27,000 maybe a little bit with Putting World, that they saw this model of top 427 00:34:27,039 --> 00:34:30,639 golf working and they realize, hey, like, you know, people are 428 00:34:30,639 --> 00:34:32,559 looking for something to do that's not you know, in front of a computer. 429 00:34:34,119 --> 00:34:39,360 And and yes, I think top golf definitely had a major influence on 430 00:34:39,599 --> 00:34:44,480 Pop Stroke and Putting World and some of these entities. Yeah, so when 431 00:34:44,519 --> 00:34:51,440 you're thinking about television and you're thinking about competition, I've got to believe even 432 00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:58,320 though some of these events are offering large money, large prizes, significant financial 433 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:01,440 prizes, that there's i ought to be a way for the average public to 434 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:07,360 get involved financially as well. As we're seeing in all sports they're like, 435 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:10,599 yeah, gambling's okay, let's bring it in. There's got to be some 436 00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:15,599 gambling going on with these events as well, right are they promoting that? 437 00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:20,800 Fred? Another great question from you and that's one of the things that's that's 438 00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:27,639 in my opinion, very exciting. Gambling has entered the world of professional putting. 439 00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:30,679 Okay, to keep in mind, you know, I'm not like some 440 00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:37,039 avid gambler or anything, but if anyone's turned on the TV anytime recently, 441 00:35:37,679 --> 00:35:42,360 sites like DraftKings, fan Duel are are, you know, just advertising heavily 442 00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:46,800 for this, and gambling on professional sports has become more popular and more socially 443 00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:52,000 accepted. Okay, it's just the world that we live in. People do 444 00:35:52,199 --> 00:35:58,159 like to place wagers on professional sports. And there's an entity that has just 445 00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:01,480 started now. I hope you're listeners aren't getting fed up with all these different 446 00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:04,599 acronyms, because I know there's a lot of them. But I'm gonna give 447 00:36:04,639 --> 00:36:12,119 you one more. The WPL, the World Putting League has just started now. 448 00:36:12,159 --> 00:36:15,679 For right now, they've only done tournaments on mini golf courses. So 449 00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:20,239 they did their first event I think it was about a month ago, and 450 00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:23,079 you can look that up on YouTube as well. World Putting League. They 451 00:36:23,079 --> 00:36:27,800 did an event at one of the most famous putting courses in the world. 452 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:31,960 It's called Hawaiian Rumble and it's in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and it's 453 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:37,119 owned by a guy by the name of Bob Dettwiler, who is the president 454 00:36:37,199 --> 00:36:42,320 of the US Pro Mini Golf Association and he's sort of considered the godfather of 455 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:47,079 putting. And they did this tournament that was televised live on their website, 456 00:36:47,079 --> 00:36:52,559 which you can check them out at the World Putting League dot com. And 457 00:36:52,719 --> 00:36:58,039 they have an affiliation right now with a sports betting entity called bet Fred. 458 00:37:00,079 --> 00:37:02,760 Were able to I have nothing to do with it, all right, yeah, 459 00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:08,159 Betred, you don't got a piece of that, Humfred. But bet 460 00:37:08,239 --> 00:37:12,880 Fred is the sports betting website, which is it's a fairly popular sports betting 461 00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:16,480 website. They're also in talks with Draft Kings and you should see these events 462 00:37:16,519 --> 00:37:22,480 on Draft Kings soon where you can bet on professional putters. And I guess 463 00:37:22,519 --> 00:37:27,719 one of the rules, or one of the things that these governing bodies want 464 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:32,400 is a live TV broadcast so that there's legitimacy, so people know, oh, 465 00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:35,920 this is happening right now, so when