Explore every episode of the podcast Putting Is Fun

John is out this week, so Kieran Harris of Good Misses sits in the Ortega chair from his mother-in-law's basement in Toronto. Brian Manzella, Top 50 teacher, starts with the putter in Kieran's bag: a 20-year-old Ping Zing 2, the putter Curtis Strange won two US Opens with, and the putter Brian's dad Basil Manzella putted the best of his life with after banging the pin so many times he took the loft off.

Then the big question: do regular people putt better than they did 20 years ago? Kieran caddied in the Toronto city championship and watched a grade 8 kid with $6,000 custom clubs and a $750 zero-torque putter shoot 125. Brian says the Nunez Tour putts better now, but the tour stat everybody recycles on the socials is lying: greens are slopier and faster and they're playing for more money.

Also: can you teach the modern tour stroke to Mr. Faversham, the 65-year-old accountant? Never up, never in is out. The 25-handicap stroke, described. Tiger, Crenshaw, and the putter head behind the hands. Vic Harris and the conveyor belt stroke. Freddie Haas, who hit down on it and ended Byron Nelson's streak. Why plumber's necks bend if you lean on them. Name 20 famous putting instructors, and why they all look the same. The Norman Playground putt-putt experiment. Hubert Green's $5 barrel putter, Isao Aoki's 38-inch loaner, and Buddy Reno, who cut every putt and knew it.

Chapters 0:00 Putting Is Fun 0:37 John is out. Meet Kieran Harris 2:20 Putting Is Fun is an attitude 3:45 The putter wall at Golf Town 4:44 Edwin Watts and the 3 wood that almost made an ace 6:38 Kieran's 20-year-old Ping Zing 2 7:40 Curtis Strange, and Basil Manzella banging the pin 9:12 What a $70 putter cost in 1983 10:57 Do people putt better than 20 years ago? 11:42 $6,000 clubs, a $750 putter, and a 125 13:12 The Nunez Tour putts better now 15:13 The tour stat recycled on the socials 15:52 TifEagle Bermuda: a different sport 17:34 The kid who shot 66 in the rain 19:44 Can you teach the modern tour stroke to regular people? 20:38 Mr. Faversham, the 65-year-old accountant 21:20 Never up, never in is out. Get it close 23:30 No trickle-down from tour strokes. Give me a putting lesson 24:17 The 25-handicap stroke, described 25:04 If Rory showed up with a 10-footer 25:41 Beating David Toms at 11 27:08 Grip, thumbs, elbows on the ribs 29:02 Tiger, Crenshaw, and the putter head behind the hands 29:37 One-handed putting for speed 30:40 Vic Harris and the conveyor belt stroke 31:24 A little lag in transition: the two-finger test 33:00 Hitting down on it: Kevin Abe and Freddie Haas 35:06 Take loft off and hit up on it 36:03 Plumber's necks bend: go look at the used rack 38:23 The chest pass 38:47 Don't lean on it, don't fix ball marks with it 40:20 Manganese bronze vs. 303: put a sock on it 41:35 Name 20 famous putting instructors 43:57 Same devices, same numbers, $600 an hour 47:27 Too much similarity in high-end putting instruction 48:05 The sock in the laundry bin 48:23 Norman Playground and the putt-putt experiment 52:40 Ben Franklin High goes to City Park 53:39 30 kids, 30 putting instructors, a contest at Oakmont 54:19 The Oakmont practice green prank 55:11 The best putters will look like none of the above 56:10 Jake Knapp: don't change it 58:26 Hubert Green and Isao Aoki: putters out of barrels 60:20 Putting needs more variety 60:37 Buddy Reno cut his putts. Bobby Jones would be fine 61:39 Trevino on Trackman: all zeros 61:53 Get well, Johnny

Brian Manzella is a Top 50 teacher and runs his Studio in the Sky in New Orleans. John Ortega is co-founder of John Byron Putters, runs the Ortega Golf Lab in Costa Mesa and is long time coach to PGA Tour winner Jake Knapp. Kieran Harris runs Feel Good Golf Academy in Toronto and co-hosts Good Misses.

Be your own coach.

