- 2 minutes ago
Golf Monthly Staff writer and PGA Pro Joe Ferguson runs through the 6 most common mistakes golfers make when buying a new putter! With so much choice on the market, it can be easy to not consider everything you need to and overlook some key areas when it comes to ensuring your new putter is perfectly matched to you. Hopefully this video will ensure you don't make the mistakes some golfers make when choosing a new flat stick.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Right, we all know that putting is one of the most important parts of the game for your
00:03score, but I still see so many avoidable mistakes when people are buying new putters.
00:08For this video we've teamed up with Odyssey and they've provided us with some gorgeous
00:11models from their AI1 range, so let's take a look and see if we can help you make some
00:15better choices.
00:19First mistake I often see happens long before we even think about the putter we're going
00:25to use, it's to do with the golf ball.
00:27Take this for example, I found a beautiful model that I love the look of here, it's
00:31the AI1 No.7, sits great, feels great and I've been holding putts all over the place with
00:36it.
00:37But I've just noticed I've been using the Chrome Tour golf ball and my game would be the Chrome
00:41Tour X golf ball, so I've had all these great results and I'm going to order this putter
00:46but when it arrives I might get a significantly different feel because those are two very different
00:50feeling golf balls.
00:52Different golf balls will come off the putter face at different speeds which can affect
00:56your distance control.
00:57So it's not just a feel thing, it can actually be a performance thing.
01:01So the remedy for this is make sure when you're trying a putter either just knocking it around
01:05in the pro shop or even in a custom fitting, use your game of golf ball so you can marry
01:09up the feel and the distance control and you don't have to make an adjustment further down
01:13the line.
01:17Another mistake I see a lot is people buying their putter purely on looks, not really understanding
01:23the functionality.
01:24For example, these two putters here at first glance look identical but they're actually
01:29designed for very different stroke types and I'll show you why.
01:33The putter I've got here is actually a face balance putter but what does that mean?
01:37Well if I hold it unaided and I just hold it at its balance point there you'll see how
01:40the putter face is pointing pretty much straight up at the sky.
01:45Now this face balance style of putter doesn't want to rotate too much during the stroke so
01:50it tends to suit people with a very square to square path who don't want to see too much
01:54opening and closing.
01:56However on the same head I've got a slightly different shorter slant neck here which gives
02:01us what is essentially a toe hang putter.
02:03So again, I'm holding it unaided there when I can find the balance point and the toe is
02:08pointing more down at the ground.
02:10Now putters can have different degrees of this toe hang and what that does is encourage
02:14a bit more face rotation through the stroke and that tends to suit people with a bit more
02:19of a pronounced arc so it's really important you match that up with your stroke type but
02:24how do you find out what stroke type you've got?
02:27Now the smart and precise way of doing this is to head to your local PGA professional who
02:32will get you on some technology like sand putt lab, quintet ball roll, cap toe, those
02:36types of things and give you an exact quantifiable number for your face rotation and your arc and
02:41they'll be able to make a really good recommendation of what style is going to work best for your
02:45stroke.
02:45But if for any reason that's out of your reach either financially or geographically there
02:49is another way you can begin to get a good starting point for what style of putter might
02:53work for you.
02:54Simply get a friend to video your stroke in slow motion from a vertical position.
02:59Ideally you'd put something like an alignment stick down here and just make a nice uninhibited
03:04stroke and you'll begin to see when you look at it back in slow motion how far your putter's
03:10coming away from that line and how much the face is rotating.
03:13Now it's not an exact science by any measure this but it might just give you a better idea
03:18of your stroke and where to begin your putter search.
03:24Another mistake that I see a lot of times is people not considering the grip that they've
03:28got on their putter.
03:29Now it's the only point of contact you've got with this putter so it's absolutely crucial
03:33to get right.
03:35Nowadays there's so many different shapes, textures and sizes of grip it can be very difficult
03:39to know where to start and it's not just feel that it affects it can actually influence
03:44performance.
03:45For example, a lot of people using thicker grips have found that really useful to minimise
03:51the effect of the hands controlling the clubface and particularly useful on those shorter putts.
03:55However some people also feel that the thicker grips can impede feel a little bit and lose
04:01a bit of distance control on those longer putts.
04:03So there can be a little bit of a trade off.
04:06Another thing that people don't think about is grip weight.
04:08There's such a variety.
04:10You can get grips from 50 grams to well over 100 grams and that can have a dramatic effect
04:15on the feel of the club through swing weight.
04:18Essentially if you put a lighter grip on the club the swing weight of the club will increase
04:22because the bulk of the mass is distributed down the head end then.
