Selecting the right Equipment

Perhaps we can deal with the equipment first. Putters tend to come in all sorts of shapes and sizes just take a look in any golf shop and you will most likely find hundreds of different shapes, styles, lengths, weights and angles of putters. Some putter manufacturers advertise that their putters have a soft feel, others advocate the ease with which we can align their model and so it goes. There are three basic styles of putter heads readily available, each have a wide variation of fitting parameters.

Mallet

Centre shafted

Bladed

If for example we were to take the standard mallet shaped putter, how could it be described in words? Would the shaft be located towards the heel of the head or more towards the centre? Would the shaft be 36” long or perhaps shorter or longer? Would the lie angle of the shaft be flat or more upright than standard? Would the shaft be straight or have a series of small bends in it? Now get to the club head and as you may imagine there are literally hundreds if not thousands of mallet head designs.

The selection of a suitable putter should take into consideration the players preference, perhaps they like the look of one style over that of another, selection must also take into account of the type of stroke that the player has or wish to have; the length of arms and legs, size of hands and very importantly the players current range of flexibility especially in the lumbar region.

You can use the following as a rough guide to selecting the basic putter design after which you will need to have the putter fitted to maximise your putting performance:

Mallet putters tend to include in the head design some form of alignment aid, perhaps a line, a series of lines, dots or circles. They also tend to be broadly semi spherical or with a piece of protruding metal either rectangular or square, most have a heel mounted curved shaft which normally results in a putter which is face balanced.

Bladed putters normally have the shaft mounted at the heel end of the face, usually the shaft is free of curves. Most but not all have alignment aids marked on the top of the blade.

Center shafted putters have changed dramatically over the years, even though the name suggests that the shaft enters the club head in the centre, this is not always exactly the case. The majority of center shafted putters are not normally face balanced.

A player who has or wishes to develop a pendulum or as I prefer to call it a “SWING” stroke, will probably be best served by a putter which is face balanced as this type of putter has a greater resistance to twisting and the club face when swung with a pure pendulum will remain perpendicular to the target line. On the other hand a player who tends to use their wrists more in the stroke will perhaps be best served using a putter which is not face balanced allowing the face to open and close more during the swing. After all there are many ways to putt, with thousands of putters and it is vital that you select a putter that appeals to the eye, feels good and if possible matches your preferred style.

There is an ideal lie angle and shaft length for each individual player. It is my belief that the putter should be adjusted to fit the player rather than the player being adjusted to fit the putter. Once you have established the “ideal” body position with the eyes over the aim line and the hands under the pivot point then a club should be inserted into your hands allowing the sole of the club to be level to the ground and the shaft at a comfortable length.

Loft varies from putter to putter and the ideal depends on the type of stroke that you adopt and the kind of greens that you normally putt on. If you are playing on greens that are generally slow or with strong grain then I would recommend a little more loft.

Selecting the preferred weight is a matter of personal choice. Most players find that a putter with a little more head weight feels more stable whereas a light putter head has less room for error and is very responsive to any involuntary movements of the hands or wrists.