#PuttingIsFun #FunnelGolf #Putters #PingZing #GolfHistory putting is fun, funnel golf, brian manzella, kieran harris, john ortega, ping zing 2,

Tricked-out putters, all the way down. Brian Manzella and John Ortega on the first putter covers, $800 headcovers, black oxide and Cerakote, flipping a beat-up Scotty for profit, how Karsten swedged the Anser shaft with a ball bearing, the marble in Tom Watson's putter, Jack Nicklaus painting a Bullseye white, and why a black shaft on a black putter ruined Brian's putting. Brian Manzella is a Top 50 teacher. John Ortega is co-founder of John Byron Putters and long time coach to PGA Tour winner Jake Knapp. Be your own coach.

Chapters 0:00 Putting Is Fun 0:37 New Orleans and rainy Costa Mesa 2:36 When did putter covers show up? 4:17 The John Byron Play Ball Series and the Straight Flush cover 6:30 $800 headcovers 7:39 Never game a Piretti without a cover 8:24 Black oxide and gunblue 10:15 8620 carbon steel and Cerakote 11:55 The first refinishers 13:17 A beat-up Scotty Cameron Studio: what it's worth 17:19 Pete Mata and Ohana Golf 18:05 $300 putter, $150 refinish, sells for $500 plus 20:02 Two guys by the beach making putters 21:20 Bailey Boo and custom headcovers 22:16 Tricking out the shaft 23:16 Karsten swedged the Anser shaft with a ball bearing 27:30 Tom Watson, the 8802, and Turnberry 28:58 The only game you can peak at 70 30:28 The black putter, black shaft problem 31:44 Lines, dots, and how a putter looks on the ground 34:22 Big Don and the Teaching Summit tangent 37:02 Tiffany green and the White Fang story 39:23 Bead-blasted Circle Ts and the Crenshaw silversmith story 41:50 Tungsten in an 8802 43:40 Why put an insert in a 303? 48:15 Smooth face vs. milled: smash factor 49:41 Garsons, Runyon, and the peak 52:52 Wish-list grips 55:28 The Spider song IOU 57:11 Putting is fun

Brian Manzella and John Ortega go through the training aids that actually work. The motorized putting platforms with projected break lines, why John is buying a Zen, and why Brian thinks every studio should have one. Bill Smittle's Smittle Stick for matching face rotation to your arc. Matt Bryda's Gimme Towel for speed. The origin of John's Groove Board, from kitchen slats to Se Ri Pak's 81 putts over 54 holes, and the first board off his new 3D printer. Plus the best aid you can't buy anymore. Putting Is Fun is a Funnel Golf show. Golf without the spin.

0:00 Theme song 0:37 Intro: Brian and John 1:07 Putting platforms and projected greens: how we got here 3:56 The Dream Green, 30 years ago 7:57 The big players: WellPutt, Platform Golf, Zen, PuttView, Tour Putt 9:22 Why every studio should have one 10:13 Why John is buying a Zen 12:22 Sizing your platform 14:46 Would you go with a non-green surface? 17:37 What the projected lines teach you 19:32 Kids, early exposure, and the Drive, Chip and Putt flex 21:27 Does the putter's shape change your stroke? 25:35 The under-curl stroke: square face, curved path 27:48 The Smittle Stick 34:04 Center strikes only 34:44 The Gimme Towel by Matt Bryda 40:42 Origin of the Groove Board 43:27 Sold out at the trade show 45:36 The first board off the 3D printer 47:45 Se Ri Pak's 81 putts and Gloria Park 48:47 Favorite training aids that aren't made anymore 51:21 Outro

Sam Osborne (No More Lies) joins Brian Manzella and John Ortega for the first three man Putting Is Fun. Sam has putted side saddle for eight years and makes the case that it is technically superior. Brian covers how one comment from Bobby Jones got Sam Snead's croquet stroke banned, John tells the inside story of the putter he built for Bobby Schaefer and Bryson DeChambeau, and all three dig into putter length, anchoring rules, and why non-golfers learn it faster. Ends with a challenge: try it for half an hour on the practice green.

0:00 Putting Is Fun intro

0:38 Sam Osborne joins the show

2:44 Tour tip: pack a full change of clothes

3:50 Why side saddle putting today

4:51 Sam's story: sick of being in his head

6:40 John tried it too: the Bryson connection

9:20 Brian's dad, the Wilson Augusta and Johnny Miller

11:28 Sam Snead, croquet style and the Bobby Jones rule change

15:01 Who else did it: K.J. Choi and Bryson on tour

17:53 The coffee cup putter: how the Bobby Schaefer putter got built

19:26 Why Bryson quit: USGA and PGA Tour pushback

20:36 Rock or stay steady: different ways to putt face on

22:01 Brian's Langer stroke and the Ben Doyle story

24:30 Equipment: putter length and the Bobby Grace F22

28:35 Design by Bobby Schaefer: titanium heads and a square shaft

32:09 Technique: point your body at the hole

33:40 Loft, anchoring and how Bryson changed the stroke

35:45 Isn't that illegal? Croquet putting in the 30s to 50s

38:05 Did the USGA target Bryson because he is different?

