How To Choose A New Putter (Part I)

The selection of putters now available to the golfing public is simply staggering. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, with weird and wonderful shapes now represented as much as the classic styles. How on Earth does one go about choosing a new putter then? Lets have a look at some key factors that are worth consideration before investing.

When choosing a new putter it is important to know what style of putting stroke you have, as this should heavily influence the style of putter you choose. Due to the fact that the golf ball is in front of us, and on the ground, the angle of the shaft at address will always be somewhere in the region of 70-degrees. This means that the putting stroke will always work in the same way that a garden gate opens and closes and should never run straight down the target line on the backswing or follow through. This is called an arc. The amount that this arc happens varies massively from individual to individual and so it is important to select a style of putter that best suits your own arc. If you choose a style of putter that is at odds with your stroke, you will always be fighting against the putter and you will struggle to produce the consistent results you are looking for.



When it comes to putting arcs, there is no right or wrong. Some of the best putters in history have had wildly different putting strokes. Tiger Woods for instance had one of the strongest arcs of any great putter in history, but the model of putter he used suited this perfectly, and allowed him to be amazingly consistent for a very long period of time. The best way to see what your putting stroke does is to video your stroke at ground level using your smartphone. Place the smartphone around six feet away, directly behind the ball and in line with the hole (this can be a target on your carpet at home). When viewing the video, you will notice that the putter moves in towards your back foot on the backswing and then in again towards your front foot on the follow through. The amount that this happens is the amount of arc you have in your stroke.

When you find the balance point of a putter and hold it there with two fingers, you will notice that the face either points straight up to the sky or hangs somewhat to the side. If the face points straight up to the sky, this putter is called face-balanced. There are a few face-balanced putters that have a traditional, blade like appearance but they will usually be in the form of a mallet head. This is where you will see some of the more funky designs as manufacturers develop superb innovations that help to keep the putter stable. This style of putter is ideal for some who has very little arc in their stroke as the putter is designed to not rotate much as the putting stroke is made.

Putters that are not face-balanced are said to have an amount of 'toe-hang'. The stronger the arc is in your putting stroke, then the more toe-hang you are looking for from your putter. This will allow you and your putter to work in unison, and should result in you holing more putts. Most toe-hang putters will have a more traditional, blade like appearance although some mallets are produced now with moderate toe hang through the use of a different style neck. You will see terminology like 'Plumbers-Neck' or 'S-Bend' on many of today's putters. These are are all different ways of the shaft entering the clubhead to change the way the putter balances.

Once you have looked at your stroke, head on over to Part II where we look at some other key factors that could influence your final decision.

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  How To Choose A New Putter (Part II)