You Can Become a Great Putter Without Ever Playing Golf | Ep. 6

Brian Manzella and John Ortega build a putter from scratch. Not a club, a person.Ep. 6 is for two kinds of listeners: someone who has never held a putter outside of a mini golf course, and the golfer who has been doing it wrong long enough that the only fix left is starting over. Jack Nicklaus asked his teacher to reteach him golf from the beginning every year, so there is no shame in the reset.What to buy and what to skip. Why $50 on the used rack plus $15 for a grip beats most new purchases, what a brand new Ping Anser runs off the shelf, and whether the line on the putter and the line on the ball are worth anything. Then the first lesson itself: the reverse overlap grip nearly every great putter used, how much wrist is too much, what a gravity powered putting robot reveals about the arc of a stroke, and where your neck and eyes belong.Then break. Why putts curve, why architects build the tilt into every green on purpose, and the two dollar yardstick drill that teaches green reading with no system, no fingers in the air, and no math.Finally, the honest timeline. How often to practice, and how long before you stop embarrassing yourself.Chapters:0:00 The Putting Is Fun song and intro2:01 Becoming a putter: beginners and the great reset3:55 The first putter: what to buy and what to skip13:14 What a brand new Ping Anser costs off the rack18:17 Lines on the ball and lines on the putter20:06 Your first session: lesson, YouTube, or the putting green25:08 The reverse overlap grip32:10 The gravity powered putting robot and the stroke arc35:20 Wrists: how much is too much, and the flying wedge39:35 Neck parallel to the ground, and where your eyes go43:11 Finding a straight putt and why putts break51:58 Learning to read break: the yardstick drill58:09 How often to practice and the honest timeline61:19 The whole plan in one minuteBrian Manzella is a Top 50 teacher and runs his Studio in the Sky in New Orleans. John Ortega is co-founder of John Byron Putters, runs the Ortega Golf Lab in Costa Mesa and is long time coach to PGA Tour winner Jake Knapp.