If you can dream it up, I tried it, not exaggerate.
I won the John Deere arm lock. I tried the belly putter, mallet
putters, blades, left-handed for a minute.
Honest to God, Cordy, you name it, I tried it, decided that I
would just out practice my yips, which was a mistake.
He text me out of the blue and he said, Lucas, have you thought
about the long putter? I didn't know any better.
I didn't want to know anything. I just wanted to kind of figure
it out and make it look like Adam because his looks really
good and that's how it started. When Lucas Glover won
back-to-back weeks in 20 23 the Sweeper, the long putter went
from obscure to totally into the mainstream.
So I wanted to hear the whole story.
So I sat down with Lucas to learn why did he pick up a long
putter? What was the learning process
like? Tell us his technique and swing
thoughts and all the details of how he uses it and what he's
working on today. This is all part of our new
podcast season on alternative putting styles.
We're talking everything from the long part of the Sweeper to
Armlock and everything in between.
We're having on some amazing experts in the space.
Last week was Sam Hahn, the CEO of Lab Golf, who was kind enough
to make the intro to Lucas for today's episode.
So make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, all those good places as this series
is really fascinating. It's a passion project of mine
as we dive into what's going on in this space of alternative
putting styles. I guess like take, take me back
through the styles of of putting that you have tried.
Let's talk about the, the evolution of, of how we got to
the, the sweeper. What, what do you remember the
the US Open that you won was a just normal blade putter, right?
Just normal grip everything. Yeah, everything.
So I'll just put it to you this way, if you can dream it up.
I tried it. Not exaggerating.
I did. I won the John Deere arm lock in
2021 and then I went away from that and then I went back to it.
I tried the belly putter when it was legal.
I tried mallet putters. I tried blades.
I tried left-handed for a minute.
Be honest to God, Cordy. You name it, I tried.
The the claw didn't stick, huh? I mean, everybody loves the claw
it seems like, but it. Turned the claw the the the claw
didn't do it for me because I my issue was getting the putter off
the ball, not flipping at it through the ball.
So I couldn't get the putter started consistently because of
my yips and because of the things I had going on.
And yeah, the the most success I had pre long putter, pre sweeper
broom, whatever we're going to decide to call it that makes it
sound cool because it's, you know, seems like the old man
way, but it's becoming cool. So I think we need a good name.
But I had the most success with the arm lock.
My issue with that was that I struggled mightily setting up
consistently to it because it had so much loft.
If the setup got off just a hair, I was all over the place.
But when the setup was good, consistent, that seemed to be
the way to go. And truth be told, if, if, if I
felt comfortable setting up that way, you know, consistently
again, I would probably use it because it was very effective.
Got it. So so the arm lock was your
favorite but the setup was an issue just because that much
aloft. Were you playing with what, like
6 or 7°? Yeah, I I didn't know at the
time that I could I could get get it pretty neutral and not
have to fight all that loft. But I'd always been kind of a
pressie hands forward putter when it with a short putter.
And I liked the way that felt with the loft and with the arm
way up the head of it because it felt like I was hitting into
something like, you know, stroking it into the left arm as
opposed to the release that a lot of people talk about it.
But yes, the ball position got off or my eye line got off even
a fraction. It was very difficult to be
consistent. I feel like the a dress with the
longer putter has been easier to keep consistent.
Interesting. OK, so why was that just that
struggle of set up? You're like, I've got to try
something else different besides that.
Did you go from armlock to the the sweeper?
Was that the? I did not.
I went from armlock to back to the short one and decided that I
would just out practice my yips, which was a mistake.
And then I had a putted after that.
I probably putted the best with a a mallet head with about two
inches of grip above my hands. That kind of counterbalance
thing finished third in Memphis a couple years ago with that.
But reality was it was a it wasn't the putter, it was my
brain and my body. And and that's what kind of led
me down the Let's try something even more drastic.
That's that's really interesting.
I bet I like what you said there that I tried to out practice my
yips and that's, that's such an interesting thought because
there's a lot of people which probably would say that like
I'll just you can work through it.
What did what did you learn about that through this process?
Like you can't just work through it, right?
You cannot work it. No, it's a, it's a, it's an
illness, it's a sickness. It's a, it's a full body
reaction to a lot of things, whether it be fear or it is
fear. It's the main thing.
