Hang on boys.  Merlot is invaluable when discussing the wines of Bordeaux.  It's time you lot gave up that Bordeaux wanna be stuff you drink out there.  Broaden your horizons and embrace the French for one of the few good items they produce.

PS  Johnny is alright.  Which other Yank is in his class for commentary?  At least we get an honest opinion from the man.

Ciao

Sean

In this matter I defer to Gib, who, being not only Californian but also Armenian and a long time member of Olympic, knows his fault lines from his fall lines.  It was on the 18th of the Lake course that he imparted to me the wisdom of finding the "fall line" after sinking a 90 degree slider for his 3.  Being the perfect student that I am, I followed him into the hole, for a 4, alas.  I wonder if he would have given me the tip if the putt had been for a 3......

In essence, Mike Young is right.  A "fall line" is the line on which a golf ball falls when all that impels it is gravity.  The key of lag putting downhill on a fast green is to find the point on the green where when the ball almost stops, it is thereafter destined to fall directly down the fall line into the hole.

Of course, on complex greens (particularly those with "punchbowl" features), there may be more than one fall line for certain putts.........

Tom

Surely there is enough good will in this world that a hug or two can be spared for the French.  It isn't as if I'm asking you to buy French chewing gum or soda.  Give the Frogs a break, even if they don't deserve it.  

Ciao

Sean

Yikes, Dave - sounds like you and Lou are slipping into relativism.

No real harm done by Johnny Miller, at least in this instance. I do hate when he advocates softening slopes to accomodate modern greenspeeds, though.

Johnny isn't as sharp as he thinks he is, but, heck, Slag's probably the only person I know that actually underestimates his own intelligence.

P.S. Hope St. Peter doesn't quiz us on our wine knowledge when confronted at the pearly gates - if so, what little chance I have goes right out the window.

I think Miller is the Howard Cosell of golf coverage.  He is successful because he is controversial.  As opposed to Cosell, he is able to trade on a spectacular, if briefly spectacular, golfing career.  My main problem with Miller is that he says whatever comes into his head and he's usually thinking about himself.  A self-absorbed gasbag, IMHO, but a very successful one...

David:

I'm pretty damn sure I know exactly what Miller was trying to say when he mentioned "fault line" on a green (and I haven't even read the article). I've heard Miller mention a "fall line" on greens before in telecasts and what he meant was that line along the green from which putts break off or away from. In that article he probably just called it a "fault line" because Johnny really isn't any great Alister Cooke with his use of words, you know?

Matter of fact, I've only seen Miller one time in person and this very subject just happened to come up. I was standing out at the 13th green at Aronomink about two days before the Senior PGA Championship. The course was really wet, completely soaked actually, so it surprised me to see this guy rush up in a cart (since few carts were allowed on the course). Miller jumped out, rushed over to the green, pulled out a little notebook and started sketching and note taking. At first I didn't even recognize him because he was much bigger and taller than I though Miller was but since we were about the only people out there I went over and asked him what he was doing. He said he was basically taking notes on the contours of the greens and doing a basic sketch of the contours so he could report it better in play during the tournament.

We talked briefly about what an interesting green it was and he said he certainly thought so and he was really impressed with how interesting most of the Aronomink greens were. Then he said he particularly thought that "fall line" that sort of curved through the middle of the green would have a significant influence on approaches, recoveries and putts.

I should've said; "Do you mean "fault line" you dumb clod?" He probably would've said; "Fall line, fault line, what's the difference?" At which point I should have exploded and said;
"Look you big blond bozo, maybe you could swing a golf club OK once but if you're going to be a decent national golf commentator, I, for one, have a bunch of fellow travelers on GOLFCLUBATLAS.com who are going to be driven crazy by this kind of lingusitic imprecision and one in particular in California who a few years from now will likely stay up nights trying to figure out whether you're talking about a ski-slope, a golf green or some point at which a catoclysmic earth-shattering catastrophe might take place in Southern California, so get this "fall line" or "fault line" thing decided on and completely defined to my satisfaction right here and now!"

Unfortunately, before I could tell him all that he was back in his cart and out of there as fast as he came without even as much as a "by your leave" to me!

Kevin:

I think a good deal of Americans really like commentators like Miller who sometimes fracture the English/American language. It must make them feel comfortable!  

This is the man who routinely tells his audience that putts "hook" and "slice" so in a contest of who is the idiot my vote goes along with Steve's. It ain't you.

Philip --

I guess you haven't seen Johnny Miller putt in a couple of decades, eh? If you had, you wouldn't doubt that putts can hook and slice.

---

My guess is: He meant "fall line" -- as in: The particular line (straight or curved) water would trace if you poured it onto a high spot on a green; a.k.a. the path of least resistance.

But I'm with Professor Moriarty -- and unalterably, eternally opposed to those who will say, of sloppy language: "Who cares? We all know what he meant."

No, we don't!