Insider Interview: SeeMore's Jim Grundberg

With the Masters just around the corner, now is the perfect time to catch up with the putter company that helped fit Zach Johnson with the green jacket in 2007. This time last year, the SeeMore Putter Company had only recently re-launched itself under the new ownership team of Jim Grundberg and Jason Pouliot (both pictured here, with Jim at right). The company was famous for making the putter that Payne Stewart used in his epic putting performance to win the 1999 U.S. Open, but had subsequently fallen on hard times. Grundberg and Pouilot, however, proved they were up to the challenge of saving the venerable SeeMore brand, launching their new mSeries milled putters in early 2007 to widespread acclaim (PutterZone.com called the m1 putter a “masterwork” in an earlier review). Then, when Zach Johnson won the Masters using an original SeeMore FGP putter, the rebirth of SeeMore was sealed. PutterZone.com recently caught up with Jim Grundberg to discuss last year’s exciting developments, as well as what’s next from SeeMore Putter Company. Following is our exclusive interview:

What sets SeeMore putters apart—and how does the average golfer benefit from using a SeeMore putter?
Our patented RifleScope Technology (RST) alignment system works to help the average golfer gain confidence and consistency with their putting stroke. SeeMore putters are very unique in that they offer the average golfer a built in system for game improvement.

This patented RST, known by a visible gun sight on the top line, allows the golfer to set up the putter perfectly each and every time in relation to the intended target line, by framing the black bottom part of the shaft between two white lines and covering the red dot. If the golfer is seeing red at any time during setup or the stroke, then there is something that needs to be fixed. When the RST is locked on, the golfer is able to focus solely on the speed of the putt, knowing that he is square to his intended target line.

For most golfers, and at all levels, putting is much more art than science. They are constantly seeking that magic putter, one which feels right and looks right, one which will give them confidence. Yet even when they find one they love, the feeling rarely lasts for long. Then they are onto a new search. That tends not to be the case with golfers who use SeeMore putters. When things start to get a little off track, the SeeMore RST provides important feedback to the golfer that will help him or her self-correct. It’s like having a putting instructor with you.

Can you briefly describe the state of the SeeMore Putter Company when you acquired it in 2006?
The SeeMore brand had been basically inactive in the market for the past five years. At the time we acquired SeeMore in 2006, it was nearly impossible to find a SeeMore putter in the golf shops. Golf professionals no longer knew where to find a SeeMore putter and wondered what had ever happened to the brand. Yet many avid golfers still used their trusty old SeeMore putters and swore by its benefits. In fact this period of being essentially off the market was a blessing in disguise for us as we set out to re-launch the brand. It meant that the prior owners had done a fantastic job of not sacrificing the brand in any way for any type of short-term gain. And they never gave up hope. They had waited for the right time to re-launch the brand, and decided it was better to do nothing rather than to bring the brand back to market under the wrong circumstances.

When we first met the prior ownership groups, they decided that Jason and I had the commitment, the resources, the passion, and the long-term plan that would be right for the brand that they had all so carefully built.

In our due diligence we could not find anyone that had anything bad to say about SeeMore. Most told us that the company had always had a core group of raving fans that loved the simple alignment technology. These SeeMore loyalists wanted this brand back and they wanted the company to adapt the proven RST alignment system to more models with an improved look and feel. Our best customers were already laying out the plan for what was becoming obvious that we needed to do.

What ultimately drove your new vision for SeeMore?
Based upon the feedback we received from golfers who had loved SeeMore for years, we added a new high-end milled line called mSeries (m1 model pictured here). Simply stated, our goal was to marry up the finest game improvement technology in the world in RST with the most expensive and precise materials in the world for the ultimate in precision putting performance. The unique, jewel like designs of each putter in the line would offer the ultimate in pride of ownership as well.

However we also wanted to continue to support our loyal customers and new RST converts with a more affordable option, so we kept our most important original model in the line and in fact plan to expand that offering later in 2008. So what drove our vision was to offer the best of both worlds. At the top would be the new and improved 100% milled mSeries at $325, which we consider the best of the best. But also we would keep the original cast FGP in the line at $150. It gives the customers a clear choice. The functional technology works in both models. The mSeries simply takes it to a new level of excellence. All of our putters are made in the USA, which is something we are very proud of.

We were delighted to learn last month that our blade and mallet mSeries putters were featured by Golf Digest in their exclusive 2008 Hot List, which is another great validation of the mSeries putters which PutterZone.com first featured last year!

People should know that the 2007 Masters win didn’t make the new SeeMore. Your new plan, vision and products were already in place when that happened. That said, the visibility couldn’t have hurt. Can you describe that Sunday night and the days following, in terms of how it impacted SeeMore?
The Masters victory in 2007 was obviously a catalyst for the re-launch of the brand. Jason and I were first and foremost golf fans that day, watching the Masters telecast from start to finish with our friends and families and enjoying every riveting second of the drama that was unfolding. We were on the phones all afternoon with our club designer Andre Shmoldas, as well as our international partners and our team here in Tennessee.

When Zach continued pouring them in on the back nine, it started to hit us that this dream might really be happening. By the last hole we were receiving hundreds of phone calls and text messages from friends in the industry who knew how special the exposure was going to be for us. Our public relations director Kevin Donnellon and I were on the phone until well after midnight polishing and executing our communications strategy. Our phones started ringing the day after and haven’t stopped since. It has completely energized our employees and our partners around the world to believe that they are part of something very special.

You are rolling out some new models and a new shaft for 2008. What do these add to the existing SeeMore experience?
We launched the mSeries with what we are calling the whistle shaft in 2008, based upon strong input from the tours and from our partner golf professionals at the club level. The Whistle line involves a new shaft with a simple bend that maintains the alignment and performance integrity of the SeeMore putting system while favoring a slight hands-forward at address position.

The original straight shaft versions of the mSeries putters, as well as the original FGP putters, are designed to have a golfer place his hands in line with the eyes and with the putter head. Golfers now have many choices with the new SeeMore line in terms of head shape as well as hand position. Many golfers told us they loved the idea of our system but have always putted with their hands slightly forward and felt more comfortable that way. We have designed the offset whistle shaft line for these players.

As a result of the Whistle design, golfers will still enjoy the multiple proprietary benefits of RST: the guarantee that the hands will be in the same place each and every time, the confidence that the putter head will be perfectly square to the intended target line at address and at impact, and the ability to groove a perfect pendulum putting stroke.

Thank you, Jim! Stay tuned for PutterZone.com's review of SeeMore's mFGP model putter.

