Geoff
Mangum's PuttingZone™
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Arthur D'Arcy (Bobby) Locke
was born November 20, 1917, in Germiston, Transvaal, South Africa, to which
Locke's parents had emigrated from Northern Ireland at the turn of the century.
Locke began playing golf at age three, with the encouragement of his father
Charles, a 14-handicapper.
At age five, Locke was filmed hitting balls on his front lawn by a British film
crew, and the film was shown at the 1923 Wembley Exhibition in London.
Locke learned to play golf on the State Gold Mine's Country Club. The greenskeeper
there, Gay Roberts, kept the greens in excellent shape. Locke said: "Those greens
were perfect and I feel that's why I became a reasonably good putter. You can't
learn to putt on bad greens. ... The higher the standard, the better greens
you have to have."
At age nine, he was given a putter by T.D. Lighthouse, who had been watching
him practice on the putting green at the Germiston golf club.
Bobby kept the hickory-shafted steel blade putter from that day, using it to
win numerous professional competitions and four British Open championships with
it. He called it his "pay-off club", and the "rusty old blade" stayed with him
until 1960, when he finally replaced it with a similar putter.
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| At age 13, Locke idolized Bobby Jones as Jones won the Grand Slam in 1930. Locke's father gave him Jones' book on golf, and Locke used it to teach himself the game. Later in 1947, when Locke first appeared at Augusta, he was paired with Bobby Jones. | |
When he was 14 in 1931
Locke won the South African Boys' Championship. By 15, he was a scratch golfer,
and then plus 2. In 1935, at age 17, Locke won both the South African Amateur
and the South African Open Championships. In 1936 Locke journeyed to England
and entered the Amateur Championship (knocked out in the second round) and finished
eighth in the Open. He turned professional in 1938.
His first professional win came against the legendary Henry Cotton in the 1938
Irish Open at Portmarnock.
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During the War, Locke was a pilot flying the Liberator bomber and did not play
golf for two and one-half years. Before the War, Locke was a slim 6 footer.
After the War, he emerged weighing over 200 pounds.
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In the first Open
after the War, Locke finished tied for second, behind the winner Sam Snead.
Snead was well-known for knocking non-American golfers. Locke invited
Snead to his home in South Africa for a series of challenge matches, and
Snead accepted. |
The following spring, with Snead's encouragement, Locke ventured to America,
where he promptly finished 14th in that year's Masters. He then won four of
the next five tournaments he entered. Locke stayed only through the summer.
All together, he played in 15 US tour events, winning a total of seven, finishing
2nd twice, 3rd once (in the US Open), and top-7 four other times.
 Locke's
first US win came in the Carolinas Open at Mid-Pines, NC. He won the next
tournament, too, the Houston Open with a 277. he finished 3rd in Fort Worth
and then won again in the next two tournaments: the Philadelphia Inquirer
and the Goodall Round Robin. (Locke with fellow pro golfer and friend Porky
Oliver.) |
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Locke continued his exploits outside the US after the Open. He won the All-American
Open, the Canadian Open, and the Mexican Open. Back in the US he was 2nd in
the Western Open, 7th in the Denver Open, and lost a playoff in the Reading
Open.
Locke finished higher on he 1947 Tour money list with $24,327.50 than all other
golfers save Jimmy Demaret, who played the full twelve-month Tour but only picked
up a mere $3,600 more than Locke had won in his abbreviated visit.
Locke considered his 1947 putt for birdie against Hogan in the Philadelphia
Inquirer Tournament as his finest. The tournament was played at Cedar Brook
Country Club. On the 15th hole of the third round, Locke holed a 35-footer that
so unnerved Hogan he played out par, bogey, bogey, and allowed Locke to pass
him and win the next day by four strokes.
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US Golf Hall of Famer Lloyd Mangrum (himself a WWII pilot) commented: "That son of a bitch Locke was able to hole a putt over 60 feet of peanut brittle. ... I never saw anything to equal it." Mangrum once lost his Cadillac betting against Locke with Clayton Heafner. Snead said of his touting Locke to US pros, "The other guys thought I was nuts, but I wouldn't have bet one red cent against him in any tournament."
