Smashed putter solutions!

HAVE you ever watched professional golfers in awe, admiring their skills and emulating their swings?

Well, I have. And when watching the Italian Open last week, I was pleasantly surprised and extremely envious of England's very own Oliver Wilson, who was forced to putt with his wedge in the second round.

The Mansfield-born 27-year-old looked good going into Friday and at six-under looked set for the cut.

But unfortunately for him, after missing another short putt just before the turn, he rifled the club straight at his bag and stormed onto the 10th tee. Little did he know that, in his fit of rage, he had bent the shaft of his putter.

To conform with R&A rules, he was no longer allowed to use the club and so was forced to choose another of the remaining 13 when on the greens for the remainder of his round.
In a nutshell, the rules state that if a club has been damaged directly by a player¹s actions, that club is deemed to have been unlawfully altered to improve that player¹s game.
As a result, the club cannot be used again. In accordance with the rules, Wilson improvised and chose to wield his wedge instead of the flat stick and 'blade' ­ in other words, strike the ball on its centre so it rolls smoothly along the ground.
Amazingly, he bagged three birdies on the back nine to make the cut.What is more, reunited and ended up finishing second after a fantastic final round 64.
How is that possible? Seriously.

I don't know if any of you at home have ever tried 'skulling' the ball with the wedge to roll it along the ground, but it is a lot harder than it seems, especially from over 10 feet.
"I could have easily let that get to me and blow myself out of the tournament," the former Walker Cup star said. "But luckily, I didn't, and I'm proud of myself," said the Mansfield golfer ­ and so he should be.

To get three birdies in nine holes with a wedge instead of a putter is remarkable, even more so when you consider the factors Wilson had stacked against him:

-When 'putting' with a wedge, the ball MUST be hit out of the very centre, millimetres either side would cause the ball to wander off line and consequently miss the hole

-The sharp leading edge makes it much harder to judge distance correctly than a putter face. In fact, it makes any putt of any distance almost impossible to judge correctly ­ well, impossible for a normal golfer

- Catch the ball underneath its centre and you impart backspin. Putting gurus claim that topspin gets the ball running straight and true, and backspin is certainly not desirable when trying to hole out

- The margin for error is very small. We amateurs have a hard enough time as it is with a fully-fledged putter face ­ let alone a wedge

Wilson's performance got us at NCG wondering, is there any other club in a golfer¹s arsenal that would have been better suited to the task. Who knows ­ it might even allowed the Englishman to hole a few more 'putts' and possibly grab his elusive first tour victory.
We decided to test a few alternatives.

Club: four ironWhat we thought: The first office suggestion was the 'butter-knife' long-iron, and after a quick test the results were similar to a wedge. The ball reacted exactly like it's lofted brethren and rolled with a hint of backspin towards the hole, but any loss of accuracy would have killed it.Verdict: 2/5

Club: 8 ironWhat we thought: The next option was to test a mid iron, but the results were even worse. More loft resulted in more spin and ultimately much less accuracy and feel. The eight iron is not the club to use.Verdict: 1/5

Club: HybridWhat we thought: There has always been plenty of hype surrounding the hybrid and it's ability greenside, so we thought that it could be the perfect option when without the putter. And we were right, the ball rolled straight and true and the two-iron loft kept spin to a minimum, without a doubt, this is the club to use.Verdict: 5/5

Club: 3 WoodWhat we thought: After the irons didn't work out, a suggestion was made to delve into the world of woods, and we were pleasantly surprised. Much is made of the ability of the fairway wood to brush through grass for greenside chips, but the flat sole and larger head made it much easier to putt with when we choked down on the grip. The result was straight putts with decent accuracy. For us, definitely the best option if you're without a hybrid.Verdict: 4/5

Club: DriverWhat we thought: The next club in line was the big dog, and although it has a massive head and little loft which meant good accuracy, the titanium face had no feel whatsoever, and resulted in putts firing pastthe hole or coming up way short.Verdict: 2/5
So there it is, we found the hybrid reigned supreme and that if you ever find yourself in this position, you should opt for the hybrid ­ it outperformed the others options on test in all areas.
By Joe Whitley