A year ago, Andrew Farraye was struggling so much with his putter that he was questioning his future in golf.
“I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to make anything out of myself in golf because I just got so deep into the yips,” said Farraye, who is approaching his senior year at Purdue. “I really think I figured it out.”
Farraye, who plays right-handed, has been struggling with short putts for the past year and a half. A friend who plays for the University of North Florida suggested switching to left-handed putting.
That solved the problem of short putts for a couple of months, but he struggled on lengthier ones.
Scores: Golfweek Purdue Amateur
That’s how Farraye came to be a switch putter. It’s a rather unconventional solution, but one seen before most notably by Mac O’Grady and Notah Begay.
“I started thinking, looking online for things. I found this two-sided bladed putter, it’s just like a blade. It’s kind of like the old Bullseye, but just like a newer-looking putter. So I putt lefty inside of about 10 or 15 feet and righty outside of that,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of success with that and obviously it showed this week. I just switched to this putter about a month ago so I’m pretty glad with the results I’ve been seeing lately.”
Armed with a Bell two-sided blade putter he found online, Farraye now seems to have found the fix. He putts right-handed until he gets inside 10 or 15 feet, and then switches to lefty. This week, that produced his lowest round ever at Purdue’s Kampen Course, a 66 that included only one bogey. He bookended that with rounds of 73-68 to win the Golfweek Purdue Amateur by a shot over teammate Peyton Snoeberger. A third Boilermaker, Jason Hong, was third another shot back.
“I won a few little local things when I was really young but I’ve never won anything since I’ve been in high school,” said Farraye, who grew up in St. Augustine, Florida.
This week at Purdue, Farraye drew some comfort from being on his adopted home course but he can’t deny the impact of his putting.
“Just being comfortable over every 4 or 5 footer that I have is mind-blowingly different.”
Farraye is an exceptionally talented ballstriker and he caught on quick to Midwest golf upon moving from Florida to Indiana three years ago.
He plans two more years at Purdue, with one being the extra year of eligibility given back to college athletes because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I didn’t play whole lot of golf up north when I was in high school and as a junior golfer,” he said. “Definitely had to adapt and especially out of the rough, hit short-game shots and how the ball comes out of the rough.
“I think I caught on pretty quick in learning that and now I prefer northern golf over southern golf.”
Earlier this summer, Farraye finished in the top 20 at the Chattanooga Choo Invitational. He also played the Trans-Mississippi Amateur, putting the double-sided putter in play for the first time that week.
“I didn’t make a lot of mid-range putts because I had just started using it, I was still getting used to it,” he said.
But now that he’s comfortable? Look out.
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