Last week, as I went out for my weekly round, I loaded my bag with my clubs for the day. I like to use a different mix of clubs everytime I play, just to keep it interesting.

On this day I grabbed an old Wilson Blackjack balata-faced putter to use. I’ve had some great rounds with the soft, balata-faced putters and I’ve had some horrible rounds, too, so I never really know what I’m going to get.

Early in the round, it looked bad, as I was leaving every putt short, and it looked like it was shaping up to be a long day. Naturally, I started striking the ball harder to make up for my lack of distance on the greens.

Soon, I began to get in a rhythm, knocking down 6 foot putt after 6 foot putt. I realized that the stronger, firmer stroke I was taking to compensate for the soft balata face, coupled with a little extra care in reading the breaks and lining up the putts was creating putts that were tracking more aggressively toward the hole.

Testing my theory, I spent the last half of the round committing to my chosen line and taking firm , carefully lined-up runs at the hole, and knocking down several more testy five to six footers.

I had the felling that if I was taking these same strokes with a metal faced putter the ball would be approaching the hole too quickly and rolling way past on misses. So here is what I concluded: The balata faced putters allow you to remain aggressive in your putting without blowing past the hole on misses. These stringer, more deliberate strokes tend to give your putts more momentum along the line you’ve chosen and, assuming you’ve chosen your line correctly, result in more successful putts!

Now I’m looking forward to this week’s round as my quest to break 80 continues.

My Breakin’ 80 golf blog details my quest to break 80 on the golf course and gives me an outlet for any other deep thoughts I might have on the great game of golf. Be sure to visit my eBay golf club store for great deals on used golf clubs the I can no longer find a place for in my garage or my Amazon.com Golf Shop for shiny new gear!

Tags: putting, golf, putters, equipment, golf clubs

Back in August, as my 53rd birthday was rapidly approaching and I was in the middle of another business trip, which meant another stretch of bad nutrition and lazing around a hotel room, I made a decision prompted by the brutally honest reflection staring back at me from a hotel room mirror: it was time to get in shape.

I’d often wondered what would happen if I committed myself to a daily regimen of exercise, not excuses, and stuck to it for a few months, just to see if there were any tangible results. On the spot I dropped to the floor for a quick set of crunches and push-ups. Not many at first: initially I was only able to do around 30 crunches a set and 20 push-ups, but at least it was a start.

When I got off the road I also committed myself to a daily 1 to 2 mile walk each day with the dog and at least 5 miles on my bicycle whenever possible.

Now, about 3 months later, I’ve amazingly stuck to it and here are a few things I’ve discovered: I’ve gotten my crunches up to 65 a set, my push-ups are up to 45 a set, I feel undeniably stronger and more energetic and, the most unexpected thing I’ve discovered is on the golf course. My drives are definitely traveling 10 to 20 yards farther on a consistent basis!

This is not something I set out to accomplish, but, by playing the same courses over and over again, against the same guys, there is no denying it. No matter which of my drivers I use I am playing my second shots from much closer to the greens than I’m used to and consistently out-driving everyone in the group, where that used to be an honor more evenly distributed among the foursome.

It does make sense, given a stronger set of arms and torso, that a golfer should be able to hit a golf ball further, but It’s an unexpected beneifit for sure. Now, if I could only keep myself from chunking my second shot!

My Breakin’ 80 golf blog details my quest to break 80 on the golf course and gives me an outlet for any other deep thoughts I might have on the great game of golf. Be sure to visit my eBay golf club store for great deals on used golf clubs the I can no longer find a place for in my garage or my Amazon.com Golf Shop for shiny new gear!

Tags: golf, driving, tee shot, tee-off, exercise, practice, improvement