- 23 hours ago
Two golfers go through the comprehensive putter fitting process with SIK Golf to find their perfect match and hole more putts
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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.
01:22Here we go.
01:26Bye.
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01:41The 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 whole
02:44process as well as chopping and changing different options and this kind of thing and seeing the impact
02:49of them I just found it fascinating. Sure if I'd had to characterize my poor putts coming into the
02:54putter fitting I would have said I tended to push shorter putts but also hit off-center with some of
03:01the longer putts. I felt they were coming out the heel. As it turns out through looking at the
03:05statistics that wasn't the case in fact I was hitting them high out the face rather than out
03:10the heel. I'd never seen a sick putter before. I did look before this fitting I did actually have a
03:16quick look at about what they were about but didn't necessarily recognize that they would be
03:21radically different. When I started hitting some putts I found that the actual quality of the strike of
03:27the putt even though it was telling me they were off the top of the head was actually an awful lot
03:31better. It felt a much purer strike even though the the loft was getting it rolling quicker than
03:38my my current putter. So frankly and it wasn't anything I had to change that just came with the
03:44technology with insect putter so that became very comfortable very quickly. It was great from the
03:49perspective of having all the different combinations that I felt I could try some different things
03:54even some that I would not if I'd have been in a normal sort of purchase to go into a shop and try
03:59a few things I'd have never even picked them off the shelf. So although I've ended up settling for
04:04something that's not a million miles away from what I originally had it was great to an extent to
04:09discount some of the other shapes not because they were bad but just because either they suited my
04:14eye less or I just found the putting experience with them not quite as good. So Mike was putting well
04:20when he first come in he's been taking some tuition and been doing really well with it. So what we
04:25identified with Mike was there was a few things we could improve so his face change from where he was
04:31aiming to where the face was at impact was a little inconsistent down at 50 percent. Another thing was
04:36his launch so interestingly with Mike he was hitting it high on the face but he was adding loft as well so
04:42they're really losing a lot of energy through poor roll. We give him the equivalent putter in the sick head
04:48and the launch just changed massively on the slow motion we could see before you know it was really
04:53taking off and we got it down you know with the technology in the face to get that ball rolling
04:59really really quick and it was super real game changer. So to get a good roll like the optimum launch
05:06for a putt you would get the first 10 percent in the air the next 10 percent it'll be sort of bouncing
05:11and then it reaches true roll at 20 percent. So Mike's was still bouncing outside of that 20 percent and when we
05:17changed the sick technology straight away within sort of 15 20 percent that ball was on a pure roll.
05:23So the next thing we identified was the type of hosel that was suited for him so we tried in the face
05:29balance which is what he had not a lot of change in the in the consistency of the face change. As soon as
05:35we went to the plumber's neck it really made a huge difference of delivering that clubface back to square
05:40more often which is key what we were looking for. From memory it went from 50 to 77 percent and then we
05:47messed around with heads and sight lines and we got that consistency up into the 90s which
05:52is a real game changer really to know he's hitting it where it's aiming 90 percent of the time rather
05:56than 50 percent of the time. Current putter like bag is a tailor-made spider. I had for about five years.
06:02Generally it's pretty reliable a few you know errors a push and a pull but that's a standard goal for you.
06:07Today got fitted for the show and a face balance. In the end it was kind of robotic you know with
06:15the stats it was more so how many do I make more than I miss. Yes you know it's really good experience
06:20and good fun. With the fitting today with the technology used and sick was very interesting.
06:26Obviously my current putter the the spider when we put it on the SAM putt lab there was a lot of check
06:31to it so it was a lot of bouncing it kind of lifted in the air bounced a couple of times then spent on
06:35which on average potentially losing a yard or two which on that longer putt could be the sake of
06:40missing it you know three foot short or next to the hole. Yeah so once I started hitting the sick
06:46putter it felt very different it was completely contrasting to what I'm using in this in the
06:51spider where I felt I was hitting off the face it just rolled it just straight off the face no matter
06:56if I hit it a bit low a bit high it just went off like a rocket you know so for me it'll be a learning
07:02curve to my weight now of how to hit the putt and to get it going but it's a smooth putter it come
07:08off lovely you know it's just you know really good technology behind the head. Yeah I'd say if you've
07:13never been for a putter fitting and it's something you're considering I'd say you know do it at the
07:17end of the day it's where we save the most shots potentially on a course you know our long game can
07:21be brilliant but there's no point if you're on a two three four putt on every green you know having
07:25the right putter that works for you and you can work on that putting and get used to it
07:29you know that's fitted to the optimum performance for yourself you know as I've walked in and just
07:34brought one off the shelf made it work for me now got a proper fitting I realized how different I
07:39would have gone if I had that fitting from day one. Matt was using a spider putter and he was putting
07:45really well he had a great ability to return the face to where he was aiming so we made sure we didn't
07:51lose any of that during it but what was really inconsistent was his path and the arc I think the
07:57path consistency was 14% and the arc was 18% so really poor so although the delivery of the face
08:04was pretty good matching the arc and the sort of rotation of the stroke was a little bit more
08:10difficult I think like part of the putter fitting there's always going to be an element of coaching
08:15in there today with Matt you know we were noticeably going sort of outside the line and quite short on
08:21the way back and then this big acceleration through so we did talk a little bit of technique there to
08:26allow him to bring that club inside the line and a bit further which certainly helped him with his
08:32start line he had his club face his hands were back 2.9 degrees launching the ball at five and a half
08:38degrees and from the slow-mo video we can see that it's hopping and skipping outside of that 20 range
08:44we just give him the sick putter didn't do anything straight away within the 15-20 the ball was rolling
08:49well gaining energy and now we can't stop hitting the ball too far past the hole yeah we went for the show
08:55head which really suited him it was slightly heavier than his uh his tailor-made spider and it felt
09:01heavier as well because it was a thinner grip than he had on the the 2.0 super stroke was on his current
09:07club so just by having that lighter thought thinner grip give him a bit more head weight the face balance
09:13really helped for his off-centered strikes and he just aimed it beautiful and stroke it stroke it beautiful
09:19so it was nice good to see the sight lines on the putters are really interesting it can change
09:24absolutely everything or it could change nothing i think it's a lot of trial and error but typically
09:30like more lines on putters golfers will aim further left less lines or lines near the top line will aim
09:37further right as a rule of thumb but i've seen it go both ways so left eye dominant tend to prefer the
09:43line on top rather than on the bottom but again it's sort of trial and error and through the fitting
09:47process we we try them all and we find which one gets you aiming like a laser and putting like a laser
09:53well there you have it we've had a fantastic day here at the tickenham golf center learning the ins
09:58and outs of everything that goes into a good putter fitting as well as that we've seen some fascinating
10:03technology and innovation in the latest range of sick putters that have helped both of our readers
10:08different golfers with very different putting strokes find a solution on the greens it's been
10:13fascinating to see how many solutions there were on offer for each of them and hopefully you've seen
10:19today the importance of a good putter fitting with a wide variety of heads and shafts available to help
10:24them with their putting stroke but for now a massive thanks to ollie leat at the ollie leat putting hub here
10:29in somerset thanks for watching this video we'll see you next time to explore the full range of sick
10:34golf putters for yourself you can visit their website at www.sickgolf.com
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