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When one pro commented
dismissively in the lockerroom about Locke's weak left hand in the grip, Locke
coolly replied: "Yes, you're probably right about that, but the fact is I take
the checques with my right hand."
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When tournament sponsors
in 1949 balked at paying Locke the same appearance money they were paying
top American golfers, Locke refused to play. The Tour pros took that excuse
to ban Locke "for failing to meet commitments." Undisturbed, Locke entered
the British Open as the favorite and won, defeating his opponent in the
playoff by 12 strokes. He also won the next Open in 1950. Locke came back to America, where he had a contract to endorse Dunlop balls, but he was by then a world superstar and didn't need the US Tour for money. |
Between 1949 and 1957, Locke won four British Opens. He entered the US Open
seven times, and finished third twice, fourth twice, and fifth once. Between
1935 and 1954, Locke won the South African Open nine times. He also won the
British Open in 1952 and again in 1957, at the age of 40. After that, he continued
to play, but he was content with his career.
Locke finished 3rd behind Hogan at the Blue Monster, 1951 US Open (shown here L, with Clayton heafner, R)
Locke had nine seasons on the US Tour. Between 1947 and 1950, he won 11 tournaments.
In Europe between 1938 and 1957, he won 23 tournaments. In South Africa he won
38 tournaments.
Locke was thankful for his success on the American Tour. He used the money to
buy his mother and father a home in South Africa.
Locke was famous for his deliberateness on the course, as well as for his accent,
his odd clothing (tie, plus-fours, touring cap), and his strange-looking swing
that typically lofted soaring hook shots that landed gently on the green and
rolled pin high.
He also quickly got over any shots that didn't work out: "I just blame the human
element and leave it at that, after all, I may hit a few exceptionally good
ones later. If you give it a chance, things balance out in the end."
His emotional expression never wavered, always displaying a calm, steady concentration
on the shot at hand. He was always the same, regardless of whether he had made
three birdies in a row or made three double-bogeys. He always stayed relaxed,
walking slowly. Even when putting his golfing shoes on, he would pull a sock
on and then pause to tell a leisurely story before continuing to pull the shoe
on or start with the other sock.
His "benign imperturbability" drove the cocky Americans nuts! And then he stood
over those fifty-footers in his closed stance and appeared to "hook" his putts
at a terribly slow pace all the way to the lip, were the ball seemed to pause
and then histrionically expire into the cup.
Affectionately known to those close to him as "Muffin," Locke seldom practiced,
and loved to party. He always had his ukulele nearby. He first purchased a ukulele
in Augusta in 1947. He frequently closed Tour parties singing and strumming:
"I've never been very good, but after six or seven Pabst Blue Ribbons, I begin
to sound reasonable."
Locke retired to his home "Sandwich," in Vereeniging, outside Johannesburg,
South Africa, where he was a regular at his neighborhood golf course. He made
annual pilgrimages to the British Open, where in later years he typically missed
the cut, but thoroughly enjoyed visiting other golfers and basking in his glory.
In 1960 Locke and a friend suffered a terrible automobile accident. They stopped
for a train at a level crossing of two tracks, and after the train passed, Locke
started across, but a second train from the opposite direction slammed into
the rear of his car, throwing him out the back window.
Afterwards, Locke had to wear glasses and was unable to wear his favored knickers
due to the constriction on his calves. He felt the accident harmed his sense
of touch in putting.
Locke married a woman from Rutland, Vermont, and visited there in July 1972,
when he was inducted into the American Golf Hall of Fame in Foxburg, Pennsylvania.
After the ceremony, Locke returned to Vermont and won the Vermont Open, his
last US victory, at age 55.
Bobby Locke is widely recognized
as the greatest magician with a putting wand ever to play the game of golf.
READING THE PUTT: SPEED THEN LINE
Locke had wonderful depth perception, touch, and visualization skills. He was
known to visualize many of the subtle details of contour break and surface condition
in his mental memory of the putt path. Ken Bowden noted: "He could vividly retain
all the breaks and rolls twixt ball and cup in his mind's eye, even at long
distances."