I make a bet on this 466 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:38,639 guy, it's not some sort of scam where they're tape delaying it and they're 467 00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:44,760 making someone win that didn't win to make sure that they make money on the 468 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:51,199 on the sports bets. The The World Putting League televises these live events and 469 00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:55,119 they're actually doing another event on April twentieth. This is the World Putting League 470 00:37:55,159 --> 00:38:01,039 Event number two of twenty three, April twenty twenty three, and I have 471 00:38:01,239 --> 00:38:07,119 just been hired to be their sideline reporter. Awesome, so check me out. 472 00:38:07,199 --> 00:38:12,519 I'm going to be working with them and making their broadcast a lot better 473 00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:15,840 and I'll be doing sideline reporting stuff for them, kind of like a David 474 00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:22,480 Ferrety Bones Mackay kind of role where I'm kind of the insider and also the 475 00:38:22,599 --> 00:38:24,679 lead announcer. Is a guy that many of you may know. His name 476 00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:30,360 is Brian Catrick and he is the voice of the PGA Tour on their PGA 477 00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:37,559 Tour live broadcast which streams and also serious XM radio and also streams on Peacock. 478 00:38:38,119 --> 00:38:42,880 Brian Catrick is a very well known play by play guy in that space, 479 00:38:43,039 --> 00:38:45,800 and he is there play by play guy and he just does a phenomenal 480 00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:51,159 job with it. But they do these live television broadcasts where you can bet 481 00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:57,679 on competitive putting, and that area is growing and I just see that growing 482 00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:02,480 even more and the cool thing about it is then there's some revenue sharing going 483 00:39:02,559 --> 00:39:09,719 on where some of the revenues from the sports book goes back to an entity 484 00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:15,199 called the Pro League Network that owns the World Putting League, which will help 485 00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:20,800 finance future tournaments. So one of the problems that's occurred in the competitive putting 486 00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:25,360 world it's very hard for these entities to make money throwing putting contests, and 487 00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:30,119 what oftentimes will happen, like what happened with the Major series of putting, 488 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:32,639 is that they can't make enough money on it, so they go for a 489 00:39:32,679 --> 00:39:37,360 few years and then they go out of business because they can't profit right, 490 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:44,440 So the infusion of some gambling revenue will help make for a situation where these 491 00:39:44,519 --> 00:39:50,519 entities can start throwing more contests and have bigger prize money. And so yeah, 492 00:39:50,519 --> 00:39:53,800 gambling has entered the professional putting world, and it's very exciting for everyone 493 00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:59,119 involved with competitive putting because it means that there's a better chance for more tournaments. 494 00:40:00,679 --> 00:40:04,840 So that's been very very cool, very very cool. You know what 495 00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:13,400 I want to talk about now that we've probably intrigued a lot of listeners and 496 00:40:13,639 --> 00:40:16,880 who are want to know more and get involved, I have a feeling they're 497 00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:21,119 going to want some advice as well. But I want to take one more 498 00:40:21,159 --> 00:40:24,599 break and we'll come back. We'll do another segment because I want to dig 499 00:40:24,639 --> 00:40:30,760 into your brain and your experience as a competitive putter on what we should be 500 00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:34,400 thinking about, what we should be working on, and the mindset that it 501 00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:37,480 takes to be a competitive putter. And we're going to do that right after 502 00:40:37,519 --> 00:40:46,840 this. All right, So you you've already mentioned that you've had not only 503 00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:52,480 sideline experience, but you've had inside the ropes. You've been competing in