04:27Conversely if you get a very heavy grip you can start to lose the feel of the putter head
04:32because it feels lighter from a swing weight point of view because there's more mass at the butt end.
04:36It's really important you get this right for the feel that you want
04:39and again a good custom fitter will be able to guide you through that process.
04:43Before we get on to the next mistake if I can ask you if you're enjoying this video
04:47please hit the like button, subscribe to the channel so you can see all of the upcoming videos
04:51and comment down below if you ever made any big mistakes when buying a putter.
04:59One of the most underthought about areas of the putter is the shaft.
05:02We've all spent ages procrastinating over which style, flex, weight, bend point of driver shaft we need
05:08but I'd wager that many of you out there have never even considered the shaft in your putter.
05:14Well companies over the last few years have put a lot more research into this area
05:17particularly someone like Odyssey with their Stroke Lab 90 shaft.
05:21Now this is a very lightweight steel shaft that features 20 to 30 grams of counter weighting
05:26depending on what weight of head it's going into.
05:29There's graphite shafts available, there's different flexes and different profiles all the way through putting
05:34and as the vessel that carries the impact feel all the way up here to your hands
05:39it's one of the biggest influences on feel and it's a real opportunity to fine tune that.
05:44So make sure you have a real think about what shaft is going to work best in the putter that
05:49you select.
05:53Another thing that people overlook when selecting a putter is the multitude of styles available now
05:59and I don't just mean the different types of heads, I mean styles of putting.
06:03Switch on any PGA Tour golf and for everyone you see putting with a normal length putter right below left
06:08you'll see at least as many people using some more unconventional methods
06:12such as broom handle, arm lock or even this cruiser model here that I've got from Odyssey.
06:18So this is the cruiser number 7 and what's different about this?
06:21Well for starters it's longer so standard putters tend to come in around the 34 inch mark
06:26this is 38 inches and this introduces a bit of counterbalance.
06:30It's heavier than a standard putter in all places.
06:33The grip's heavier, the head's heavier and the shaft heavier here.
06:36So most of the Odyssey range has the Stroke Lab 90, this has a 140 gram version.
06:42And the idea with this cruiser putter is the weight distribution and where it's put around the putter
06:47it helps the putter swing really freely and uninhibited.
06:51It's almost like it's swinging itself and it's done a really good job for the likes of
06:55Ricky Fowler and Wyndham Clark over the last couple of years.
06:58And when I think of the effect the broom handle and things like that have had on the careers of
07:02people like
07:02Will Zalatoris and Lucas Glover, I think if you're not considering one of these more unconventional styles
07:08you might be doing yourself a disservice.
07:13And finally the biggest thing I see that people don't pay enough attention to is alignment.
07:18You can have the most glorious putting stroke owned over hours of practice
07:22but if you can't point your putter at the intended target then you're not going to hole many putts.
07:27And the important part about getting your putter aligned correctly is selecting the correct alignment cue.
07:32And what do I mean by alignment cue or alignment aid?
07:36Well, take this Odyssey 2 ball for example.
07:39This is one of the most blatantly clear alignment aids you can get in golf
07:43and it's really stood the test of time.
07:45We've got these two balls here that you simply line the third ball up with
07:49to show you the intended start direction and get your face square.
07:53On this model they've gone a step further and they put the tall line through as well
07:57for those you see a little bit more in straight lines.
08:00Now Odyssey offer a multitude of alignment cues from small lines in the flange of a putter
08:06to lines on the leading edge and some models with no alignment aids whatsoever.
08:10And it's important they do that because we all see square very differently.
08:14What I can line up well you might really struggle with and vice versa.
08:18But how do you figure out what alignment cue is going to work best for you?
08:23Well the most accurate way and this is the answer to a lot of the problems,
08:26the most avoidable problems that we've mentioned in this video is to go for a putter fitting.
08:30Now a good fitter will try you out with a number of different models with all sorts of different alignment
08:35cues
08:35and use a laser to accurately figure out what you're aiming the best and what you're aiming most consistently.
08:41But once again if that's out of your reach you can use your friends to help you with that.
08:45Simply just getting someone to crouch down behind you you're telling them where you think you're aiming the putter blade
08:50and they can give you the feedback as to where you actually are aiming it
08:53or if you don't trust them make sure they use a phone so you can prove it.
08:57That's another really good way to make sure you've got an alignment aid that is accurately aiming that putter blade
09:02for you.
09:04Right I hope that's helped, avoid those mistakes and go and hold some putts.
09:08Covid야 start.
09:08First of all.
09:08Say for 9 sbsbsbsbsbsbsbsbsbs.
Comments