40:07 Would you teach a kid to putt side saddle?

41:05 Better speed control facing the hole

41:40 The putt-putt booth: non-golfers learn it faster

44:59 What John would build now: the GP Dion putter

46:54 The ten minute fix

48:20 What the anchoring rule actually allows

48:54 How to try side saddle this week

50:14 Other weird methods: one handed, the claw, the double saw

51:56 The upside down grip that ended up with K.J. Choi

56:25 Don't go down like a punk: try something

57:32 Wrap up: 148 million golfers, give it a go

They called Scotty Cameron the Copycat Kid. His original designs shut that down for good.

Brian Manzella is a Top 50 teacher and runs his Studio in the Sky in New Orleans. John Ortega is co-founder of John Byron Putters, runs the Ortega Golf Lab in Costa Mesa and is long time coach to PGA Tour winner Jake Knapp. This week the two of them go all the way down the putter rabbit hole: why a third of golfers who show up for a fitting are playing something that grossly doesn't fit them, how Cameron busted through the Copycat Kid nickname with the Futura, the Phantom, and the Teryllium insert in an Anser, why the Circle T (the tour only version of his retail putters, some of them one-off designs for particular players) has the gravity it does, the Tour Championship putter count that ended in a dead tie between the TaylorMade Spider and the Camerons, Michael Kim's 59 with a zero torque Spider, the 8802 Gary Koch talked John out of making, forged vs. milled, welded necks vs. one-piece, and why the big box putter wall is quietly costing you strokes.

If you've ever paid too much for a putter, or too little attention to the one you have, this one's for you.

Be your own coach.

Mallets are winning on tour by a landslide, blades are vanishing from the racks, and after 20 years of better equipment and better data, tour putting stats have barely moved. This week on Putting Is Fun, it's the trends episode.

Brian Manzella, Top 50 teacher, and John Ortega, co-founder of John Byron Putters and long time coach to PGA Tour winner Jake Knapp, break down why mallets keep winning, whether a blade can steal the mallet's advantages, the truth about zero torque putters, and the one stat that should make everybody in golf wonder why. John also pulls out a Millennium X John Byron putter, number 14 of 100, and tells the story behind it.

Watch the full video episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@funnelgolfx

Chapters:

0:00 Putting Is Fun intro

0:53 This week: putting trends

1:21 Mallets vs non-mallets: the tour win count

2:01 Why mallets win: grooves, MOI, and aiming systems

3:28 Can a blade steal the mallet's advantages?

4:24 The John Byron Millennium X: number 14 of 100

6:24 Zero torque putters: mallet mania's next wave

10:14 Why tour pros skip zero torque: Jake Knapp's feel

12:00 Would John Byron Putters ever make a mallet?

13:20 Mallet city: the Roger Dunn story

15:04 Ping, Ryan Fox, and blade-style MOI

17:18 Big grips: has SuperStroke peaked?

21:09 The Apollo hump shaft and modern graphite

23:57 Johnny Miller, Daiwa, and graphite shaft history

28:00 Stroke curve, shoulder rotation, and the robot

35:49 The putting ruler under 150 dollars

37:35 3D printed putters

40:04 The Putting Package: rigid vs flexible strokes

43:11 Trackman 4 for putting lessons

49:16 The wrap-up stat: putting stats haven't improved in 20 years

53:39 Outro

Brian Manzella and John Ortega build a putter from scratch. Not a club, a person.

Ep. 6 is for two kinds of listeners: someone who has never held a putter outside of a mini golf course, and the golfer who has been doing it wrong long enough that the only fix left is starting over. Jack Nicklaus asked his teacher to reteach him golf from the beginning every year, so there is no shame in the reset.

What to buy and what to skip. Why $50 on the used rack plus $15 for a grip beats most new purchases, what a brand new Ping Anser runs off the shelf, and whether the line on the putter and the line on the ball are worth anything. Then the first lesson itself: the reverse overlap grip nearly every great putter used, how much wrist is too much, what a gravity powered putting robot reveals about the arc of a stroke, and where your neck and eyes belong.

