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FRONT ON PENDULUMIf you where to line up the top 100 players on the US Tour ( or any Golfer on the planet for that matter ) and you gave them the task of getting the ball in the hole from say 30 foot away ( but with no stick of any kind in their hand) ...... I guarantee you every single one of them would face the hole and roll the ball using an underarm action while looking at the hole.......... not one of them would turn away at right angles, memorise where the hole is, then look down at their toes while trying to roll the ball at the hole with a round arm underarm action." Purely and simply the most logical way to putt.Front On putting is simply rolling the ball while looking at the hole using a custom made putter as an extension of the " bowling " arm.The surprising thing is that learning how to putt this way is not that difficult. It's a bit like learning to ride a bicycle, once learnt you never forget....... While i was developing the Front On putting concept i definitely felt like the "Lone Ranger" but unbeknown to me i was in good company all along. It just happened that the most successful Pro Golfer of all time ( he won 81 US PGA Tour events and 153 events worldwide ) began putting Front On ( he called it Side Saddle ) in 1966 and said at the end of his career he wished he had putted like that from the start. His name was Sam Snead.
SAM SNEAD - Winner of the most U.S. PGA Events
The most celebrated user of the Sidesaddle putter is Sam Snead, who with 81 wins collected more US PGA Tour titles than any golfer in history, six putting front-on or side saddle. After being recognised as one of the most naturally talented golfers of all time, Sam Snead, in his later years on the tour began to suffer from "the yips" on his short putts.
Snead then developed a novel croquet style of putting from between his legs that took the twitchy little muscles of his hands and wrists out of his stroke. But the US Golf Association, the rules making body, banned the croquet putting style by implementing a new rule that banned golfers from straddling the line of their putt.
But as Gerald Astor, relates in the official PGA World Golf Hall of Fame bookSam Snead's story did not end there. "I was crushed" said Snead, "I figured I was finished, unless I could find a way to sidestep that new rule". And that is exactly what he did. "I remembered an old-timer I'd seen over in England who would bet that he could out-putt anyone. He must've been seventy-five. He putted the same way I'd been putting except that he didn't straddle the line. He faced the hole but put his feet together to the side of the line and putted sidesaddle. It didn't take me long to get the hang of it. I'd pitched horseshoes by the hour out behind the barn when I was a kid, and I just put that movement into my putting" Snead won about six events using the sidesaddle including a US PGA Seniors Championship.
DAVE PELZ - Short Game Guruhas long has been regarded in the US and around the world as the world's expert on putting, says of front-on or side saddle putting .This technique produced the consistently best putting I've ever seen, and it is legal."
In Chapter 3 of his book Dave Pelz's Putting Bible, he determined that the underlying premise for all methods of putting is this: "Simpler is better." And on page 39 of his book, Pelz does not hold back when discussing the merits of sidesaddle style putting with a long putter, saying:
"Someone else started with Sam Snead's sidesaddle style and made a modification of his own, which produced the best putting I've seen to this day. Rather, than using a standard-length putter, a fellow came to me putting sidesaddle, but with a longer-than-normal putter. He stood beside the putting line facing the hole and swung the putter along a perfect vertical pendulum, with his top hand and the top of the putter tucked under his armpit. He leaned over to set his eyes directly over the putting line, then balanced his weight by extending one foot away from the line.
"I can't remember the name of the man who figured this out, but I give him credit: He found something that really does work. He started every putt by standing directly behind the ball and pointed from his ball to a spot out in front of it on his intended starting line. Then he addressed the ball and again pointed down the line to make sure he was aligned correctly.
Finally, he stroked the ball and held his finish pointing at the same spot again exactly down the putt starting line.This Sidesaddle (Front-On) technique produced the consistently best putting I've ever seen, and it is legal."Bill Colhoun - Cumberland Newspapers Golf Writer and PGA Magazine Editor
Bill Colhoun is a sports journalist living in Sydney, Australia.
Playing off a handicap of 10, Bill has been a keen golfer for over 40 years. Like most golfers he struggled with his putting... until the day he met Bruce Kennedy while covering a PGA tournament.
From the moment he was shown the Front On Pendulum concept he has never looked back.(in fact he now looks forward)
"Since coming into contact with Bruce Kennedy at the 2000 Australian PGA championship I have been overwhelmed with the logic of the pure pendulum putting stroke the Pendulum Front On putter delivers.
"I have gone from 'hit and hope' with my putting to 'hit and hole it' and I now actually enjoy that part of my game the most. A 10 handicapper who mostly only plays corporate events and social golf, in the past 12 months I have enjoyed being part of winning teams at the Australian PGA Championship pro-am and shot my best ever score a 76 at Moore Park. My major problem with the Sidesaddle is over-confidence . . . I honestly feel as though I'm going to hole anything inside six meters.
Once you have lined up the putt, standing behind the Pendulum putter and looking down the big white line, then stepped up and looking at the hole, simply swing it back and forward along the line, you 'feel you can't miss'. I believe it will become not only the most successful way to putt but the most popular style of putting around the world."Michael Court - Editor, NSW Golfer Magazine"After analyzing the principles of the Pendulum Putter it is impossible not to be totally impressed with the perfect mechanics of the system -- not only the putters themselves but also the variety of Pendulum putting styles. I have a Front On which I am mastering but when I want to I can use it almost as effectively as a Broomstick. It is the most sensible and correct approach to putting I have experienced."
