SIK Golf Putter Fitting

Golf Monthly

Two golfers go through the comprehensive putter fitting process with SIK Golf to find their perfect match and hole more putts

Transcript

00:00How many of you watching right now have been custom fitted for your putter?

00:04I bet it's very, very few of you.

00:07And while we all tend to rightly focus on our irons and drivers when we invest in new clubs,

00:11we often neglect the club we use the most on course, which is the putter.

00:15Getting fitted for a putter should be done as meticulously as your irons

00:19if you're really intending on lowering your handicap and playing better golf.

00:23To show you the process of a putter fitting and to give you an idea about why they're so beneficial,

00:28we've teamed up with Sick Golf to educate you on the ins and outs of a good

00:32and importantly, wide-ranging putter fitting.

00:35We'll also take a dive into the technology behind the latest range of Sick Putters,

00:39which represents some of the most advanced technologies currently on the market.

00:42We've brought along with us two golf monthly readers who have never been fitted for a putter before

00:47and are also very curious about the process.

00:49They've also told me they're really looking to improve their putting

00:52and are willing to try any new techniques or equipment to help chip away at their handicap.

00:57The technology used by our fitter, Oli Leet, today at his putting hub here in Somerset

01:02will be able to give both of our readers a real education into what their putting stroke is actually doing.

01:08Whilst using Sick's extensive range of fitting options,

01:10they should both be able to find the exact putter to help them out on the greens.

01:14So with all that in mind, let's go and meet our readers at the wonderful Tickenham Golf Centre,

01:18find out a bit about their golf and see how they get on during their fitting.

01:22We'll see you next time.

01:47The putter I have been using prior to the fitting is a Scotty Cameron dual balance putter which I

02:03went to probably about four or five years ago just to give in my mind more stability when I was

02:09putting because frankly I was a pretty streaky putter so I was trying to find something that

02:14would suit me but was a little bit more consistent. I've never been fitted for a putter before in fact

02:20it's the only club in the bag that I've never been fitted for which is remarkable really when you

02:24consider how many times you use it. I found the experience fascinating frankly I had no idea of

02:29the amount of information that could be captured from just hitting sort of 10 foot putts and it

02:34actually made a lot of good sense for things because things that I instinctively or intuitively

02:39felt were happening in some cases were but in other cases were completely different so the

02:44whole process as well as chopping and changing different options and this kind of thing and

02:48seeing the impact of them I just found it fascinating. Sure if I'd had to characterise my poor putts coming

02:54into the putter fitting I would have said I tended to push shorter putts but also hit off centre with

03:00some of the longer putts I felt they were coming out the heel. As it turns out through looking at

03:05the statistics that wasn't the case in fact I was hitting them high out the face rather than out the

03:10heel. I'd never seen a sick putter before I did look before this fitting I did actually have a quick

03:16look at about what they were about but didn't necessarily recognise that they would be radically

03:21different. When I started hitting some putts I found that the actual quality of the strike of the putt

03:27even though it was telling me they were off the top of the head was actually an awful lot better it

03:32felt a much purer strike even though the the loft was getting it rolling quicker than my my current

03:39putter so frankly and it wasn't anything I had to change that just came with the the technology with

03:45insect putter so that became very comfortable very quickly. It was great from the perspective of having

03:50all the different combinations that I felt I could try some different things even some that I would not

03:56if I'd have been in a normal sort of purchase to go into a shop and try a few things I'd have never even

04:01picked them off the shelf so although I've ended up settling for something that's not a million miles

04:06away from what I originally had it was great to an extent to discount some of the other shapes not

04:12because they were bad but just because either they suited my eye less or I just found the putting

04:17experience with them not quite as good. So Mike was putting well when he first come in he's been taking

04:22some tuition and been doing really well with it so what we identified with Mike was there was a few

04:27things we could improve so his face change from where he was aiming to where the face was at impact

04:33was a little inconsistent down at 50 percent and another thing was his launch so interestingly with

04:38Mike he was hitting it high on the face but he was adding loft as well so they're really losing a lot

04:44of energy through poor roll. We give him the equivalent putter in the sick head and the launch just changed

04:50massively on the slow motion we could see before you know it was really taking off and we got it down

04:56you know with the technology in the face to get that ball rolling really really quick and it was

05:01super real game changer. So to get a good roll like the optimum launch for a putt you would get the first

05:0810% in the air the next 10% it'll be sort of bouncing and then it reaches true roll at 20%

05:13so Mike's was still bouncing outside of that 20% and when we changed the sick technology straight away

05:20within sort of 15-20% that ball was on a pure roll. So the next thing we identified was

05:25the type of hosel that was suited for him so we tried in the face balance which is what he had

05:30not a lot of change in the in the consistency of the face change. As soon as we went to the plumber's

05:36neck it really made a huge difference of delivering that club face back to square more often which is

05:41key what we were looking for. From memory it went from 50 to 77% and then we messed around with heads

05:48and sight lines and we got that consistency up into the 90s which is a real game changer really to

05:53know he's hitting it where it's aiming 90% of the time rather than 50% of the time.