Insider Interview: Mizuno's Chuck Couch

Having established itself as a dominant presence in the irons market, Mizuno Golf is now intensifying its focus on the premium putter market. Last year, the company partnered with famed putter designer Robert Bettinardi to launch two series of 100-percent milled putters. Now, Mizuno and Bettinardi are back with the next generation of Mizuno Bettinardi putters: the Black Carbon Series with Feel Impact Technology (F.I.T.), which was launched this month. Each Black Carbon putter is “precision milled from one piece of pure 11L17 carbon steel for ultra consistency and features a uniquely milled F.I.T. face that reduces the surface area of where the ball makes contact with the putter face by 70 percent, delivering extremely solid feel to every putt.” PutterZone.com recently spoke with Mizuno USA’s Director of Marketing Chuck Couch to get the scoop on the Black Carbon Series—as well as Mizuno’s larger vision for the putter category. Following is our exclusive interview.

How is Mizuno Golf’s partnership with Robert Bettinardi reflective of the larger Mizuno Golf vision, inclusive of your renowned irons and other golf equipment?
At Mizuno, we wanted to develop a partnership with a putter designer who we felt reflects the high standards of quality and performance that Mizuno prides itself on. We were very fortunate that Bob Bettinardi was available. The amazing thing about Bob and his company is that not only is he the putter designer, but also the miller of the putter heads. He ensures the quality and performance on every putter, as he controls every step in the milling process. Bob is a perfectionist, and we like that.

When the Bettinardi partnership was struck, Mizuno Golf stated that it wanted to fill a hole in its product portfolio and ultimately earn a double-digit share of the premium putter market. Why did the company want to make this push in the putter category—and what are the results to date?
We did want to fill the hole in our product portfolio as we did not have a range of putters. Also, one of our Global Tour Staff players, Luke Donald, had used a Bettinardi putter in the past and we felt this was a wonderful way to deliver a putter that our Global Tour Staff would love to take right out to the course. We have not yet reached our target of double-digit share in the premium putter category, but we are confident that we have built a strong foundation to gain market share each and every year, and we believe that the new Black Carbon Series with F.I.T. face technology is going to be a big winner.

Several years ago, Mizuno Golf partnered with another famed putter designer, T.P. Mills. Can you provide a little background on that partnership?
Our relationship with T.P. Mills was a good one. I do think that we reached a point where we were not ready for the next step in putters. At the time of our relationship with the T.P. Mills Putter Company, we were truly attacking the iron market and in the end we had to make some tough decisions on where to spend our funds. Seeing that we could become a major player in the iron market meant that we needed to take a break from putters, and focus on earning iron market share and, in turn, be a stronger company going forward. This is exactly what we did, and I can tell you that we are now in a position to develop, promote, and be a leader in the putter category.

The Mizuno Bettinardi C Series and A Series putters were well received in 2007. Now you have teed up the Black Carbon putters for 2008. How do you view these new putters in relation to the existing ones—is it more of a simple evolution or a quantum leap?
Describing the new Black Carbon putters as a quantum leap from the A Series and C Series is a good analogy. We all know the benefits of a 100-percent milled Bettinardi putter for consistency and our A and C Series deliver this equally as well as our new Black Carbon putters. The real quantum leap is the patented F.I.T face milling technology. Not only is it easy to see, touch and feel, but it also delivers amazing feel when stroking your putt. Consistency and feel in visible, viable, high technology is what all golfers crave on the greens. We are very excited to see how this new line performs in the marketplace, however. After all of our product testing, we know it will be received with much fanfare.

What has been the market and tour feedback so far with the Black Carbon putters—and what do you think makes them truly special and unique, particularly in matters of performance?
It is still too early to tell you what the market feedback will be, as the putter was just recently launched, but I can again tell you that on every product sales call that I am in, the new Black Carbon putters “wow” people. You tell them the technology story and let them try the putter and they are beaming with excitement. F.I.T. face technology dramatically reduces the surface area of where the ball makes contact with the face, offering the soft feel of a polymer insert, but in the solid and consistent package of a one-piece 100-percent milled carbon steel putter. You will never know true feel and consistency until you try one for yourself.

Thank you, Chuck! Stay tuned at PutterZone.com for more insights into the Mizuno Bettinardi Black Carbon Series putters.

Insider Interview: Stephen Boccieri

When he unveiled his first Heavy Putter three years ago, Stephen Boccieri introduced a new paradigm to the world of putting: a creation that outweighed—and some would say outsmarted—the traditional putter. The genius of the Heavy Putter system lies not merely in its heavier putter head, but in the weighted shaft insert that provides balance and stability to the stroke.

Today, Boccieri is poised to release his second generation of Heavy Putters, which enhance the existing Heavy Putter technology with striking new designs and added performance features (click here to read PutterZone.com’s exclusive look at the next generation of Heavy Putters, which will be released this fall). Boccieri is a scratch golfer, a self-proclaimed equipment junkie, and a former mechanical engineer for one of the world’s largest petrochemical and nuclear industry engineering companies, where he specialized in the design of piping systems for nuclear power plants. When discussing his putters, Boccieri speaks in a rapid-fire cadence that belies an intense passion for solving problems, creating solutions and unraveling what he calls the “myths of golf.” PutterZone.com recently caught up with Boccieri to learn about his latest adventures with the Heavy Putter, as well as what to expect next from Boccieri Golf. Following is our exclusive interview:

Word has it that there’s some excitement in the air today at Boccieri Golf?
Yes, we are having an exciting morning. I just got four new prototypes that I’ve been working on. They’re amazing. When you do prototyping, you just never know. You can apply all of your great engineering principles and all the things you think are necessary, but you just never know. I’m very pleased today.

We have been requested to incorporate Heavy Putter technology into some of the more traditional designs in the industry. Along with tradition, I have incorporated features that I believe will enhance the design. Being who I am I can’t just copy designs of the past and turn them into Heavy Putters. So I’ve created some very interesting stuff that’s somewhat traditional in look, but that is also really terrific in terms of optics, feel and MOI.

In layman’s terms, how does the average golfer benefit from using the Heavy Putter compared to a standard putter?
The Heavy Putter simply improves the consistency of the golfer’s stroke. Greater consistency equals fewer strokes. The Heavy Putter’s greater total weight engages the golfer’s larger and more stable muscles, while the higher balance point disengages the golfer’s hands, promoting a smoother, more consistent pendulum stroke. Lighter putters that have a lower balance point tend to cause the golfer to have more wrist breakdown.

In addition to your existing Heavy Putter technology, your new putters also feature a deeper, or taller, putter face for a higher center of gravity (CG). Can you explain how you raised the CG—and why it matters?
I have done a few thing to raise the CG of the putters, some more than others. But as a common theme, the height of the putter is increased. Conventional putters are one-inch high with CGs at approximately 0.375 inches. The new Heavy Putter DF (Deep Face) line is 1.25 inches high. This in itself will raise the putter’s CG, regardless of the actual design. On some of the more radical designs I created, I have placed a considerable amount of mass above the center of the putter, moving the CG to above the midway point. For most of the new designs, the CG is landing at about 0.70 inches.

