When Keegan Bradley won the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club, he became the first golfer to win a major championship using something other than a standard-length putter. Bradley uses a belly putter, which is different from the broomstick putter that is anchored to a players chest or chin. That’s the putter that purists insist is not a real golf swing.

It’s not that long ago when a player using a long putter (belly or broomstick) was considered to be a player who couldn’t putt. Sure, there were the players who switched because of injury or age, trying to relieve a certain stress on their back or shoulders. But for the most part players with long putters were failed putters, golfer who had to search out a gimmick to come close to holing a putt.

A few weeks ago, 21 year-old Michelle Wie, began using a belly putter in an LPGA event. She joins a number of PGA Tour players in their 20s, including Bradley, who use either a belly or broomstick putter. It seems as though a long putter is no longer the last resort or something you fall into in your mid-30s or early-40s to stay on tour or when you are 50 and your back makes it tough just to mark you ball.

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Long Putters Surge in Popularity

Recently, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working with the PGA Tour, have come up with a statistical formula to determine who are the truly great putters in the game. Although there have been some broad categories, until now there hasn’t been a reliable statistical method of measuring putting skill among the world’s best golfers.

The main problem is that too many external variables come into play. The most commonly used putting statistic, “putting average, ” measures the number of putts that a player takes per round when his ball lands on the green in regulation—that is, in par less two strokes (for example, in two strokes on a par-four hole). Not only does this approach exclude about 30% of putts attempted on the PGA Tour (those made on greens not reached in regulation), but it also rewards the accuracy of shots into the green as much as it does putting skill.

Two other commonly used putting statistics have weaknesses, too. Putts per round is a measure overly generous to the player who misses a lot of greens in regulation, then chips it close and one-putts. The average feet of putts holed per round, among other problems, penalizes exceptionally good lag putters who leave themselves second putts of inches rather than feet.

Moreover, none of the above statistics take into account the relative difficulty of the greens played. Players who compete on a higher percentage of courses with tricky greens, such as at the majors, get a bum deal.

A team of researchers at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, using PGA Tour data, has derived a metric it calls “putts gained per round” that corrects for these and other deficiencies and provides a more accurate picture of every Tour player’s true putting prowess.

The PGA Tour is so enthused by this new metric that it began work two weeks ago integrating it into its statistical ShotLink system. Working with its technology partner, CDW, it will take several months to write all the code and analyze feedback from players and staff, but if all goes well, “putts gained” will pop up as one of the Tour’s core reported statistics by the end of the year. Together with other new statistics being developed by MIT and other academic institutions, “putts gained” could open up a new frontier in golf record-keeping and performance analysis comparable to the sea change in baseball statistics following Bill James’s pioneering work in the 1970s and 1980s.

“Statistics can just become a big splash of numbers and not mean anything. But this, we think, will mean something,” said Steve Evans, the PGA Tour’s senior vice president for information systems. “It’s complex to calculate, but simple to understand.”

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Golf’s New Statistics to Measure Putting

Unfortunately, if you’re looking to lower your golf handicap, working on gaining extra distance is probably not the best use of your time. If nearly 67% of all golf shots are taken within 100 yards of the hole, it becomes quite obvious that the short game often decides the men from the boys.

As a golfer, interested in shooting lower scores, there is little doubt you’ve heard this sermon before — “devote more of your practice time to your short game.” The reason is as simple as the math above, your score comes from your short game.

But wait there’s more. When you spend time practicing your putting and your short shots and swings — in the proper way – you get double the reward because the skills you develop in this area transfer to your long game.

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Focus on Your Short Game to Lower Your Scores

How do you become the No. 2 ranked player in the world? Having a consistent and reliable golf putting stroke is a great place to start. Along with terrific iron play, that’s precisely what current No. 2 Steve Stricker has used to trigger his ascension up the golf rankings.

