2009 Robert J. Cotter, Jr. All Rights Reserved. You may not copy, reproduce, post, or forward this document in any format. For permissions or joint

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2009 Robert J. Cotter, Jr. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system without

2 Copyright 2011 Robert J. Cotter, Jr. 3 rd Edition ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The text, images, and concepts in this book are registered in the United States Copyright Office and may not be reproduced, copied, forwarded, or posted in any format. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system without express written, dated, and signed permission from the Author. DISCLAIMER AND/OR LEGAL NOTICE: This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Violations of this copyright will be enforced to the full extent of the law. The Information contained herein represents the view of the Author as of the date of publication. Because of the rate with which conditions change, the author reserves the right to alter and update his opinion based on the new conditions. This report is for informational purposes only. While every attempt has been made to verify the accuracy of information provided in this text, neither the author nor his affiliates/partners assume any responsibility for errors, inaccuracies and omissions. Any slights of people or organizations are unintentional. The purchaser or reader of this publication assumes responsibility for the use of these materials and information. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use or misuse of the information contained herein. Any reference to any person or business whether living or dead is purely coincidental. Copyright 2011 Robert J. Cotter, Jr. - Instant Golf, LLC

Introduction 1 Greens and Grain 1 Read more Break 3 Every Putt is a one

3 Table of Contents Putting Rebel Conversation with a Putting Wizard By Robert J. Cotter, Jr. Introduction 1 Greens and Grain 1 Read more Break 3 Every Putt is a one Foot Putt 6 Ball Position and Eye Position 7 Practice Strokes 8 Visualization and Execution 8 Pro Sheet - Read Before First Putt 10 i

4 Introduction The score cards were signed and the food was on the way. Nice putting out there again per usual I muttered. Thanks Man, though I wish I had your swing he replied, between the both of us we would clean up on Tour. Yeah maybe, but I needed to know more about that putting prowess. I had never seen anyone with his uncommon ability to sink putts. The Conversation, my Notes: Jay had spent some time working on golf courses in his 20 s. He knew the ins and outs of course design, maintenance, and greens management. He emphasized that the only job of the greens keeper is to keep the members happy. Otherwise, the head Pro hears about it, and then the course committee, and then the club owners. Members seldom chime in if the course is in spectacular shape. But they will complain something awful if the track is playing too hard. Members need to be flattered. And they are flattered by one thing, lower scores. And those scores are reflected in the condition of the greens and the number of putts made. You see most greens have two prominent features. Almost all of them are designed lower in the front than the back. This is so they can receive shots easier, both on the fly and on the ground. They are built like a backstop. They are also tilted that way for drainage purposes. So listen up, this is where Jay s first secret comes in to play. Most of your putts from front to back will be uphill, so you need to hit them harder. Sound obvious? Here s the twist: Greens and Grain Due to the drainage water running off the front, they will need to be hit even harder than your mind tells you because most front to back putts will be running against the grain of the grass. What s grain? Run your hand along a dog s back from head to tail, and then from tail to head. It s slow going from tail to head because all those hairs are facing your hand and slowing it down (friction). 1

It s the same with putting. The effect of the grain will slow those uphill putts down even more, so you need to factor that in to the force of the stroke.

5 It s the same with putting. The effect of the grain will slow those uphill putts down even more, so you need to factor that in to the force of the stroke. All that water running off the front of the green (along with the direction of the sunlight) has been affecting the growing pattern of the grass grain. It s easy to spot. As you stand behind your ball, shades of dark grass indicate the grain is towards you, whereas light silvery patches indicate you are putting with the grain and the putt will be faster. That explains why I constantly left my uphill putts short, real short. This was especially true in the early morning when the dew was still on the greens. Sure, I was factoring in the uphill part of the putt, but not the grain and moisture. And I found myself with 4-6 feet left on too many occasions. No golfer will make all of those par or birdie putts. Jay, on the other hand, was burying those first putts, or leaving a trivial tap in. When I would see the ball jump off his club face, I was sure he was going to be long. But time and time again, he proved me wrong. Taking the grain into account as you walk by the hole and survey your putt is an important first step in making more putts. The difference between the next putt (if you even have one) being a 2 foot or 4 foot putt is a huge. Obviously you will sink more 2 footers. But psychologically, it can also set a positive tone for the rest of your round. 2

