What Putter?
‘Drive for show, putt for dough.’ The adage is as true today as it ever was.
If a good golfer posts a score close to par, almost half of the shots taken
will be with a putter. So it’s
almost impossible to overestimate the importance putting plays in determining
your score - yet it is an area which is often neglected; Most of us are happier
booming away drives at the practice ground than honing our skills on the practice
putting green - (professional golfers,
on the other hand, spend hours on the practice green.
There is more choice in design of
putters than any other club in
your bag – offset, mallet, belly, two-ball, blade – the list goes on – and prices
vary enormously – you can buy a cheap new putter for a £10 – or spend upwards
of £200.
But which putter to choose? The real answer is the one you feel most comfortable
– and confident - with – and it’s simply a case of trying some out. All we can
do is provide a few tips on the types of design available.
To help narrow down the options, we’ve put together a quick 4 Steps Guide.
1: Putter Design
2: Putter Shaft Design
3: Putter Faces – Inserts and Materials
4: Putter Length
Putter Design
There were traditionally three main types of putter head design: Blade, half-mallet,
and mallet – we show some modern examples below:
-
Classic Scotty
Cameron Blade Putter
Looks great – very simple – but not very forgiving should you not hit the
ball out of the middle of the clubface.
-
Ping modern-day B60 Half-Mallet
Putter
Nice feel – and certainly easier to hit than the classic blade above.
-
Yes! C-Groove Olivia Mallet
Putter
Heavier, with the solid feel preferred by many players Nowadays, in addition
to the classic shapes above, there is a wonderfully exotic array of heads
on offer – all designed to help you align the ball up more accurately -
and to stop the clubhead from twisting if you don’t quite hit the ball out
of the middle.
-
Odyssey White-Hot
2 Ball
The most famous and the biggest selling putter of all time. But designs
are getting much wackier than this now.
Feast your eyes on
TaylorMade’s new Monza
Spider and
Scotty Cameron’s Futuras. Old Tom Morris would be turning in his grave.
Putter Shaft Design
Shaft design also has a bearing on how the clubs feels. Many
putters nowadays – most in fact
- have an off-set shaft – that is, the shaft (or head design) sets the shaft
over the ball (and the head behind it) – as can be see in this
Scotty Cameron
Detour. An offset head serves two functions – to help get your eyes over
the ball and see it more easily – but more importantly, to ensure your hands
ahead of the ball at impact – a key feature of ensuring the clubhead hits the
ball squarely.
Putter Faces - Inserts and Materials
Putter faces are now made from wide range of materials – aside from steel,
you can choose from rubber, nickel, copper, aluminium, – even ceramic – and
all have a slightly different sound and feel. As a rough rule of thumb, for
very fast hard greens, you probably want a soft face insert, for slower greens
something heavier. But it’s really down to personal choice and to decide which
‘feels’ best for you, you just need to try as many types as possible.
Ping’s urethane-based blue insert provides for softer feel in their
G2i putter range – and
Odyssey’s Dual Insert
Technology with milled stainless steel inside a White Hot urethane insert.
Just two examples of the myriad face materials available.
Putter Length
The most common conventional length for a putter is 35” – but if you prefer
a shorter shaft, you can also opt for 34”, or 33”.
All putters on golfbidder have
the length specified in the notes section. You may though have heard of mid-length,
‘belly’ and long putters.
Belly Putter
The idea with belly putters is that they are anchored by being pushed into
your midriff – and this helps to reduce wrist action – a lot of golfers get
too ‘handsy’ – that is, they try and ‘steer’ the ball. Belly putters are typically
41”-45” long.
Chest Putter
Chest or ‘long’ putters are even longer, and rest on the chest – with the
aim of creating a smooth, repeating pendulum effect in your swing – again removing
wrist action.
Long putters are typically 45”-50” in length. Long putters are good for people
with back problems (no crouching low over the ball) however, gauging distance,
tends to be more difficult with a long putter.
And they are a bit of a nuisance to carry around to be honest. Our advice
would be to steer clear unless you are really struggling with shorter putts
and opt for a conventional length putter.
To Conclude
We hope this brief guide has helped you understand a bit more about the wide
range of putters on offer. To view the putters we have in stock today,
click here As with all our other
stock, putters come with a
no-quibble 7 day trial period.
Feel free to try one out – if you don’t like it, no problem. Simply return
for a full refund.
If you need any further help or advice, feel free to ring our PGA-qualified
Customer Service Team.
Telephone: 020 8401 6918
help@golfbidder.co.uk
They are here Monday-Friday 9-6 and will be more than happy to answer any
questions.