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GE ORGI AP GA.COM GOL F FORE GEORGI A.COM F E BRUARY 2009

B y M i k e B l u m

or most of Georgias contingenton the PGA Tour, the 2008season was not a particularly

memorable one, although therewere some exceptions.

Duluths Stewart Cinkand Sea Islands DavisLove opened the2009 season in theM e r c e d e s - B e n zChampionship inHawaii, a rewardfor winning a tour-

G e o r g i a G o l f B u s i n e

Georgia

Golf Course

Owners

Association

w w w . g g c o a . c o

770-235-0735Paul Claxton returnsto NationwideTour

Larry Mize debutson ChampionsTour

INSIDE

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ISSUE

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ATHENSREGIONALFOUNDA

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Davis Love III

Better 09 for states PGA Tour prosLove, Howell off to quick early starts

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sixth in regular season points for theFedEdCup and ninth on the final moneylist with almost $4 million.

Cinks 08 season was divided into two

disparate halves; before and after his win inHartford. Other than his participation onthe Ryder Cup team, Cinks post-victoryhighlights were non-existent. And as wellas he played the first six months of theseason, he let a win get away in Tampa anddid not put up much of a fight in theMatch Play finals against Tiger Woods.

Statistically, it was a solid season for theformer Georgia Tech great. But he con-tinued to miss fairways at a surprisinglyhigh rate (181st in driving accuracy), whilestruggling with his short game (142nd inscrambling).

Love was headed for his worst season in20-plus years on the PGA Tour before a

late surge in the Fall Finish revived hiscareer at the age of 44. After a season-bestfinish of T19 in his first 17 starts, Loveplaced sixth or better three times in his lastsix starts, including a season-ending win atDisney, the 20th of his career.

After finishing 154th in regular seasonFedExCup points to miss the playoffs,Love ended 08 with almost $1.7 millionin earnings (48th). But other than drivingdistance, his stats were pretty dismal acrossthe board even with his strong finish,which carried over to a tie for second in his

09 opener, placing him within rthe top 50 in the World RankingMasters berth.

Imada scored his first PGA Tou

four seasons in Atlanta, but will notopportunity to defend his title defunct AT&T Classic. Imada haof runner-up finishes among thrfives early in 08 and a near win in Series, ending the season 13th in e with over $3 million. Imadas stemmed largely from an outstandiwith the putter, which produced asion of strong final rounds and offsawful stats in the ball striking cateThe 32-year-old Imada closed out 2helping lead Japan to a third place fthe World Cup.

The list of Georgians who wouldsoon forget 2008 begins with A

native Charles Howell. His e($1.45 million) were the lowest of hseasons on the PGA Tour, with twfour top-10 finishes coming in tSeries. As usual, Howell missed lotsways and putts, with his only redstat a first place finish in scoring on par 5s. Howell turns 30 in Juthere are probably not a lot of PGfollowers who would have prediwould have just two victories in

nament in 08, as did former GeorgiaBulldog Ryuji Imada.

The rest of Georgias PGA Tour mem-bers had to wait another week or two to

start their 09 campaigns, with a commontheme the hope that this year will be amore successful one than 2008.

On the surface, Cinks 08 season was anextremely successful one. He scored hisfirst win in five years in Hartford, the siteof his first PGA Tour victory as a rookie in1997. He was part of a victorious RyderCup team for the first time in four starts,and enjoyed his best ever finish in theMasters (solo third). Cink was fifth in thePGA Tours all-around statistical category,

F

[ SeeGeorgians,page 6 ]

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4 G O L F F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M

ByTedFortPGA Golf Professional

Marietta Golf Center

Have you ever played with

someone that couldnt putt

the ball in an ocean with three

chances? Even more impor-

tantly, are you that person?

Anyone thathas everplayed

the game understands the

whimsical nature of putting.

Even some of the greatest

golfers in history, like Hogan

and Watson, became frustrated with it. Its

a part of the game that allows all players,

amateurs or pros, males or females, begin-

ners or veterans, to empathize with the

Tour player that misses a four footer.

One thing to understand is that theres

noone wayto accomplish thetaskof get-

ting the ball in the hole. But, with this in

mind, its important to understand that

some characteristics go together. Without

goinginto infinitedetail,I willexplainwhat

some strokes have in common. In order to

choose a putter that matches your style,

you must understand how to qualify your

style.

Player A:There are players that attempt

to keep the face of the putter square

during the entire stroke. These are the

players that feel a straight back and

straight through stroke with a square face.Its similar tothe actionof a dogs door, and

some equate the motion to that of a pen-

dulum. Thefollowing thingstendto be the

case for this player: sees the

putter head move on a straight

line, keeps the face square,

holds the grip in the middle of

the palm, holds the club very

upright, feels no release, and

aligns the face of the putter to

the hole.

Player B: Others allow

the face to open and close,

which would be similar to the action of a

saloon door. This player sees the putter

head making a blurred arc on the ground.

Forthis player, thesecharacteristicstend to

exist: sees the putter head move in an arc,

allows the face to open and close, holds

the putter closer to the fingers than the

palm, holds the club flatter, feels a release,

and aligns the face of the putter slightly to

the right of the hole.

For those that like to keep things

uncomplicated, player A should play with

a face balanced putter. And, player B

should play with a heel shafted putter. If

yourea feel playerand thats all youneed

to know, stop reading.

The two putters in the top of the picture

are face balanced, one with an S shaped

shaft and one with a center shaft. And, the

two putters in the bottom of the pictureare heel shafted or not face balanced.

For others that require a greater depth

of understanding, were goingto diga little

deeper. It is not mandatory that all of the

characteristics listed in player A or player

B have to co-exist, but they tend to co-

exist. One of the things thatIve mentioned

is the release of the putter. We need to

define the wordreleaseas there are many

misguided efforts to do so.

I know that Tiger discussed the positive

effect thatreleasing the putter had forhim.

So, to begin, we have to describe the con-

dition ofthe left wrist.Although itis impor-tant to have a flat left wrist in the full

stroke, its not as important in the putting

stroke. But, its extremely important the

wrist remain in thecondition that it began.

Maintaining a flat left wrist would be

placing a ruler under your watch and not

breaking it. A bent left wrist would be

breaking the ruler. If your left wrist starts

flat orbent,keepit inthatcondition during

the entire stroke. We will define releasing

as the closing of the face while main-

taining the left wrist condition, and the

word we use for this is roll.

To keepthis article shorterthanWar and

Peace, we are going to end with two addi-

tional points. Firstly,the feel of roll exists for

those using heel shafted putters. And, the

feel of no roll exists for those using a face

balanced putter. The shaft will rotate

around a clubs center of gravity. Therefore,

if the club is face balanced, the shaft runs

through the clubs center of gravity. And, it

results in the feeling of no roll.

Secondly, because the ball compresses

against the face, there is a small interval of

time in which the ball is stuck to the face.

For the player that uses a closing face, it

should beopenat address,openat impact,

and square at separation (when the ball

leaves). For the player that keeps the face

square, it should be square at address,

square at impact, andsquare at separation.

For this reason, it is IMPERATIVE to haveyour putter fit to your desired pattern. The

days of choosing a putter based on name

brand, cool colors, or price are history.

And, for the feel player that kept

reading, I warnedyouto stop.For theengi-

neers that need more information, Id be

happy to respond to a