The idea behind raising the CG is to get it closer to the CG or equator of the golf ball, which is 0.84 inches. The theory is to align the CG of the putter and the ball so you can get the best transfer of energy, resulting in more consistent distance control. In order for this to occur with a conventional putter, a golfer has to raise the putter a half inch off the putting surface. This is tough enough to do when the putter is static, and to achieve this vertical impact point consistently during the stroke is virtually impossible. With the new Heavy Putter DF putters, the golfer can concentrate on keeping the putter close to the surface. This enables perfect vertical alignment more frequently, resulting in greater distance control.

I don’t design on aesthetics and let the CG fall where it may. I put the CG where, from an engineering standpoint, I think it needs to be. I then construct the putter around the center of gravity.

All of your putters are face balanced—even the new Anser-style putter, which is unusual. Why is this? (Editor’s note: in a face balanced putter, the center of gravity of the putter head is directly below the axis of the shaft; if you balance the putter on your fingertips and it squarely faces the sky, it is face balanced; if it the toe points toward the ground, it is not face balanced)
There is a significant advantage to face balancing over toe droop. The reason I can say that is that I’ve done player testing, and I would like to differ with, and actually debate, all the people who think that toe droop promotes arc in the putting stroke. Well, I can tell you that I’ve tested thousands of players with face-balanced putters and toe-droop putters, and I can assure you that there’s less than a tenth of a degree of change in rotation from player who insists upon having toe droop versus face balanced.

It doesn’t make a difference whether it’s a toe-droop putter or a face-balanced putter, a standard putter or a Heavy Putter. A player’s rotation is that player’s fingerprint. It’s almost like the timing and tempo of the swing with a driver.

These are the myths of golf. I’ve been around golf a long time, and I’ve heard them all. The myth that you need a toe-droop putter so that you can play an 8802 like Ben Crenshaw, that he has a swinging door-style stroke…Let me tell you something, I can give Ben Crenshaw a face-balanced putter and his arc will not change one-tenth of one degree. All the belief about toe-droop putters being more accurate than face-balanced putters for people who have more of an arcing stroke is absolutely false.

So, all things being equal, what are the advantages of face balanced?
With a face balanced putter, when you impact the ball on the center of gravity of the face, it’s perfectly in line with the axis of the shaft, so there is zero torsion on the shaft.

When you take a heel-shafted putter that has droop and you strike the ball on the center of gravity of the face, the impact point on the face is roughly three quarters of an inch to one inch away from the shaft axis. This creates torsion. Strike it toward the toe and you’ll understand immediately—you will feel the rotation, and it will feel very unstable.

Watch Tiger Woods and everybody who plays a toe-droop, Anser-style putter. They actually strike the ball on the inside of the center line, and more toward the shaft line. In other words, they are closing the gap from the center of gravity of the putter and the shaft line. That’s one of the myths about where the sweet spot is on toe-droop putters.

Was it an engineering challenge to make an Anser-style putter that is face balanced?
Yes. It was amazing. But the difference in the feel of the putter is remarkable.

Do you view the Heavy Putter as something that every golfer, from Tiger Woods on down, should—and perhaps someday even will—have in their bag?
Yes. We have tested thousand of players and at all levels. The ultrasound testing we do is compelling evidence that almost every player’s results become more consistent when using a Heavy Putter in comparison to their own putter.

What are some of your recent highlights in terms of both retail sales and professional tour usage?
Our records speak for themselves. We have player on most of the major tours globally and have won close to $4 million in prize money. We also have the distinction of being the only putter company to have an official score of 59 on the European Tour. We also have wins on the PGA, Nationwide, European and Canadian Tours.

From a retail point of view, we are very pleased with our progress. We are currently in more than 3,000 accounts across the nation, including all the major golf chains, and we are in 28 countries worldwide.

What can we expect to see next from Boccieri Golf and Heavy Putter?
I have developed new concepts that I believe will launch us deeper into the putter category. If that all works out, I will be developing a driver that I have had on the drawing board for a few years now that will rock the industry.

Thank you, Stephen! Stay tuned at PutterZone.com for more insights into the next generation of Heavy Putters.

Insider Interview: Never Compromise's Adam Sheldon

Never Compromise putters were first unveiled in 1997 and made an immediate splash with their quality, attitude and distinctive black-gray-black alignment visuals. The company was acquired by Cleveland Golf in 2003, which later re-launched Never Compromise as a “top-tier putter brand.” Evidence of Never Compromise’s fresh outlook now abounds in the form of several exciting new putters, specifically the Never Compromise Milled Series putters and Never Compromise Exchange Series putters. Vijay Singh, Boo Weekley and Michael Putnam are among the PGA Tour professionals currently using Exchange Series putters, which boast cutting-edge weighting technology for dozens of personal tuning options. PutterZone.com recently spoke with Never Compromise’s Business Unit Leader Adam Sheldon to learn more about the latest putters from Never Compromise—and what the company has on tap. Following is our exclusive interview:

What is the thread that binds all Never Compromise putters, in terms technology, performance and/or overall brand vision?
We focus on technology and craftsmanship, and we strive to develop high technology designs with new generation materials, using state-of-the-art manufacturing processes. Never Compromise truly means “do not compromise” your with your equipment. The original three-piece component concept that launched the Never Compromise brand back in 1997 still exists in today’s product. In fact, our latest Exchange Series has up to 18 different components in one head, allowing not only for extreme perimeter weighting, as in the early Never Compromise designs, but also customization to suit players’ tendencies in their stroke. All of our designs take into consideration the value of MOI (editor’s note: moment of inertia), which was the theory behind most of the company’s earlier designs. Another great attribute is our trademark black-gray-black color scheme, which we believe is one of the simplest yet most effective alignment aids in the business.

Milled putters are proliferating in the marketplace. Can you explain how a milled putter, by nature, benefits the average golfer—and also what specifically sets your Milled Series putters apart from other milled putters?
The milling process itself ensures outstanding part-to-part accuracy, repeatability and consistency. This really allows us to control head weight and other critical dimensions such as loft, lie, sole draft and face flatness—all the real important aspects of a putter.

Our Milled Series putters are among the few forged putters in the market. They are made from Japanese carbon steel, so they have a uniquely responsive soft feel due to the material and its grain structure. They are 100-percent milled and then hand polished, which allows us to achieve a rich looking finish but still maintain the character of a machined product. They also feature a tungsten weight in the toe on most models to help compensate for the weight in the hosel, which, in turn, helps promote a visually balanced putter from address while centering the sweet spot on the sightline.