For Locke, pace was primary, and then break. He had three putting speeds depending
upon playing conditions: "I work to the rule that if the green appears to be
fast, I will aim my putt at an imaginary hole six to twelve inches short of
the hole. If the green appears to be slow, and particularly if the last two
or three feet to the hole the ground is uphill, I hit it firmly for the back
of the hole." On medium speed greens, he died the ball over the lip.
Later, he wrote: "I have a basic rule of thumb for greens of differing pace.
On a fast green I aim to hit the ball six inches short of the actual hole; on
medium-paced greens I putt to drop the ball just over the front lip of the hole;
on slow greens I putt firmly for the back of the cup."
He used his feet to feel the speed of the green. Al Barkow watched Locke at
the 1972 British Open size up a 90-footer from the front of a green at Muirfield:
"He wiped misty rain from his glasses with a handkerchief as he walked all the
way to the cup, kept pressing his feet in a kind of never-leave-the-ground tap
dance to get the speed of the green as he peered down looking for grain, finally
got to the ball and gave it that same grungy stroke. He rapped the ball to within
two inches of the cup. Beautiful!"
Locke considered a consistent "topspin" roll as the key to distance control.
He said: "My first objective in putting has always been to impart topspin to
the ball. By that I mean causing the ball to roll immediately as truly end-over-end
as possible -- without any skidding, sidespinning, or hopping."
Locke felt this sort of roll gave him two advantages: distance control, and
a better chance of the ball dropping into the cup on trajectories off the centerline.
For distance, he said: "The player who consistently can produce such a roll
usually develops the best sense of distance; the regularity of the ball's movement
enables him to gauge the speed of his putts very precisely, day in and day out."
As an example of Locke's distance control, consider this anecdote: Once Locke
missed an ordinary three-foot putt, the only putt anyone recalled him missing,
but on the very next hole he promptly sank a 50-footer with seeming abandon.
A spectator asked him how he could so casually sink such a long putt right on
top of the short miss. Locke replied: "Oh, the second putt wasn't any tougher;
it was just longer, don't you see?"
For speed control and putt path, Locke took exceptional care to examine the
final three or four feet of the putt. He considered this area, where the ball
would be slowing and responding to subtleties in the green, the section of the
putt that would determine success or failure.
He wrote: "I examine the line of the putt, concentrating particularly on a radius
of about three feet around the hole. This is where the ball completes its run,
and what happens here is going to make or mar the putt."
In this area, Locke looked for clues to his best speed. "I give very special
attention to the type and length of grass and to the contours in the immediate
vicinity of the hole, gradually pulling together in my mind a clear picture
of overall pace."
Locke also planned his line in reference to the break point, or furthest lateral
extension of the putt's true curve. He said: "All putts are straight putts.
If the contour of the green creates a right to left breaking putt, you aim at
a point where you believe the ball will begin to turn toward the hole and hit
the putt straight at that point."
Locke described his mental game once he had returned to the ball to make his
putt: "Having carefully assessed these [hills and hollows along the path], I
marry the picture I get of ground contour to the picture I already have of the
speed of the putt, until I form a clear mind's-eye view of the ball running
across the green and into the hole."
He steadfastly refused to be hurried, and would not putt until his mental picture
of the putt's pace and path were crystal clear to him. His constant mantras:
"One shot at a time." and "Second guesses in putting are fatal."
SETUP AND GRIP
Locke's grip was the same he used in the full swing, an overlapping grip, with
his thumbs straight down on the shaft. He had a light grip pressure for better
feel in his hands and fingers.
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Locke also concentrated on feeling the putterhead, and for this he never varied
his hand position on the grip or his stance, regardless of the length of the
putt. His putter was longer than most in his day, and he positioned his hands
high on the grip, above his left knee near his thigh.
Locke used excellent head position, well bent over the ball. It appears his
plane of vision was very close to that of the vertical plane of the putt, with
eyes and gaze directly above the ball and the back of his head flat.
STROKE AND IMPACT DYNAMICS
In the stroke itself, Locke believed in eliminating sidespin, because he felt
sidespin made the ball spin out of the hole when it approached the cup off the
centerline. He wanted to keep this approach available in his putting, to increase
his chances of getting a sink.