It's the you're scared to miss and what's going to happen if I
miss? And all of a sudden you're,
you're literally your central nervous system breaks down.
So once I was taught that by Jason Kuhn, who I've talked a
lot about Navy SEAL. And so, you know, taking it back
a step further, I did all the sports psychology, all of the
things that you would do to try to beat the UPS and eventually
it it came down to, all right, well, we're going to go
completely against the grain here and talk to talk to
somebody that actually had the UPS, just not in golf.
And that was a baseball player, former baseball player who would
help a lot of pitchers. And the best thing I learned
from him and what he drilled into me, no pun intended, Navy
SEAL drill. But he said, Lucas, I don't know
why you think you're mentally weak and why you would ever
accept anybody telling you that. He goes, you're still on the PGA
Tour doing us at the highest level with this sickness.
And, and he didn't know anything about golf.
He goes, all I know is you're still out there doing it.
So it's time for you to switch this around and say, do you know
what? I'm actually very mentally
strong, but I'm still out here doing it because most people
would have quit. And once I understood that, it
kind of opened up my brain, opened up my mind to, all right,
how do I go from here since I do have this in me.
And understanding that allowed me to start working through with
him on all right, How do I actually beat this?
Because it is beatable. He proved it personally.
And then all of his baseball players that he work with proved
it. So yeah, it was a, it was a
little different way to go about it.
So I would say I was two to three weeks in with him working
on this and he had told me he goes, look, this isn't going to
be immediate. He goes, this might be a year
long process, this might be 8 weeks, it might be two years, I
don't know, he said, but it will work and it's just time.
Well, I'd struggled, struggled, struggled even working with him
on it, didn't give up on it. And Brad Faxon, who I'd worked
with on my putting before, he text me out of the blue and he
said, Lucas, have you thought about the long putter?
And I said, you know, Brad, I haven't.
I said, but I just ordered some left-handed ones.
This was in, this was I missed the PGA in 23, so this was
around the PGA of 2023. And he says, why don't you order
some long ones too? He said, I think that might
help. He and I said, all right, I
appreciate it. So I did and I thought about
thought about what Brad had said, thought about the
left-handed ones unordered and I thought about all right, who
have I seen putt nice with the long putter That kind of looks
like me, Paul or heights, you know, just the things and Adam
Scott came to mind. So got my manager in touch with
lab golf and so just send me Adam's putter.
He says, what do you mean what kind of specs?
I said no, no, no, no specs. I don't want to know anything.
Just send me Adam's putter. They said, all right, can we
check with him, make sure that's cool.
I don't care. So they're basically copied
Adams and the long putters showed up before the left-handed
ones. So that's what I started trying
and had two weeks off and spent a lot of time in my garage in
front of a mirror and I just tried to stand there like Adam.
Honestly, I didn't know any better.
I didn't want to know anything. I just wanted to kind of figure
it out and make it look like Adam because his looks really
good and that's how it started. I love it.
I, I love the quote that you, you'd said, you know, you spent
10 days in your garage just figuring it out.
And then I think you went to the memorial right after the earth
or that or something like that. But like what, what did you do
for those 10 days in the garage? You said the mirror Like what?
What else did what? What were you doing in there?
Yeah, we, my wife has a, you know, body or a full size mirror
in the garage when she does her workouts.
And I took that on a putting mat that I bought on Amazon and just
laid it out and got it square to the mat and said, all right,
well, I know what I want it to look like.
I kind of want to mirror what Adam does and then I'll make it
my own once I kind of get the baseline.
And I just just kind of figured out where to hold my arm, which
grip felt the best with the bottom hand?
And do you know, does 90° make with my left arm make the putter
go back straight or, you know, just just all those things.
It was a couple hours a day in the garage and I didn't, I don't
even think I went out and hit a putt with it for four or five
days. I just trying to figure it out
in there. And and then, you know, the the
part about Memorial, I said, well, if this is going to work,
I'm going to take it there first because those might be outside
of Augusta, some of the more penal greens we play.
And you know, I I putted nice. I actually tripled my last told
to miss the cut, believe it or not, but putted beautifully.
Very unlike me to hit it bad to miss a cut.
But but that time in the garage, just it, it enabled me to make
something my own. And you know, this is this is
probably deeper than it should be, but I was and I didn't know
it at the time, but I was rewiring my brain for a
different skill. So four or five days into that
process, I texted Jason Kuhn. I said, hey, got this long
putter kind of feeling good. What do you think?