Your Exchange Series putters offer four separate ports that can be mixed or matched with three separate pairs of interchangeable weights. How did you first come up with the concept—and was it a challenge to go from original concept to functional reality?
It is commonly known that there is no single putting condition, surface or stroke in the game today. In fact, it is safe to say that everybody is different and different players have different tendencies.

If you look at the professional tours, most of the players have putters weighted to suit their preference. They also change their equipment regularly to suit the course conditions—the main reason being that they can adjust their putter, not their stroke, when they play fast or slow greens. We wanted to offer this same customization to our customers but also allow them multiple configurations to combat some of the common tendencies in the putting stroke.

The design challenge was to try and do all of this in one putter, and this is where the weight ports came about. The main challenge was to offer a big enough weight range but also maintain the increments needed to satisfy a wide range of players and conditions. The only way to do this was to use multiple weight ports in the design.

We found that, by positioning the weight ports in the heel and the toe of the putter, we could now move weight from the heel into the toe and vice versa. This, in turn, would help correct some common inconsistencies in the putting stroke. By offering the 5 gram, 10 gram and 15 gram weights, we could also cover a huge range of head weights.

The blade designs maintain classic shapes utilizing a cavity-back design to maximize MOI, whereas the mallet models were designed using low density materials allowing us to add two extra weight ports, allowing for even more customization and increased MOI.

Aesthetically speaking, the Exchange Series putters are a bit flashier than previous Never Compromise putters, with a color coding theme and gleaming polished sole plates. Did that just sort of happen in the development process, or did you set out to make a cosmetic statement from the start?
With the Exchange Series being our most advanced putter to date, we wanted to grab people’s attention and not hide the technology. This is really what inspired the new designs. When we went through the conceptual stage of the development, we could see that this was a product that we could be really creative with, and I think that the concept itself opened the doors to some design freedom and fueled creativity. We were extremely happy with the finished product and it has been very popular on the PGA Tour and in stores.

Never Compromise has close relationships with several top PGA Tour professionals. How much influence do they have in the development of your retail putter lines, such as the Milled Series and Exchange Series?
We constantly get feedback from all of our tour players. Vijay was a big influence in the design of the Milled Series putters, and there are many more players who give us great input when we test our prototypes out on tour.

What can we expect next from Never Compromise?
We are constantly making new prototypes which incorporate new technology that can help the golfer perform better. Another main focus for Never Compromise is how we can offer the customer something different than all the other putters in the marketplace.

We currently have a number of different prototypes being tested so keep your eyes peeled for something new and innovative from Never Compromise in the near future.

Thank you, Adam. For more information, visit www.nevercompromise.com and www.exchangeputters.com.

Insider Interview: Dead On's Phil Vinton

With its powerful visuals and unique design, the Dead On putter resembles a secret weapon—so it’s no surprise that it was conceived by someone with a background in aerospace manufacturing. Indeed, as CEO of Elite Sport Products, Phil Vinton employs his biomedical and aerospace experience to guide the creation of putters that reflect a deep knowledge of specific metals and how they translate to optimal putting performance. Elite Sport Products was formed in the fall of 2004 with the stated intent of creating the “highest quality line of putters in the industry.” The ensuing two years were dedicated to research and development, resulting in the Dead On Series 1 putter, which was first released to the public in April of last year. The current Dead On putters fall under the banner of Series III, and some new putters are also in the works. Each putter is designed, manufactured and assembled in Central Texas. PutterZone.com spoke with Phil this week to get the scoop on Dead On putters—and what to expect next from Elite Sport Products. Following is our exclusive interview:

What sets Dead On putters apart in terms of features and benefits?
There are several key features incorporated into the Dead On Putter Series, but the true magic of the clubs is due to the combination of these features.

Our components are machined out of solid blocks of stainless steel and aircraft-grade aluminum using computer-generated solid modeling and CNC manufacturing equipment. The main feature of our putter head is our patent pending True Grip putting surface. One of the most difficult yet astute developments was in determining what type of surface to put on the impact face of our putters. We investigated several different polymers and found them all to have a dull and muffled feeling, so we dropped that as an option. It wasn’t what we were looking for. Then, on our 3D Solid Modeling CAD system, I significantly magnified a dimpled golf ball surface with a flat putter face next to it and experimented with as many putter face surfaces and surface geometries as I could imagine. I found out that the closer that raised contact surfaces were, the higher the percentage that the golf ball would be struck in its centerline, regardless of its orientation or what the vertical position the clubface happened to be at impact. This led to our development of our True Grip putting surface, which resembles smooth sandpaper when viewed through a microscope. Because it is applied to our heat treated stainless steel surface, it will last a lifetime.

The Dead On putter head also incorporates a set-up dot, and a large internal central cavity which provides an enhanced sweet spot as well as significantly increasing the putter’s moment of inertia (MOI). The tail piece includes our central accelerating arrows alignment system as well as outer wings, which increase MOI and provide visual assistance in making a proper stroke. The benefits to the golfer include ease of alignment, tremendous balance and feel, and tactile as well as audible feedback when making a putt.

Can you please tell us about the origins of, and inspiration behind, Dead On putters?
I first met one of my partners, Dan Gonzales, a local PGA Professional here in Austin, in the spring of 2004. He had the original idea for the Dead On putter, and we set out designing and manufacturing the initial prototypes. I wanted to incorporate several key features that the greatest teachers of our time all agreed upon: proper setup, proper alignment, and the proper stroke. We were pleasantly surprised by the initial feel and sound of our design, and proceeded to optimize these features by experimenting with different materials, surface finishes and manufacturing processes. Once the PGA Tour professionals got as excited as we were about our product, we went into production.

How does your personal background in biomedical and aerospace manufacturing influence the conceptual and/or engineering properties of your putters?
I have been involved in virtually all aspects of manufacturing my entire professional life. My first machine shop experience was during summers between college semesters. By 1982, I was supervising machinists on NC machines, which ran on tape, and my first designs on CAD systems occurred in 1984. I learned a tremendous amount about materials and material properties while designing exo-atmospheric mechanical systems which had to be strong, lightweight and operate in a vacuum. While at Intermedics Orthopedics, I learned about efficient and consistent manufacturing processes, and I developed several of these methods.

At Elite Sport Products, I have incorporated advanced computer solid-modeling techniques, which enable us to quickly develop and modify designs that will not only supply mass property data, but provide a database for their manufacture as well. I have also incorporated CNC manufacturing, quality control and several process-specific features that set our products ahead of the field.

