The Dodo Bird

How many of you have heard of the Dodo bird? Probably a few of you. If for no other reason than because there is the infamous saying “gone like the Dodo bird”. I looked it up. It appears that the Dodo bird was a flightless bird found somewhere on the island of Mauritus, which is located somewhere on the Indian Ocean. Does that help? Me thinks not.

Why am I asking? Quite simple. I was watching golf today and a commentator made a comment about the “anchored” putter going the way of the Dodo bird. That statement brings up a bunch of questions. Why was I watching rather than enjoying a game myself? After all it was the club championships at my course this weekend. Something I look forward to on an annual basis.

It is simple. I had eye surgery on Friday. When I suggested to the nurses and the attending doctor that I wanted to golf the following morning the response was, perhaps I won’t go there. Obviously not something I should be planning on. Here I sit two days after the surgery and wonder what was accomplished. It was painful. The doctor said it had worked really well. And yet I can’t see much out of that eye. Perhaps things will improve. Here is hoping.

The surgery, as I have been told, was less invasive than cataract surgery. Okay. But it still hurt. See, what happened is that the lens that was implanted in my eye six years ago had become loose and was causing my vision to go wonky. So he needed to reposition it. No problem. He explained the day after the surgery what he had done. It was a simple matter of poking two holes in the eye, tunneling from one hole to the next, inserting the suture and tying the lens to my eye, I think. That simple. No problem.

Back to the Dodo bird. So the anchored putter is headed into the annals of history. All the governing bodies have decided that enough is enough. The anchored putter is an insult to the game. How dare we. Took them long enough to decide that. There are some players that have used these putters for well over ten years. Now they are making them illegal to be used. Interestingly enough we have till 2016 to adapt to this rule. Sounds like the golf organizations move just as slow as most governments.

Two years ago I wrote about getting one of those putters. It has worked really well for me. I am told that amateurs will still be able to use them after 2016. And, trust me, I am an amateur. But I suspect the folks I golf with won’t let me live that down. So after finally finding something that works for my “yips” I will have to make some changes. This could be rather difficult.
I mentioned yips. Let me explain. When I use a putter that is not anchored there is all kinds of movement every which way when I make my stroke. Those are called “the yips”. I suppose some might suggest I have bigger yips to deal with in life. And perhaps I do. Hopefully I can send those the way of the Dodo bird as well. For now it is my eye. Need to get it functional. Then move on to others.

P.S. Heard a good one today. “If you can’t stand up for something you will fall for anything”. I will work on that one. Make it a good one.