Putters

Whats in a putter ? Are the (mega) expensive branded ones actaully any better than the cheap no-name ones ? Surely its all in the eye of the beholder ? If the putter has a good true square surface, what else really matters ?

It's the person wielding it and their perception that really matters as that with feel and weight are personal preferences. If you like it you are more likely to use it well, regardless of price. However, there will be a sub conscious thought process in some minds that equates price to quality and so the perception that a more expensive one is better will flow through for some.

It shouldn't matter if the science and evidence say that 2 putters are ostensibly the same but people do tend to get in the way!

I had mine fitted and tested a host of them but ended up with a Scotty Cameron blade over other cheaper brands I tried, but it did feel better to me and had the best stats on the screen so, for me, it seemed that the more expensive were better. That said, if I had picked up a Jaxx mallet and it felt nicer with the same stats I'd have no problem spending £30 instead.

busted wrote:Whats in a putter ?

Metal mostly. A bit of rubber for the grip.

technically the rubber isnt 'in' the putter then.

Unless it's in the head of (say) Odysseys brand new upgrade to deaden impact feel and touch. Yours for only £225. Much better than our old non rubber insert model from last week. What on earth did you buy that for? Frankly that was sheize. This one's much better and definitely won't be replaced in 3 months/days/hours...

I go from a lengthened ping G2(?) to a v short and very old and very bent scotty. Currently got the scotty going nicely and feel like i'll hole everything. Being 6 ft 4 tho it's only a matter of time before my back sez no and it's back to the lengthened ping.

so all you guys seem to use 'branded' putters then - even though you dont really think theres more to it than your own personal preference to the look and feel of it.

Mine are all cast offs. Had never heard of scottys before i got it. Got a couple of mates who have brand new ones and I don't like them. Not one bit.

They do look nice - i have to agree - but I couldnt use any of the blade ones at all, need a mallet me.

Liked the rife one a lot - so got a cheap one similar - works for me ...
Wonder how good id be with a Rife tho!

busted wrote:They do look nice - i have to agree - but I couldnt use any of the blade ones at all, need a mallet me.

Liked the rife one a lot - so got a cheap one similar - works for me ...
Wonder how good id be with a Rife tho!

Just had a look and mines the crazeeeeeee job. Never thought I could use a blade type one, but absolutely loving it at the mo. Just got to remember to force your hands forward (at least thats how it feels) at impact a la rory to hole anyting and ting.

I do use a branded one, based on the relative stats of ones I tested though (with some personal intangibles like "feel" in there too). I didn't believe I could use a blade, until the stats proved I appeared to be more consistent with them at the fitting.

If I found a crazy golf putter that stuck it in the hole all the time I'd have no problem switching though!

I got a Scottie Cameron as a Christmas present last year and chose it purely because it looked nice and I presumed at that price it had to be well made. I'm willing to admit that I didn't even try it before it was bought for me.

I think I've putted better this year and right now my confidence with the putter is relatively high but I've no stats to confirm and my handicap hasn't come tumbling down so chances are I haven't really.

I does look nice though!

anyone used the putters that have the extra weight at the top of the putter (grip end).
id imagine they will be very popular for those that ex anchorers in a couple of yrs

I just evolved over the years to find what I liked but all have been branded and reasonably pricey. Started with a Callaway (pre Odyssey) blade which looked lovely and I'd only just started so knew nothing. Any old Slazenger would have done.

I tried a couple of Odyssey Two-Balls and really liked the extra weight and alignment on them so went through a couple (an insert got loose) then decided that I wanted a firmer insert and liked the look of a Taylormade mallet with lines on it.

I guess that I am a bit of a brand person unless I hear great reviews and think I being clever (MD Golf wedges for instance).

Personally I think that when you stand over any club you have to be confident in it and I guess that this is a combination of things such as looks, knowing that you think you have a good brand and so on.

One thing with putters is that the technology doesn't move much so if you find something you like but don't want to pay a fortune, get on to Golfbidder and buy a second hand one. Changing the length of the shaft and the grip is then pretty cheap if necessary so the size is less key when buying from there too.

Before you look at the metal, look at how it's being used!! Check your stance, shoulder alignment etc. Check for moving parts on the stroke, things like head & legs should NOT move, wrists should NOT break.

Of the stroke itself for me it's all about tempo...like the pendulum tick tock tick tock and most certainly not titock titock or tick.......tock tick.........tock. You have to find the tempo that's right for you though.

Of the putter itself...mallet or blade? fast greens or slow?

Know your stroke and go with it i.e. are you a straight back and through or an arc' er. That will determine whether you will be suited to a face balanced or to balanced putter. If you arc you should in theory be better off with a toe balanced putter. I arc naturally, I wish I didn't, I wish I was straight back and through but I'm just not. For too long I had a face balanced putter trying to make it work...it broke down especially on longer putts. It's taken a LOT of searching but I'm now happy with what I have. I have a Nike Method that is toe balanced. More importantly for me though I've had a fat grip fitted...it took a little bit of getting used to but the difference now with the long putts is significant...very significant. Not saying I won't have bad putting days but my last 4 round average is 30.5. I had been up around 33.5, 34 for a good part of the season with days much worse than that (I know shocking for a 6 handicap - hence the extensive search into how to get the putting stroke working!!)