Where can people find and buy your putters? And are you gaining traction on the professional circuits?
There are three avenues to purchase our products: distributors, PGA professionals, and our online store. We have several distributors who inventory our product in the U.S.A. from San Carlos, California to Sea Island, Georgia. There are several internet sites that carry our product as well, and our online store is available at www.elitesp.com. We are currently seeking additional storefront distributors nationally as well as internationally to carry our products. There, on the green grass, their customers have a chance to try out our products and experience the tremendous balance, feel and feedback that the Dead On putter provides. Virtually all of the feedback from the Tour circuit has been positive, and we have been played on the Champions Tour as well as the PGA Tour. One Tour professional played a Dead On Series III putter at a tournament the day after he first put his hands on one.

What can we expect next from Elite Sport Products and the Dead On Putter?
Elite Sport Products LP is constantly in the development phase. Our next new putter, another three-piece mallet design, has already been sent to the USGA for conformance confirmation, and there are two more prototypes which are 80 percent into the development stage. Our mission is to manufacture putters that incorporate the latest in technology and provide golfers with the most beneficial instrument possible. At Elite Sport Products LP, the same care and technique goes into hand-assembling a Dead On putter for the average golfer as well as the PGA Tour professional, so each and every one of our customers receives a “tour quality” putter with its own unique serial number laser etched into the putter head. We are proud to be an American manufacturer and plan to maintain our quality and company integrity well into the future.

Thank you, Phil. For more information, visit www.elitesp.com.

Insider Interview: Yes! Golf's Francis Ricci

In a rather short period of time, Yes! Golf has emerged as a putter powerhouse, both on tour and at retail. Yes! Golf remains a relatively small company whose tour inroads have been truly earned, not purchased in the form of lucrative player sponsorships. The open secret to the company’s success is its patented C-Groove technology, which was invented by English putting guru Harold Swash. The concentric C-Grooves on Yes! Putters are designed to send the ball on a truer topspin roll for enhanced directional and distance control. Based in Denver, Colorado, Yes! Golf is actually the outgrowth of an earlier golf equipment company, Pro Gear Inc. But for all intents and purposes, Yes! Golf was born in 2000 when it unveiled its first C-Groove putters at the PGA Merchandise show. Yes! Golf entered the U.S. Market in 2004 after Retief Goosen won his second U.S. Open title using the same C-Groove putter he used in his 2001 U.S. Open victory, PutterZone.com recently spoke with Yes! Golf President & CEO Francis Ricci about the unique attributes of the company's C-Groove putters—and about what we can expect next from Yes! Golf. Following is our exclusive interview:

What sets Yes! putters apart from other putters in terms of features and benefits?
Our patented C-Groove face design feature is the difference. This design feature provides a greater margin of error compared to all other putters that we have tested when the ball is impacted less than ideally.

Most putting experts, including most professional golfers, understand that achievement of a "true" rolling motion within a minimal distance after impact is required to afford directional and distance control. The energy created by the strike of a putter face will dissipate at differing rates when balls skid, bounce, back spin or side turn upon impact, even when the player uses an identical stroke. As a result, two or more balls struck with identical strokes will often finish at different locations and distances. On the other hand, balls that achieve true roll within a minimum distance after impact, with identical striking, will finish within much tighter deviations of both direction and distance.

Very few players consistently achieve ideal impact with any putters. We define ideal impact as one wherein the face of the putter is square to the target line at impact and wherein the loft at impact and the plane of the strike at impact are physically correct to produce the desired true roll. The world's best putters achieve the ideal impact frequently, but even they will miss-hit on occasion. The C-Groove design feature minimizes the effects of miss-hits compared to all other putters we have tested.

In other words, even when the putter face is slightly open or closed to the target line, or the loft or the plane of the strike at impact is less than ideal, the C-Groove design provides compensating factors.

Please describe the relationship between the C-Groove design feature and true roll—in other words, what exactly do the grooves do?
The groove edges are 4/1000th of an inch and only two groove edges contact the ball at impact. The groove edges on impact—assuming the plane of the strike is slightly upward—grip into the surface of the ball and impart an over-the-top rolling force much like grooves on irons and woods impart backspin on a ball.

Under slow-motion video analysis—which we have done thousands of times—the ball is almost always struck with some degree of positive loft, resulting in the ball acting like a chip at the beginning, with the ball up above the surface and turning backwards. Although the ball when impacted with a C-Groove putter can be lofted above the surface for some distance, the groove edges impart an over-the-top rolling force, resulting in a more controlled motion compared to the actions—such as bouncing and skidding—caused by backward turning in the initial distance of a putt.

We have observed that most good putters, including most pros, impact the ball with almost zero loft, thereby eliminating back turn but still having some measure of skid when other putters are used.

Can you tell us a bit more about Harold Swash, the inventor of your C-Groove technology?
Harold Swash, now 74, has been teaching putting primarily in his homeland of England and elsewhere in Europe for nearly 40 years. He also has developed putters, putting training aids and wedges over the years. He also operates the Harold Swash Putting Schools of Excellence, which now has several locations in the U.K. and Europe. He has been known as the "European Putting Doctor" for many years. His putting students have included many tour players including Padraig Harrington, David Howell, Henrik Stenson and, in times gone by, Seve Ballesteros, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam.

Where does Yes! stand at the moment in terms of growth on tour and at retail?
Our putter counts by tour over the past 18 months are either number one or number two on the LPGA Tour; number two, three or four per event on the European Tour; number one on the Korean PGA and LPGA tours; number one on the Duramed Futures Tour; top five on the Japan PGA and LPGA tours; and generally number four or five on the PGA and Nationwide Tours, after the leading brands Titleist/Cameron, Ping and Callaway/Odyssey.

At the retail level, our sales have grown tenfold since 2004. In the United States, our market share is close to number five. In the United Kingdom, our market share is number three. In Korea, it’s number one.

Your putter model names, such as Callie, Sophia and Olivia, are very distinctive. Can you tell us more about these names and what they signify?
We adopted the policy of using feminine names upon Retief Goosen's 2001 U.S. Open victory. We renamed the putter he used, and which he still uses most of the time, after his wife Tracy. The other names are for family members of some of our personnel, or are other popular names. We believe that golfers and their putters should have a close and friendly relationship and that putters should be considered as delicate instruments rather than “weapons.” These notions are consistent with feminine names.

What are your latest models—and what can we expect next from Yes! Golf?
We just released our first two forged models and plan on additional forged models. Our first forged putter is the Callie-F model, and we just released a forged Abbie model. Also, we will be releasing some new models over the next few months incorporating unique alignment concepts. We are also planning to partner with a maker of products used for the custom fitting of putters, as well as for putting instruction and training.

Can you tell us a bit more about your upcoming models and their alignment concepts?
Without letting the cat out of the bag, I can only tell you that the unique alignment features are based on the human eye-brain functions.

Thank you, Mr. Ricci! For more information, visit the Yes! Golf web site.