putting 504 00:40:52,559 --> 00:40:58,360 competitions for a while and have had some success. This is not just putting 505 00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:00,280 for a round of golf. This is a different kind of mindset. This 506 00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:06,800 is a different kind of putting. Where do you advise we start, what 507 00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:12,280 should we be working on? Start to finish her to become competitive putter successful 508 00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:15,039 competitive putter. Well, if you're in the San Diego area, I'm also 509 00:41:15,119 --> 00:41:21,199 a golf instructor. I have a website called find the Swing dot com and 510 00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:25,280 you can book a putting lesson with me if you're interested. I'm only in 511 00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:29,400 the San Diego area for the instruction stuff, but you can check that out 512 00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:32,320 and find the swing dot com. I'd mentioned earlier that Putting World has their 513 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:37,480 instructional situation there, so if you're in the Phoenix area, head over to 514 00:41:37,519 --> 00:41:40,000 putting World. They have some great instructors that will help you to become a 515 00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:45,039 better putter. In regard to becoming a better putter, one of the things 516 00:41:45,039 --> 00:41:49,440 that I've always found so fascinating, and the full golf swing is like this 517 00:41:49,519 --> 00:41:52,760 a little bit, but one of the things that I've found so fascinating with 518 00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:57,280 putting is there's a lot of different ways to skin the cat. Even if 519 00:41:57,280 --> 00:42:01,679 you look at the tour players, especially with their full golf swings, they're 520 00:42:01,719 --> 00:42:07,199 not all alike. And yes, there's there's components that you want to stay 521 00:42:07,239 --> 00:42:10,679 solid with, but everybody has kind of a different way of doing it. 522 00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:15,320 Okay, So putting is very similar. When I look at all the top 523 00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:19,760 competitive putters, they all have kind of a different way of doing it. 524 00:42:20,559 --> 00:42:23,559 Some people have like an open stance and some people have their toes pointing at 525 00:42:23,599 --> 00:42:28,440 the target. Some people are using a mallet putter, some people use a 526 00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:30,360 blade putter. Some people have like the two ball putters. You know, 527 00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:34,840 So there's a lot of different ways that you can do it. Okay. 528 00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:40,119 Some things that will help your listeners become better putters that I think are constant 529 00:42:40,239 --> 00:42:45,920 for everyone. And I know this one tip probably sounds like real simple, 530 00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:50,039 but it's very important. You want to make sure to keep your head down 531 00:42:50,119 --> 00:42:53,039 through the stroke, Okay, no matter what kind of putting stroke you're doing, 532 00:42:53,679 --> 00:42:58,000 a lot of people have a tendency to want to see where the ball 533 00:42:58,159 --> 00:43:02,239 is going, and they lift their head last second, which will either pull 534 00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:07,840 the putter face close or leave the putter face open, and they're missing putts 535 00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:12,800 and they're wondering why. If you watch almost every single PGA pro, watch 536 00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:16,800 them, after the ball leaves the putter face, that heads and those eyes 537 00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:22,559 stayed down for an extra second while the ball is maybe rolled already four or 538 00:43:22,559 --> 00:43:28,079 five feet, that head has stayed down. Okay, So that, in 539 00:43:28,119 --> 00:43:30,840 my opinion, is like one of the most important things. Okay. Another 540 00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:35,079 thing that I feel is very important, and I know this probably sounds like 541 00:43:35,199 --> 00:43:37,920 just basic stuff, but a lot of people are really bad with it. 542 00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:42,400 You want to make sure the ball hits on the center of the putter face. 543 00:43:42,639 --> 00:43:46,239 Okay. A lot of people are towing the putter where the ball is 544 