Mate tried a counterbalanced one (Taylormade). Said the grip was too thin and binned it almost immediately. I thought the weight was in the shaft at the grip end rather than the grip itself and so you could fit whatever grip you wanted but he was adamant it was the grip itself and so that was a good £100+ wasted!

My mate just bought a Fazer belly putter. Had a go and it is truly, truly awful. It would be like playing with molitor balls. No feel, massive clunk at impact, just horrible (but cheap)

The product produced by Scotty Cameron for mass consumption is a real shame. They feel and look like they are fashioned by the hands of a low rent Chinese factory.

I take it that is the case?


Sadly the older and more intimately produced Scotty's cost a fortune.


To the original question.

If you like the putter you use that is about as good as you can hope for. Unless of course you have the means to scientifically compare results using many putters.

I use an old Titleist John Reuter Jr bullsye putter. I bought it 10 years ago and even if it looks ancient, it does me fine.

McLaren wrote:The product produced by Scotty Cameron for mass consumption is a real shame.  They feel and look like they are fashioned by the hands of a low rent Chinese factory....

You think? All the ones I've looked at are either produced at a high rent Chinese outlet or somewhere else equally decent. I don't think SC putters are good value for money though...even though I have one. They're good (if you find one that matches your stroke) but over-priced hugely for what they are.

Currently, I'm playing a Ping Darby F which I really like. Chance discovery as had a go with a friend's normal Ping Darby and really liked both the look at address and the feel. Got an almost new (amazingly) Darby F off eBay for £16 and, so far, it's doing great. I'm a big believer in a club, whatever it is, looking good at address.

I've tended to use putters from the main OEMs but if I happened to find a clone or unknown branded putter that I liked the look of and went well, I'd have no problem at all in using it.

Best investment of the year was a Scotty Cameron mallet. Had it been a 10 bob no mark which felt as good I would have had no bother buying it. Wonder what I would have done with the saving?

Has anybody else gone "Fat Grip" with their putter and if so how's it going with it?

a mate put a fat grip on and is putting fine now hes taken it off again !

2 guys I play with have gone very fat grip. They are both adamant it definitely quietens the hands and wrists and both prefer them massively to "normal" ones. One of them was putting well anyway but it does seem to have improved. The other has struggled for a couple of years but he is definitely less bad with a fatter grip (same putter before and after) and sometimes goes streaky good as he used to be until he misses a 2 footer then his head goes a bit.

I borrowed a fat gripped putter earlier in the year for a couple of weeks, but think it was too fat and it felt like my hands weren't together at all and so I just wasn't overly comfortable over the control of the club. I may dabble with something a size up from my current one (smallest super stroke) but certainly won't be going mahoosive.

I've seen a range of putter grips made of cork. An interesting concept. Very nice feel and good at reducing vibration.

Vibration when putting? My scotty must be v smooth, never experienced it!

Probably the wrong word, just a different feel.

Are they coated to prevent moisture ingress? I imagine after half a british weather round they'd be like holding papier mache otherwise!

Interesting though. Available in the UK?

Just like a fishing rod handle. Probably treated with something

super_realist wrote:Just like a fishing rod handle. Probably treated with something

I've never seen a cork grip - seems interesting.

As for water ingress - I just assumed cork was water proof, hence why it's used in err corking bottles and the like. It will break down over a long period of time (hence corking in wine) but I'd have thought it would more fragile when it came to sliding in and out of the bag than anything else.

super_realist wrote:Just like a fishing rod handle. Probably treated with something

Is that like one of those fleshlight things. Good to have a change of scene occasionally.

dirty boy      

  Je suis un peu d'un idiot.

I had completely forgotten that cork is used in making erm corks that have been used to hold liquids in bottles quite successfully for hundreds if not thousands of years. Sorry.

Although, it isn't fully waterproof and the compression when it is forced into a bottle does help minimise permeability.

That said, I am in the process of getting my coat.

I have more than my fair share of putters. They range from Heavy to light, new(ish) to old, branded to no name, long to short, fat grips and skinny grips, some blades some mallets some toe weighted, some I've weighted myself (head and shaft), some I've shortened myself so i crouch like a twisted, demented, twitching version of John Cleese.

They all however have one very important thing in common..............I am out of love with every single one of them. Still can't really eradicate these damned 'yips' totally.   

By the way one of them an old Ben Sayers 'Benny' putter has it's original cork grip that has to be 50 years old.

By the by the way - corked wine does not mean it has bits of cork floating in it. That just means it has been poorly opened. Corked wine has a distinctive taste and smell (soggy cardboard) and comes about when the fungi in cork comes in contact with chloride. Once you've tasted it (thankfully it is rare and getting rarer with plastic corks and screwtops) you will never forget it

oldshanker wrote:
By the by the way - corked wine does not mean it has bits of cork floating in it. That just means it has been poorly opened. Corked wine has a distinctive taste and smell (soggy cardboard) and comes about when the fungi in cork comes in contact with chloride. Once you've tasted it (thankfully it is rare and getting rarer with plastic corks and screwtops) you will never forget it

Yep - I'm aware of this. By "break down" I mean it's integrity as a seal is compromised, allowing air in and wine out.