To many players, putting is the simplest aspect of golf, probably because it requires little or no athleticism, and just anybody can do it. Even high-handicappers can be good putters.

But after missed putts begin to pile like a bin of recyclables and the nerves fray just a little more with every 5-footer, putting becomes one of the most intricate, if not important, aspects of golf. Hey, they didn't invent the "drive for show, putt for dough" mantra for nothing.

Putting, though, can be an exact science -- did you know there are at least 28 measurable parameters involved with the putting stroke? -- and just the slightest detail in movement, alignment or ball position could mean the difference in saving par or making bogey. Or worse.

That's where Matt Kluck and the Science and Motion Putt Lab can help.

"The biggest thing it does for me is it takes the guess work out of the stroke," said Kluck, a PGA master professional who teaches at Mt. Lebanon Golf Course.

The Science and Motion Putt Lab is an analysis and training system in which ultrasound technology is used to measure the 28 most important parameters of your putting stroke, everything from ball position and the alignment of your club face at address, takeaway and impact, to the speed of your stroke and the de-loft angle at which your putter face contacts the ball.

The analysis of your stroke is compared to a database that features the average putting strokes of 120 touring professionals. It then allows the player to develop improvements and training strategies with their existing putter or be fitted with the type of putter -- heel-shafted or center-shafted -- that is most compatible with their stroke.

Kluck acquired the training system in the fall and uses the putting lab during his 50-minute lessons.

The process is simple: Kluck attaches a triplet to the putter shaft, approximately 10 inches above the club head, that measures shaft and lie angle, loft and other components. An alignment laser is attached to the face. Players putt to a hole approximately 12 feet away on a mat.

With the SAM software, what Kluck is able to measure is as fascinating as it is revealing. For example, after putting 15 balls at the hole, I discovered my club face is 1.6 degrees open at address, 1 degree open at impact, the toe of my putter is 1.8 degrees up in my stroke, my takeaway is too fast, my impact area is slightly high and outside the center spot, I have too much rotation in my stroke and, goodness, my face-of-path is inconsistent.

But Kluck assured me my ball position was good, my de-loft angle at impact (0.5) and my rise angle after impact (2.3) was very good, and that I consistently repeated my stroke.

"You're swing wasn't bad, just choppy," Kluck said. He also said I might not be bad from 10 to 12 feet, but I would struggle with distance control from longer lengths

Who said putting was simple?

Who is the last player to win a PGA Tour event without recording a bogey in the tournament? Answer at end.

Max Kotarsky jokingly said he needed something to slow his swing. He didn't have triple-bypass surgery in mind, though.

Kotarsky, a single-digit handicap at Sewickley Heights Golf Club who lives in McCandless, is glad merely to be playing golf again after having a heart attack and open-heart surgery Oct. 3. He never thought his comeback would be so soon, or with such thrilling results.

In just his second round since the surgery, Kotarsky had his first-ever hole-in-one at Old Memorial GC in Tampa, Fla., acing the 147-yard seventh hole with a 7-iron.

"It was awesome," Kotarsky said. "I was thrilled and my boss, who was playing with me, was thrilled for me after what's been going on the past five months."

John Daly's latest missteps -- getting dumped by swing coach Butch Harmon, being disqualified from the Arnold Palmer Invitational for missing his pro-am tee time -- began several weeks ago when Long John spent a 2  1/2-hour rain delay at the PODS Championship in a Hooters corporate hospitality tent.

But the person to emerge from the hospitality tent with their senses impaired was not Daly.

It was Jon Gruden, coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Gruden caddied the last seven holes for Daly when play resumed, a move Harmon later decried as "ridiculous" and cited as one of the reasons he said he will not work with Daly again unless he gets his life in order. But Gruden's decision was just as professionally contemptible.

As a coach of professional athletes, Gruden should know as well, if not better, than anyone the sanctity of competition. At worst, he should be well aware of the perception, if not the effect, of interfering with a player during a competition, even if the player himself doesn't know better. By carrying Daly's bag, Gruden further contributed to the traveling circus that follows the former two-time major champion.

At some point next season, I'm hoping Cadillac Williams comes out of the Tampa Bay locker room at halftime and tells Gruden he would like a guy he met a couple nights earlier to be his blocking back in the second half. Wonder what kind of sneer that might generate?

• Oakmont East GC, the 18-hole public course that is adjacent to Oakmont CC, will not re-open this year and may not be open again until after the 2010 U.S. Women's Open. Oakmont general manager Tom Wallace said a decision won't be made until later this year. The course was used last year as the site for the U.S. Open merchandise tent and corporate hospitality tents.

• Despite his recent death, Myron Cope's charity golf tournament, done in partnership with former Pitt coach Foge Fazio, will be held June 16 at Montour Heights CC. The 28th annual tournament, which benefits the Autism Society of Pittsburgh, will honor the legendary sportscaster, who died Feb. 27. Call 412-856-7223 for information.

• The Hershey golf resort is offering packages featuring unlimited golf and carts on four of its courses, including Hershey CC. Call 1-800-HERSHEY for rates or go to www.hersheygolfcollection.com.

Lee Trevino won the 1974 New Orleans Open without making a bogey.