- 9 hours ago
In this video, putter expert Martin Hopley explains the 7 key things you need to get right when it comes to choosing a new putter. It's the club you'll use the most during a round of golf and as a result, there are an awful lot of things to consider - including the length, head design, shaft and grip among others. If you've not given much thought to the putter you use, watch this video to the end as it will certainly spark some ideas in your mind as to how you could improve your putting.
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00:00When it comes to choosing a new putter for your game, it can be a bit of a minefield.
00:03There's plenty of things to think about, whether it's the head shape, the head style, the length
00:07of the shaft, or the type of the grip, and many other things in between.
00:10So I've come here to the Black Bear Golf Club of Florida, and I'm going to give you my top
00:13seven tips for things that you need to look out for when you're choosing the right putter
00:17for your game.
00:21So the first thing you need to decide is what type of head style you would like.
00:24There's blade putters, and there's mallet putters.
00:26Blade putters, as the name suggests, are long, thin heads, they tend to be very good
00:30for people who like a sort of shallower head, front to back, and these tend to be pretty
00:34forgiving, but not so much on the off-center hits.
00:36Mallet heads, as the name suggests, tend to be much deeper, they tend to have a square
00:40shape or sometimes a rounded shape at the back, and what makes these putters different
00:44is that the moment of inertia or the twisting effect of the putter is much reduced, and that's
00:48because there's more weight out here in the edges of the putter, and also at the back.
00:52And that means if you don't hit the putter in the middle, then there's less resistance
00:55to the face twisting open or closed, which will then send your putt offline.
00:58So if you want a little bit more forgiveness, and you like the look of them, then the deeper
01:01headed mallets is the one to go for.
01:03The second step is to get the correct length of putter for your stroke and also for your
01:07posture as well.
01:07Putters tend to range from about 33 inches right up to 35 inches, and sometimes can be
01:12even longer than that.
01:13The key thing is really to get the putter that suits your posture correctly.
01:17This is a 35 inch putter, and if I was a short person and it was too long for me,
01:21then
01:21you can see here that the toe of the putter raises up from the ground.
01:25Conversely, if the putter is too short for me, what I might have is that my eye line might
01:28be outside the line of the ball.
01:30You really want to have your eyes over the ball or just inside the ball, and therefore
01:34getting the right length of putter for you is the key thing.
01:37You want to have the putter sitting flat on the ground, your eyes over the ball, arms in
01:43a nice relaxed position, and that will be the right length for you.
01:48Now, the third factor you look for is the type of hosel that you want, because that is going
01:52to have an implication on the amount of toe hang that you have, and this is quite important
01:56because toe hang is what will enable the face to open and close as you go through the stroke.
02:01If you're somebody that has quite a straight stroke, then you want a putter with very little
02:05toe hang, and if you have somebody with a very arc stroke, you need quite a lot of toe hang
02:09so that the face opens and closes and squares the face at impact, because that is the most important
02:14thing. This putter here is what they call a high toe hang putter, because as you can see,
02:18the toe hangs down quite a lot. It's about 60 or 70 degrees, and the reason it does that
02:23is because this is what's called an offset hosel. At the other end is what you call a
02:27face balance putter, so as you can see here, the face is balanced because it's pointing
02:30straight at the sky when I hold it in my hand, and that's because that has a single
02:35bend hosel here. You can see it's a completely different style of hosel. Now, if you want something
02:38in between, you still have putters which have a little bit of toe hang, so you can see here
02:42this is still another mallet putter, which you might see on a face balance design with
02:47a different hosel, but by changing the hosel, you actually get a little bit of toe hang.
02:50So this is going to give you a very slight arc. Generally in the past, you will have had
02:54a mallet, which was face balanced, and you had a blade, which had a toe hang, but now
02:58you've got every combination that can happen in between. It's all to do with the type of hosel
03:02that you have. You put this type of hosel into a blade putter, then you can get a face
03:06balance blade. And conversely, if you put the offset hosel into a mallet, then you can
03:13get a toe hanging mallet. So the key thing is to go out and try and see which one suits
03:18your game. And the best way to judge that is being able to make a putt and try and make
03:22sure your hands are relaxed. If you feel that your hands are having to maneuver the head
03:26by trying to open it or trying to close it to keep the ball on line, then you probably
03:30haven't got the right hosel. If you can just relax your hands and make a stroke without
03:33them having any influence on it, then you have the right hosel for your game.
