Wisdom & witticism: Great players thoughts on putting

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Even the greatest players in the history of golf were baffled by putting. In his two-part series on golf's great enigma, Vartan Kupelian takes a closer look at the art or science of putting and how it affects even the most talented players.

He also compiled classic quotes on the subject from some of the game's experts. What did players like Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Harry Vardon have to say about putting?

"To miss a putt of a yard length seems the most useless thing in the world." -- Bobby Jones

"I recommend a rather long and unhurried backswing in putting because it makes the stroke smoother and eliminates the putting yips which sometimes besets golfers who have short, compact backswings." -- Billy Casper

"Hitting a golf ball and putting have nothing in common. They are two different games." -- Ben Hogan

"On the putting green, the mind can be a grave source of trouble." -- Joyce Wethered

"I believe seriously that every man has had a particular kind of putting method awarded to him by Nature, and when he putts exactly in this way he will do well, and when he departs from his natural system he will miss the long ones and the short ones, too." -- Harry Vardon

"You're only hurting yourself if you don't have an ultrapositive attitude about putting." -- Raymond Floyd

"Love and putting are mysteries for the philosophers to solve. Both subjects are beyond golfers." -- Tommy Armour

"Here is the paradox: Natural golfers are bad golfers but natural putters are good putters." -- Percy Boomer

"The better you putt, the bolder you play." -- Don January

"I've heard people say putting is 50 percent technique and 50 percent mental. I really believe it is 50 percent technique and 90 percent positive thinking, see, but that adds up to 140 percent, which is why nobody is 100 percent sure how to putt." -- Chi Chi Rodriguez