Edel Golf Podcast

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Radial vs Linear Putting Stroke Oct 08, 2020

Show notes

Today’s question is “How do you go about switching from radial to linear and what are some drills?”

Even though this process is multi-faceted, it’s generally easier than people think. In order to answer this question, we have to start with the assumption that radial strokes are more complicated than linear strokes. To that end, most of the game’s greatest putters have had linear strokes.

If you’re trying to move from a radial stroke to a linear stroke, you first have to understand that there are three types of linear strokes - short, medium, and long.

When switching to linear putting, fitting the right putter is the first step in the process.One of the biggest issues we see is that people with linear strokes have putters that are too heavy. Excess weight results in inconsistencies with regard to pressure, lag, and face rotation in the forward stroke.

Another factor to consider is the slot in which you putt. Slot is determined by arm length differentials. Depending on your measurements, your slot is going to be steep or flat relative to if your arms are the same length. If your putter doesn’t match the slot in which you putt, issues with path are going to become magnified.

Once you have an understanding of the biodynamics of linear putting, and you have a putter that properly fits your stroke, there are some drills that you can start doing to get more comfortable and make your stroke more repeatable.

The first drill is nothing more than “putting with your right arm only.” This drill trains you to use your right arm efficiently during the linear stroke.

Another drill is a string drill. All you have to do is lay a piece of string perpendicular to your putting line and hit putts trying stop the ball as close to the string as possible. This drill is all about speed, which is the most important factor in putting well consistently.

Lastly, a useful drill is to find a straight putt and work on starting the ball online, all the while being conscious of setting up to the putt with the right body positions.

There’s always plenty of room for gate drills, much like you see Tiger use as he’s warming up for a round. If you can roll the ball through your gate consistently, those short you used to dread are going to become a lot easier.

In the end, it’s tough to argue that linear putting is much more simple and repeatable than radial putting. Making the transition is easier than you might think but, you need a putter that fits your body type and natural tendencies.

Fascinating Correlation Between Eye Position and AIM Oct 02, 2020

Show notes

Our question for today is “Do your aim and eye position directly correlate to each other?” This isn’t a yes or no answer. Everybody has different perceptions.

With that being said, the most obvious correlation is with eye dominance. Left eye dominant players “tend to leave the shaft more forward and right eye dominant players tend to lean the shaft back.”

When we see aim bias, there tends to be a lot of head rotation. The is especially true with right-handed golfers that exhibit left aim bias.

When it comes to putter length correlation, “longer aims more right and shorter aims more left.” This is because the longer the putter is, the steeper the eye plane becomes.

Other factors include putter shape, weight, perception of closed vs. open, the list goes on.

In the end, there are a lot of factors that go into understanding the relationship between eye position and putter aim. That’s why it’s so important for players to get properly fit for a putter.

Rich Beem: Major Champ Talks Keys to GREAT PUTTING Aug 28, 2020

Show notes

When you think about Texas golf, names like Hogan, Nelson, Mangrum, Crenshaw, Kite, and Speith come to mind just to name a few. Over the years, however, there’s one PGA Tour player I like sitting down to have a beer with more than most. That’s Rich Beem.

The proud son of El Paso Country Club, you probably remember Rich Beem as the winner of the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine in Minnesota. Though he’s played less and less in recent years on the PGA Tour, he’s gearing up for the Champion’s Tour, and I couldn’t be more excited for him.

Recently, he was kind enough to join us for an insightful chat about putting and what he’s been up to.

Our conversation starts out with Rich sharing his thoughts on putting over the years. He makes no bones about the fact that he “vaguely remembers what it was like to be a kid going out there to the putting green and just taking one ball and knocking it in… There wasn’t a single thought about how to do it, just how many… I have actually digressed from that probably as much as you can…”

As Rich gets ready for the Champion’s Tour, he’s “trying to get back to the point where (putting) doesn’t have a value… If it goes in, great. If it doesn’t, that’s great too… It doesn’t matter.”

We proceed to talk about how Rich learned the game growing up and putting specifically. He credits his dad with teaching him the fundamentals. One of the most important pieces of advice was keeping his elbows close together throughout the swing. That same thought governs much of how Rich goes about both his swing and putting today.

His dad also stressed how important it is to “never stop searching.” If one thing isn’t working, you can’t be afraid to try something else. That thought is likely one of the reasons Rich has never been afraid to switch putters and putting methods. Self-admittingly, he’s “played with a smorgasbord of putters.”