Should I keep going down this road?
Couple it with what you and I've been doing.
And he text me right back. He goes, dude, this might be the
ticket that makes this thing go by a lot quicker.
And of course, I said, all right, why is that?
He said new new motor skill, completely new skill for your
brain. He goes, whatever you've been
doing, just keep piling on that because you're you're rewiring
your brain, you're rewiring your central nervous system.
I was like, Dang, this is deeper than I wanted it to be.
But if he thinks this could speed this up and I just told
him what I've been doing and he said, I think this could really
could really could work and and speed up what you and I've been
working on off the courses. Cool.
So took it to memorial, putted Drake and and then that Monday
after memorial I missed that short one to the miss the US
Open and it I don't know how it looked on TV because I don't
ever go back and watch myself. But it didn't feel Yippy.
I just missed it and walking back to the car with Tommy, my
caddy and my dad and my dad came up to to support me through this
a little bit that summer. And we were walking back to the
car pretty long walk for 300 yard par 4.
It felt like 900 yards. But Tommy grabbed me and he
said, you know, he said wouldn't have been here with the other
putter. And my dad said who doesn't know
golf or care, He just loves me. He just said, look to me like
you just missed it. I went yeah, pretty much.
And he said did it feel like the old way I got?
No. And that was the first time I
noticed that. You know, sometimes you just
miss them. But it wasn't because I couldn't
make a stroke. I just missed a pot.
You know, it's almost dark and dreams were bumpy.
And I hit a bad pot, big deal. And went from there to Canada
and had the best finish I'd had in months with the long putter
and coming off of that crappy miss to miss the US Open and or
keep the playoffs going. I should say.
I don't know if I'd have made it, maybe not, but but that was
a turning point that looked at at that point looked like
something negative. But because it felt like I was
actually a golfer that just missed a short putt instead of a
golfer with the UPS. Huge, huge, huge turn around.
And I believe because of the broom, the weight of it, the way
I was able to get the putter off the ball, that started in
graining itself and having that acceptance of a hit, a bad putt,
it's going to happen. It's going to happen again.
And but it didn't feel, you know, it wasn't Yippie.
And that was that turned the page for me with that.
And I can start accepting this in those putts.
So the sweeper broom, whatever we're calling it, the way it
makes me get the putter going because of the weight, because
of the way I hold it hard for me to do what I was doing poorly
with the short putter armlock or any of that.
So tying it in with all that stuff said about the yips and
all that, the makeup of the broom, the way I have to hold
it, the weight of it enables me to get the putter going off the
ball. Well IA 100% agree with what you
said earlier. Like it is a new skill.
I think like I agree, like it it is.
It's not the same putting as as we have done for years before
and really does take some time to figure it out.
I didn't go as intense as intense as you every day, but I
think I over 4-4 weeks just kind of in the house, you know, just
kind of getting up from sitting at the office and hit some putts
for a while. You eventually kind of figure it
out and it's because it's totally different.
What what for you is the hardest?
Like I remember just like watching that thing when I tried
to take it back and it at first like your your path is just all
over the place because you can't control it when you take it 100.
Percent. What for you was it like the
learning process like of figuring it out?
That no Cordy that's dead on it the first time you pick it up
and even anybody now hey look, just let me hold that thing and
that and you know it looks like the looks like a seismograph,
you know but yeah, it was that way for me and then you know
that was what I was talking about kind of in the garage is
all right. How do I hold my arm?
How do I grip it? How do I put my shoulders all of
those things to get it on the get it going off the ball
consistently. And then what I had to kind of
grab and grab hold of was all right, so I got center shaft, I
got no torque. I got all of these things.
So do I have to make the Potter swing?
Is it supposed to open and close?
What it what is this thing supposed to do?
And at the time I had done no research on lab.
I didn't talk to their Rep. I don't want to know anything
until I started learning. So once I got comfortable with
my address and limited that wave backstroke you were talking
about that everybody seems to do the first time they take a
stroke with it is then I texted the Rep.
I had his number from ordering the putter and all that texted
him and said, hey, just simple stands for pop simplest answer
possible. Am I supposed to be arcing this
thing or straight back straight through or what he said, well,
lab stands for lie angle balance.