Stricker’s putting stroke begins with how he sets up with his forearms in line with the putter shaft. You may have noticed over the years how upright Stricker stands at address. This is a result of his left wrist position. One of the keys to the putting set-up is to grip the putter with the left wrist level and not cocked. Here’s how you do it: Extend your left arm out parallel to the ground, in line with your left shoulder while extending your index finger straight ahead and your thumb to the sky. This would be considered a level left wrist as defined to the top of the wrist. Now, cock your wrist so the index finger is pointing more towards the sky and then conversely, un-cock your wrist so the index finger is pointing towards the ground.

One of the most common errors in putting is gripping the lead hand too much in the fingers. This usually creates a cocked left wrist and leads to the right forearm being on a much different angle than the putter shaft. This is evident when you watch a stroke from down the target-line as you will clearly see the putter’s butt-end positioned well below the right forearm.

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The Simple Secret to Putting Like Steve Stricker

Golf professional Jay Golden presents a quick and easy trick to improve your long distance or lag putting by simply changing the target in our mind.

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Eliminate Three Putts with this Simple Trick

Stan Utley demonstrates a unique exercise to help release tension in your putting stroke and allow you to be more athletic on the green.

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Stan Utley’s Technique to Remove Tension from Putting

Phil Mickelson’s DVD “Secrets of the Short Game” wasn’t the first short game video series and it won’t be the last. But it just might be the best production that can truly change your game and improve your technique around the greens immediately.

Yes, I’m a long time Dave Pelz fan and so is Phil. However, the quality and quantity of tips, technique and tricks in this two DVD set is worth its weight in gold. In fact, it’s often surprising at not only the content, but the candor Mickelson has while teaching and demonstrating the various shots in front of the camera. His personality and confidence shines through brightly in this DVD series which was produced and directed by Terry Jastrow, a seven-time Emmy award winner whose credits include Producer/Director of six previous Olympic Opening Ceremonies, Super Bowl XIX, 68 Golf Majors and events ranging from an Indianapolis 500 and Kentucky Derby.

The first “Secrets of the Short Game” disc focuses on putting and chipping while the second disc includes a flop shot section, bunker play and specialty shots such as buried lies and longer bumker shots.

Phil’s putting approach can be at times analytical, but almost always makes simple sense. One of the main suggestions that I took away from this section was the Jackie Burke 25/75 concept. Burke suggests that your backswing swing should be 25 percent and your swing through the ball should be 75 percent. This should allow you to hit the ball aggressively while accelerating through the shot and creating a smooth rhythm.

The chipping section is quite blunt – there is only one effective way to chip. In fact, Phil is quite honest in saying anyone who doesn’t subscribe to this theory is nuts. Here Mickleson teaches to break your wrist immediately when going back on a chip, then hold on and accelerate toward the hole. After watching him demonstrate this simple technique, it’s hard to imagine why you would want to do anything else.

Another highlight of the series is Phil’s precise explanation of his famous flop shot. The amateur golfer might actually be a bit frightened from trying this type of shot after learning about how much thought and preparation Phil puts in even before attempting such a shot. But this knowledge is priceless and Mickelson’s in-depth explanation of matching the shot with the lie can only help golfers of all experience levels.

Can Phil Mickelson’s “Secrets of the Short Game” help your game?  Yes, most definitely. In fact, you’ll be hard pressed to find more quality golf short game instruction content packed into a more entertaining and easy to watch format. Phil Mickelson’s “Secrets of the Short Game” retails for $49.95 and is available from several online retailers including Amazon.com.

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Review: Phil Mickelson DVD Secrets of the Short Game

8-time PGA Tour winner Brad Faxon describes his “philosophy of acceptance” when evaluating your results on the putting green.

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Brad Faxon’s Approach to Putting

Improve your putting confidence by practicing these simple drills from Paul McLoughlin, one of the top golf instructors in Ireland.

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How to Improve Your Putting Confidence

Murray Poje, head professional at Tsawwassen Golf Course, presents two simple fundamentals to help you consistently make more golf putts from four feet or less.

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Two Simple Keys to Making Short Putts