Golf Secrets of the Master

Jones was able to translate the characteristics of his full swing into a putting stroke that was unmatched. “Bob Jones’ putting stroke was a miniature of his full swing,” Ben Crenshaw once said. The entire stroke was a smooth, sweeping motion made with a delicate grip that was so light he felt he could kick the putter out of his hands merely by tapping it with his shoe. Early in his career, Jones putted with his feet close together and bent far over the ball. Later, only his heels touched, producing a body position that removed any strain from the putt.

Jones had tremendous touch on the greens, relying on his ability to judge the distance and slope of a putt. He also adopted his own philosophy of putting that ran contrary to the accepted wisdom of the day. Most players lived by the adage, “never up, never in” when attempting to judge the pace of a putt, believing that only a putt hit hard enough to roll past the hole had any chance of going in. Jones, however, played his putts to “die” at the hole, saying, “we never know but that the ball which is on line and stops short would have holed out…but we do know that the ball that ran past did not hole out.” As a result of his putting philosophy, Jones’ putts always had a chance of falling in the hole and, when they didn’t, rarely came to rest far from it.