00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:50,239 hitting on the outside of the face or the balls hitting on the inside of 545 00:43:50,239 --> 00:43:54,880 the face, and they don't even realize it. And I remember Golf Magazine 546 00:43:54,920 --> 00:44:01,079 did a study years ago and they studied the point at which the ball hits 547 00:44:01,079 --> 00:44:06,000 on the putter face for different levels of golfer, and there was a direct 548 00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:10,199 correlation between the center of the club putter face and the person score. So 549 00:44:10,239 --> 00:44:14,679 if the person was a scratch golfer, all their dots were like right in 550 00:44:14,719 --> 00:44:16,360 the center of the club face. If they were a twenty five handicap, 551 00:44:16,719 --> 00:44:22,760 their dots were more of a they encompass more of a wider area on the 552 00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:24,920 putter, And so a lot of people don't realize it, but they're not 553 00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:29,840 even hitting the ball on the center of the putter face. So I think, 554 00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:32,559 you know, just some basic tips. Those two I think are really 555 00:44:32,599 --> 00:44:37,400 important. One last one that I'll give your listeners. You want to make 556 00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:43,679 sure that the putter is either going straight back or straightforward or a little bit 557 00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:46,559 to the inside when you take it back. Okay, a lot of putters 558 00:44:46,599 --> 00:44:50,519 make the mistake and they don't even realize that they're doing it, but they're 559 00:44:50,519 --> 00:44:52,960 taking the putter. Two, when they take the putter away when they hit 560 00:44:52,960 --> 00:44:57,800 a putt, they're taking it away too steep, and the putter is going 561 00:44:58,079 --> 00:45:01,519 outside the putting line as opposed to being right up the putting line on the 562 00:45:01,519 --> 00:45:06,639 way back or a little bit to the inside. And so I think those 563 00:45:06,679 --> 00:45:12,159 three things for your standard golfer, if you can focus on those three things, 564 00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:17,239 undoubtedly you will become a better putter. I found that. And I 565 00:45:17,320 --> 00:45:22,800 know this tip about keeping your head still and keeping it down and not lifting 566 00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:25,639 it. I definitely know that, and I try to remind myself every time 567 00:45:25,719 --> 00:45:30,000 I'm standing over the ball. But I also find that when I do that, 568 00:45:30,159 --> 00:45:35,400 I tend to go long. I tend to be a little bit strong. 569 00:45:37,039 --> 00:45:40,880 I need to learn how to hold bring that back a bit. Well. 570 00:45:42,320 --> 00:45:45,360 You know, when you start keeping your head down, there definitely is 571 00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:50,679 a recalibration that takes place because you're actually doing it right now, and when 572 00:45:50,679 --> 00:45:53,239 you're doing something, and when you're doing something right, the ball will actually 573 00:45:53,280 --> 00:45:58,159 go a little bit farther. Okay. A fourth tip for your listeners that 574 00:45:58,400 --> 00:46:00,800 is in my opinion, maybe and most important, but it's not something I'll 575 00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:06,760 tell people until maybe like the second or third. Lesson how far you take 576 00:46:06,840 --> 00:46:10,679 the putter back, is how far the ball is going to go. The 577 00:46:10,679 --> 00:46:15,800 way gravity works, and just the way the centric will go forest works. 578 00:46:15,679 --> 00:46:21,280 If you take the putter back, let's say a few inches, the ball 579 00:46:21,320 --> 00:46:24,639 can only go maybe a few feet. If you take the putter back a 580 00:46:24,760 --> 00:46:30,719 foot, two feet, whatever it is, the ball will go far. 581 00:46:30,119 --> 00:46:35,760 As far as how far you take the putter back or how far you take 582 00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:37,599 the putter back, how affects how far the ball will go. So if 583 00:46:37,599 --> 00:46:43,039 you're going too long, my guess is you're probably taking the putter too far 584 00:46:43,159 --> 00:46:45,639 back on your takeaway. I notice a lot of beginners. They'll have a 585 00:46:45,679 --> 00:46:51,159 three foot put and they take the putter back on their takeaway like a foot 586 00:46:51,159 --> 00:46:53,280 and a half, and then they're always running it long, and they're wondering, 587 00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:57,280 well, why am I running it long a three foot put? You 588 00:46:57,320 --> 00:47:00,159 should be taking the putter back no more than maybe like four to seven inches. 