Insider Interview: Putting Arc's V.J. Trolio

In honor of the U.S. Open, we take a closer look today at the modern tour putting stroke with V.J. Trolio, who is a teaching professional, co-inventor of the Putting Arc and a leading voice in the field of proper putting stroke mechanics. V.J. is based at Old Waverly Golf Club in Mississippi, which is one of Golf Digest’s Top 100 Courses in the United States. The Putting Arc is a training aid designed to instill the feel of the optimal arc-type stroke. According to the company, “The modern putting stroke of the successful touring pro is the inside-to-inside or arc-type stroke. This is the stroke used by 95 percent of successful touring pros, and taught by the top putting instructors in the country. However, 95 percent of amateurs still try to putt straight back and straight through.” The Putting Arc is essentially a static piece of plastic or wood (depending on the model) that is strategically shaped to guide your putter along the preferred arc. You simply place it on the ground and set up with the heel of your putter against the center of the arc. You then conduct your stroke while keeping the heel flush with the arc and the putter face in line with the evenly spaced alignment marks. PutterZone.com recently caught up with V.J. to learn more about the origins and science behind the Putting Arc and the arc-type stroke. Following is our exclusive interview:

The Putting Arc is essentially a solution to the problem of an imperfect putting stroke. Can you describe why this problem afflicts so many golfers—and how you ended up developing a device that could solve it?
The Putting Arc was created out of necessity by one teaching professional and two engineers to accomplish two things: to get the right information in the hands of players, and to offer a device that enables a player to build a mechanically sound stroke, thus creating proper feel through proper mechanics.

The reason many amateurs have such poor strokes is that they often lack the knowledge of what constitutes a good stroke. Secondly, they don't practice the mechanics of a good stroke, so their feel is created from trying to get the ball in the hole. What the Putting Arc does is visually show the arc of the stroke and the proper clubface alignment as the stroke is underway.

For years, the putting stroke was taught by “feeling" with no real measurements. Prior to the era of Dave Pelz (editor’s note: Dave Pelz is an influential short game instructor), many of the game’s greats established the concept of a putter stroke that moves inside to inside, just like the golf swing. With Pelz leading the research of the short game during the 1980s, the concept of the straight back and through putting stroke took hold. Along the way, short game instructors like Mike Shannon, Scotty Cameron, and Todd Sones were doing their research as well. They found that, in fact, the putting stroke moved in an arc. I had encounters with Pelz disciples and felt that it was very incorrect for the putter to move straight back and through. As a youngster I was a good putter and my stroke never felt the way they taught it. I have taken two putting lessons in my life, and both were from Mike Shannon. Mike was the first person to tell me that “the putting stroke curves." After practicing his concepts, I called him up and asked, "How big is the curve?" He didn’t have an answer for me then.

So with the help of laser and video research, and the engineering minds of Dave and Joey Hamilton, the ellipse or arc of The Putting Arc was born. Ours was the first arc-type device to hit the greens and we feel very good about the explosion of "arc-type stroke" information that our product initiated.

What kind of feedback have you received on The Putting Arc from professional golfers?
The list of touring professionals who use the Putting Arc is astounding. In fact, the better players are our main customers. The reason is because they understand how important good putting is to good scores. The majority of tour players tell us they like the product because it makes their strokes feel the way their strokes feel when they are making putts. So if their stroke gets off a little, they can get their feel back by using the Putting Arc for a half hour or so.

Can you explain why you call the arc-type stroke “the perfect putting stroke?”
The arc-type stroke is the perfect stroke because the thorasic area of the spine (editor’s note: the area of the spine to which your ribs are attached) is neither vertical nor horizontal at setup. When the shoulders move, the throrasic area of the spine moves. So the plane of motion runs from the thorasic spinal area to the sweet spot of the putter. This is a very precise situation and the variables involved grow exponentially as soon as any other body part moves. So the arc-type stroke is also considered the perfect stroke because it has the fewest moving parts. The less parts that move under pressure, the better off we all are. It’s all really very simple when you look at the setup of the best players.

Do shaft placement (center shafted or heel shafted), putter balance (face balanced or toe hang) and/or moment of inertia impact the pursuit of an ideal arcing stroke?
The center-shafted putter versus the heel-shafted putter will not affect the arcing stroke. Now, every person has tendencies, and if the tendency is to leave the face open throughout the forward stroke, a heel-shafted putter with toe hang will enable them to feel the face staying square to the arc. The low point of the putting stroke is the spine, so the offset the putter has will change the hands position at address, the shaft angle at address, and the amount of loft used. However the basic geometry of a great putting stroke will utilize a plane angle that begins with the sweet spot of the putter and runs through the thorasic region of the spine. The sweet spot then rides that plane back and through with the face staying square to the projection of that plane on the ground and—bingo!—we have one less problem to deal with on the putting green.

Can you please specify a few basic setup tips that will help golfers make the most out of practicing with the Putting Arc?
The basic setup tips are to get bent over comfortably, with the eyes hanging over or just inside the line. From there, confirm that the back of the ball is even with, or up to a ball in front of, the low point of your putting stroke. Adjust your posture until your stroke automatically follows the arc, and the clubface always lines up with the lines on the Putting Arc. From there, wear out your Putting Arc and have fun making more putts.

Thank you V.J.! For more information, visit the Putting Arc web site and Trolio Golf web site.

Insider Interview: Marius Filmalter

Marius Filmalter’s golf credentials are difficult to cram into a single paragraph. To make a long story short, he is a professional golfer, professional golf instructor, author and inventor. He is regarded in PGA Tour circles as a short game guru, and he currently works with dozens of pros, including Brad Faxon, Sean O’Hair, Chad Campbell and Mark O’Meara, to name a few. Marius’s influence is also felt across the highest levels of putting science and he is known as an expert on the “yips,” those odious involuntary movements that can haunt the putting strokes of even the best players. As a result of his extensive research, Marius has developed new and more effective methods to facilitate the proper communication between the body and mind. He has also developed award-winning golf technologies, including SAM (science and motion), as well as Tomi (the optimal motion instructor), an innovative new product that measures the critical parameters of the putting stroke.

Tomi was released to the market this month by Pure Motion Sports and gets high marks from Hank Haney and other leading instructors. The PDA-sized base unit works in tandem with custom PC software and a motion reflector clip that attaches to the putter, offering real-time feedback on everything from club alignment to stroke path, impact spot to club rotation, so that you can obtain essential information for improving your game. The inaugural Tomi system costs $895 and is geared toward the golf trade and primarily professional instructors. A simpler consumer retail version is also in the works.

In addition to being brilliant, Marius is a genuinely nice guy who took time out of a busy schedule to speak with PutterZone.com about Tomi and what it has to say about the putting stroke. Following is the transcript of our exclusive interview:

What is Tomi—how does it work, what does it do and what sets it apart from other high-tech putting aids?
Tomi is a measuring device and not a putting aid. It measures all the critical parameters that influence the result of your putting stroke. As we all know, only two things are important in putting: direction and distance. If you control the line, or direction, and the speed, or distance, the ball will find the hole. All of the parameters we measure relate to these two elements. Tomi displays what you are doing, not necessarily what you should do.