03:37Now the fourth thing to think about when you're buying a new putter is what type of face you
03:41want. Now there's two main types. You either have an all metal face or you have a face with
03:45an insert. But why is this important? It really has to do with the feel of the putter. Now
03:49when people are talking about feel, what they really mean is sound. The sound is what is
03:52important because it allows you to judge the pace of the putter. It allows you to judge how
03:56far you're heading out, how hard you're heading out. It gives you that sound feedback and that
03:59is what gives you the feel. Some people like all metal putters because they tend to give a good sound
04:03feedback, they're probably going to sound and feel a little bit firmer. But even within
04:06all metal putters, you can get some that feel softer than others. And the reason they do
04:10that is because of the milling patterns that they have on the face. This putter in particular
04:13has a deeper milling pattern towards the heel and the toe than it does in the middle. All
04:17that does mean is try to equalize the ball speed because there's more points of contact
04:21with the ball in the heel and the toe and there's less in the middle. So that in turn will
04:25affect
04:25the feel and also the speed off the head. If you want an insert head, then you can get
04:29various putters which have different types of materials in the face of the putter. Now the reason
04:33they do this is partly for feel but also partly for forgiveness because they can take weight
04:37out of the center of the head and put it elsewhere in the putter and then they fill the middle
04:41of the face with a material that is lighter than the steel or other material that they've
04:45taken out of the face. So you can see here there's lots of different options, there's
04:49lots of different roles that you can get from this putter because it all comes back to feel
04:53and sound. So get the feel and sound that suits the ball you use and the type that you like
04:57to hear and the amount of feedback that you want to get and that is the right face for you.
05:01Now the fifth thing you want to think about when you're trying to pick your putter is what type
05:04of alignment lines you like. Some people like some alignment lines, some people like nothing at
05:08all. As you can see here in this blade, there's no alignment lines at all and people like that if
05:12they just want to make a stroke, they don't want anything complicating their minds when they're
05:15doing it. You can also get lines that point towards the target. So if you use a line on your
05:18golf ball or you just want some visual reference for that, then these type of putters quite good.
05:22You also get alignment lines which can then be perpendicular to that. So here this putter has a silver line
05:28which is
05:29going this way which might help you align the face and then the line behind it will point towards a
05:33target.
05:34You can also get putters which have circles or they might have an open space which will be the
05:40width of the golf ball which again will give you some sort of visual reference for the path of the
05:43ball going forward. It really is personal preference. Have a try, see which one suits your eye and go
05:49without one. The sixth thing you need to consider is what type of shaft you want in your putter.
05:53Now this might not be a decision much in the past because most putters had a steel shaft like this
05:57one. But what you're seeing these days are some composite shafts. So these are putters which are
06:04mostly graphite with a steel tip. The point of these shafts is to actually make your stroke a little
06:08bit more consistent. They don't keep the putter in line. What they help with is the rhythm of the putter
06:13because it changes the swing rate of the putter a little bit. They might give you a slightly better
06:17feel. They do tend to be more expensive so check them out and see if it works for you. Now
06:21my seventh and final
06:22tip for picking the right putter is to choose the right grip. Not only does it affect the performance
06:26but it's also how you feel the club because it is the part of the club that you touch. Basically
06:30there's
06:31two types. You've got the pistol type grip which tends to be a little bit thinner here. You can see
06:35how the butt of it is a little bit wider and it tapers down a bit so it would be
06:39thicker at the top
06:39and narrower at the bottom. These tend to fit well in your hand because the pistol part of it locks
06:44into
06:44the the palm of your hand and that can help with stability. Also on the market you've seen the grips
06:49like this which are a little bit thicker and they tend to be the same width all the way down.
06:53So if
06:53you like to vary the height of your hands on the putter or even if you want to use as
06:57an arm lock
06:57putter where you're putting up against your arm then these types of grip work very well because
07:02you can put your hands in any place. They also come in various thicknesses as well. This is one of
07:06the
07:06narrow ones but you can get quite thick ones as well. Now the advantage of having those thicker grips
07:10is that the thicker the grip the less your hands are probably able to move. So if you've got quite
07:14active
07:15hands in your putting stroke and you want to reduce that then you can try using a thicker grip because
07:19that will stabilize the hands a little bit more and help you probably get a bit more consistent as
07:25well. You tend to find that the more forgiving larger headed mallets tend to come with these thicker
07:30grips anyway but you can change these grips around but be careful when you do because some grips are
07:35lighter than others and if you take a light grip off and maybe put a heavier rubber grip on then
07:39you
07:39will change the swing weight of putter and the feel of it and that in turn will have effect on
07:43the
07:43performance. So if you are going to do it make sure you get it professionally done so you get the
07:47right
07:47grip for your game. So there you have it that's my top seven tips for helping you choose your putter.
07:51The putter is a really important club in your bag it's the club you use the most so if you
07:55take the
07:56time to get the right putter and get it suited to the right shape you like, the right alignment lines,
08:00get the right length and the right grip then you will be rewarded with a club that will not only
08:05help you
08:05hold a few more parts, but also help you lower your scores.
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