Bradley is off to a slow start 
bogey, bogey, double!
Brave recovery after a tough start. -2 on the back. Hang in there Brad…we are all routing for you 
Cheers, Arnie
69 tomorrow he’ll play the weekend.
Can’t imagine Norman missing the cut. If Greg and Bradley play well tomorrow, it would be fun to see them paired together on Saturday. I might have to take a red eye down for that!
I just took a look at the stats, and 35 putts the first day tells the story. In tournament play, a cold putter tends to have an invasive feeling throughout the entire game. Hitting 12 greens is certainly respectable in a major event set up under tournament conditions. I wasn’t there, but I’ve played the course, and from what I understand they re designed most all the greens and they are much tricker and more undulating than in the past. If your touch is a bit off, or the stroke is not spot on… it’s very easy to miss a lot of putts when the greens are fast and sloping. So it’s just hard to score with a cold putter.
Kind of the way golf is… you just have to be patient and wait for the putter to smile back at you, and this is why it’s important to play a lot of events and wait your turn. For good strikers like Bradley, it’s not as difficult because they only have to win the battle on the greens… not tee to green. I’m glad to see Bradley hitting the ball good again. When he gets back to playing full time, eventually the hole will open up, and he’ll be back on top of his game again, I have no doubt.
15 greens in friday’s second round and 37 putts for a 75…Pretty miserable stuff…I made only 2 one putts in 2 days which is not going to get you anywhere… The greens were really slow especially for all the undulations and I just couldn’t get anything to the hole. 36 putts thursday and 37 putts friday…hit some good putts that didn’t drop…hit some average putts that weren’t on line at all…and hit 85% of my putts short no matter how hard I tried to tell myself to hit the putt.
29 greens at The New South Wales Open and 28 greens in The Aus Open and watching TV on both weekends…not much fun but at least I have proven to myself that the work I have done with the modules is paying off with my ball striking. That takes some pressure off by knowing in the future that my game can be well under control on a consistent basis with minimal practice…the modules work your swing to a committed level of easy repetition…so now the touch shots around the greens and the putting can become a priority for me to work on and not just an after thought… I just got tied up in knots worrying about my putting the past 2 weeks…It may be putting with an impact bag in my room or use a long putter the next event to try and stop the rot and turn it around somehow.
One more event in Queensland at The Aust PGA so all I need is to gain some putting confidence and the rest is in place.
I had 5 birdies here at The Lakes and 4 of them were 2 putts on par 5 holes,and the other birdie being a short splash shot from a bunker to a foot for a another Par 5 birdie…so I had 28 birdie or eagle putts in 36 holes and made only one of them…and that was from a foot away. And no par 3 or par 4 birdies no matter how well I played the hole.
I did achieve something however this week…in the first round on hole #3 I had not only the worst lie I have ever had but the worst lie I have ever seen in my 20 plus years as a pro. I drove it about 3 yards or so off the right side of the fairway into one of the new waste bunkers they installed on the course…a gallery member or marshall however had stood in the sand and sunk down about 8 -10 inches…and you guessed it,my ball lodged right into the foot print. I took a full swing with a SW sideways to just try get the ball back to the fairway and managed to move it approx 1 yard, still leaving 220 yards in to the hole still in the waste area…that set the tone for the first 9 holes and I was struggling from there although I did fight hard. I played the back nine 3 under for the week yet the front nine I couldn’t get anything to function in my favour…
Very frustrating and a gentle reminder that golf isn’t fair…so…how do we come up with an ABS putting program!!..I’m signed up already!!! although I think my poor putting is more mental than about physical imperfections with my stroke or putter alignment
No Golf is definitely not a fair game. Yeah we should ask Lag to make module 12 “ADVANCED PUTTING STRIKE”. I’m guessing it’s just a mental thing… but what do I know about tournament golf. 
Bradley… if you don’t mind… can you post your scratch iron picture.
Good Luck!!
Yes, it was hard to watch Bradley, seeing you time and time again drill beautiful shots into the green just to walk off with another par. I took it you were stone dead in that waste trap from the incredible hack you had to do just to move it. Then I saw what looked like a great recovery approach 3W (?) shot to be punished with an near impossible up and down.
