Castle Rock – It’s a wonder golfers, even PGA Tour players, haven’t attached voodoo dolls to their putters and fastened them with a noose.
Nothing causes players more anxiety than a prolonged putting slump. If somebody were to sponsor an award for the golf implement most likely to be snapped over one’s knee, the flat stick would retire the trophy.
Sergio Garcia’s innocent, carefree personality must be the only reason he hasn’t flung his putter into the nearest pond. Poor putting is the only thing that has kept Garcia from a winning major championship, perhaps several.
In 1999, as a brash 19-year-old, Garcia chased Tiger Woods up the leaderboard in the PGA Championship at Medinah. He finished one stroke behind Woods but turned into an overnight sensation. Since then he has won six times on the PGA Tour, helped Europe to Ryder Cup victories and has become golf’s equivalent of a rock star. But he has yet to challenge on the last few holes of a major.
It doesn’t take a swing guru to understand why.
“Putting keeps Sergio from really being in there contending a lot for majors,” touring pro Tom Pernice Jr. said. “He needs to look at his old tapes. When he was younger, he was a good putter. He was free and ready to go.
“Now it’s paralysis of analysis. He’s so uncomfortable over the ball it’s a joke.”
In 2000, Garcia’s first full year on the PGA Tour, he ranked fourth among touring pros in putting. Last year he ranked 196th.
Ask Garcia about his putting and he insists that he’s improving by the week. But he still ranked 164th in that statistic entering play Thursday at The International.
His colleagues have taken notice. Garcia’s putting can be painful to watch.
Garcia is the first to admit that he’s trying to battle out of a four-year funk. He ranked 24th in tour putting in 2001 and was still as high as No. 35 in 2002. Then he fell to No. 175 in 2003 and hasn’t rated better than 129th since.
The fun-loving Spaniard wishes he could snap his fingers and find a miracle cure. He briefly used a belly putter a couple of years ago. He has tried the cross-handed (left hand low for a right-hander) method. He junked that. He figures his problems are part mechanical, part mental and much about confidence.
“It was a bit of everything,” Garcia said. “Of course, my confidence wasn’t very high. When that happens, you really don’t trust your stroke.”
The old adage of “drive for show, putt for dough” carries more credence than ever on tour today. Research by GolfWorld magazine showed that 28 tour winners in 2005 had placed among the top 10 in putting average during the week of their victory. Almost everybody can crush a 300-yard drive these days. Putting usually separates the winners and the also-rans.
“I’ll tell you what, if you’re going to win out here, you’d better be a great putter week in and week out,” Denver-based swing coach Mike McGetrick said. “The thing about most good players is they cycle. They go from being a great putter to a good putter to an average putter. Then they have to work hard to get it back.”
Garcia said he is doing just that. He gained encouragement with a tie for fifth place at the British Open, his best performance in 13 starts this year on the PGA Tour.
Some must work harder than others. Mark O’Meara and Stewart Cink are natural putters. Many are not. O’Meara believes it is difficult for an average putter to become a great putter. But an average putter certainly can become a good putter, he said.
“I wouldn’t say Sergio is a bad putter. But he can get better,” O’Meara said. “I think he will. He’s such a tough cookie.”
Cink believes the way to snap out of a putting slump is to first clear the mind.
“The problem with people that aren’t natural, feel-type putters is they get so complicated sometimes,” he said.
“Sergio is probably trying to make a perfect stroke. I doubt he thought about that when he was young,” said Don Hurter, Castle Pines Golf Club golf professional and a nationally recognized teacher.
Some players will try anything. Arnold Palmer once used a different putter in each of four rounds to win a tour event. Mark Calcavecchia admitted to once using seven putting grips in an 18-hole round.
Equipment representatives tempt players by setting up displays of putter models around the practice green. Switching putters is commonplace.
“You get out here, everybody wants to help you,” said Bobby Grace, who designs putters for MacGregor. “That gets in your head. All kind of guys will screw you up if you’ll let them.”
Out of desperation, Chris DiMarco switched to a claw grip 11 years ago. He does not recommend that Garcia do the same, however.
“Putting is the most individual thing out there,” DiMarco said. “Sergio strokes the ball good. It just looks like he’s not real confident.”
If Garcia could just find the hole with a couple of long ones, his mind-set might change dramatically.
“For a lot of guys out here, it’s just a matter of making a couple of putts,” Hurter said. “Then the hole looks as big as a washtub.”
Tom Kensler can be reached at 303-820-5456 or tkensler@denverpost.com.