So you take the stroke and it's supposed to arc for you because
you only have he said you're as upright as legally possible, so
it's going to arc the least. And I was always kind of a arcor
anyway with the short putter, so that probably took the most for
me, is that I don't have to worry about the face.
The putter is designed and if it's fitted to you, is designed
to arc on its own. I've never really thought about
that, never really had to think about that.
So it was a lot less arc than what I've been working on for
years with the short putter. What?
What I have enjoyed the most, like, so like I, I was in the
wave of people that got broomsticks after you, after you
went on your run. I, when I was talking to Sam, I
think he said they sold more broomsticks in, or they sold 10
times more broomsticks in the day after that win than the
whole year combined. So I think hands up I I might
have been part of that. But I see it back there.
I know I I brought it in the back.
That was intentional. There you go.
One of the things that I find unique about like how you do it
and then I modelled was how low you put your right arm and how
it just kind of like my camera's not not helping us out here, but
like you just hang it way down. Actually, I had Liam over at
lab. I was like, hey, I'm I'm like
off the grip on the bottom of this.
He move it down. So he moved it down because like
one, that's one of the things I noticed when you do it is like
you're just your right arm is just you just hang it and you
just kind of like it becomes real simple.
Is that if you tell us about kind of like your setup and and
maybe some more details what you think about that, like what that
triggers for you? Yeah, yeah, that was that came
from my goofy, the way I kind of throw my right arm on it, that
big motion so and wherever it wherever it went is where I
wanted it to go. And it just so happened it went
way down on the grip because I don't know, maybe at the time or
maybe it's too short for me. If you did it the perfect way, I
don't know, but so my thought was how my arm came onto the
putter from whatever hip higher. However I do, it is the same
rhythm I want the backstroke to have so you can see it when I
put my arm on it. I want to do it with a, with a,
with it, with intention. And it's it's the rhythm I want
the backstroke to have. I wanted something rhythmical in
my brain when I got ready to go. So originally and I'm work going
to be working on this this offseason is because I got away
from it. When I get that putter on, when
I finally get the putter in my hand, I want to go.
I did that very well in 23 into 23 and going into 24 and I got
away from it a little bit. I got a little static over it,
which I don't like. But to answer your question the
way. The reason I or how I decided
the reason I ended up dripping it way down there is because
that's just where my arm went when it felt the best.
When I got my set up with my left hand, my top hand, when I
got it set well, I was bent over a little bit.
I'd always been kind of a hunter anyway when I was comfortable
and then wherever that right hand went was was just where it
ended up. And I'm, I'm right on the rubber
and like you said, if you got even down further, you know, you
might get on the, the graphite or whatever those shafts are
made out of. But that's just where I ended
up. But that was kind of a mental
and almost a trigger for me was once my hand got on there out or
when my hand started. That's the rhythm I wanted the
backstroke to have. And as soon as it touched, I
wanted to go in my stroke that has slowed down in the last 18
months and I I don't really like that.
So that'll be an offseason project is to get going again as
as soon as I get that hand on there.
Interesting. Is that more of the like, hey, I
saw it. I visualized that it would just
work. We're going to hit the punt
right away. Yeah, I just, I think, and this
is something I learned from facts is, is we, we always want
to keep moving. We always want to be an athlete.
We always want to get static. And getting static is what is
what would cause my poor backstrokes when I had the yips.
And even now it's not yippie, but it does get off rhythm when
I stand over it too long. And that's just a personal
thing. I want when that hand gets on
there, I want the eyes to come back and I want to flow off the
ball a little bit of that Rotella stuff, you know, when I,
you know, I almost start the backstroke when the eyes are
still out there a little bit. So we don't get back here on the
ball and learn not from facts. You know, he showed me
originally. He showed me.
He goes, all right, this is you hitting a pitch.
I never stopped. Everything went eyes or my feet
were moving or something was all at hands.
Something was always moving. Full swing, same thing.
I'm always fidgeting, moving. He goes, let's not stop on a
putt. You know, you do all this so
athletically with everything else in your game.
And that was a good lesson. I think that's a good lesson for
everybody. You know, the, the putting
strokes, just a small stroke, you know, if you're a good
pitcher or a good wedge player, a good driver of the ball.
Let's look at what you do there and try to mirror that you're
putting and, and fax is big on that with all of his, his, his
students and people he helps. And some really cool that that I
can't put in with my putting. And, and I've gotten away from
it, unfortunately, but I've had some time to reflect and and
look at some things starting this offseason and we'll work on
that a lot. All right, I I got to go deep.