I found it hard to watch because it was a reflection of where my frustrating game is, needless to say at a lesser level. Maybe this is an area for ABS to look at–preparing students for their improved ballstriking. I’m expecting to be scoring better because my ballstriking is ridiculously much better, but I’m walking off with the same scores or worse than playing partners hacking it to the green. My approaches now leave tricky long putts instead of easy chips or just miss elevated small greens leaving impossible up and downs instead of being short with an easy chip through pensioner alley, or bad drives catching the trees or rough lining fairways instead of sitting pretty on the next fairway.
It’s like there’s these hard intermediary places to pass through in the golf improvement journey where scores just don’t tell the story.
Anyway it was truly fantastic meeting you at the two tournaments in NSW and pray to those golfing gods up there, Hogan, Jones, Snead,… pay you those putts they owe you.
Thanks for the update Bradley, I know it can be a painful process to relive it all in a forum post! 
But as we all know so well, things can change in a hurry when the putter suddenly decides to cooperate. 
I would be nothing but encouraged with the good ball striking. That’s half the battle, and it sounds like you have a driver
you can hit which is huge… so that is very good. The ball striking will get even better as you get more comfortable with the changes over time… and also within the framework of serious competition.
It was probably interesting to be paired with Dudley Hart the first two days and see the difference good putting can do, as I imagine you were likely hitting it as good as he was. I know he was right in contention after 2 rounds.
As far as an ABS Putting module… I am working on some stuff with good results so far. I won’t hold my breath but I have been putting really well with very little practice… and I’ll keep documenting my discoveries which I think are right in line with what we have all been working on.
I like to walk my talk as most of you know… so I obviously need to be putting well myself so I can properly reflect and not just be another observation based instructor.
Once I solidify the key elements, I’ll take on a few voluntary test subjects, to make sure it’s not just a “works for me” thing, but has more universal validity.
Just don’t be down Bradley.
If this is as bad as your putting gets, and this is as unlucky as you get… how fortunate it will be to have that behind you. The shot making was impressive (I’ve been following online) and don’t let that get lost! (I don’t think you have let it get lost, just emphasizing that!)
If I had a shred of the ability to do what you are right now… geez, I’d be pumped about coming back into a damn hard game with such a sharp ball striking result.
I think Bradley and I are similar in that we like to win golf tournaments. I would rather have one win, and 10 missed cuts than 11 20th place finishes. Making cuts is good for a payday, but what we like is getting in the hunt on the Sunday back nine. That’s why we put ourselves through all the grind. I think the downside of the huge purses on the tours these days is that we see a lot of golf played without much passion. Too many players are thinking about 5th place money being worth protecting.
I find that boring as a player and as a spectator. I’ll use my former college teammate Kevin Sutherland as an example because I know him. I think he would be the prototype journeyman “it’s a job” kind of player. 20 years, 400 plus starts and no stroke play wins.
And while his career has made him 15 million dollars, we all know it’s not really about money. If it was then he is 100 times the player that Ben Hogan was… which he is not. I would suspect there are readers here that have never heard or him or couldn’t pick him out of a crowd of PGA Tour players on a driving range. Kevin is a good player but not a winner. If he was he would have figured out how to get into the winner’s circle 5 or 6 times with 400 starts. He did win the match play event, but that’s a different animal. When it’s all said and done, it’s about what you won, not how many cuts you made or how much money you made. I think 125 player exemption is too much. 60 would be better, and open up room for more guys to follow the tour with more spots on Monday so you could play your way onto the tour at anytime during the year.
Less security means more work from the players, and if they miss, they could still follow the Monday Q’s which would have 60 spots instead of 4… still allowing 20 plus sponsor exemptions.
Personally I would rather have Bradley’s record than Kevin’s by a long shot. Even Sam Randolph’s for that matter. However, I would probably rather have Kevin’s than mine! lol… but in all seriousness, I am certain that if I had 400 PGA Tour starts, I would have won a few times out there because I know how to win.
