Akshay Bhatia Breaks Down Changes to His Putting Stroke
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - The change, Steven Sweeney, your putting coach,
00:05 how did y'all end up making the decision
00:08 to go from the arm lock to the broomstick putter?
00:11 - Yeah, I think,
00:13 you know, I never had good putting weeks.
00:19 I remember Mexico, the Vedante, Mexico Open,
00:24 that was the first week I did Aimpoint.
00:26 I played with Harry Hall the week before in the Zurich,
00:28 and he was kind of telling me about it.
00:30 And first week I did it, I gained like four strokes,
00:33 and I was like, all right, well, this is it.
00:35 And then just from there, I never had good putting weeks,
00:38 and I hit it so good,
00:40 but yet I was losing strokes almost every week.
00:43 And even at Barracuda, you know, I never putted great.
00:47 I just kind of hung around,
00:50 and that format's a little different,
00:51 but, you know, I had, unfortunately,
00:54 obviously didn't get into the playoffs
00:57 when I won, didn't get my points.
00:59 And I went down to see Steven,
01:02 and I told him, you know, I want to try the broomstick.
01:05 Obviously, Lucas Glover won the week of window using it,
01:10 switched, and obviously the guy's been through
01:13 a lot of different feelings.
01:14 And I've had, you know, I've had some feelings on the greens,
01:17 and I've tried, you know, regular putter,
01:22 and I've putted great on the regular putter,
01:24 but sometimes, you know, mentally, I just couldn't do it.
01:27 And arm lock was just difficult
01:30 because I can never get my speed right.
01:33 You know, obviously, once it's locked into your arm,
01:35 then you can only do so much manipulation with your wrist
01:39 to, you know, hit a 50, 60 footer,
01:42 up a slope or whatever it may be.
01:43 And I remember trying the broomstick,
01:46 and, you know, Sweeney really liked it,
01:49 but I was just not really convinced,
01:51 and I practiced with it for a little bit.
01:55 And I remember going into Napa at the Fortinet,
02:00 and, you know, first round, I'm like,
02:03 I think it was Tuesday, Wednesday,
02:04 I was going back and forth of arm lock, broomstick,
02:08 arm lock, broomstick, and then, you know,
02:09 I'm like, I'm just gonna try this broomstick.
02:11 And I putted terrible.
02:13 The first round, I putted so bad.
02:15 And then the second round, you know,
02:17 I switched back to arm lock, and I putted great.
02:20 And I putted with Justin that week,
02:22 and he's like, man, that broomstick sucks pretty much.
02:27 (laughing)
02:30 And then, you know, I played that fall season,
02:33 and I putted a little bit better,
02:35 but still not good enough to obviously win that fall.
02:39 And I played RSM, and the first round,
02:42 I think we had a rain delay,
02:43 so we came back Friday, finished the round,
02:46 and I was using arm lock in the second day,
02:49 or the second round, and I was like,
02:51 told my guys, just go get the broomstick
02:53 if I miss this cut, whatever.
02:54 I just wanna see how this is.
02:55 And, you know, I started to feel a little more comfortable,
02:57 and I still, you know, I didn't roll it great,
03:01 and I made some nice putts.
03:04 I made a lot more longer putts,
03:05 and then this, you know, December,
03:08 we kind of had a call, and everyone was kind of like,
03:11 we need to do this,
03:12 and I think it's really gonna make a big change.
03:15 (upbeat music)
03:17 [MUSIC]