You you've intrigued me too much now.
OK, so do you, you visualize behind the the ball.
Are you like seeing the line? And then are you doing practice
strokes behind or right before you hit?
And they're like, what's how do you how do you do a whole pre
show routine? So you're ready to just go?
Yeah. So I'll use the line on the ball
and I'm trying to, you know, if it's a left edge putt, I'm going
to pick out something right in front of my ball that's on the
left edge. Easier to line your ball up that
way, right? So I double check all that, make
sure it's lined up where we want it.
Sometimes Tommy, my caddy help, sometimes it's on me, you know,
just depends. And then I kind of went away
from practice strokes with Jason.
We we figured out that time was my enemy.
You know, I'm standing up there and taking practice strokes and,
you know, the less thinking, the better type situation.
So it kind of went away from practice strokes.
And I always put the putter down with my right hand and then get
the left hand on there. And then yeah, take, take the
line. I'm my, my, my line on my ball
and I chase it down the line to the target.
And then, you know, by the time the eyes get back, I want to be
gone with the backstroke. So yeah, I'm visualizing from
behind. I'm visualizing the break of the
putt, seeing it go in, you know, if it's a left edge putt and
it's probably going in at 637 o'clock on a clock.
I tried to do that a little bit too, to get more visual.
And then, then, yeah, I'm chasing.
I'm tracing the line on the ball, down the target line.
And then when I come back, I'll get back.
I want to be gone in the backstroke and you know, keep
your butt in your neck still and hope it goes in.
What what feels work for you like I've noticed that if I kind
of forget to think about shoulders and back and trunk
that I can get real. Armsie, David Orr was talking
about driving with your lead hand or do not.
What? What are some things for you?
Like what? What are some thoughts that you
think about that have been helpful?
So when I finally got comfortable with this putter, I
started asking some questions. I started asked Adam a couple
things, asked Henrik Norlander, who bounced around back and
forth with it and actually watch some videos of Scott McCarron
and things I found on YouTube and different stuff.
So for me, I was always a little bit of a cock in the in the
backstroke and then hold kind of the old way of putting is how I
grew up putting. And you know, if, if fax had it
his way that that that'd be how I putt because that's how he
likes to teach and all that. But you get somebody with the
UPS that's got a little of this in there.
Guess what? It let's go pretty quick.
So, so for me, I found that to engage my shoulders and to
engage everything in my stroke, the best thing for me to do was
use this to trace the line up. So when I get set, I want this
left arm at 90° to my target because that enables me to get
the putter going back straight and then the technology of the
blade takes over. So I feel like, and I practice a
lot on the chalk line straight putt when I'm working on my
stroke and I feel like my left elbow literally traces the chalk
line. And if that happens, my
shoulders are engaged, my back's engaged, and then I don't get so
handsy or armsy as you said. So it was explained to me early
on that there's really two ways to to putt with a long putter.
And it's very shoulder, very body like you were saying, or
it's very, or like I was saying a second ago, or it's very feely
with the right hand, you know, like a paintbrush almost like
David maybe talked about. But for me, I didn't like the
right hand involved as much. I wanted to try to eliminate
that probably because of some prior issues that I had.
And so for me, it was just this, this elbow kind of drove the bus
and that enabled everything else to be as one right hand just
kind of along for the ride. And that's kind of the way I did
it. Not saying the other ways wrong.
It was just a personal thing. I know, I know a lot of guys
that that use this and feel like they're they're painting the top
of the grass, you know, underneath the ball and it works
beautifully. I could see, I do actually feel
that on long putt, really long ones where you got to give it a
hit. But but for the most part, I'm
trying to paint with this left elbow, paint that line with the
left elbow. Excuse me?
Yeah, no, I mean, most of us have switched to this for those
short and mid putts, right. And it seems like a lot of the
advantage of that can be when you take your hands out of it
and you just can focus on big muscles, right.
So I love that. Like, yeah, your swing thought
is just I've got my elbow, I've got my line and this is all I
got to think about And like, that's it, right?
That's. That's one of those, yeah, I
think one of those videos, I was talking about it, my Karen
talked about this triangle, the the triangle that your arm makes
once you have it up here. And he said that's your engine
or that's the power source, and that's what moves it and
controls it. And I really liked that.