Some weeks it’s just not happening no matter how hard you grind it out. All the technique we work on and anything else is as best working toward increasing our probability of success in an event. It’s not fun missing cuts, but it’s part of professional golf, and something every pro has to deal with. I don’t think too passive an attitude is good either. Getting a bit down is normal, and can be very motivating also. It depends upon how the emotional energy is directed. Frustration can lead to new ideas, try new things, or simply a real carefree let it rip and go attitude that can open up some good golf. It can’t get worse, so here I go… watch this…
Fred Couples missed the cut. Aaron Baddeley, and a lot of other fine players. No guarantees in this game any one week… but over time… the cream rises to the top… and if a player like Bradley gets 30 starts… you will see him on the Sunday shoot out, while some of the other guys will not be there. Just the way it is.
Very true words. Double-edged sword that most of us probably never thought would be an issue. Beware what you wish for! 
Seriously, it makes perfect sense that you absolutely have to putt well to score…especially when you hit a lot of greens. One way to mitigate the situation is not only to putt better, but to divide the green (or landing area) into sections. There are greens on my course that when the pin is in a certain place, it’s better to actually miss the green. I say, miss the green then. What ever it takes to score.
The best part is there is much more time to focus on putting and short game stuff. I’m speaking from my point of view, but as an amateur and previously missing a lot of greens - now as an accurate SOB, I have to fight to keep from going to sleep when I actually hit the dance floor. I was finding that I concentrated harder on saving after missing the green or making that par putt than I would to make the birdie. That mission accomplished, green hit in regulation mentality has to go bye-bye.
It’s birdies on every hole. Eagle occasionally, but in a smart way.
Cheers,
Captain Chaos
p.s. It’ll come together Brad. A tremendous weight regarding the swing has been lifted. Don’t add another while putting. You’ll find what works and confidence will return in spades.
I saw them on Thursday. They are a thing of beauty. Only thing I would change is the font of the number on the sole.
First round of The PGA at Coolum coming up tomorrow. 7.30am Queensland time
Have practiced really well this week and in the pro-am today. My ball striking is at a level I haven’t felt for a long long time,…probably the most consistent and solid and controlled and aggressive my swing has felt for close to 15 years or more…natural and forceful and confident… so the trip over has really shown me that I can still compete…
No matter what happens this week it has been an eye opening experience to take so much time off from playing and show the form I have shown with hitting the ball.
My putting hurt me the past 2 weeks but I have decided to bring back a ghost from the past for this week…the long putter…after 17 years in the cupboard and will give it a whirl in an attempt to find some confidence on the greens in this final event.
I have an old mate caddying for me who lives in Brisbane…he is on ABS as sandbelt…and caddied for me when I won the 1993 Masters and the 1996 TPC as well as in my playoff loss in Japan in 92 Daiwa KBC event…so having him on my bag this week will be a huge plus because we have done well in the past as a team.
I will try update what happens and am in real need of a good week financially or this could be it for a while for me…Fingers crossed
I’ll be rooting for you, Good luck tomorrow 
It’s great to hear you are pulling some real positive reinforcement out of this experience. (at least I don’t sense any real frustration!)
Just a matter of time before the stars line up a bit for you. I am sure we all really hope you can get enough from this event to keep persuing this, but money is money!
The stories my buddy told me about being on the Canadian tour, and even some of the guys out there now tell me the ‘hand-to-mouth’ environment they live in between paycheques… ouch. (You ever hear Lag’s Bear ‘attack’ story?)
Hang in there.
Have I ever! There are now laws in Canada just because of those incidents!
See:
Canadian Statute 343.05 (3) - It is deemed unlawful for any individual/group to set out bait in order to attract a bear (black, brown, kodiak or polar) with the expressed purpose of trapping, killing (with a 7 iron or below) and using said bear for deli-meat whilst competing on the Canadian PGA tour.
Canadian Statute 343.05 (4) - It is deemed unlawful for any individual/group to dress in bear costumes for the purpose of simulating attacks on Canadian PGA tour patrons for financial gain, clothing, or access to transportation.
Captain Chaos
p.s. You’ll do well Bradley. A champion attitude doesn’t take a holiday.
Just checked and our man is -3 through 4 - good on you, TM!
I was too scared to post the same Cheese, for fear of the commentator’s curse.
-4 through 6!
They showed him finishing his round on local TV with a 68(-4). There was some commentary about him using old wooden clubs and blades to get his swing back.
A good night on the the ABS homefront for sure. Well played.
If I had that power, Steb, this world would be a scary (I should say scarier, I guess) place!