To that end, Rich has never been an overly mechanical putter. Instead, he sees reading greens as more of an art. “Those greens books… they help out a little bit if you’re unsure, but I still think there’s an art to how you do it… Tiger seems to have a way that he sees it in his eyes.”

When asked what his putting looks like today, Rich says “I’m looking at a putter that also mimics what I’m trying to do in the golf swing. And that’s my posture.”

Today, Rich’s putter is longer and more upright than a lot of players. This fits his body type and cross-handed grip.

Since Rich’s days of grinding week in and week out have curtailed, he’s spent more time as an announcer. During that time, he’s noticed a couple of significant differences in how today’s young players go about putting compared to the older guard. First, “they aren’t afraid to try anything… They will go and find the strangest looking thing… put it up their forearm…” Next, “they don’t leave anything to chance. He’s blown away by the “amount of apparatuses they have to try and show them what the ball is doing off the stroke or… just embed it in their muscle memory.”

As always, it was great to sit down with Rich for a few minutes and record this week’s podcast. He truly is one of the great guys in the game and, we wish him nothing but success as he gets ready to head out on the Champion’s Tour.

To hear the full conversation, listen in to our podcast above. Thanks for tuning in and we’ll see you next week.

Interesting Golf Bag Brand You Might Like / Sam Goulden Aug 21, 2020

Show notes

If you’re a regular listener to our podcasts at Edel, you’ve certainly come to realize that we aren’t afraid to think outside of the box. While bigger companies are primarily concerned with mass production and getting their products into the hands of as many golfers as possible, our sole mission is to help people play better golf and have more fun. That’s why we continually spend our time and resources trying to find methods and perfect equipment that makes the game easier.

While we’re constantly working to achieve these goals, we also have our eyes open for other companies and manufacturers that are thinking outside the box. That’s exactly what we found when we ran into Sam Goulden at the PGA Show. Sam’s the founder of MNML Golf Bags. As we learned more about Sam’s story, we were more than a little impressed.

Sam was kind enough to join us on this week’s podcast to tell us a little more about his story and discuss some of the game’s hottest topics.

Sam got into the game of golf in high school and became a good enough player to earn a college scholarship. After college, he was drawn to teaching and did so for a number of years until he decided that he missed competing. He eventually moved to Los Angeles and played the Golden State Tour for a number of years during which he was able to work with some of the game’s greatest teachers.

In 2014, Sam returned to teaching and launched his online instruction platform, SamGouldenGolf.club. A short time after, he moved to Puerto Rico to focus solely on that endeavor.

When he returned to Puerto Rico for the second time in 2018, he felt a strong need to get some passion in his life and that became MNML Golf. He saw golf becoming more casual and less stuffy.

The decision to make golf bags came when he was working a student in his simulator and he noticed his student’s miniature golf bag. The bag’s simple, functional design, and lack of excessive features caught his eye and he realized that a golf bag should be “an extension of a golfer’s personality.”

Today, that’s reflected in the MNML golf bags. The bags come in black or white and feature magnets instead of zippers. The bag’s lack of logos and branding leaves plenty of room for customization and logo design that’s hand-painted by the company’s resident artist.

Additionally, the bag’s tech kit comes with a solar power bank, a Bluetooth speaker, and a phone charger.

Sam and David first met in St. Louis in 2005 when Sam was just beginning his professional career. After going through a putter fitting, Sam was “blown away.” While he was waiting for his Edel putter to arrive Sam “putted with his sand wedge because… he couldn’t aim his putter.” David and Sam have remained good friends to this day.

The conversation then turns to the topic of single length golf clubs, something both Sam and David are passionate about. By taking all the variables of extra length clubs and different length clubs out of the equation, both agree that the game becomes not only easier to play for golfers of all levels, but the learning curve for beginning players is much faster. In fact, Sam believes so strongly in the single length method that he teaches it to all of his students. In his words “There is absolutely nothing you could say to me at this point that would convince me to play anything other than single length.”

Check out the video of Sam unboxing his Edel Single Length club HERE.

There’s no question in our minds that Sam will continue to find success with both his teaching and the MNML Golf brand. We can’t thank him enough for taking time out of his busy schedule to join us on this episode of the Edel Golf Podcast.

To hear the full conversation and learn about MNML Golf and the man behind the brand, tune into the podcast above.