05:58Current putter that I bagged is a tailor-made spider I had for about five years generally it's pretty

06:03reliable a few you know errors a push and a pull but that's standard goal for you. Today got fitted for

06:10the show and a face balance in the end it was kind of robotic you know with the stats it was more so

06:17how many did I make more than I miss. Yes you know it's really good experience and good fun.

06:21With the fitting today with the technology used in SICK was very interesting obviously my current

06:27putter the Spider when we put it on the SAM putt lab there was a lot of check to it so it was a lot

06:32of bouncing it kind of lifted in the air bounced a couple of times then spent on which on average

06:36potentially losing a yard or two which on that longer putt could be the sake of missing it you

06:41know three foot short or next to the hull. Yeah so once I started hitting the SICK putter it felt very

06:47different it was completely contrasting to what I'm using in this in the Spider where I felt I was

06:54hitting off the face it just rolled it just straight off the face no matter if I had it a bit low a bit

06:58high it just went off like a rocket you know so for me it'll be a learning curve to my weight now of

07:04how to hit the putt and to get it going but it's a smooth putter it come off lovely you know it's just

07:10you know really good technology behind the head. Yeah I'd say if you've never been for a putter fitting

07:14and it's something you're considering I'd say you know do it at the end of the day it's where we

07:18save the most shots potentially on a course you know a long game can be brilliant but there's no

07:23point if you're on a two three four putt on every green you know having the right putter that works

07:27for you and you can work on that putting and get used to it you know that's fitted to the optimum

07:31performance for yourself you know as I've walked in and just brought one off the shelf made it work

07:35for me now got a proper fitting I realized how different I would have gone if I had that fitting from day one.

07:41Matt was using a spider putter and he was putting really well he had a great ability to return the

07:48face to where he was aiming so we made sure we didn't lose any of that during it but what was

07:54really inconsistent was his path and the arc I think the path consistency was 14% and the arc was

08:0018% so really poor so although the delivery of the face was pretty good matching the arc and the sort of

08:08rotation of the stroke was a little bit more difficult I think like part of the putter fitting

08:12there's always going to be an element of coaching in there today with Matt you know we were noticeably

08:18going sort of outside the line and quite short on the way back and then a big acceleration through

08:24so we did talk a little bit of technique there to allow him to bring that club inside the line

08:29and a bit further which certainly helped him with the start line he had his club face his hands were back

08:352.9 degrees launching the ball at five and a half degrees and from the slow-mo video we can see that

08:41it's hopping and skipping outside of that 20% range we just give him the sick putter didn't do anything

08:46and straight away within the 15-20% the ball was rolling well gaining energy and now we can't stop

08:52hitting the ball too far past the hole yeah we went for the show head which really suited him it was

08:57slightly heavier than his his tailor-made spider and it felt heavier as well because it was a thinner grip

09:03than he had on the the 2.0 super stroke was on his current club so just by having that lighter

09:09thought thinner grip give him a bit more head weight the face balance really helped for his

09:14off-centered strikes and he just aimed it beautiful and stroke it stroke it beautiful so it was nice good

09:20to see the sight lines on the putters are really interesting it can change absolutely everything or it

09:26could change nothing I think it's a lot of trial and error but typically like more lines on putters

09:32golfers will aim further left less lines or lines near the top line will aim further right as a rule

09:38of thumb but I've seen it go both ways so left eye dominant tend to prefer the line on top rather than

09:44on the bottom but again it's sort of trial and error and through the fitting process we we try them all

09:49and we find which one gets you aiming like a laser and putting like a laser well there you have it we've

09:54had a fantastic day here at the Tickenham golf center learning the ins and outs of everything that goes

10:00into a good putter fitting as well as that we've seen some fascinating technology and innovation in

10:04the latest range of sick putters that have helped both of our readers different golfers with very

10:09different putting strokes find a solution on the greens it's been fascinating to see how many

10:15solutions there were on offer for each of them and hopefully you've seen today the importance of a

10:20good putter fitting with a wide variety of heads and shafts available to help them with their putting

10:25stroke but for now a massive thanks to ollie leat at the ollie leat putting hub here in somerset thanks

10:30for watching this video we'll see you next time to explore the full range of sick golf putters for

10:35yourself you can visit their website at www.sickgolf.com

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