6 So be sure to factor in the grain and moisture on all your putts, especially the uphill ones. Interesting I thought, and it made sense too. And just as I was starting to think about reading putts, Jay started revealing his thoughts on the subject. You see, it seemed this guy never missed on the low side of the hole. I knew the old saying about missing on the amateur side (low side) and the high side (the pro side). But he took it further: Read more Break Almost every amateur misses on the low side of the hole. According to Jay, if you under read the break and your putt starts moving towards the low side, you essentially have one chance to get the ball in the hole (by hitting the center of the cup). Any putt on the low side will lip out as gravity will be moving the ball away from the hole. In other words, on a right to left breaker, a ball that is trending towards the left side of the cup will almost always lip out because gravity is pulling it down the slope and away from the cup. The diagram on the following page shows a breaking putt and the possible paths into the hole: 3

7 But if you re putt is on the high side, gravity is always moving the ball towards the hole! Now you have 3 paths in which to make the putt. You will most likely miss if you hit the low side of the hole. You should make it if you hit the center of the hole. But most importantly, you can also make that putt by the ball entering on high side door! 4

Number 1 above is responsible in large part for the discrepancy in the amount of putts made by pros, compared to amateurs. So remember, play all the break you see and then some.

8 Number 1 above is responsible in large part for the discrepancy in the amount of putts made by pros, compared to amateurs. So remember, play all the break you see and then some. You will then have three ways to bury that putt. He also added that most poor putters have problems judging speed, which it turn affects the amount of break their putts will have. He had an ingenious image that solved this issue. When practicing, he imagined that if there were a clear covering over the hole and the ball could not drop in, he would hit the putt hard enough so that it came to rest 18 past the hole. This 1½ foot distance was the perfect length to allow the ball to take the full amount of the break that he read. In other words, you had the best opportunity to enter the hole with any of the 3 paths listed above if you hit the ball with the 18 past the hole force. It also assured you had an opportunity to make every putt as nothing was ever left short. Hence, Never up, Never in. Finally, if the putt was missed, the final putt would be trivial. 5

9 Now we were into it, and I was anxious to learn about his technique. I was a mechanics guy (alignment, wrist position, sequence). Jay would bury putts from short and long distance, so I was curious to learn how he was powering his stroke. Then he surprised me. He wasn t concerned about technique, mechanics, or putter design. He was focused on what really mattered, speed and direction. Every Putt is a One Foot Putt What the heck does that mean? It turns out Jay did something called spot putting. When spot putting, you read your putt and then decide where the high point or apex of the putt is (where the putt will start to break). Then, you pick a spot just ahead of the ball (12 or so) on the line where you need to hit the ball to have it reach the apex. The spot may be a tiny dark or light patch of grass, or a small spike mark, etc Now, just align to that spot. Then you simply have to roll the ball over the spot. That assures the ball is on the way to your chosen apex. Hence, every putt is a one foot putt, even a 40 footer. Now I had dabbled in some thing resembling spot putting off and on, but I found there was a flaw with it. You see there was this optical illusion of sorts when you address the ball. Something about the way you viewed the ball from over head led me to believe that the spot was not indicating the right direction. Even though I had just stood behind the ball and picked a spot right on my intended line, it just didn t look right when I addressed the ball. So it became difficult to trust the spot and just execute. So many times, the tendency was to pull the putt more to the left in an attempt to correct my line. Those putts never dropped, especially the long ones. 6

10 So I asked him about this illusion. Jay knew what I was talking about and said to ignore it and trust the spot. He explained that when you are behind the ball, the path of the putt is entirely in front of your eyes, your eyes are level, and it all makes sense. This is the way you normally look at most things in life. But when you are over the ball, your eyes are not facing the path, so you get a different signal from the brain. You must ignore the impulse to correct your line based on what you see out of the corner of your eyes. Trust the spot and execute. This cleared up that issue nicely. I already knew I was going to make more putts next time out. Jay was on a roll now and he was spilling the beans as they say. And I was taking notes. Ball Position and Eye Position I had noticed that Jay always positioned the ball slightly ahead of the center of the middle of his stance. He indicated that it was slightly ahead of the middle of his chest or sternum, as the stance width is not a constant so it is better to not use that feature as a guide post for positioning (for any shot). Now I had seen many great players positioning the ball more forward (closer to their front foot instep). I was anxious to hear his take on that as these were some of the better players in the game. He indicated that because we swung the putter with 2 arms, the bottom of the putting arc must be somewhere between the 2 shoulders. The shoulders were essentially pin joints. So it seemed logical that a golfer would want to contact the ball at the bottom of the arc. But as usual there was a twist. And I was beginning to understand that is was these twists or enhancements that all added up, and separated my friend from the herd when it came to fantastic putting. Jay lined his ball up so that the back edge of the ball was in line with the center of his chest. He wanted the ball leaving the putter at the bottom of the arc or just ever so slightly ahead of the arc. 7