I really liked that thought. But and like I said, I took some
things I've noticed from Adam and and chatting with him.
I took some things from Scott from videos and, you know, watch
Bernhard. And then you got to make
everything your own, especially, you know, putting still in art,
as much science as there is to it is still art.
And and you know, there's people to copy that that, but it's
still got to be you because, you know, I'm not Adam, Adam's not
Scott Scott's not burn hard, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
But making something your own is, is how you really, really
fine tune something because you're the only one that can
feel it. You're the only one that knows
what it feels like inside you. You know, I'm fighting that
right now with my daughter. She's a softball player and I'm
watching her struggle and and have a hard time hitting.
She's in a slump. Well, I know now not just tell
her what I see. Instead, ask her, Hey, what are
you feeling up there? And she's the only one that
knows that. And she really can't even put it
into words. Like, I couldn't sit here and
tell you what I felt over that PUD in Greensboro and why it
went in or why it didn't. I just did it and I reacted.
And that's what all of us as athletes want to get to, right
is I can't tell you, Cordy, because I'm just reacting
because I'm athletic and this is what I've trained to do.
Well, reality is we're so in our bodies and so in our heads that,
oh, well, I, you know, my right hand was an inch this way and my
elbow is too far out and that's not reacting.
So it's kind of what I've learned the most is to make, to
get over a hump the OR did to get something new in play.
It's got to be your own. You can take pieces from people,
but reality is this, this is Lucas's way, this Cordy's way,
this is Adam's way. And, you know, then we fine tune
it. I love it.
Did did your mindset, I mean, it
had to have changed. That 23 season was probably
really stark, right? Like was the beginning of the
year, your mindset over the ball going from like, hey, I hope I
don't miss this. Then toward the end of the year,
like, hey, there's a cool opportunity to to make it.
Was it like that Stark of a mind?
It literally went from I'm scared to death to putt that
this is bringing me down. This is going to cost me my job
and my career to buy. The summer of 23 I was like, I
have a weapon and I'm going to do some shit.
And I mean that literally. It was fun to walk onto the
putting green. It was fun to hit at 20 feet and
have a putt I could make instead of a putt.
I thought I was going to three putt honestly, that it it went
it yeah, it was that stark. I mean black and white It was.
I'm scared to death in February and I'm probably going three put
after I just hit this 5 iron from 2/10/12 feet to I just hit
a crappy 8 iron to 23 feet. But I'm probably going to make
this thing, and literally, that's how it was.
I love it. I I mean, it's cool and the the
strokes gained numbers backed it up.
It was fun. I was before we were, we were
talking, I was scrolling through your strokes gained putting and
then just that season as well and kind of like the results and
stuff. And it's it's fun to look at
like such a like, you know, to look at at and you like your
season and that and how drastic something like this can change
like it. It's really interesting how how
that you know, like how it happened.
Yeah, it was. Yeah, I saw a couple go in and I
missed some short ones that weren't the yips.
And I was like, Oh my, I'm just a golfer again.
And it was like this thing just went from a knot to open my
head. I'm pointing at my head.
It was just it, it was a knot up there.
And then, oh, I mean, Steve Stricker missed A4 footer one
time. I saw it on TV.
That happens to everybody you know and that it just my mind
just went from a closed mess of crud to wide open and accepting
and like I can still do this. What do you think is your
prediction of the next, like, I don't know, three to five years?
Do you think we're going to see more people using these on on
tour? Like right now I think there's
there's probably like, I don't know, 5:00-ish kind of out
there. Do you think this is going to
grow and and kind of we're going to see more of it or just kind
of stay the same? I think, I think you'll see
more. I think you'll see more.
And for only one reason, and this, this is very awful to say,
but we're playing for so much money now and it is so big and
important that I think guys are going to struggle more with the
short putts and getting the ball in the hole because of how much
it means now. I think it'll be more of a
mental thing than a than a, than a physical thing.
And now we're down to 100 cards a year.
It's going to be so much more important and people are going
to think it's the end of the world and try really, really
hard. And I think eventually we're
going to see guys go into it for nerves because of those things.
I really do know that. That's fascinating.
Have you, have you noticed more and more people asking you about
it like. Yeah, yeah, I'll get a text or
two a week from a current player or a guy trying to make it.