589 00:47:00,280 --> 00:47:04,960 Okay, So I think that tip right there will help you not to 590 00:47:05,039 --> 00:47:08,280 run the ball too long. Go out on your practice putting green at your 591 00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:14,320 local golf course and start experimenting, and take the putter back a certain distance 592 00:47:14,559 --> 00:47:19,360 and try different distances and just see how far the ball will go and you'll 593 00:47:19,400 --> 00:47:23,960 find a direct correlation. And that's something that really helps people to understand that 594 00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:27,559 concept. And it works the same with the full swing. You know a 595 00:47:27,599 --> 00:47:30,360 lot of the PGA pros are using what's called the clock system where they take 596 00:47:30,719 --> 00:47:35,880 their left arm back a certain distance and then that affects how far the ball 597 00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:38,199 is going to go. Like I saw an interview with Dustin Johnson, he 598 00:47:38,280 --> 00:47:42,599 was saying that he has when he has a fifty five yard shot, he 599 00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:45,440 just takes sand wedge and takes it back to about nine o'clock and takes it 600 00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:50,440 down and brings it down and that button that goes fifty five yards. So 601 00:47:50,480 --> 00:47:53,440 that clock system, which that's in Tiger's book as well. That clock system, 602 00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:58,000 it works with putting. Two. How far you take the putter back 603 00:47:58,119 --> 00:48:02,880 is how far the ball is going to go, and don't decelerate. You 604 00:48:02,920 --> 00:48:07,960 want to make sure that the tempo is fairly the same. Now, most 605 00:48:07,960 --> 00:48:15,199 putters will accelerate a little bit on their downswing with putter, but with putter, 606 00:48:15,639 --> 00:48:19,039 you do want the tempo that you take the putter away and bring it 607 00:48:19,079 --> 00:48:22,719 back to be relatively the same. If you're speeding it up some people will 608 00:48:22,760 --> 00:48:27,199 refer to that as a pop stroke, and that is something that a lot 609 00:48:27,239 --> 00:48:30,800 of people will do from the fringe and stuff. But if you're accelerating on 610 00:48:30,800 --> 00:48:34,480 the way down, the ball is going to run long. And then definitely 611 00:48:34,519 --> 00:48:37,199 if you're decelerating, the ball is going to come up short. So yes, 612 00:48:37,239 --> 00:48:39,760 you want to make sure. You want to make sure not to decelerate 613 00:48:39,760 --> 00:48:44,800 on the way down as well. Yeah, I've even had an instructor on 614 00:48:44,960 --> 00:48:49,440 it talked about this, And I've seen people where they do a short takeaway 615 00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:55,239 and then they really kind of accelerate with the longer and I watched that and 616 00:48:55,280 --> 00:49:00,599 I think, how can you possibly get your distance right? And actually, 617 00:49:00,599 --> 00:49:02,480 the one guy I played with a lot who did this, he had a 618 00:49:02,559 --> 00:49:08,199 very short takeaway and then pushed hard on his forward swing. He always came 619 00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:12,679 up short. He always came up short. I'm not also going to say 620 00:49:12,960 --> 00:49:16,320 whether whether he's ten, ten, fifteen or sixty feet a web like, 621 00:49:16,400 --> 00:49:20,440 he's going to just come up short. I can just see he can't get 622 00:49:20,480 --> 00:49:23,000 his range right with that little kind of stroke. I don't know, that's 623 00:49:23,039 --> 00:49:27,039 just I made a comment earlier. There's a lot of different ways of skin 624 00:49:27,159 --> 00:49:30,880 the cat when I there you go. Yeah, And there are people that 625 00:49:30,960 --> 00:49:35,000 have had success with doing a pop stroke, which is where you have a 626 00:49:35,039 --> 00:49:38,920 minimal takeaway and then you accelerate. Many of you are probably familiar with Brandt 627 00:49:38,960 --> 00:49:44,360 Snedecker. Sure, Brandt Snedecker is very famous for having more of a pop 628 00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:47,559 stroke, a minimal takeaway, and then an acceleration through the ball. But 629 00:49:47,639 --> 00:49:52,039 I can tell you this, it's it's not the norm. And most good 630 00:49:52,119 --> 00:49:58,519 putters are not pop stroking. They're not accelerating. The they're they're tempo on 631 00:49:58,559 --> 00:50:02,239 the way back is pretty so what it is on the way through. M 632 00:50:04,239 --> 00:50:08,840 Well, this is fascinating stuff. I'm really glad that we were connected because 633 00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:14,920 I knew nothing about this world and apparently not many do because it's the emerging 634 00:50:14,960 --> 00:50:20,320 world of putting competition. But I also really appreciate the tips that you've provided. 