11 Why? Because as the putter was just starting to rise after the bottom of the arc, it would strike the ball marginally on the upswing, and eliminate any ball skidding. He made no attempt to try to hit up or help the ball in the air. It was merely a function of the ball position and a nice, even tempo stroke. Essentially, that would get the ball rolling with over spin sooner so it would track right over the chosen spot perfectly; the Perfect Roll. Practice Strokes I had been dying to ask Jay about this next one: Jay took his practice strokes over the ball! Why?! I had never seen it done before at any level of the game. But he would take 3 practice strokes over the ball while looking at the hole. Then he would lower the Triangle formed by his 2 arms and shoulders and strike the putt. Turns out he had always done this. When he learned to play, he saw all the great golfers waggling the club head over the ball with their full swings. So it seemed natural to do this with his putter. He felt like he could be more precise hitting the spot perfectly during the actual putt if he practiced hitting his spot with his practice strokes, as opposed to practicing next to the ball, stepping in, finding the spot again, aligning, etc Makes sense, doesn t it? Why no one did this was beyond me. It would soon become part of my pre shot routine. Note: Expect to practice this diligently. If it doesn t become 2 nd nature, then return to taking your practice stokes next to the ball. Visualization and Execution Jay never made a putting stroke until he had visualized the ball going in the hole at least 2 times. He did this while he was choosing his spot from behind 8

the hole. This practice literally burned the correct path into his psyche and greatly increased the probability of his success. I agreed with this practice.

12 the hole. This practice literally burned the correct path into his psyche and greatly increased the probability of his success. I agreed with this practice. But it takes discipline to make it part of a pre shot routine on every putt. You should make it part of yours. Jay s preparation for each putt took no longer than the average player. While the average/poor putter chatted or looked around while his partner putted, my friend was running the process outlined in this text through his head. Yet it took less than 30 seconds from when it was his turn to putt until execution. The surveillance of the terrain for grain and moisture took place as he entered the green to mark his ball. A quick walk around the hole and back to the ball was ample time to enter all that data in to his head (the computer). Putting was like a formula to Jay. It was the sum of a list of variables. The more defined the variables, the more precise the outcome. When all the parts of the putting equation were defined, the only thing left to do was to execute. You ve done the hard part, now putt like you aren t afraid to miss he would say. He was the Best Putter I ever saw. 9

13 The following is a putting Pro Sheet which summarizes the points in this text. Cut it out and keep it in your bag. You may also want to laminate it. Review this sheet before you even think about making a putt before your next round. Pull it out on the way to the practice putting green and on the walk or cart ride to the first green. Add these tactics to your own putting game arsenal: They Work Please refer to Pro Sheet on next page 10

Read more break, high side to win. 3. Spot putt, trust the spot. 4. Ball just ahead of middle, eyes over ball. 5.

14 Putting Rebel Pro Sheet Print and cut out this sheet: Read Before First Putt 1. Greens - lower in front, putt harder F to B, in morning, when damp, factor the grain, dark into grain. 2. Read more break, high side to win. 3. Spot putt, trust the spot. 4. Ball just ahead of middle, eyes over ball. 5. Visualize putt going in 2X before putting. 6. Force = 18 past hole practice strokes, gauge force needed, step-up and putt. Don t freeze Execute! 8. Enter the above into your mental computer, then putt like you are not afraid to miss.

Darrell Klassen Inner Circle

Darrell Klassen Inner Circle PUTTING SPECIAL REPORT #2 In this report, I will be covering the information you ve seen in Putting Videos #2, 3, and 4. But first, I just wanted to make sure you have been