Then break. Why putts curve, why architects build the tilt into every green on purpose, and the two dollar yardstick drill that teaches green reading with no system, no fingers in the air, and no math.

Finally, the honest timeline. How often to practice, and how long before you stop embarrassing yourself.

Chapters:
0:00 The Putting Is Fun song and intro
2:01 Becoming a putter: beginners and the great reset
3:55 The first putter: what to buy and what to skip
13:14 What a brand new Ping Anser costs off the rack
18:17 Lines on the ball and lines on the putter
20:06 Your first session: lesson, YouTube, or the putting green
25:08 The reverse overlap grip
32:10 The gravity powered putting robot and the stroke arc
35:20 Wrists: how much is too much, and the flying wedge
39:35 Neck parallel to the ground, and where your eyes go
43:11 Finding a straight putt and why putts break
51:58 Learning to read break: the yardstick drill
58:09 How often to practice and the honest timeline
61:19 The whole plan in one minute

Brian Manzella is a Top 50 teacher and runs his Studio in the Sky in New Orleans. John Ortega is co-founder of John Byron Putters, runs the Ortega Golf Lab in Costa Mesa and is long time coach to PGA Tour winner Jake Knapp.

Aimpoint took over the PGA Tour and never made it to your Saturday game. Brian Manzella and John Ortega break down both green reading systems, the lawsuit between them, and the reason amateurs quit before either one starts working.

Then a drill for anyone who is never going to learn a system: an alignment stick, a repeatable image, and enough repetitions to build an internal GPS.

In the second half, Grok hands over its 25 best putters of all time. Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Bobby Locke and Brad Faxon lead it. Billy Casper is not on it anywhere, which is where the argument starts. Also: the putters who lifted the club off the ground before impact, David Toms opening the Tour School finals with six straight bombs, and the practice green money game called 11.

Brian Manzella is a Top 50 teacher and runs his Studio in the Sky in New Orleans. John Ortega is co-founder of John Byron Putters, runs the Ortega Golf Lab in Costa Mesa and is long time coach to PGA Tour winner Jake Knapp.

Brian and John are back from the US Open at Shinnecock with a report from inside the ropes. John's student Jake Knapp returned from six to eight weeks off with a thumb injury and posted 190 mph ball speed on his first day back. Wyndham Clark signed a putter-only deal with Ping on Wednesday and won on Sunday. And the zero torque putter revolution some predicted? It's quietly stalling on tour.

Also in this one: how the USGA tamed Shinnecock's domed greens, the real differences between Bermuda, Poa annua, and bent, why every putt at Pebble breaks toward the ocean, the digital level calibration tour players swear by, John's "Zen Point" aiming stick drill, and the origin story of the Arnold Palmer 8802.

Brian Manzella is a Top 50 teacher and runs his Studio in the Sky in New Orleans. John Ortega is co-founder of John Byron Putters, runs the Ortega Golf Lab in Costa Mesa and is long time coach to PGA Tour winner Jake Knapp.

Respect the three-footer. Putting is fun.

The golf swing changed. The equipment changed. The putting stroke? Stuck in 1975. Brian Manzella (Top 50 teacher) and John Ortega (co-founder of John Byron Putters, LONG TIME coach to Jake Knapp) trace the stroke from wristy Bobby Jones flicks to the semi frozen-wrist modern era, and ask why 50 years of tech has barely moved it two degrees. Plus: Tiger's misleading SAM PuttLab data, the Nicklaus right arm stroke, Brent White's bag room to boardroom story, Freddy Haas ending Byron Nelson's streak, and the 12 year old who beat John for $22.

He needed a baseball bat. Golf got him instead.

In the first episode of Putting Is Fun, Brian Manzella sits down with John Ortega, the man who has coached PGA Tour winner Jake Knapp since age 8, to hear the whole story: three rounds of caddying to earn a bat, teaching lessons for $12 an hour, co-founding John Byron Putters in the era when Scotty Cameron was still Scott, tour wins with Trevino and Floyd, the Spalding deal that got away, and the lifetime of putting knowledge that came out of all of it.

Brian brings his own honesty: 44 years of teaching, a stack of 27-putt rounds, the nerves that still test him, and the Langer-style stroke that works some of the time. Together they lay out the five elements of putting that this show is built on.

Dedicated to Biv Wadden.

Putting Is Fun is part of Funnel Golf, alongside No More Lies and The Brian Manzella Show. New episodes weekly. Be your own coach.