How and why did you develop Tomi?
If you want to become a better putter, first of all, you must know what you are doing. Once that is established, you can find a way to where you want to be. This is a simple principal of life. Most of us know what we are supposed to do but lack the feedback to determine where we are. Tomi provides accurate and scientific feedback of where you are and monitors your journey to where you want to be. In other words, Tomi serves as a mirror, in real time. How? By utilizing technology to provide affordable feedback.

Tomi obviously appeals to professional instructors who can use the system to help multiple students. Is it something that appeals to the individual golfer as well?
Only a minimal percentage of golfers take lessons. Why? I would argue that most players know what they are capable of and simply need feedback to achieve it. The instructor might have a different agenda: force the player into a swing that fits his eye. The instructor’s feedback is therefore not what the player wants and he considers the instructor a “warped” mirror. He needs an objective feedback mechanism that will help him along the path he can walk. That might sound anti-instructor. To the contrary!

What would be the results from Tomi that would indicate a case of the yips?
You have two types of yips. One type is that people are unable to control the acceleration of the club swinging back, and Tomi measures speed and acceleration. The other type of yips is that people are unable to control the rotation of the club through impact, and Tomi measures rotation. Tomi measures the severity of the condition, and can, with the help of an instructor, guide you in modifying your stroke to overcome the problem.

You are a putting and short game instructor. How would you describe your approach to putting instruction, and where does Tomi fit into, or reflect, that approach?
We all realize the importance of putting. I have never seen a professional player pumping fists after a good drive, but every so often they become ecstatic after a putt that finds the hole, jumping in the air, kneeling down, sometimes even crying. Putting makes them experience the emotions of a job well done or not.

Putting and the short game are very difficult because we have to control both the distance and direction with the same club. That leads to an overload of information which causes inaccuracies. For example, let’s say you hit your 7 iron 140 meters. Most accomplished golfers could do that. Should I ask these golfers to hit the 7 iron only 80 meters, most of them would have a problem hitting the ball the right distance and direction. All of a sudden they have to control two things at the same time.

Of primary importance, of course, is that the player finds the hole in the fewest possible strokes. To achieve that, two things are important: know what you are doing and then repeat it. You might not have the ideal putting stroke—who knows what that should be?—but if you get the ball in the hole, then repeat it! But if you don’t know what to repeat, it becomes a futile exercise. With Tomi you can measure the stroke that gets the ball in the hole, and if your putting goes astray, you can compare and contrast to find your way back.

Thank you, Marius! Visit the Tomi web site to learn more about Tomi and Marius.

Insider Interview: Odyssey's Rob Arluna

If you thought that Odyssey Golf was going to rest on the laurels of its wildly successful White Hot 2-Ball putter, think again. Two years ago, at the height of the 2-Ball’s popularity, Odyssey was already plotting its path to the next level. That effort ultimately included last year’s unveiling of the company’s new White Hot XG insert technology, followed by the launch of the innovative Black Series putters earlier this year. Perhaps the most notable of Odyssey’s new releases is the Marxman, whose striking alignment features are being billed by Odyssey as the successor to the pioneering alignment attributes of the 2-Ball putter. Earlier this week, PutterZone.com spoke with Rob Arluna, Director of Brand Management at Odyssey, to get the inside scoop on the company’s latest products and achievements. Following is the transcript of our exclusive interview:

Odyssey Golf is having a good year. Can you tell us more about your recent successes, starting with the retail experience?
At the retail level, our market share is up seven percent over the same time last year,to about 38.5 percent. So almost four of every 10 putters sold is an Odyssey putter. The entire product line is selling well.

Going back a bit, when I took this job a couple of years ago, we began managing the company by brand (editor’s note: Odyssey is owned by Callaway Golf). After we bought Top-Flite and Hogan, we got really brand focused, because we now had four brands to manage. I was put in charge of Odyssey, and one of the things talked about internally was making sure the product pipeline at Odyssey was full and relevant, and that we were providing a technologically advanced putter to virtually every player out there. So over the past year and a half, we’ve kind of flipped our entire product line. We had a great run with 2-Ball, which is historically the best-selling putter ever, and it continues to be the best-selling putter line in golf. But as we began to look at the whole product line, we felt like, all right, it’s time to begin to innovate across the board, in all areas. So you will see that since November 2005, which marked the launch of Dual Force 2, we have a whole new product line. First came Dual Force 2, then our SRT putters, then our White Hot XG putters, and then the Black Series and Marxman earlier this year. So everything from us is kind of fresh and new, and I think that’s what’s fueling the success o Odyssey—a lot of new products, and a lot of technologically relevant products across the board.

How about on tour?
On tour we’re having a great year. We’ve increased Odyssey putter usage across pretty much every single tour, certainly across the six major professional tours around the world. On the PGA Tour, year-to-date last year we were at 16.4 percent usage, and we’re now up to 20.5 percent (editor’s note: this means that 20.5 percent of all PGA Tour players are using Odyssey putters). On the Champion’s Tour, we’re number one in usage at 38.7 percent. On the LPGA Tour we’re number one at 30.7 percent. On the Nationwide Tour, we’re number two at 22.6 percent. On the European Tour, we’re number one at 43 percent. And on the Japan Tour we have 67 percent usage, which is a pretty amazing statistic. So across those six major tours, we’re number one in usage, and on every single tour, with the exception of the European Tour, we’ve seen growth over last year.

What is different about your newer White Hot XG technology compared to your original White Hot series, specifically in terms of features and benefits?
The insert in the original White Hot was a one-piece urethane-based material. And the beauty of it, and the reason it took the company to the next level, is because generally when you make a putter softer, you lose some resiliency. But we found with this urethane-based material, the softer we made it, the more resilient the putter was, so the ball was coming off and feeling responsive, and traveling the distance people wanted it to. Also, the cover material was virtually identical to the cover material of the original (Callaway Golf) Rule 35 golf ball, so it interacted very well with the ball. And I think that people, for the first time, were feeling a soft putter that actually had responsiveness, and the feel and sound that they liked. So that’s why White Hot was originally such a success.

It was a challenging request to the R&D department to try to replace White Hot with a new form of White Hot that was better. What we did was move to a multi-material construction. While the original White Hot was the one-piece urethane based insert, the new construction is multi-material, meaning that there’s a core material, similar to the core of a golf ball, and then a cover material. This gave us the ability to work with two different materials to de-couple sound and de-couple feel, so that the responsive material, the core material in the back, is soft and resilient, while the cover material provides the flexibility to fine tune sound, which is a big part of feel. So now in the White Hot XG we have a putter where the sound is really good, the feel is really good, and we have the flexibility to tweak those two materials to get exactly the type of responsiveness that we want. It’s just a bit more technological.

