Putter Shaft Location

[Bubble Head]

When I bought my current putter, the guy in the shop told me that my swing was like a gate and that I should get a heel shafted putter.

More recently, I have been reading a lot about SeeMore putters. They are all center shafted or almost center shafted so I wanted to try one.

There aren't any dealers for them in my area, but I did get into a shop and hit many center shafted putters. From 6 feet I couldn't miss. I didn't even put any on the rim. My alignment was spot on. Blade, mallet, it didn't make a difference.

The guy in the shop told me that about 70% of golfers line up better with off-set heel shafted putters and that 30% set up with no off-set center shafted putters. He said swing was far less inportant than how the golfer perceives alignment.

What do you all think?

[Bubble Head]

Chirp, Chirp, Chirp. The silence is deafening.

[RickinMA]

putter fitting.....good stuff

on one hand, I've read that if you have a straight back/stright though stroke, face balanced putters are for you (center shafted, long neck, etc) and if you do the gate thing - open/square/close stroke you're better off with some toe hang

I haven't heard of too many that are best suited by heel shafted putters, but i'm sure they fit someone

high MOI on putters helps a lot of people because the average golfer misses the sweetspot on putts by like 1/2" - 3/4" on the average putt

length and lie angle are important - incorrect lie will have you putting in the wrong direction (look on YouTube for "Maltby putter lie")

That said - it all goes out the window if you're not confident in your putter - you're probably more likely to make putts with a putter that fits poorly that you've practiced with and are confident in than you are to make putts with a putter that should fit that you're not comfortable with.

[RickinMA]

Back on 10/30, I emailed Tom Wishon asking when his putter fitting book was going to come out after I got a notification from Amazon that my order was delayed because the book wasn't available (It's fantastic that the guy takes the time to respond to emails while running a company and designing great clubs) - here's a piece of his response

"So about your putter fitting needs,

1. Putter Lie Angle
a. This one’s easy. Once you get the right length for your set up and manner of putting, the lie angle of the putter must be adjusted so that when you address the ball with the putter, the CENTER OF THE SOLE of the putter must sit flat on the green – that means no hint of the toe end or heel end of the putter sticking up in the air. Putter lie is adjusted the same way ironhead lie is done, with a special bending machine that clamps the head secure while the operator uses a special bar to bend the hosel/neck down or up to make the CENTER OF THE SOLE of the putter sit flat on the green when you are in your “go position” for putting/

2. Putter Length
a. This one is a little bit more of a judgment call from your feedback along with a basic measurement. When you get into your most comfortable putting stance, you let the arms hang relaxed as if they are ready to hold on to the putter grip. No stretching down with the arms, no scrunching them up – just let the arms hang so they feel totally relaxed with little to no muscle tension in the arms. Bring your two hands together palm to palm and have the person measure the distance from the heel/wrist of your hands to the ball that you are looking down on as if you are about to set up to the putt. Ball position is to be where you are most comfortable in your putting in relation to your feet and your eyes as they look down at the ball. Most golfers are taught to have the ball directly vertical down from the eyes as they set up to putt – however, there are some golfers who are just more comfortable with a ball position that may put the ball outside or inside a vertical line straight down from the eyes. So that measurement from the heel/wrist of your hands together down to the back of the ball is the putter length for you.

3. Putter Loft
a. Yes indeed putters have loft. 98% of the putters you’ll see on display in a golf store will have a loft of 4*, because this is considered standard. Putter loft is important because it combines with where your hands are on the putter grip at the moment of impact with the ball to determine if the ball jumps up off the face (bad, coming from the hands being behind the ball at impact and thus the putter is hitting UP on the ball), is driven down into the green to hop up (also bad, because this means the hands are in front of the ball at impact and thus you are hitting DOWN on the ball), or begins to roll immediately upon leaving the face (good). Easiest way to relate to this is to judge a loft vs where your hands are on the putter grip in relation to the ball position. Golfers who forward press and keep the hands ahead through the whole stroke need more loft than 4, with 6 being usual. Golfers who either have the ball well forward in the stance OR who are wristy and thus flip the putter head into the ball ahead of the hands would be advised to be using 2* loft. And then golfers who have the hands right on top of the ball at impact are going to be ok with 4* loft.
b. This is one putter fitting area that a competent user of the SAM Putt Lab can nail down precisely from the outputs the unit records as you hit putts.

4. Putter Grip
a. Comfort and relaxed hand and arm muscles is the guideline here. This really is a trial and error thing – the golfer has to be able to “touch and feel” putter grips of different size and shape, one after the other, so that they can develop feed back for which one(s) allow you to feel like you can hold securely onto the putter but with the hands completely relaxed and arm muscles as well. Believe me, there are a myriad of different putter grips, so it would be beneficial if the clubfitter has an assortment for you to feel and hold as you note the feedback you have.

5. Putter Weighting
a. Now here is the toughest of all, because this one is SO INDIVIDUAL to each golfer, and there is no way we have yet come up with to do any neat and tidy measurement to know what weighting scheme is best for each golfer. Regular woods and irons are rated for this through a total weight and swingweight measurement. No such practice is used with putters, for some odd reason. What we tend to relate to is the HEADWEIGHT of the putter for this. 335 gram headweight is considered to be lighter these days, 350g considered to be closer to standard on this, and anything higher gradually gets into a “little bit heavy to a lot heavy.” Headweight has to be trial and error but with observations on your part – usually the more that you note that you “wobble the head around during the backswing and change to forward swing, the higher the headweight should be to help calm this down.”
b. I will make one definite recommendation here – ask the store/Clubmaker if they have ever worked with what are called “counterweights” or “butt weighting” of putters. Placing a heavy weight into the very END of the grip is a very new trend that is hitting in putter fitting today and is showing some pretty interesting things. WE’re talking about putting as much as 50-60 grams of mass into the very end of the shaft under the grip. It is done with specially made weights from a company called Balance Certified Golf – they sell a neat little kit to make this easy to do to any putter. This one is showing to be especially helpful for golfers who 1) notice that they can see the putter head wobble off line when they stroke back and then forward, 2) who have a tendency to push and pull putts both from time to time. Having this much weight directly in the hands is showing that it can “calm down the hands” during the stroke. "

when his Search for shortgame clubs (putter and wedges) book comes out, I'm definately going to buy it

[Bubble Head]

Wow! Neat stuff. That is a book I will pick up. Any ideas on off-set and shaft location?

[mddubya]

In my opinion, its all a matter of preferance. Personally, I prefer a center shafted putter. It just seems to suit me better, I haven't been fitted or analized, I just went to the golf shop and tried out many till I found the one that felt best to me. I ended up with the Odyssey White Hot 2 Ball center shaft, but it may feel all wrong for you. Just go and try them out till you find the one that feels right to you.

[Bubble Head]

All of the center shaft putters felt better than my current putter. Bought See More Putter - (eBay item 140175192738 end time Nov-09-07 15:49:52 PST) yesterday. It will magincally let me sink 90% of all puts between 5 and 30 ft. It will also prevent all 3 putt.

[mddubya]

Good deal Bubble Head;
Looks like you got you a good one, and for a great price. Now, if you could repeat all that about magically making your putts and preventing 3 putts a little louder, apparently my Odyssey didn't hear it the 1st time and doesn't know that.

[golfnut282]

If it makes it go in the hole I do not care if it is pink and green!!!