Meet Les's yip-buster

PUTTING badly? Got the yips? Or just putting very ordinarily, which happens to many of us on a good day?

Well, you might want to try the Lynasite putter, the creation of former RAF flying instructor and Royal Guernsey Golf Club stalwart Leslie de Garis.

After 10 years of design work, mark 24 of the unique putter is now on sale and the Guernseyman is hopeful that golfers with the yips worldwide, or anyone simply struggling to transfer good play into good scores on the green, will sample the club that can be used by right or left handers.

A keen croquet player, the 79-year-old got his idea from that most genteel of summer sporting pastimes.

'I'd been playing croquet when I thought, why don't we putt the same way?' said the inventor who had numerous designs rejected by the Royal and Ancient before, somewhat reluctantly, giving him permission to retail the putter.

The origin of the Lynasite design stems from de Garis's RAF days.

As chief flying instructor at Cranwell, the Guernseyman taught gunnery and bombing.

'One of the things I used to stress was the importance of getting behind the line of sight when shooting, which is what you do in croquet.

'So the whole idea of Lynasite was already in my head.'

One of his first designs was rejected by the R & A because it had more than two putting surfaces, illegal in the eyes of the body which oversees the rules of golf and its equipment.

When de Garis sent the R & A an amended wooden version it was deemed acceptable.

'They were a bit concerned with the pendulum action,' said its designer who was instructed that the putter length would have to have the standard 36 to 38in shaft.

Coincidentally, the R & A's approval came through close to the time when Lynasite was receiving its UK patent.

Since then, it has been a question of how to maufacture it.

De Garis wanted it to be made entirely in Britain, but in the end had to go to China to have the club head and its cover made.

The shaft and grip are produced in England.

'It's been a fun exercise. It started in my garage and gone from there.'

Ironically, unlike those who will buy it, its inventor has never experienced putting problems.

'The people I have always played with said, ''Les, you are a good putter, why are you mucking about with this?

'I don't claim anything miraculous, but it's a different way to putt.

'For some it's been a lifesaver.'