You still make a White Hot XG 2-Ball putter, the design for which Odyssey is best known, as well as several other White Hot XG models. Yet most of your current White Hot XG marketing efforts center around the White Hot XG Marxman model. Why is that?
The White Hot XG 2-Ball replaced the original White Hot 2-Ball, and that came into the market last August, so it’s been in the market less than a year. And we came out this year with the Marxman in April. Marxman for us is really a complement to the 2-Ball line. Marxman is our flagship model this year, it’s our newest technology. Our feeling on that was, we really launched the alignment craze back in 2002 when we offered the 2-Ball, and we hadn’t really had another innovative alignment device since then.

We sold more than three million 2-Balls worldwide, and we took a step back and said, ”Okay, how can we complement the 2-Ball putter line?” So we worked with a bunch of alignment technologies, and we took them out to both the tour and consumers, and landed on this Marxman technology, which is basically two straight parallel lines on top of the putter versus the circular alignment feature of the 2-Ball. So we’re finding that you may either be a 2-Ball guy or gal, or you may be a Marxman guy or gal. If you like to visualize the line in terms of grids, you might like the Marxman. If you’re a little more conceptual, you might like the 2-Ball. It’s what fits your eye. That’s the reason we introduced the Marxman, it’s the newest and latest and greatest from us, and I think people are familiar with the 2-Ball at this point.

You launched a new line of Black Series putters in February. Can you tell us more about these putters, and what sets them apart from the competition?
We’ve been known as an insert putter company. That’s what got the company off the ground, and until now we’ve only made insert putters, which is basically a softer material on the face as opposed to a milled metal face. As I said earlier, we started managing the brand a little more tightly, and taking a look at how we could ensure that we had a putter for all golfers that provides a technological advantage. One of the places that we didn’t have an offering was at the high end with a milled metal non-insert putter. There are definitely golfers out there who prefer the feel of metal and who prefer an all-milled putter, and we hadn’t really offered that.

So we took a look at the marketplace, and we felt that there was an opportunity for us to get into that segment, and to do it by providing a technological advantage. So the Black Series is a line of putters—one mallet and two different blades—that were tested heavily on tour, and that are tour-proven. They’re made out of carbon steel, which is a soft-feeling steel. They’re 100 percent CNC milled. And generally, that’s where other companies will stop. They’ll mill a piece of carbon steel into a really nice shape and provide that to the consumer.

But we added a tungsten flange to the back of the putters. Tungsten is heavier than carbon steel, so that moves the center of gravity lower and deeper. A lower center of gravity ultimately provides a truer and better roll. Then, between the tungsten flange and the carbon steel, is a urethane dampening layer so that you don’t get any vibrations between the two metals. So we’ve entered the marketplace at the high end, for the players who play a lot of golf. These are putters that set up with a very traditional look, which is what that avid player likes to look at, yet they also provide a distinct technological advantage.

Thank you, Rob. For more information, visit www.odysseygolf.com.

Insider Interview: Geoff Mangum

Geoff Mangum is a leading putting instructor and founder of www.PuttingZone.com, which has received more than 1.8 million visits since its inception (Geoff’s site predates PutterZone.com, and any similarities in domain name are coincidental). Geoff’s techniques combine modern neuroscience with his best findings from putting lore and history. According to Geoff’s official bio: “Mangum’s first PGA Tour student took a single lesson and his putting improved from 160th on tour to 16th in the field two months later at the 2003 PGA Championship, where he won his first tour victory and a major, nearly tripling his income. Working from Greensboro, North Carolina, Mangum teaches throughout the United States and Europe and is currently expanding into Canada, South Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. He is also a ‘teacher's teacher’ who has taught many of the top instructors in the world.” Geoff was kind enough to elaborate on his research and teachings in the following exclusive interview:

You state that “The PuttingZone represents a unique and revolutionary approach to the art of golf's game within a game based on the science of brain functioning.” Can you elaborate on this approach and how it benefits the average golfer?
What I teach is an integrated constellation of putting skills that respect and enhance innate human brain processes for perception and movement. I call this "The Mechanics of Instinct", because the end result of my teaching is to make putting instinctive rather than a matter of problem-solving and rules-application. I do this by training and coaching golfers to respect and enhance the natural processes shared by all human brains in targeting—reading putts and aiming the putter—and in stroke movement.

This approach allows even the best putters in professional tour golf to improve putting skills across the board in order to leave streakiness behind and get on track with steady upward improvement. But it also is readily teachable to amateur or even beginner golfers. That's because all normal adult humans have brains that are designed by eons of evolutionary adaptation for successful movement on earth in gravity, and unleashing this capacity on the putting green is less a matter of complex golf instruction and "rules" of technique and more a matter of getting past golfing "rules" back down to simple human movement skills like balance, form, and timing. Putting at the highest level of skill is very simple, even minimalist, but that doesn't mean a normal adult amateur golfer cannot perform at this level with appropriate coaching.

You set out to learn everything about putting, historical and otherwise, acquiring more than 11,000 records in the process. What was the most surprising or noteworthy discovery to come out of your research?
The most surprising thing I've learned from surveying the whole of golf instruction for putting from the very beginning, around 1880, to today is that golf instructors have seriously addressed the issues of how to putt in only one of the four required skills for putting, so three-fourths of putting instruction is very largely terra incognito, or unknown territory.

Every golfer who putts tries his hand at four separate skills : he reads the putt to select a path or target near the hole; he aims the putter and his body in the setup for the forthcoming stroke; he putts straight as intended; and he controls the pace or distance of the roll effectively. Of these four fundamental putting skills—reading, aiming, stroking, and controlling distance—historical golf instruction only seriously engages the stroke, and even that body of lore changes over the decades with changes in equipment and course conditions, and in modern times is beset by considerable confusion in the very basics of putting stroke biomechanics and physics. But the other skills are simply not addressed in any depth.

What are your thoughts on these other skills?
(Touch): Almost all golf instructors say that "touch" cannot be taught, and the golfer is either born with touch or has to acquire it over many years of playing golf. This is incorrect in fact, as all normal adults have great putting touch innately, or they would not be able to move around the world as successfully as they do every day, opening doors and picking up glasses of water off a table. Touch is not a matter reserved for the gifted golfer, but can be unleashed in the normal adult who has never played golf before.

(Aiming): Even though 90 percent of all golfers, pros included, do not accurately aim their putter faces inside the hole from as close as ten feet more than half the time, and are not even aware that this is the case, there has not been heretofore any golf instruction that teaches the golfer the perceptual skills required for looking down at a putter