Hey, got your number from so and so.
Did this help you more mentally or physically or?
I get asked for Jason Koons number more than anybody, which
tells me that some a lot of guys, you know, everybody's
fighting something, you know, every, everybody, every person,
much less every golfer. But I think a lot of people are
now open in their minds to the fact that I might, I might be
really good at something, but my mind's keeping me from being
good at it. And I think a lot of people
might be shifting over to a different type of psychology.
But I get a lot of questions about Jason and Sean, his
business partner. And then I get by half as many
questions about the long putter and how it helped me and what
was the hardest thing to change. And I had one guy asked me, you
know, how'd you get over? You know, the look, I was like,
what you mean the look? You know, you, you know, that
doesn't look cool. I was like, I don't care when
the whole man, you know, stuff like that.
But yeah, I get a lot of questions and I probably get
more because I'm almost 46 instead of almost 26 or 36
because it's kind of the grandpa out there.
But yeah, I get asked a lot about it.
What, What's your what's your typical reply?
What, what? What does that look like?
What do you text back? Try it out.
Just get one. See what happens.
Just the just the truth, you know, just the truth.
They they're usually pretty pointed questions like what was
the hardest thing for you to learn set up, you know, where,
where do I want everything to be?
And and they, you know, I get a lot of a lot of these younger
guys, they're all into the weight and why?
And I don't even know all that I said.
I don't even know what it weighs, man.
I know it's like half a degree legal on the upright scale and
it's the length of my driver. Other than that, I don't really
know. But I just, I just, you know,
tell them what my experience just truthfully and how it
helped me physically and mentally.
And, you know, if I see them two weeks later with one, I'll
saunter over and go. It looks good, man.
If I don't like, they didn't like it, whatever.
So what? What's the most common, like
advice or lesson you give to someone when you go over and
you'd see that they're trying it out?
Like what's the most common, like little feedback that you
give to people? So I just, I don't say, I don't
say anything. And unless they ask, if they
ask, I'll, I'll tell them my experience or what I think or
feel. And, and, and it's not like I'm
all of a sudden, you know, Bobby Locke with this long putter, you
know what I mean? Don't.
Let's look at my stats. The last year and a half.
It hadn't been great, but I know what it should look like and
what it should feel like. And sometimes it's do as I say,
not as I do type thing, but yeah, I just, I just tell them I
feel and my experience and, and how I how I got into it and how
I how I feel the best with it. And, you know, it's kind of like
Hendrick told me he goes, oh, this is what worked for me and
I'm not going to say it works for you.
And he don't even use it anymore.
So I mean, it's a big deal. But yeah, just tidbits, you
know, you take some things from different people and apply it,
and if it works, you you add to it.
If it doesn't, you toss it out. It's like, you know, it's like
getting a full swing lesson. Some feels work, some don't.
So I guess your advice then, anybody that's felt a bit of
twitchiness in a hand, for me, it was my right hand.
I can get a little little twitchy, you know, like I always
say, like if you put me in a you know, if we're hanging out and
I'm just hitting putts like I can, I can look great, you know,
But then if you you put me in a tournament, it doesn't look
great suddenly like it is. Would you say like if if you
maybe relate with that, you should hey, just do it.
Just try something fit, learn a new skill like this.
This hugely help you. Yeah, 100%.
You're just teaching your brain and your body something new.
And if you have any twitchiness, it's because of something deep
down that's bothering you or fear or, you know, whatever it
may be. And yeah, teaching your brain a
new motor skill, rewire your central nervous system, rewires
your brain and releases your nervous system.
And I'm not saying the long putters for only people that
have a twitch or have yips. I mean, they work better for
people that don't have any issues.
Some people just like them better and just just matter what
you like or don't like. But but for those people that do
have yippee characteristics, absolutely the weight of it and
the new completely new motor skill and the fact that it makes
you practice because you're not going to take a long putter out
the first time and the member guest or at the masters or you
know, it's Harbour Town, you're going to practice.
And that's, you know, I always say that it's like, you know,
how to make a tour play or practice as you give him a new
club, you know, they're going to go hit it, make sure it works
well putter especially. But and I found that it was fun
to go practice putting again because I was teaching myself
something new. And I think there's a lot of
value in that. I, I couldn't agree more.
It, it made like my offseason where I picked it up just a
blast, right? It's so fun to learn a new
skill. Try all these things out.
