Champions Tour Insider: Putting an art or science?

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Is putting an art or a science? Vartan Kupelian looks at players like Bernhard Langer, Jay Haas, Dave Stockton, Ben Crenshaw and Loren Roberts to answer the debate.

It is an undeniable truth that winning golf relies most heavily on putting.

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"Without any question, if I play well, if I score well, I've putted well," Jay Haas said. "That seems to be the barometer for most players. If we putt well, if we had a good score, you can bet we made some putts.

"At any level if you watch the guy holding the trophy at the end of the day, he's probably holed a few putts that he maybe wouldn't expect to make."

Haas knows that better than most because he has held trophies aloft more than most on the Champions Tour -- 12 times since his first victory at the Greater Hickory Classic in 2005.

The influence of putting is demonstrated every week on the Champions Tour and all other tours, just as it was last Sunday at the Triton Financial Classic.

Bernhard Langer posted his third victory of the year and made it look easy with a six-shot margin over runner-up Mark O'Meara. Langer did it with superlative work on the greens, averaging 1.595 putts for greens in regulation, the second-best performance over the 54 holes of the event.

Langer is an example of a self-made putter who has relied on combining the sciences of discipline, technique and innovation to become a champion.

"I just had to find a way to survive out here and make the best of it," Langer said.

The discourse on putting is a favored topic whenever golfers gather. Everybody has a putting story after every round. It can be good, bad or ugly.

It's not unusual for the debate to include this question:Is putting an art or a science?

In 1985, Ben Crenshaw was involved in a putting video that explored that exact subject.

"If I fell on one side, it would be art," Crenshaw said. "I'm non-mechanic. I'm more visual. I have to see things in my mind. I have to see the speed and the arc. I'm very much a pace putter.

"It's very visual. What do you feel? When I'm putting well, it's a little more sensory. It's resonance. It's a certain sound you hear."

Crenshaw paraphrases Robert Tyre "Bobby" Jones, Jr., on the definition of putting. Jones said that putting is the ability to gauge the strength of the putt.

"And he said anyone who turns putting into a mechanical exercise is doomed to failure," Crenshaw said.

For Loren Roberts, the proof is in the results.

"I think it's more of an art," Roberts said. "The reason I say that is because especially when you get on (great) greens I think it's more of an imagination. I think you've got to have imagination on greens with a lot of slope and speed."

"And to me that's an art form. It's hard to get out here and be scientific about your approach on (great) greens."

Roberts believes instincts override methodology and that's why great putters -- like Roberts, Crenshaw and Dave Stockton, to name just a few currently playing on the Champions Tour -- make putts even on days when they're not putting particularly well.

"I just have a hard time seeing guys putt well week-in and week-out that are always very regimented and very scientific about it," said Roberts, whose niche as Boss of the Moss speaks to his reputation with the short stick.

"I just have always felt that it's just kind of something that you are born with a little bit, creativity. That's not to say you can't become a great putter if you work at it, but I just think, to me putting is all about speed. And to me that's imagination."

Langer has excelled worldwide despite putting problems that have intervened throughout his career. By his count, Langer has had to overcome the yips four times. The yips result from a fear of missing short putts and the scars left by the malady. Langer is proof that the yips are reversible through a strong, resilient mind and unmitigated work ethic.

Langer has made up for his lack of natural putting instincts with perseverance and the willingness to try new putting methods and putter styles.

Langer has used a broomhandle putter for a dozen years. He will occasionally "mess around" with a conventional-length putter.

"And at times I putt pretty good on the putting green," he said. "But then on the golf course it's a different story. I would rather putt with a short one if I could, but I can't."

Langer admits to not having a lot of answers about the whys of the yips. He only knows this: "There have been a lot of great golfers, a lot of successful golfers, who had the yips."