Just Put the Dang Stick on Your Thighs

You know what bugs me? When golfers complicate the parts of the game that are supposed to be simple. Putting is one. Dave Pelz wrote a book where he declared, “Putting is simple,” and then went on for 400 more pages on rolling a tiny ball into a much larger hole in the ground with a flat-faced stick.

Here’s another: Alignment.

We’ve got a billion-dollar industry, $300 “training aids,” and $30,000-a-year swing coaches all missing the point Harvey Penick made in fifty words or less—in a chapter buried halfway through The Little Red Book, sandwiched between an anecdote about Asian businessmen and a vague note on the etiquette of referring to elderly golfers as “seasoned citizens,” rather than senior.

“Take your stance and hold a clubshaft along the front of your thighs. Look where the club is pointing, and you will see where you are aimed.”

That’s it.

As Penick writes, “Laying a club on the ground at your feet will tell you very little.” The same is true of doing it with an alignment stick instead of a club.

No lasers. No sticks. No launch monitors or AI-generated swing overlays.
Just your stance, your thighs, and the truth.

The Truth Nobody Profits From

Would you like to know why this little gem is buried on page 54?
Because you can’t sell a ruler for $150 on Instagram.

This chapter could have killed an entire cottage industry if someone like me, not Bud Shrake, had been editing Harvey’s work. Don’t get me wrong, Shrake could write. But he wasn’t an assassin. He wasn’t thinking about impact per square inch. He didn’t see the blood in the water when Harvey dropped something lethal in one paragraph and then pivoted to a six-hour round with tourists.

I would’ve told Harvey to cut the tourists and put this damn thigh trick on the first page after the Magic Move.

Because this tip is more than a drill—it’s an operating system.

The Stick, Not the Gimmicks

At Bradley’s Ball Flight Academy, we use a ruler or yardstick. Because that’s another Penick trick that Shrake didn’t even deem worthy of its own chapter.

I call it The Stick.

• It’s not trendy.

• It doesn’t glow.

• It doesn’t come in neon orange or claim to "unlock tour-level rotation."

It just shows you the truth.
Right now. Every time.

Lay it along your thighs. Take your stance. Look down.
That’s where you’re aimed. That’s it.

It’s not a “training moment.”
It’s clarity.

And once your brain has seen that image enough times, it automates it. You stop aiming wrong, not because someone fixed you—but because your body now knows what right looks like.

That’s what Penick meant by:

“Once you learn this, your mind will tell you how to aim.”

That’s wisdom. That’s golf. That’s enough.

Two Truths, One Swing

Let’s make this blog do what a real swing does: move through impact and finish strong.

1. You don’t need more alignment tools. You need a ruler and some attention.

2. Penick didn’t get the editor he deserved. But I did.

You’ve got me now.

And while I’ll never disrespect Harvey’s genius, I’ll recreate it, chapter by chapter, as it should have been printed the first time—with surgical cuts, bold openers, and not a single wasted word about marshalling Asians around on a slow day at the course.

TL;DR: Save your money. Use your thighs. Trust your brain. And do you want the real gems from Penick’s world? You’ll find them here—cleaned, sharpened, and lethal.

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SoFriedGolf.com/blog
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