# The Game of Golf and Techniques Used to Play the Game

== This Is The First Entry On This Page (The Game of Golf and Techniques Used to Play the Game).
The Name of This Section written by me Luke Daniel Borel and in this section is How to Make Short Putts.
So why put information in WikiBooks. Well I tried putting my video in the commons and someone suggested I put it in Wikiversity. After discovering that there is Wikibooks, I thought a book about golf sounded like a good idea. I also like the concept of how anyone can contribute to the book, and so in a way, the book becomes almost a forum, but not quite, however it is collaborative, which could turn out to be a great thing. Finally, I have found it a waste of time to place my ideas, or concepts on Wikipedia. The only thing I have found useful there, is to add references to articles, or to disagree occasionally and add a comment during an edit, stating my disagreement. However, I use WikiPedia several times a day, and sometimes more, so I do find WikiPedia indispensable as a reference book. However, I have decided WikiBooks is the place for most of my concepts and ideas that I want to share with the public. As far as golf goes, I am quite experienced, have played in leagues, been a marshall, and have played hundreds of rounds of golf. I am currently moving my efforts in the direction of teaching golf to the general public, or as a Golf Coach for a High School or University. I have watched many hundreds of golf videos on Youtube, and have a complete understanding of most golf swings and methods for chipping and pitching. My weakness is poor bunker play, as my home course only has 1 bunker on the entire course, but recently I viewed many golf videos on bunker play, and feel prepared to teach that sub subject if necessary.
If you want to skip reading the text for now, go directly to the video, to watch drawings and descriptions of the drawings, that lay out the basics of using an alternative method to sink short putts, which achieves a higher success rate, than the most common methods in practice today. If you have watched the video first, you probably get a more complete understanding of my knee manipulation putting style, by returning here to the text and reading some or all of it.
In this section I describe a method for doing short putts, about 5 feet or less, and should initially be practiced on a fairly flat green in the beginning. This method I discovered through trial and error, when I was attempting to find a putting stroke, that made the putter travel in a straight line during the entire putting stroke. A standard putt done by the vast majority of golfers, introduces an unwanted curve that the hands and putter club head travel on. My method requires a wide stance (about 2 to 2.5 feet, for an adult). So you set up to the putt with a wide stance, extra knee bend and a normal amount of hip bend. What this method does is allows the golfer to simply grip the putter club in his hands, and by manipulation of the knees, moves every part of the body except the feet, away from the hole and ball on the back swing, and towards the ball on the forward swing. The club is held still in the hands, and on the forward stroke the putter head collides with the ball, with the proper speed and on a straight line. The golfers body does not sway in this method. The body translates away and then translate forward to hit the ball. The Putter, hands, head, torso, hip, arms, leg, knees, all move away from the ball on the back swing (both feet remain stationary, however the ankles bend, however the feet DO NOT roll , and they stay in the same spot flat to the ground, in the same position they start in when addressing the ball before the start of the putting stroke). The spine remains vertical with no tilt or lean. It is not a sway it is more like using the relative bend between the two knees, to laterally shift away from the ball and then back again so that a golfer simply lets the putter run into the ball to impart an initial velocity to the ball. The length of the back stroke should be about a foot and the forward stroke should be about 1 1/2 foot.
On this page I am uploading a video I made that discusses putting techniques and their drawbacks and advantages. Please feel free to make suggestions that I can make on my video to make my video more clear to understand. Let me know if you think that I have found the appropriate place on Wiki, to place this video. Also please consider this a page in which you are welcome to add any methods of playing golf, such as Hitting a driver, hitting bunker shots, hitting out of the rough, chipping, pitching, putting, etiquette, etc. This is the first time I have tried to create a WikiBooks, and the help section said I had to create a Page first, which is what I have attempted to do here.
In this video I compare the standard method used for short putts, and a method I discovered by blind luck when I was practicing slow putts without a club in my hand, and I used a straight line aid on the ground that I hoovered my hands above. I noticed that when using a standard putting technique, my hands traveled along a curve. By fiddling around with my knee flex, I discovered I could set up with a lot of knee bend when addressing a short putt, and then by straightening my lead left knee, and allowing my right trail knee to bend a little extra, I could simply hold the putter still in my hands, and my entire body would move away from the ball approximately 1 foot. I then determined I could move my entire body towards the ball and make a stroke, by straightening my right trail knee and allowing my lead left knee to bend more. Basically in the forward stroke, my entire body moves, and because the club is gripped in my hands, and my hands move towards the ball, along with the rest of my body, this causes the putter to strike the ball. If someone claims this is a illegal pushing motion, one could always do the above method, and then add a very small strike with the hand muscles. It is my believe from reading the rules it is only a push if you only take the club head back 1/2 inch. In my method the club travels 1 foot away from the ball during the back stroke, and therefore is not a push, or scoop. If my method is deemed illegal, then one would need to add some additional stroke motion, which would then make it a combination of a lateral movement combined with a standard putting stroke. I am currently posting replies on golf forums to get opinions as to whether my knee manipulation method is legal, and if it is illegal, how to modify my method to make it legal, by combining my knee manipulation method, with a standard putting technique.
The above text is written by me Luke Daniel Borel, the developer of this method, discovered by diddling around when I was practicing putting in slow motion, without a putter club in my hand, using a straight line Aid on the ground. In other words I do not remember seeing my straight line putting method anywhere in my life. In my method, I do not move the putter with my hands or arms or shoulders, I am simply holding onto the putter with my hands, and then manipulating my knees, I move my upper body away from the ball about 1 foot, and then on the forward stroke I manipulate my knees which moves my upper body (and therefore my putter) forward by about 1 1/2 feet.
I do not hold a copyright on this putting method, however I am making it public domain, and also do not think a putting method can be copyrighted. For example, anyone can copy Tiger Woods Swing, but I do not believe Tiger holds any copyright on his swing.
A quick note. It is possible to create a straight putting stroke by manipulation the elbows and or shoulders. However these are very difficult methods, and manipulation the knees is much easier to do, because in my method you hold the club still with your hands, and as you manipulation your already bend knees, by alternating the straightening and bending of both knees that work in tandem, you are in effect moving the putter straight away from the ball, and then on the forward stroke, make a slightly longer forward stroke, than the back stroke, that basically makes the putter collide with the ball, as your entire body moves towards the hole. The only part of the body that does not move during the stroke, are the feet, however the ankles do bend during the stroke, however BOTH Feet remain RELAXED and completely flat on the ground, with NO rolling of the feet.