Locke felt each hole has four "doors," a front, left side, right side, and back
door. The front door was the door directly approached by the putt at perfect
speed on the perfect path. Locke felt that if he aimed for the front door he
had three chances of sinking the putt, but if the ball went to either side door
with sidespin, it stood a strong chance of spinning out.
To eliminate sidespin, Locke used "topspin." To get "topspin," Locke stroked
the ball with the putterface slightly on the rise just after the bottom of the
stroke arc. He also "hooded" the putterface during the stroke to ensure a square
putterface aimed on the line at impact and after.
To further ensure against sidespin, Locke sought to guard against a "cut stroke"
with the stroke path moving from out to in across the ball."Never cut a putt."
He did this by addressing the ball with the toe of his putterface placed directly
behind the ball, but then in the stroke he impacted the ball with the central
sweetspot.
Part of the anti-cutstroke setup, Locke addressed the ball with a narrow stance
(feet about 4 inches apart) and with his feet (and hips) closed to the putt
path. That is, his back foot was pulled back from a line across both toes parallel
to the putt path, about three inches. This closed stance assured a backstroke
path to the inside of the putt line, and hence a delivery on the throughstroke
also from the inside -- practically eliminating the out-to-in cut stroke path
by design.
While it is doubtful that any putt has much sidespin after it gets rolling,
Locke's technique did have the effect of giving his putts a very reliable transfer
of energy. His distance control was superb, and much of this can be attributed
to his avoiding energy loss through cutstrokes, sidespin at the start, or inconsistent
impact. Topspin can be understood as a reliably consistent manner of striking
the ball that imparts no sidespin and avoids energy loss from wobbling, bouncing
or hopping, or prolonged skidding.
It appears that both feet pointed more or less perpendicularly or square to
the start line of the putt, rather than having his front foot flared open. This
way, he could tell when his torso in the throughstroke had returned to square,
because then his hips would return to square. So long as his toes and knees
pointed square, his hips would "lock" back to square right at contact. This
probably helped him sense his stroke for better control and timing.
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Walter Hagen, "The Haig" The "hooding" and "topspin" Locke learned from Walter Hagen during his 1937 tour of South Africa. Locke considered "The Haig" in his heyday as the world's greatest putter. "Hooding" is described as keeping the putterface square to the puttline during the stroke. As the stroke path naturally arcs back around, hooding usually requires some "closing" of the putterface to compensate for the arc's opening of the blade as the arc "gates" back. This is accomplished with a slight "breaking" or folding under of the left wrist going back. The "hooding" left wrist folding increases with longer putt strokes.
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In Locke's case hooding had the effect of changing the stroke path going back from an arc to a straight backstroke along a line parallel to a line across the toes. And his toe line was "closed" to the putt line, so the stroke path back was to the inside on a straight path. |
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Keeping the putter low to the ground was another Locke trait. He did this to
avoid any possible chopping action, that would impart backspin or sidespin.
Keeping the putterhead on this hooded backstroke's straight and low trajectory
requires allowing the left wrist to fold under a bit. It's perhaps not so much
a conscience folding of the wrist as it is keeping the putterhead low to the
ground and moving on this straight line with relaxed grip and wrists; the folding
of the wrist occurs naturally.
Other than the slight wrist action in hooding, Locke was not a wrist putter.
In fact, he was not an arm putter either. He putted with his complete upper
torso as a unit. He wrote:
"I have always thought of the ideal putter swing as matching that of a clock's
pendulum, slow and very smooth, with the clubhead going through the same distance
it goes back. Thus, in returning the putter to the ball, I try to swing it very
smoothly at the same pace I swung it back. Again, there is no wrist action.
The putter is swung by my hands, wrists and arms as a unit; my left wrist at
impact has exactly the same relationship to my left arm that it had at address.
This ensures that the putterblade remains square to my target through impact
and well into the follow-through."
Even though Locke described his stroke as above, there seems to be a bit more
to note. Peter Alliss said he observed Locke's shoulders moved "a little from
right to left as he came into the ball. The stroke itself was rather a jabbing
one, with little or no follow-through."