So give us a peek into your offseason.
Then you're, you're working on your timing and adding rhythm in
like what? Give give us a bit of a the
practice plan for for putting like how, if, what are you doing
just and what can we maybe learn from your from your plan?
I have not hit a shot or a putt since the Sunday of BMW.
So what? Whenever that was, yeah.
But I will, I will slowly start getting back into it soon.
And I have one of the new Lab Oz putters, the more rounded mallet
that I'm very intrigued by with the steel insert should get the
ball coming off a little faster, which I think could help me with
my speed. But before any of that'll
matter, since I haven't done much in the past few months, I
will go hard with a dress. How far I'm away from the ball.
I was over it before anything else.
And you know, on tour instructors, Jason Bale, my
teacher, his line is nobody's ever played worse from setting
up better. And so that'll be the First
things first thing first with my putting short game, full swing,
everything is we'll start with setup, make sure that's dialed
in because everything feeds off of that.
So for me, it'll probably be in the garage.
It's still hot as hell down here.
So be in the garage a little bit and work on a dress and make
sure that's dialed. And then when that's set, then
I'll go fiddle around with this new putter and.
See what it's like? I'm excited.
I love it for for a dress for you.
So eyes over ball, elbow at Target, Anything else that
you're looking for, there's that.
Yeah, I'm like a driver ball position just inside my left
heel. And when I putted my best with
the long putter, for whatever reason, I was slightly over the
ball with my eyes. I've tried to figure out if it's
because I'm so right eye dominant, but then I get turned
around and confused. So I stopped thinking about it
that way. But I know when I was in Memphis
and I had somebody take a video down the line, Memphis and 23
those two weeks, I put it the best ever put it in my life.
I was slightly on the outside of the ball with my eyes.
So I'm going to try to get back there and you know, I make sure
this left wrist is flat, make sure my elbows down the line and
then I just paint the paint the line on my ball with my with my
elbow and that putter path is really nice.
So that'll be what I focus on. I like it.
This is so fun.
I think it's so interesting because they're they're guys
that paved the way like Adam, right?
Like he was kind of there, but then you were the the catalyst
that that shot this up into mainstream.
I mean, who would it, would you ever have guessed that you'd be
the, the catalyst for a new kind of putting method?
Just honestly like, and now guys at my club like, you know, there
are 5 or 6 guys at my club that do this and there was none
before, right? There's no one.
Yeah, of course. Well, I will say one piece of
advice, especially if it's a lab is get fitted.
Just don't buy it off the shelf because the the labs, they can't
bend them and you have to get fitted and they have a very cool
tool on their website. You can do it virtually.
Big plug for lab here but any long putter get fitted because
if it's wrong it'll make it worse but especially lab because
they they can't be adjusted as at all.
Well I guess these new ones came with the neck but just go get
fit. It's the biggest thing,
especially if you're a decent to good player, go get fit.
Yeah, no, 100%. And then I think you will.
You just have to get started and then you can learn and then make
adjustments like it was fun. Yeah, like moving the grip down
like that was something that 20% and you can just start to mess
around here. I got AI got a piece of history
for you. So I was looking at the first.
The first long putter win was Rocco in 91 I think.
Nice. I grabbed this off eBay just to
have a bit of like this is this was the first win.
You weren't the first, but no, this was the.
Oh wow, look at that thing. Yeah, it is.
It is really cool. So I'm thinking that insert used
to be white. It it must have, yeah.
That's awesome. Good fun there.
It's crazy. This thing is, is it's way too
light. It's like compared to what we're
used to now, like it's it's just not heavy enough.
But interesting. It was a cool little that's.
A great pick up there. Yeah, first, first long, long
putter win was with the B9. The ping B9 came out in 90 so
wow. That was very cool.
Very cool. I got a history lesson today
too. Awesome.
There you, there you go. Well, thanks man.
We'll we'll wait to watch the the pool.
We'll see if you put the new oz in the bag or you stick with the
the old faithful here with the the old TGL or when are we
coming back? When's the 1st?
December 28th or 9th, so I don't know if I'm playing or not We'll
see. OK, nice.
See if they throw me in the fire or not.
As a defending champ coming back.
That's it. That's it.
Very cool. Alright, thanks, Lucas.
Appreciate it. Alright, Courtney.
Thanks man. Alright.