635 00:50:21,039 --> 00:50:24,679 This has been great, and again, to the listener right now, 636 00:50:24,880 --> 00:50:28,960 make sure you go to the show notes because we're going to link all these 637 00:50:29,039 --> 00:50:35,000 different websites and acronyms that Brock has been talking about. Thank you, Fred, 638 00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:39,800 it's been an absolute pleasure to be on here. Well, this past 639 00:50:39,840 --> 00:50:45,920 weekend was the twenty twenty three Masters, where PGA Tour and live golf players 640 00:50:45,039 --> 00:50:50,840 competed head to head for the first time since the live tour began, and 641 00:50:50,920 --> 00:50:54,679 it really did come down to the last few holes before Brooks Kepka finally succumbed 642 00:50:54,679 --> 00:50:59,719 to the greatness that is John Rum. But that's the only comment I have 643 00:50:59,719 --> 00:51:06,719 at the competition. I actually have two observations about Phil Mickelson's incredible final round 644 00:51:06,800 --> 00:51:10,639 surge that shot him up the leaderboard to finish tied for second with fellow live 645 00:51:10,719 --> 00:51:17,239 golfer Kepka. My first observation was that he must be making so much money 646 00:51:17,280 --> 00:51:22,639 from live Did you notice that he didn't have any sponsor logos on his body? 647 00:51:23,519 --> 00:51:28,199 Have you ever seen that the logo that filled displayed on his hat and 648 00:51:28,280 --> 00:51:32,639 shirt where from his four person live golf team he heads up called the High 649 00:51:32,679 --> 00:51:39,320 Flyers, bad name, terrible logo. The other thing I found fascinating was 650 00:51:39,360 --> 00:51:45,719 that with nine holes left to play after Phil finished as the clubhouse leader, 651 00:51:45,519 --> 00:51:51,679 was that the network or was it the Master's committee, chose not to interview 652 00:51:51,800 --> 00:51:55,960 him live on TV? Do you ever remember seeing that before? I mean 653 00:51:57,360 --> 00:52:02,039 they were even doing interviews with players during the round which was fantastic, but 654 00:52:02,440 --> 00:52:08,320 not talking to someone as popular as Phil, who impacted the results, had 655 00:52:08,360 --> 00:52:13,960 his best Masters finish in eight years and at fifty two, being the oldest 656 00:52:14,000 --> 00:52:17,920 player ever to finish in the top five at that event. I was quite 657 00:52:17,920 --> 00:52:22,079 a snub. I'd love to hear their reasoning. I want to give a 658 00:52:22,079 --> 00:52:28,079 shout out to Phil Singer of Bowling Green, Kentucky for opening today's episode as 659 00:52:28,079 --> 00:52:31,880 our newest golf Smarter Ambassador. Phil chose to try out the X one balls 660 00:52:31,960 --> 00:52:37,920 with the golf Smarter logo from Odin Golf, the brand that sponsors and pays 661 00:52:37,960 --> 00:52:42,599 everyday golfers. Now, these tour quality balls are a fraction of the price 662 00:52:42,679 --> 00:52:45,840 that you'll usually pay, and when you use the code golf Smarter at checkout, 663 00:52:45,920 --> 00:52:52,000 you'll receive an additional twenty percent off the order. Their link is in 664 00:52:52,079 --> 00:52:55,960 today's show notes and when you open our episode, you get your choice of 665 00:52:57,039 --> 00:53:00,760 a great gift, and all you have to do is leave a voicemail on 666 00:53:00,800 --> 00:53:05,199 our toll free Golf Smarter listener line to get that gift. In addition to 667 00:53:05,239 --> 00:53:09,159 the Odin balls, you can choose to receive a private link to Tony Manzoni's 668 00:53:09,239 --> 00:53:15,840 video The Lost Fundamental or a Glove and Glove storage Compartment from Red Rooster golf 669 00:53:15,880 --> 00:53:20,119 dot com. So please send an email and all right back to you with 670 00:53:20,199 --> 00:53:23,320 some instructions of what to do and what to say. Send it to golf 671 00:53:23,360 --> 00:53:30,679 Smarter podcast at gmail dot com. I have been posting more short content video 672 00:53:30,719 --> 00:53:34,679 content from the podcast on social media, so make sure you follow at golf 673 00:53:34,679 --> 00:53:38,519 Smarter on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, or of 674 00:53:38,559 --> 00:53:44,639 course follow Fred Green. That's g r e E n E at E at 675 00:53:44,679 --> 00:53:50,840 the end is very important as a content creator from Nevado, California on LinkedIn. 676 00:53:51,559 --> 00:53:54,360 If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for upcoming episodes, 677 00:53:54,599 --> 00:54:00,119 please click on the Hey Fred button when you visit Golfsmarter dot com. M