putters

[Evesdad]

goig for a new putter but i am a bit confused about some information. i am righted hand dominante and was told i should look for a centre shafted putter. i have always used heel shafted ones and putting is not great it is one of my stronger points.. looking at the sabretooth but wanted check out heel or centre shafting.

 

[BigJim13]

goig for a new putter but i am a bit confused about some information. i am righted hand dominante and was told i should look for a centre shafted putter. i have always used heel shafted ones and putting is not great it is one of my stronger points.. looking at the sabretooth but wanted check out heel or centre shafting.

Go to a store that has a bunch of different putters. Try as many as you can and find one that you like the look and feel of and you have confidence in. Buy at the store or come home and find one on ebay or Global Golf. Simple as that.

 

[ezra76]

Best advice I can give is to try a lot of putters. Get one you feel comfortable with hitting a straight putt. I hear people say you shouldn't judge a putter by the "green" at a shop but I disagree 100%. If you can hit one straight in the shop, you can hit it straight on the course. The only difference is speed. Break and reading greens is a totally seperate issue.

 

[figjam]

I'd go along with the above suggestions, but also try to pay attention to speed control when choosing. I know it's a bit hard as the artificial greens in shops are pretty quick so they all seem to go over the back if you miss the hole, but try to find a putter that seems to get them rolling qick and you can hit at the same speed. As Ezra said it's very important to find one that you can sink straight short putts, but it's also important to find a oputter that you can easily lag the long putts with too.

 

[ualtim]

Plenty of center shafted options out there. Like has already been mentioned, go hit a bunch of them and see what works best for you. Some of my favorite center shafted putters have been the Rife 2-bar series and the Cameron Red X2. Another favorite if you want to become almost automatic at putts under 10 feet is the Heavy Putter center shafted models.

If you can find a dealer that carries the Rife's and HP's give them a shot during your testing. The Red X2 has been discontinued so the only way to try one of those out would be if they carry used equipment.

 

[Eracer]

The only reason someone should tell you that you need a center-shafted putter is that they've fitted you and can tell by looking at your stroke that you would be best served by that style.

Your best bet is to go to a putter fitting session. Otherwise, you'll end up with a closet full of putters. Like me....

I was recently fitted with my current putter, and all can say is that I highly doubt I'll ever buy another putter. And if you knew me, you'd know that's saying a lot. A good fitting session will cost you a bit, but will save you lots of money in the end.

 

[Evesdad]

Hoping to get done to local store and also my europro store to try a few out this weekend.

 

[halifax_golfer]

I tried putters for a while one night at golf town, and I have to say... I really liked the rife 2 bar mallet. But thats just my personall choice after trying all that I liked.

 

[holinger]

i'd say rather than a local store a local shop at a course would be better... putting on cement with carpet on it doesn't seem to give very accurate results in my opinion. I prefer going to a course that sells clubs and trying them out on the practice greens. They might force you to let them hold on to a credit card while you do it though

 

[phatheadaf]

Lot of good posts.

Just wanted to address the center shafted putter, if you don't like it, if it doesn't fit your eye... DON'T SWITCH TO IT!!!

putting is totally a personal preference. How you choose to get fitted is up to you, but if you like the plumbers neck, then roll w/ it. I'm a righty and prefer a plumbers neck on a blade style putter. That's how I roll. If you don't like the way it looks, you'll never hit it well.

Regarding putter fittings, I know Golf Galaxy has a good service (depending on the fitter) for about $30; also Golfer's Warehouse lets you demo clubs pretty easily... I would definitely get off the cement carpet and roll it on the grass. But in the store at least get a feel for how it you like standing over it, and what you think of the feel on contact.

 

[kdp86]

I just got my first center shafted putter ever, a Taylormade Spider. I hate how this thing looks, and still need to develop better feel with it, but this thing does what it is hyped to do, line up easy and put straight. I like the center shaft too, I feel like it is very square at address as opposed to some of the bent shafts which feel closed to me.

 

[jiffypop]

Forget the technical mumbo jumbo and try all of them till you find one that fells right and putts true. I use a Ping Doc 15 and belive me, every fiber of my being told me that it was a crazy choice of putter, meanwhile I have never putted better.

J

 

[kdp86]

So, an edit to my previous post. The Spider went back to Golf Galaxy. It was cool, and what I said was true, it aims easy and putts straight, but those are only 2 out of 3 things you need to make putts. I could not for the life of me get the distance control down. So, I went back to Golf Galaxy today to have a putter comparison day, and low and behold, I ended up with a Ping Anser 2 Karsten Series. It will open or close much easier if you break your wrists, but I can hit the right speed every time with it. So much for the Spider, it was ugly anyway.

 

[phatheadaf]

That spider is attrocious looking, i can't agree more... stable as all hell... but attrocious. The Karsten Anser is solid... reminds of my own Zen. That's my prefered flat stick and the only one I own.

It does seem that the mallets do roll it harder and farther... helps to make sure nobody is leaving it short.

Good choice...

A.