Interested in an Edel x MNML Stand Bag? Buy yours here: https://edelgolf.com/collections/accessories/products/edel-x-mnml-stand-bag

Debunking the Myth of Putter MOI Aug 13, 2020

Show notes

In this installment of the Edel Golf Podcast, we debunk yet another myth when it comes to putting. This week, we’re discussing MOI, or moment of inertia. This term gets tossed around a lot when we talk about the forgiveness and stability of drivers, fairway woods, hybrids, and irons.

In recent years, it’s also become frequent parlance in the world of putters. On the surface, the concept of “having equal mass on both ends of the playing field... makes sense…”

However, when it comes to putting, MOI and stability are “a bit of a false narrative.” Sure, the concept of having equally distributed mass in different parts of the putter head provides stability. However, if the MOI changes where the center of the face is, then what value does it have in regard “to stabilizing the putter face if it’s offline because of itself?” Practically, “it’s like killing a cow for the milk…”

It’s for that reason that all this talk of MOI isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The reason why the big MOI putters made by mass manufacturers are so popular is because they actually aim you left and cause you essentially “block” the putt down the line. In short, you get the feeling that everything is square even though it’s not.

This gets back to what we’re about at Edel Golf. That’s helping people understand, through scientifically based reason, why they struggle and what the solution is to help them play better golf. And that’s reflected in our fitting processes and club manufacturing.

There’s no question that, “at times we (Edel Golf) suffer from being different…. But that doesn't make us wrong.” At the end of the day, our methods allow golfers to “take their hands off the handlebars and just peddle.” Sure, it takes some getting used to, but that’s only because most golfers are playing with equipment that’s not best suited for their game, or they’ve been fed so much misinformation that anything else seems foreign – even though it might be right.

For a more in-depth look at the relationship between putters and MOI, take a few minutes and listen to the podcast above.

Thanks for listening and we can’t wait to sit down at the workbench together on our next episode.

The Myth of Toe Hang vs Face Balanced Putting Aug 06, 2020

Show notes

Welcome back to the Edel Golf Podcast. This week we’re going to talk about one of the biggest misconceptions out there when it comes to putters. That’s the widely held perception of toe hang vs. face balance and arc vs. straight back, straight through putting.

There’s been a lot of misinformation about this with some of the big EOM’s and we’re here to hopefully correct some of that information so that you can become a better putter.

What’s perpetuated this myth perhaps more than anything else is the notion that “toe hang is better for arc putters and face balance is better for straight back, straight through putters.”

If you think about a toe hang putter, like an 8802, the notion that a putter wants to open on the way back and close on the way through “makes no sense… that putter actually wants to fan more open on the way through…” What actually happens with most players that use toe hang putters is that they have a left-aim bias issue. The end result is that these players end up with a putter that’s more of a band-aid for poor aim, rather than addressing aim as the root of the problem.

In reality, “these players are better off with a face balance putter…” Conversely, straight back, straight through players are actually better off with more of a toe hang putter. It’s completely the opposite of what the industry’s teachers and manufacturers often espouse.

At the end of the day, it’s our mission to help golfers of all levels develop a better understanding of their golf games through scientifically-based information. The truth is that a lot of the big OEM’s continue to perpetuate misinformation in an effort to keep you coming back for more.

We hope you’ve found this podcast helpful and we can’t wait to have you back again for the next one! Thanks for tuning in!

The Real Reason Every Golfer's Putting Stroke Looks Different Jul 31, 2020

Show notes

In this installment of the Edel Golf Podcast, we discuss one of the most important aspects of putting. Having an understanding of this principle is really the key to unlocking your potential as a putter. We’re talking about your personal body type. Specifically, “how your arms’ lengths and fold patterns influence your stroke.”

All the game’s great putters had keen perception systems that were in alignment with how they physically putted. To that end, each player looked different when they putted. “They didn’t fight their body type.”

David’s understanding of this process stems largely from his work with Mike Adams and his process of BioSwing Dynamics which allows players to understand their unique physical attributes.

The first primary measurement that David’s adopted for the putter fitting process is arm length differential. It’s this metric that gives us the slot. The slot is a plane through which the putter and your arms work during your stroke. ”If your lower arm is longer than your upper arm, you’re a shoulder slot player… If the arm length differential is fairly neutral, you’re a torso slot player… And if your upper arm is longer than your lower arm, we call that a hip slot.”

