The ART in FIRE

The Smell of Autumn is in the Air!

Private Lessons

by Darrell Klassen

Fall is here in Visalia, and this is, in my opinion, the very best time of the year to play golf in our area. The weather is normally absolutely perfect. Course conditions are about as good as they can ever be, and just the feel and smell of autumn in the air is a marvelous change from the intense heat of the summer.
It’s time to get the golf clubs out and head for the driving range or to the course to play. Maybe you have been playing all summer, and then this is the time of year you wait to see. Cool, crisp mornings welcome us to the course, dew and all. It’s even fun to be one of the morning “dew-sweepers.”
When I used to play, I did not particularly care for playing in the dampness of the early morning. Nonetheless, I have had my fair share of it. My dad used to drop my brother and me off at the course by 6:30 or so in the summertime, or even on Saturday during the school year.
We had a great time on those early mornings. If we were not the first group out, it was fun to follow the golfers’ in front of us footsteps to see how they were playing. The footprints in the dew would maybe go over to the OB stake and off into a field. It was obvious he had hit one out of bounds.
Tracks would lead into the bunker and many tikes you could tell by the unmaintained sand how many strokes it took him to get out of there. We were not great players at that time, but we could at least shoot in the high 70s to low 80s within the first year we started playing.

We were fortunate. We were both pretty athletic, so nothing seemed all that tough for us. We are both completely self taught. We’ve never had a lesson in our lives. My brother got as low as a 3 handicap and maintained that for over thirty years. At 67 years of age he still plays to a 6 or 7.
I was fortunate enough to become a professional, and I played at tour level for a number of years. That wasn’t bad for never taking any lessons, but it still seems quite simple to me. That’s why the title of my first book is “Golf’s An Easy Game.” The other five are all E-Books and they are each topic specific.
The reason I started all of this in this issue was to chat for just a few moments about putting on wet greens. Most amateur players do not take the time to consider that wet greens will not break the same as dry, fast greens. When you are playing in the early morning, even after a fresh mowing dew still settles back in at times, you need to adjust for that fact.
The other thing we naturally have to allow for and make adjustment for on damp or wet greens is the speed of our putts. I know this all sounds elementary to you, but there is a reason for going here with you. If you will pay attention, it will make a marvelous difference in your putting.

You know how your wonderful partner will somehow think you are too stupid to see that the little four footer you are about to have a coronary over is just a bit uphill. He therefore boldly and proudly informs you, that a bit uphill, Pards, so be sure to give it a good rap.”
You would love nothing more than to look him right in the eye and say, “Gee thanks, PARDS. I would have never seen it without you. That’s why my handicap is seven shots less than yours.”Don’t so it, though.
Here is the thing I want you to learn to do and feel. Whenever you have a four footer that is a bit uphill add a foot to the putt and merely roll it an extra foot, allowing for the slope to shorten the distance of the roll. There is a huge difference between this and rapping it a bit harder. When we “hit” a putt a bit harder, we can easily slap it off line or knock it right through the break with way too much speed.
The same thing applies to slower greens or damp greens. Do not attempt to HIT the ball harder. Try to get your mind focused on a spot a foot or so past the hole as your target. This way you will have a much better chance of making you normal stroke and not a bad one, from trying to hit it harder.
I always feel as though I am rolling my putts in the first place. I never feel as though I am hitting them. Then I learned to roll the ball the exact distance I desire. That lets me go to faster or slower greens and simply roll the ball a bit shorter or longer than the actual distance measures. I have always been blessed with a good touch on the putting greens, and I feel this is one of the big reasons. Fast greens, slow greens, wet greens or dry greens, they are all the same for me. I use the same stroke putting in the fringe as I do not the green. I just roll it a wee bit farther.
Have fun!