Going from heel toe balanced to face balanced putter

[hypergolf]

I have been playing with Scotty Cameron Newport 2 for the past 1 1/2 years now and it has been a good putter. However, I have a straight back straight through putting stroke and been recommended by a few friends that I should give a face balanced putter (with shaft in the center) instead. I would seriously like to improve my putting since I can shave off around 5 strokes if I were to be more precise. However, since I got accustomed to the shaft in the heel, the center shaft looks awkward...

Is this switch really going to help in my putting strokes? Which face balanced putters are recommended out there? Anyone made a transition from heel toe balanced to face balanced putter and noticed a difference? Any face balanced putters that do not have shaft right in the middle of the putter head? Thanks.

 

[RickinMA]

putters don't have to be center shafted to be face balanced and if you really have a straight back, straight through stroke a face-balanced putter may help you

for an easy transition, have you looked at any of the long-necked scottys?

many mallets are face balanced too - it just means that the weight of the head is directly behind the axis of the shaft
if you look at a long-necked Anser style putter, you can draw an imaginary line down the shaft right to the center of the putter

 

[ezra76]

It's helping mine a lot. Don't discount a centershaft without trying one. I was skeptical as well but I love my new one. I buried the first 15footer I hit with it to make par on the 1st hole and no looking back. I've been struggling with heel-toe putters the whole time... I can't beleive how much easier this thing is to roll straight down the line forever.

 

[Sandpiper3]

My SC newport as urs was face balanced, with help from a lot of lead tape to accomplish both face balancing and upping the swing weight.

I say tape urs up a bit, and go test out a bunch of other clubs for the hell of it.

 

[dave.]

I've made the move,to a face balanced mallet,heel shafted though.I truly cannot get used to centre shafted although they are better with the square alignment marks,but I just cnnot get used to the fact the face wants to drop closed.Anyway,the heel shafted mallet though is a heck of lot more forgiving that heel toe blades,even though modern bladed pputters are not as lethal as they used to be.Imho,you won't 'feel' the difference,my stroke has stayed exactly the same,but I can feel the extra foregiveness,the ball stays unnervingly online even struck off centre.Its the forgiveness that is most noticable,not so much the weighting,although they are probably connected.

I needed a perfect stroke on the bladenot on the mallet.Pros hit putts to within 1/8th of an inch of the centre of the face,we hit within a tolerance of 3/4",thats the real reason to use a forgiving putter,and a mallet is the best way to go imho.SC has a lot to answer for,making so called boutique style special editions for players that cannot use them.

I had a custom fit $400 putter,and yet a $100 Odyssey numer 5 Dual Force mallet is ten times easier to use

 

[ualtim]

I also had a Studio Style Newport 2 for a while and never thought it was going to leave my bag. Like you, I had a fairly straight back and straight through stroke. I was sinking my fair share of putts and pretty happy with my putting game.

And then I ended up trying a center shaft face balanced putter. I had tried them in the past without any noticeable difference, but when I was forced to use a Yes! Carolyne putter in a putting contest (technically, I was not forced, but it was the only 33" putter available at the booth as the rest were 35") I could not miss. For 3 days in a row I went back to the contest to use the Carolyne and if I recall correctly, I only missed one putt in 18. That peaked my interest.

A few weeks later, I ran into one of the Heavy Putter reps at my local Golfsmith and got hooked up to his putting analyzer and compared my Scotty to an HP A1-M (center shafted, face balanced). No contest. Center shafted face balanced was providing me a more consistent stroke and more importantly, more consistent results.

After that, I went a Ho'in for some putters.

First putter to arrive was the Heavy Putter A1-M. Bought it NIP off the bay for $124 USD. To date, it is the putter that allows me to roll the ball down the selected line the easiest. It was as simple as select the line and roll it. I made some monster putts with it, and anything inside 10 feet was a disappointment if I did not make it. The only downfall was feel. Every once in a while my distance control was off.

The second putter to arrive was a NIP Yes! Carolyne direct from Yes! Golf in Colorado for $50 (show discount). I pulled the stock shaft and reshafted with a UST Freq Filtered shaft and put a 100g TLP weight in the butt end of the grip. I was trying to create the ultimate putter by combining the roll properties of the Yes!, the heavier weight of an HP, and the feel of a Cameron by using the FF shaft. It came close, but it still did not have the same feel that my Studio Style had. Distance control was better than with the HP, but not as good as with with my Scotty. I used this putter for several months and probably would still be using it if I had not run into putter #3.

The third putter to arrive was a Scotty Cameron Red X2 for $135 courtesy of our sponsor Global Golf. It was a 35/330 model so it would need some work to get into my specs. I pulled the original shaft and installed a new one to get the playing length down to 33". Next, I pulled the plate off the bottom of the head and added 30 grams of weight to get me to a head weight of 360g. The last step was adding a 100g TLP weight to the grip to try and get the heavy weight advantage of the HP. Once the mods were completed, the Red X2 was ready to go. It is, by far, the best feeling putter of the three. It has that same feel as the Studio Style NP2, but with the advantages of the HP and the center shaft, face balanced design. This putter has been in my bag since August and I have stopped my putter searches. It is amazingly consistent. Not quite as good on the line as the HP, but distance control is back to where it was with the SS NP2. If anything, I may just add some weight by getting a heavier TLP cartridge to see if it help with the occasional line error.

Long story short, hyper, if you love the feel of your SS Newport, I would start your search at the Red X2. It may not work for you, but is as close as your going to get to the feel of the Studio Style.

Your putting style sound like it would match up perfectly to a center shafted / face balanced putter. I would go hang out at your local golf store for a while and try all of the different models of face balanced putters and compare to the non face balanced putters by the same manufacturer. I have spent hours on my local Golfsmith putting green trying out all the new putters when they come out which has lead me to making more putter purchases that I care to reveal. Right now, I believe I have the best putter in the world for my game in my bag with the modified Red X2, but I am sure somewhere down the line I will be convinced otherwise.:laugh:

Enjoy the search,

ualtim

 

[hypergolf]

Do you happen to know if the new X3 or X5 are face balanced? Tks.

 

[RickinMA]

Do you happen to know if the new X3 or X5 are face balanced? Tks.

I don't think they are - Scotty doesn't do a lot of face balanced models
- I could be wrong though - hopefully someone else can confirm

 

[ualtim]

Most of Scotty's heal shafted putters have toe hang. Besides, there are deals to be had on the Red X and X2 where as the X3 and X5 are still fairly rare on the used market and hard to get deals on in the new market.

 

[hypergolf]

Face balanced putter

Tried Odyssey Marxman putter and Ping Redwood Piper today. Both are face balanced. I really liked the Ping Redwood Piper... I might really consider buying it tomorrow... Only tried on the putting mats so hopefully will get to try on the course first before I confirm... Anyone using the Ping Redwood Piper? Would appreciate some review.