Sam Snead had seen a similar move in 1946: "What discouraged me was the way
"Old Droopy Jowls" held his putter at the very tip and with his left hand far
over the shaft, which was the same grip he used on all shots. ... He had a closed
stance and hooked his putts. His grip was so light I thought he'd drop the stick.
And when he putted, instead of keeping still, he swayed like a Bloomer girl!"
John Jacobs compared Locke's full-swing and putting strokes this way: "His downswing
was outside his backswing, but still inside the target line. It was a pulling
action from an exaggerated hook setup. ... His putting was very similar. He
did not hook his putts by rolling the clubface through the ball with his hands
and wrists. Again, he aimed [his ankle-line] right, the club very much inside
on the backswing, but then he turned through, putting en masse with the body,
with no independent hand/wrist action. That was why his stroke was so dependable
and why he was so good a putter. Also, coming from the inside, then turning
through gives you the feel of the distance of a putt with the body. I would
never try to teach it, but you can learn that the way to putt is to hit from
the inside and then straight through, which gives you the same action and the
same feel for distance."
Locke himself said he always kept his head still until after impact. "A vitally
important point, especially on the through-swing, is keeping your head down
and still. Look at the ball's original position until the ball itself vanishes
from sight. If your head moves, everything is for naught. My head eventually
turns to let me watch what is happening to the ball, but it swivels and never
sways forward."
This seemingly contradicts the "sway" move others describe. From photos, it
appears Locke's head in fact stayed stationary throughout the stroke, but his
shoulderframe rocked back around and then through as he pivoted his fixed torso
with his hips, beneath a still head bent down to watch the ball's location.
Seen from behind, one can see Locke's right shoulder moving back around towards
his rear on the backstroke slightly, and then pivoting outward toward the putt
line as he makes his throughstroke.
At this point in the stoke, he probably added a bit of targetward lateral move
by pushing his right shoulder through on the putt line as he delivered the putterhead
through impact.
Even with this shoulder move, however, he kept his head still until after the
ball was gone, and then allowed his face to swivel targetward for a look.
If Locke's arms had been hanging beneath his shoulder sockets, like modern Tour
putters, his shoulder move would be oriented in a vertical plane and would closely
resemble Loren Roberts and similar golfers -- rock the left shoulder down and
right shoulder up on the backstroke, then reverse for the throughstroke. As
it was, Locke simply stood taller, but he still "rocked" his shoulders in plane.
A final aspect Locke incorporated to avoid sidespin was keeping the putter low
to the ground, brushing the tops of the grass blades.
Locke also used to concentrate on making a particular sound that indicated solid
contact. It was a slight pinging or clicking noise. When contact was not solid,
the sound was absent and there was more of a thud sound, with the ball lacking
full energy. Peter Alliss described this: "Locke would sometimes give a demonstration
of precise striking and its results. The perfectly-struck putt produced a light
ringing sound from his steel blade. Others made a more muffled sound and the
ball finished short of the hole."
The image one gets of Locke's stroke is that he rotated his "unit" back with
his torso carried around on gracefully pivoting hips, incorporating a slight
left-wrist folding to "hood" the face on a straight path back inside along his
toe line, followed by a carefully controlled return of the putterface with his
upper torso unwinding back into the ball as if only his right shoulder is coming
forward and all other parts are held fixed, the putterhead kept low, his eyes
seeing the putterhead square through impact on a slight uprising trajectory
solidly through the ball, with everything focused on impact, rather than on
the total "pattern" of the stroke or a symmetric follow-through. Hence, the
"jabbing" look of his stroke.
The ritual was always the same. The technique was always the same. Excellent
sense of distance, clear vision of the putt's path into the hole, and a consistent
and reliable technique for hitting the line and distance -- what a wonderful
combination!
