My Dearest Mr. or Ms. Shadow:
Could it be that you have recently had a change in your
daily regime so that you are now playing in the evenings? Dr. Putt would
suspect that to be the case. Dr. Putt would also suspect that your most
usual putting error is leaving the ball short of the hole. In addition,
the course on which you play probably has few water holes and is above
the Mason-Dixon line.
Why does Dr. Putt offer these suspicions? All other things being equal, grass on greens grows toward the setting sun. So if you play in the evenings and the sun is in your face as you stand behind the line of your putt, then you are likely to be putting with the grain of the grass, which helps the ball roll a bit further and along a truer line. The effect of the sun is more likely to determine the grain of the grass if no pond or lake is nearby and if the days are relatively short, as they are likely to be in the north.
As for your dottiness, Dr. Putt cannot make a definitive
diagnosis without a complete examination. However, anyone who has allowed
other activities to push golf to the late evening hours is almost surely
dotty.
Sincerely,
Dr. Putt