2007 Masters Putting Lesson…Wooden Leg, $1.25 Buds, I Love This Bar

Toby Keith sums it up…
I’ve seen short skirts
We’ve got high-techs
Blue-collared boys and rednecks
And we got lovers
Lots of lookers
I’ve even seen dancing girls and hookers
And we like to drink our beer from a mason jar
Hmmm, Hmmm, Hmmm, Hmmm, Hmmm, I love this bar

That pretty much sums it up about the post Masters practice round Augusta, Ga local bar we found one afternoon.

Four of us Yankees, Scotty included, walked in and bought the whole bar a drink. And the tab came to less than $20. Everybody instantly became our friend and came over to talk to us. We had many new friends for the rest of the night. And everybody was cool, even the local “girls”.

So we are at the bar and in walks this older guy with an English type accent. Not sure what kind of accent it was but it was from across the pond. I buy him a scotch and we start talking.

It turns out he was this putting guru and just came from Augusta National as he was with Padraig Harrington, helping him on the putting green. He introduces himself as Harold Swash, inventor of the Yes! putter. I didn’t quite believe him but as the scotch flowed he became more believable.

Mr. Swash starts to explain his putting method to me. I’m trying to figure out how he is explaing to get the putter grip in the life line of my left hand, then just lock it in and rock the shoulders for the stroke. I’m having a hard time trying to figure it out as we didn’t have a putter. Out of nowhere, Mr. Swash spots an old wooden leg hanging up on the wall behind the bar. He tells the bartender to take it down, grabs my hands, places them the wooden leg like it was a putter and continues his putting lesson without missing a beat. It actually didn’t feel that bad and I got the feeling for his method. I was actually going to switch to Mr. Swash’s method.

We had a good laugh, Mr. Swash finishes his drink and heads out the door just as quickly as he came in.

Me and Scotty just looked at each other in disbelief that this just happened. Only at The Masters!

We got back to our hotel, google Harold Swash and there he was. The same guy giving us a lesson with a wooden leg.

Nobody is going to believe our story when we get back home!