PuttingZone Bibliography
Bobby Locke
5.01.08.01.01.01. .-- -- -- -- -- BOBBY LOCKE / -- LOCKE
5.01.08.01.01.01. Bowden, Ken Bobby Locke: Benign imperturbability--and the
hottest putter in history In Aultman, Dick & Bowden, Ken, eds., The Methods
of the Masters: How They Played and What You Can Learn from Them (New York:
Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1975), 103-111.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Bowden, Ken Golf's most unlikely champion Golf Dig. 23(12),
Dec 1972, 39-43, 46 Bobby Locke.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Dennis, Larry Putting: Who's the best putter on Tour? 30 leading
pros rate the top performers on the greens Golf Dig. 24(12), Dec 1973, 36-40
40: Gary Player: "Bobby Locke of South Africa was without question the finest
putter of any era."
5.01.08.01.01.01. Floyd, Raymond & Dennis, Larry From Sixty Yards In: How to
Master Golf's Short Game (New York: Harper Collins, 1992) 62.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Golf Digest All About Putting (New York: Coward, McCann &
Geoghegan; London: Kaye & Wind, 1973) 46-51: Topspin puts it in.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Golf Magazine Foreign masters: Putting: Bobby Locke Golf Mag.
24(4), Apr 1982, 46-51.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Golf Magazine How the pros hone their strokes: Putting practice
methods from a dozen TPA tour players Golf Mag. 23(11), Nov 1981, 76-80.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Golf Magazine Strokes of genius: Diversity marks the best
putters of the last 50 years Golf Mag. 29(8), Aug 1987, 42-44.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Golf Magazine Strokes of genius: What you can learn from history's
finest putters Golf Mag. 17(5), May 1975, 64 VI: Bobby Locke -- grip pressure
loose, just enough to keep putter from falling out of hands.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Golf World Bobby and Gene Golf World 6(6), Jul 18, 1952, 7
Bobby Locke wins third British Open.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Golf World Bobby is sharp Golf World 3(4), Jul 6, 1949, 10-11
Bobby Locke at British Open.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Golf World Exit Locke, smiling Golf World 4(9), Aug 9, 1950,
14 Photo of iron-shot follow-through.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Golf World That man Locke again Golf World 4(6), Jul 19, 1950,
6 Second British Open win.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Life Bobby Locke Life 23, 18 Aug 1947, 57-58.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Lister, D. Putting and the Bobby Locke action Golf Monthly
69(4), Apr 1979, 40-41, 43.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Locke, Bobby Bobby Locke on Golf (London: Country Life, 1953;
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1954) ch 17: Putting, 119-123.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Locke, Bobby Golf Hints (1955).
5.01.08.01.01.01. Locke, Bobby How to Improve Your Putting (1949).
5.01.08.01.01.01. Locke, Bobby The Basis of My Game (1950)
5.01.08.01.01.01. Locke, Bobby Topspin puts it in Golf Dig. 23(12), Dec 1972,
44-45.
5.01.08.01.01.01. McDonnell, M. Bobby Locke: The golfing greats -- no. 6: The
South African master, four times Open champion, was arguably the finest putter
in the world but he was never a great shot-maker Golf Illus. 1(13), 22 Aug 1985,
28-29, 31.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Norval, Ronald King of the Links: The Story of Bobby Locke
(Cape Town: Maskew Miller, 1951) 108p.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Palmer, Arnold & Dobereiner, Peter Arnold Palmer's Complete
Book of Putting (New York: Atheneum, 1986) 114-116;.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Player, Gary There is another way to putt: Consider the putting
style used by Bobby Locke, Billy Casper and other great putters, including Gary
himself Golf Mag. 18(10), Oct 1976, 50-53
5.01.08.01.01.01. Price, Charles Great putters I have known Golf Mag. 14(9),
Sep 1972, 42-43, 81-82.
5.01.08.01.01.01. Ward-Thomas, Pat Bobby Locke In Ward-Thomas, Pat, The Lay
of the Land: A Collection of the Golf Writings of Pat Ward-Thomas (ed. Wind,
Herbert Warren & Macdonald, Robert; Pownal, VT: Storey Pub., The Classics of
Golf, 1990), 15-28.
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Locke
finished 6th in the National Capital Invitational, and he was considered
by many as the man to beat in the 1946 US Open. Locke placed 4th, behind
winner Lloyd Mangrum (pictured here).
