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PODCAST

Putting Is Fun

Everybody who"s ever tried it knows putting can be fun. It can also break your heart. This show takes the fun road.Putting Is Fun is a weekly conversation between Brian Manzella, a Top 100 teacher who spent 44 years coaching golf and will happily tell you he"s a poor putter, and John Ortega, the putting guru who has coached PGA Tour winner Jake Knapp since he was 8 years old and co-founded John Byron Putters back when Scotty Cameron was still Scott.No systems. No gimmicks. Just two lifers who love

sports golf

All Episodes

00:57:37

Nicklaus's White Fang and the Putter Karsten Never...

Putting Is Fun ·

2026/10/01

Tricked-out putters, all the way down. Brian Manzella and John Ortega on the first putter covers, $800 headcovers, black oxide and Cerakote, flipping a beat-up Scotty for profit, how Karsten swedged the Anser shaft with a ball bearing, the marble in Tom Watson's putter, Jack Nicklaus painting a Bullseye white, and why a black shaft on a black putter ruined Brian's putting. Brian Manzella is a Top 50 teacher. John Ortega is co-founder of John Byron Putters and long time coach to PGA Tour winner Jake

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00:52:06

The Training Aid Episode: Putting Platforms, the...

Putting Is Fun ·

2026/09/17

Brian Manzella and John Ortega go through the training aids that actually work. The motorized putting platforms with projected break lines, why John is buying a Zen, and why Brian thinks every studio should have one. Bill Smittle's Smittle Stick for matching face rotation to your arc. Matt Bryda's Gimme Towel for speed. The origin of John's Groove Board, from kitchen slats to Se Ri Pak's 81 putts over 54 holes, and the first board off his new 3D printer. Plus the best aid you can't buy anymore

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00:59:46

Side Saddle Putting with Sam Osborne: Snead, Bryson,...

Putting Is Fun ·

2026/09/10

Sam Osborne (No More Lies) joins Brian Manzella and John Ortega for the first three man Putting Is Fun. Sam has putted side saddle for eight years and makes the case that it is technically superior. Brian covers how one comment from Bobby Jones got Sam Snead's croquet stroke banned, John tells the inside story of the putter he built for Bobby Schaefer and Bryson DeChambeau, and all three dig into putter length, anchoring rules, and why non-golfers learn it faster. Ends with a challenge: try it for

en

01:05:05

They Called Scotty Cameron "The Copycat Kid" | Ep. 8

Putting Is Fun ·

2026/09/03

They called Scotty Cameron the Copycat Kid. His original designs shut that down for good.Brian Manzella is a Top 50 teacher and runs his Studio in the Sky in New Orleans. John Ortega is co-founder of John Byron Putters, runs the Ortega Golf Lab in Costa Mesa and is long time coach to PGA Tour winner Jake Knapp. This week the two of them go all the way down the putter rabbit hole: why a third of golfers who show up for a fitting are playing something that grossly doesn't fit them, how Cameron busted

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00:54:01

Blade Putters Are Disappearing | Ep. 7

Putting Is Fun ·

2026/08/27

Mallets are winning on tour by a landslide, blades are vanishing from the racks, and after 20 years of better equipment and better data, tour putting stats have barely moved. This week on Putting Is Fun, it's the trends episode.Brian Manzella, Top 50 teacher, and John Ortega, co-founder of John Byron Putters and long time coach to PGA Tour winner Jake Knapp, break down why mallets keep winning, whether a blade can steal the mallet's advantages, the truth about zero torque putters, and the one stat

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01:03:07

You Can Become a Great Putter Without Ever Playing...

Putting Is Fun ·

2026/08/20

Brian Manzella and John Ortega build a putter from scratch. Not a club, a person.Ep. 6 is for two kinds of listeners: someone who has never held a putter outside of a mini golf course, and the golfer who has been doing it wrong long enough that the only fix left is starting over. Jack Nicklaus asked his teacher to reteach him golf from the beginning every year, so there is no shame in the reset.What to buy and what to skip. Why $50 on the used rack plus $15 for a grip beats most new purchases, what

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01:01:48

Aimpoint vs Vector Putting, and Grok's 25 Best...

Putting Is Fun ·

2026/08/13

Aimpoint took over the PGA Tour and never made it to your Saturday game. Brian Manzella and John Ortega break down both green reading systems, the lawsuit between them, and the reason amateurs quit before either one starts working.Then a drill for anyone who is never going to learn a system: an alignment stick, a repeatable image, and enough repetitions to build an internal GPS.In the second half, Grok hands over its 25 best putters of all time. Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Bobby Locke

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01:00:34

Are Zero Torque Putters Already Fading on Tour? | Ep. 4

Putting Is Fun ·

2026/08/06

Brian and John are back from the US Open at Shinnecock with a report from inside the ropes. John's student Jake Knapp returned from six to eight weeks off with a thumb injury and posted 190 mph ball speed on his first day back. Wyndham Clark signed a putter-only deal with Ping on Wednesday and won on Sunday. And the zero torque putter revolution some predicted? It's quietly stalling on tour.Also in this one: how the USGA tamed Shinnecock's domed greens, the real differences between Bermuda, Poa

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00:58:09

The Putting Stroke Stopped Evolving 50 Years Ago, Ep. 3

Putting Is Fun ·

2026/07/30

The golf swing changed. The equipment changed. The putting stroke? Stuck in 1975. Brian Manzella (Top 50 teacher) and John Ortega (co-founder of John Byron Putters, LONG TIME coach to Jake Knapp) trace the stroke from wristy Bobby Jones flicks to the semi frozen-wrist modern era, and ask why 50 years of tech has barely moved it two degrees. Plus: Tiger's misleading SAM PuttLab data, the Nicklaus right arm stroke, Brent White's bag room to boardroom story, Freddy Haas ending Byron Nelson's streak,

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00:57:13

Arnold Palmer Asked John for a Putting Lesson, Ep. 2

Putting Is Fun ·

2026/07/23

Brian Manzella (Top 50 teacher) and John Ortega (co-founder of John Byron Putters, coach to PGA Tour winner Jake Knapp since he was 8) share the stories only guys who've spent decades around putters can tell: Arnold Palmer asking for a lesson, a 13-year-old Tiger Woods ordering a putter, and the $600 Scotty Cameron that would be worth $5,000 today.Plus: Brian's Langer-style arm lock experiment, the putters winning on tour right now (TaylorMade Spider, Ping Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Onset), and part

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00:54:22

He Needed a Baseball Bat. Golf Got Him Instead. |...

Putting Is Fun ·

2026/07/16

He needed a baseball bat. Golf got him instead.In the first episode of Putting Is Fun, Brian Manzella sits down with John Ortega, the man who has coached PGA Tour winner Jake Knapp since age 8, to hear the whole story: three rounds of caddying to earn a bat, teaching lessons for $12 an hour, co-founding John Byron Putters in the era when Scotty Cameron was still Scott, tour wins with Trevino and Floyd, the Spalding deal that got away, and the lifetime of putting knowledge that came out of all of

en

11 results

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