A little putting advice from the Boss of the Moss

As he was wrapping up his news conference after winning the Boeing Classic Sunday outside Seattle, Loren Roberts was asked if he had any tips on putting for the average golfer. Roberts, whose victory was his third of 2009 and 11th in his Champions Tour career, offered what he often has stressed about the craft he is so good at: concentrate on speed, not line.

During pro-ams, Roberts--who had 73 putts in 54 holes at the Boeing to beat Mark O'Meara by one shot--said he usually sees amateurs sometimes woefully short or long, but seldom that far off-line. "The whole thing about putting is controlling your speed," Roberts said. "Don't even worry about making it."

When fellow tour pros are struggling on the greens, Roberts said, it usually is because "everybody tries to be so firm with the left hand that they don't get the shaft swinging. Invariably, they don't have any wrist break on the backstroke. You've got to have a little swing in the shaft. On the backstroke, if you can get the butt end of the grip pointed at your belt buckle, you're going to have some swing and some natural 'hit.' If you get too dead-handed, you're not going to have any control."

From 2006-2008 on the Champions Tour, Roberts was ranked first, first and third in putting average. This year: He's No. 2.

-- Bill Fields