One of the biggest things that negatively affects people’s ability to putt well is that their putter doesn’t match their slot. Being in the wrong slot creates issues with path which in turn, leads to inconsistent putting.

A second key measurement in the fitting process is span. This is nothing more than the measurement from fingertip to fingertip when you span your arms out parallel to the ground. Span, calculated as a differential compared to your height, is going to determine your posture. “If your span is greater than your height, you’re going to stand more vertical… If your arm span is shorter than your height, your posture is going to be more bent over.” This measurement, in conjunction with your slot, is going to affect fitting measurements like putter length and lie angle.

The third component of the putter screening process is an arm fold test. This looks at how your elbows and arms work throughout the stroke based on your body type. We use this information to dictate “how to get your wrists onto the putter… and what kind of grip you should use.”

When any of these metrics don’t match a golfer’s body type, they tend to have issues with alignment. That’s why it’s important to remember that while getting putter specs correct for weight, loft, etc. is important, it’s also imperative that the putter fits the person’s body type.

Even though this podcast is chock-full of complex information, it’s our hope that you can develop a better understanding of how your body type plays such an important role in your equipment, and how you go about the business of putting.

As always, thanks for listening, and please reach out to us if you have any questions!

David Edel's Biggest Influences on his Golfing Career Jul 23, 2020

Show notes

Welcome back to the Edel Golf Podcast! In today’s episode, I want to talk with you about something that means a lot to me personally. Having been a PGA Professional for nearly 25 years, it’s important for me to recognize the people who have helped me throughout my entire career as a player, teacher, and clubmaker.

My hope is that you, as a listener, seek some of these people out and learn from the knowledge they have to share.

The first individual is the late Ben Doyle. He was the first authorized instructor of the Golfing Machine. I “first met Ben back in 1989… I was just a young college kid at the time…” Not only did I learn a lot from this wonderful man, but he also opened up a huge network of the world’s best instructors, players, and influencers. Sure, Ben shared a lot of information with me. More than anything, however, ”he taught me how to be a golf professional… how to man your post, how to care about your students.”

After working with Ben, I started working with Henry Griffitts where I met Randy Henry. In my opinion, “he is the father of modern-day fitting.” His company invented things like the lie board and removable shaft system that we still use today. The time I spent with both Ben Doyle and Randy Henry tremendously shaped what Edel Golf has become today.

Mike Adams is another individual who made a huge impact on me and my career. Not to be confused with Adams Golf, Mike is an extraordinary teacher who’s written north of 20 books, taught four presidents, the list goes on. Suffice it to say, “the guy’s influenced more teachers than anybody in the business.” He “gives and gives and gives, and he never takes.”

One of the smartest guys I’ve ever been around is Mark Sweeney, the creator of Aim Point. His hard work and research have revolutionized the green reading process and I’m proud to call him my friend.

Through Mike, I met Terry Rowles. He works alongside Mike to create processes to “demystify the golf swing… make it more about how you can play your best golf… how you can understand your own body type…” A large part of their work is helping other instructors understand these complex systems so that they can better serve their students.

Jim Fannin is a world leader when it comes to sports psychology. Reading his work has played a huge role in helping me stay in the zone both on and off the golf course.

Last but not least, is one of my best friends, Mike Schy. Mike thinks outside the box and was instrumental in helping Bryson DeChambeau learn to play with single-length clubs.

This list is far from complete as far as people that have played a critical role in shaping who I am as a PGA Professional and a person. However, these folks are free thinkers and it’s my whole-hearted belief that the knowledge and information they bring to the table is worth sharing with everybody.

If you’re curious to learn a little more about what each of these people are about, I highly encourage you to seek them out.

Thanks for tuning in and I’ll see you next time on the Edel Golf Podcast!

How Helpful is the Arm Lock Putting Style? Jul 16, 2020

Show notes

Welcome back to the Edel Golf Podcast. This week we received a question about arm lock putting.

To start, I think this style of putting is a tremendously complicated process. However, “If you’re having success with it, who am I to say don’t do it?”

When I see people switch to arm lock putting, they’re usually “survivors from long putters or belly putters.”

What I’ve found is that the complications with arm lock putting stem from the fact that it “doesn’t match your slot.” Arm lock putting is usually best for “shoulder slot putters… players whose lower arm is longer than their upper arm.” That said, if your arms are equal in length, you’re a torso slot player and you might be able to make the arm lock method work. But, if your upper arm is longer than your lower arm, it probably isn’t going to help you putt better.

