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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 and while we all tend to rightly focus on our irons and
00:09drivers
00:10when we invest in new clubs we often neglect the club we use the most on course which is the
00:15putter.
00:15Getting fitted for a putter should be done as meticulously as your irons if you're really
00:20intending on lowering your handicap and playing better golf. To show you the process of a putter
00:25fitting and to give you an idea about why they're so beneficial we've teamed up with Sick Golf to
00:29educate you on the ins and outs of a good and importantly wide-ranging putter fitting.
00:35We'll also take a dive into the technology behind the latest range of Sick Putters
00:38which 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
00:46before and are also very curious about the process. They've also told me they're really
00:51looking to improve their putting and are willing to try any new techniques or equipment to help
00:56chip away at their handicap. The technology used by our fitter Ollie Leet today at his putting hub
01:01here in Somerset will be able to give both of our readers a real education into what their putting
01:06stroke is actually doing. Whilst using Sick's extensive range of fitting options they should
01:10both be able to find the exact putter to help them out on the greens. So with all that in
01:15mind let's go
01:15meet our readers at the wonderful Tickenham Golf Centre, find out a bit about their golf and see how
01:20they get on during their fitting.
01:57The putter I have been using prior to the fitting is a Scotty Cameron dual balance putter which I went
02:03to probably about four or five years ago just to give in my mind more stability when I was putting
02:09because frankly I was a pretty streaky putter so I was trying to find something that would suit me
02:15but was a little bit more consistent. I've never been fitted for a putter before
02:19in fact it's the only club in the bag that I've never been fitted for which is remarkable really
02:24when you consider how many times you use it. I found the experience fascinating frankly I had no idea
02:29of the 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 felt
02:39were happening in some cases were but in other cases were completely different so the whole process
02:45as 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 statistics
03:06that wasn't the case in fact I was hitting them high out the face rather than out the heel. I'd
03:10never seen
03:11a sick putter before I did look before this fitting I did actually have a quick look at about what
03:17they were about
03:18but didn't necessarily recognize that they would be radically different. When I started hitting some
03:23putts I found that the actual quality of the strike of the putt even though it was telling me they
03:29were
03:29off the top of the head was actually an awful lot better. It felt a much purer strike even though
03:34the
03:35loft was getting it rolling quicker than my current putter. So frankly and it wasn't anything I had to
03:43change that just came with the the technology with insect putter so that became very comfortable very
03:48quickly. It was great from the perspective of having all the different combinations that I felt I could
03:53try some different things even some that I would not if I'd have been in a normal sort of purchase
03:58to
03:59go into a shop and try a few things I'd have never even picked them off the shelf. So although
04:03I've
04:03ended up settling for something that's not a million miles away from what I originally had it was great to
04:09extent to discount some of the other shapes not because they were bad but just because either
04:14they suited my eye less or I just found the putting experience with them not quite as good.
04:19So Mike was putting well when he first came in he's been taking some tuition and been doing really
04:24well with it. So what we identified with Mike was there was a few things we could improve so his
04:29face
04:29change from where he was aiming to where the face was at impact was a little inconsistent down at 50%.
04:35Another thing was his launch so interestingly with Mike he was hitting it high on the face
04:40but he was adding loft as well so they're really losing a lot of energy through poor roll. We give
04:46him the equivalent putter in the sick head and the the launch just changed massively on the slow motion
04:51we could see before you know it was really taking off and we got it down you know with the
04:57technology
04:57in the face to get that ball rolling really really quick and it was super real game changer. So to
05:04get a good roll like the optimum launch for a putt you would get the first 10% in the
05:08air the next 10%
05:10it'll be sort of bouncing and then it reaches true roll at 20% so Mike's was still bouncing outside
05:15of
05:15that 20% and when we changed the sick technology straight away within sort of 15-20% that ball
05:22was on a
05:22pure roll. So the next thing we identified was the type of hosel that was suited for him so we
05:28tried
05:28in the face balance which is what he had not a lot of change in the in the consistency of
05:33the face change
05:34as soon as we went to the plumber's neck it really made a huge difference of delivering that clubface
05:39back to square more often which is key what we were looking for. From memory it went from 50%
05:45to 77%
05:46and then we messed around with heads and sight lines and we got that consistency up into the 90s which
05:51is a real game changer really to know he's hitting it where it's aiming 90% of the time rather
05:57than 50%
05:57of the time. Current putter like bag is a tailor-made spider I had for about five years generally it's
06:03pretty reliable a few you know errors a push and a pull but that's a standard goal for you. Today
06:09got
06:09fitted for the show and a face balance in the end it was kind of robotic you know with the
06:15stats
06:16it was more so how many do I make more than I miss. Yes you know it's really good experience
06:21and good fun.
