THE infuriating palaver of getting a small, dimpled ball into a hole has left many a cursing golfer on the brink of insanity.
A crippling three putt here, a horseshoe round the cup there, the constant shaving of the edges everywhere? It’s surprising players are not carted off greens in strait jackets at times.
In an effort to cure some of his putting ills, Richie Ramsay is going to put himself in the Golf Asylum.
That’s the name of a new facility in Coatbridge which is a vast warehouse full of golfing mod-cons and allows players to hone their skills indoors without the hindrances of the Scottish winter weather.
For Ramsay, it could provide the answer. If not, then he could be tempted to move back to the favourable climes of the US with his American wife.
“I love Edinburgh and it is a great place to live but sometimes there is that disadvantage,” said Ramsay, who is in action in South Africa this week at the Nedbank Challenge. “I need to find somewhere in Scotland where I can go to work on my putting as it a common complaint in Scottish golf.
“That was the whole reason I moved to America the first time. I know Angela [his wife] was out there but someone said to me ‘why did you move to America?’ and I said ‘because you can chip and putt better’. I don’t think my wife would be opposed to going back.
“If you chip and putt better for just one year out here on the European Tour your ranking vaults and you double your money. It’s as simple as that.
“I have read about us having the best facilities in the world here in Scotland but when I was at Hazeltine in the US they had an indoor putting green downstairs where I could work on my game along with a simulator where you hit shots.”
Back at the end of the 1990s, the Scottish National Golf Centre (SNGC) at Drumoig, a vast facility on the outskirts of St Andrews, was opened to great acclaim.
It was going to be an indoor and outdoor centre of excellence for breeding the next generation of golfers.
Unfortunately, its remote location led to it becoming a costly white elephant which almost brought the Scottish Golf Union to its knees as the SNGC was put into the hands of the receivers and eventually shut down.
“I went there but then it’s location was an amateur move,” said Ramsay of the geographical guddle.
The idea behind the SNGC was admirable but while a host of other facilities have popped up all over the country, Ramsay still maintains the powers that be, and some leading players, should pull together and build one handily located centre.
Joined up thinking in Scottish golf? Now, there’s a novel idea.
“It is a pity the governing body or some other body doesn’t come in and do it,” he added. “It is a typical problem as it is like someone does a bit here and someone else does it there but it’s fragmented.
“Why don’t we come together and put the money in to make one great facility and make it commercial. The pros would back it and they could build it in a location where we could all get to.
“It’s a no-brainer but it continually bemuses me why it doesn’t happen.”
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