For players that use the arm lock putter, two things are going to happen. First, the ball position might move more toward the middle of your stance so “you’re going to get more of a lean pattern.” As a result, the loft of the putter changes and it becomes difficult to roll the ball correctly. Second, players have a tendency to put the ball too far forward in their stance which creates left aim bias.

When I fit players for arm lock putters, I use a double-bend shaft. The question then becomes “how do you weight the putter?” Instead of adding weight to the head, I prefer to add weight to the shaft. This can provide a lot of stability for players that struggle with short putts. However, controlling speed on longer putts can be more difficult with an arm lock putter.

When it comes to choosing one putting style or another, most people do so without really knowing a lot. Maybe they see someone win on tour with a particular method and decide to give it a try. That’s why I’ve created both putting and bio fitting processes to help bridge that gap.

In short, I think arm lock putting is something that can be done, but I wouldn’t recommend it for everybody. If a player comes to me and wants to arm lock, I’ll help them through the process to the best of my ability.

At the end of the day, putting comes down to finding out what works best for the individual and “physically manifesting it into a golf club.”

I look forward to answering more of your questions in future episodes so keep them coming! Thanks for listening!

The hidden influence of putter grips on aim Jul 09, 2020

Show notes

Welcome back to another installment of the Edel Golf Podcast. One of the things I love so much about doing these is that it allows me to interact with our listeners and customers.

I recently received a question from a listener asking, “What is your experience with grips in the marketplace and why did you design your own?”

As part of developing our putter fitting process, I had to find a way to make round grips interchangeable. I initially came across round grips from Natural Golf, which was modeled after the one-plane motion of Mo Norman. Over time, it occurred to me that there was a direct correlation between aim bias and putter grips. In short, round grips made a lot of sense in this regard.

One day I went to visit my good friend, Mike Schy, in Fresno. One of his pupils was “one of the best putters in collegiate golf.” She had been using an Edel putter since she was a junior but as of late, she was struggling with her putting. I noticed she had switched to a flatted grip instead of the round one she’d always used. After performing an aim test, we found out she was aiming way left with the flatted grip. After we switched out the flatted grip for a round grip, she aimed the face perfectly. It was from this interaction that I learned that the grip on a putter really does affect someone’s ability to aim properly.

“The grip is the first primary connection you have to the putter… and it’s the easiest to change…” Furthermore, because grips come in different weights, “the counterreaction…. which is also called counterbalance…” plays a significant role in the bigger picture of how we interact with our putter.

Armed with this information, I sent the PGM Program at Mississippi State a bunch of round grips so they could perform a study doing aim tests with two exact putters – one with a flatted grip and the other with a round grip. Their findings were substantial. There was a 4.3” difference in aim bias.

This was yet further evidence that confirmed putters with round grips are easier to aim than putters with non-round grips. Why? “I don’t believe that the grip should be the alignment system… The hands feel something different from what the eyes see… This produces noise…” These two perceptive aiming forces produce a lot of conflicting information that makes it difficult to aim correctly for most golfers.

I further learned that “how we hold a putter should dictate what kind of grip we should use…” For some golfers, a flatted grip might be correct. For a lot of golfers, however, a round grip makes the most sense. It was based on this information that we developed our grip fitting process.

Part of that fitting process has a lot to do with the size of the grip. So “who would need a larger grip and who would need a smaller grip?” There’s a lot that goes into this but, what we’ve consistently found through research, is that players that exhibit left-aim bias benefit from larger grips because their body’s natural reaction is to close off the hips. Conversely, players with right-aim bias or relatively square aim, might be alright with midsize or smaller grips.

With this in mind, it’s imperative to remember that when we change grips, we change weight. And when we change weight, we have to account for lots of other variables. Fortunately, we do that with both our putter and grip fitting systems.

In the end, “the more we can simplify the putting motion...” the easier it is to become a better, more consistent putter.

I’m the first to admit, there’s a lot of technical information in this podcast. However, I think it’s important to get the right, scientifically proven information out to the masses so they can better understand what we believe in and, become better putters themselves.

If you have questions, feel free to give us a call or, head over to EdelGolf.com and shoot us a message. I can’t wait for our next episode and as always, thanks for tuning in!

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