06:21With the fitting today with the technology use and SICK was very interesting also my current putter
06:27the Spider when we put it on the SAM putt lab there was a lot of check to it so
06:32it was a lot of bouncing
06:32it kind of lifted in the air bounced a couple of times then spent on which on average potentially losing
06:37a yard or two which on that longer putt could be the sake of missing it you know three foot
06:42short or next
06:43the hole. Yeah so once I started hitting the SICK putter it felt very different it was completely
06:49contrasting to what I'm using in this in the Spider where I felt I was hitting off the face it
06:55just
06:55rolled it just straight off the face no matter if I hit it a bit low a bit high it
06:58just went off like
06:59a rocket you know so for me it'll be a learning curve to my weight now of how to hit
07:04the putt and to get
07:06it going but it's a smooth putter it come off lovely you know it's just you know really good technology
07:11behind the head yeah I'd say if you've never been for a putter fitting and it's something you're
07:15considering I'd say you know do it at the end of the day it's where we save the most shots
07:19potentially
07:19on a course you know a long game can be brilliant but there's no point if you're on a two
07:23three four
07:24putt on every green you know having the right putter that works for you and you can work on that
07:28putting and get used to it you know that's fitted to the optimum performance for yourself you know
07:32as I've walked in and just brought one off the shelf made it work for me now got a proper
07:37fitting I
07:37realized how different I would have gone if I had that fitting from day one Matt was using a
07:43spider putter and he was putting really well he had a great ability to return the face to where he
07:49was aiming so we made sure we didn't lose any of that during it but what was really inconsistent was
07:55his path and the arc I think the path consistency was 14% and the arc was 18% so
08:01really poor so although
08:03the delivery of the face was pretty good matching the arc and the sort of rotation of the stroke
08:09was a little bit more difficult I think like part of the putter fitting there's always going to be an
08:13element of coaching in there today with Matt you know we were noticeably going sort of outside the
08:20line and quite short on the way back and then a big acceleration through so we did talk a little
08:25bit
08:25of technique there to allow him to bring that club inside the line and a bit further which certainly helped
08:31him with the start line he had his club face his hands were back 2.9 degrees launching the ball
08:37at
08:38five and a half degrees and from the slow-mo video we can see that it's hopping and skipping outside
08:42of
08:43that 20 range we just give him the sick putter didn't do anything straight away within the 15-20
08:48the ball was rolling well gaining energy and now we can't stop hitting the ball too far past the hole
08:53yeah we went for the show head which really suited him it was slightly heavier than his uh his tailor
08:59-made
09:00spider and it felt heavy as well because it was a thinner grip than he had on the the 2
09:05.0 super
09:06stroke was on his current club so just by having that lighter thought thinner grip give him a bit
09:11more head weight the face balance really helped for his off-centered strikes and he just aimed it
09:16beautiful and stroke it stroke it beautiful so it was nice good to see the sight lines on the putters
09:21are
09:22really interesting it can change absolutely everything or it could change nothing I think it's a lot of trial
09:28and error but typically like more lines on putters golfers will aim further left less lines or lines
09:35near the top line will aim further right as a rule of thumb but I've seen it go both ways
09:40so left eye
09:41dominant tend to prefer the line on top rather on the bottom but again it's sort of trial and error
09:46and
09:46through the fitting process we we try them all and we find which one gets you aiming like a laser
09:52and
09:52putting like a laser well there you have it we've had a fantastic day here at the ticket of golf
09:57center
09:57learning the ins and outs of everything that goes into a good putter fitting as well as that we've
10:02seen some fascinating technology and innovation in the latest range of sick putters that have helped
10:07both of our readers different golfers with very different putting strokes find a solution on the
10:12greens it's been fascinating to see how many solutions there were on offer for each of them and
10:18hopefully you've seen today the importance of a good putter fitting with a wide variety of heads and
10:23shafts available to help them with their putting stroke but for now a massive thanks to ollie leat
10:28at the ollie leat putting hub here in somerset thanks for watching this video we'll see you next time
10:32to explore the full range of sick golf putters for yourself you can visit their website at www.sickgolf.com
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