In this video, putter expert Martin Hopley explains the 7 key things you need to get right when it comes to choosing a new putter. It's the club you'll use the most during a round of golf and as a result, there are an awful lot of things to consider - including the length, head design, shaft and grip among others. If you've not given much thought to the putter you use, watch this video to the end as it will certainly spark some ideas in your mind as to how you could improve your putting.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00When it comes to choosing a new putter for your game, it can be a bit of a minefield.
00:03There's plenty of things to think about, whether it's the head shape, the head style, the length
00:07of the shaft, or the type of the grip, and many other things in between.
00:10So I've come here to the Black Bear Golf Club of Florida, and I'm going to give you my top
00:13seven tips for things that you need to look out for when you're choosing the right putter
00:16for your game.
00:17So the first thing you need to decide is what type of head style you would like.
00:24There's blade putters, and there's mallet putters.
00:26The blade putters, as the name suggests, are long, thin heads, they tend to be very good
00:30for people who like a sort of shallower head, front to back, and these tend to be pretty
00:34forgiving, but not so much on the off-center hits.
00:36Mallet heads, as the name suggests, tend to be much deeper.
00:40They tend to have a square shape, or sometimes a rounded shape at the back, and what makes
00:43these putters different is that the moment of inertia, or the twisting effect of the putter
00:47is much reduced, and that's because there's more weight out here in the edges of the putter,
00:51and also at the back.
00:52And that means if you don't hit the putter in the middle, then there's less resistance
00:55to the face twisting open or closed, which will then send your putter offline.
00:58So if you want a little bit more forgiveness, and you like the look of them, then the deeper
01:01headed mallets is the one to go for.
01:03The second step is to get the correct length of putter for your stroke and also for your
01:07posture as well.
01:08Putters tend to range from about 33 inches right up to 35 inches, and sometimes can be
01:12even longer than that.
01:13The key thing is really to get the putter that suits your posture correctly.
01:16This is a 35 inch putter, and if I was a short person and it was too long for me, then you
01:22can see here that the toe of the putter raises up from the ground.
01:24Conversely, if the putter is too short for me, what I might have is that my eye line might
01:28be outside the line of the ball.
01:30You really want to have your eyes over the ball or just inside the ball, and therefore getting
01:34the right length of putter for you is the key thing.
01:37You want to have the putter sitting flat on the ground, your eyes over the ball, arms in
01:43a nice relaxed position, and that will be the right length for you.
01:48Now the third factor you look for is the type of hosel that you want, because that is going
01:52to have an implication on the amount of toe hang that you have, and this is quite important
01:56because toe hang is what will enable the face to open and close as you go through the stroke.
02:01If you're somebody that has quite a straight stroke, then you want to putter with very little
02:05toe hang, and if you have somebody with a very arc stroke, you need quite a lot of toe
02:09hang so that the face opens and closes and squares the face at impact, because that is
02:13the most important thing.
02:15This putter here is what they call a high toe hang putter, because as you can see, the
02:18toe hangs down quite a lot.
02:20It's about 60 or 70 degrees, and the reason it does that is because this is what's called
02:24an offset hosel.
02:25At the other end is what you call a face balance putter, so as you can see here, the face is
02:29balanced because it's pointing straight at the sky when I hold it in my hand, and that's
02:33because that has a single bent hosel here, you can see it's a completely different style
02:37of hosel.
02:38Now, if you want something in between, you still have putters which have a little bit
02:41of toe hang, so you can see here, this is still another mallet putter, which you might
02:45see on a face balance design with a different hosel, but by changing the hosel, you actually
02:49get a little bit of toe hang.
02:51So this is going to give you a very slight arc.
02:53Generally in the past, you will have had a mallet, which was face balanced, and you had
02:56a blade, which had a toe hang, but now you've got every combination that can happen
03:00in between, it's all to do with the type of hosel that you have.
03:02You put this type of hosel into a blade putter, then you can get a face balance blade, and
03:07conversely, if you put the offset hosel into a mallet, then you can get a toe hanging mallet.
03:15So the key thing is to go out and try and see which one suits your game, and the best
03:19way to judge that is being able to make a putt and try and make sure your hands are relaxed.
03:24If you feel your hands are having to maneuver the head by trying to open it or trying to close
03:27it to keep the ball on line, then you probably haven't got the right hosel.
03:31If you can just relax your hands and make a stroke without them having any influence
03:35on it, then you have the right hosel for your game.
03:38Now the fourth thing to think about when you're buying a new putter is what type of face you
03:41want.
03:42Now there's two main types.
03:43You either have an all-metal face, or you have a face with an insert.
03:46But why is this important?
03:47It really has to do with the feel of the putter.
03:49When people talk about feel, what they really mean is sound.
03:51The sound is what is important because it allows you to judge the pace of the putter, it allows
03:54you to judge how far you're heading out, how hard you're heading, because it gives you
03:57that sound feedback, and that is what gives you the feel.
04:00Some people like all-metal putters because they tend to give a good sound feedback, they're
04:03probably going to sound and feel a little bit firmer.
04:06But even within all-metal putters, you can get some that feel softer than others, and
04:09the reason they do that is because of the milling patterns that they have on the face.
04:12This putter in particular has a deeper milling pattern towards the heel and the toe than
04:15it does in the middle.
04:16All that does mean is try to equalize the ball speed because there's more points of contact with
04:21the ball in the heel and the toe, and there's less in the middle, so that in turn will affect
04:25the feel and also the speed of the head.
04:27If you want an insert head, then you can get various putters which have different types
04:30of materials in the face of the putter.
04:33The reason they do this is partly for feel, but also partly for forgiveness, because they
04:36can take weight out of the center of the head and put it elsewhere in the putter, and
04:40then they fill the middle of the face with a material that is lighter than the steel
04:44or other material that they've taken out of the face.
04:47So you can see here there's lots of different options.
04:49There's lots of different roles that you can get from this putter because it all comes
04:52back to feel and sound.
04:54So get the feel and sound that suits the ball you use and the type that you like to hear
04:57and the amount of feedback that you want to get, and that is the right face for you.
05:01Now the fifth thing you want to think about when you're trying to pick your putter is what
05:04type of alignment lines you like.
05:06Some people like some alignment lines, some people like nothing at all.
05:08As you can see here in this blade, there's no alignment lines at all, and people like
05:11that if they just want to make a stroke, they don't want anything complicating their minds
05:14when they're doing it.
05:15You can also get lines that point towards the target.
05:17So if you use a line on your golf ball or you just want some visual reference for that,
05:20then these type of putters are quite good.
05:22You also get alignment lines which can then be perpendicular to that.
05:26So here this putter has a silver line which is going this way which might help you align
05:30the face, and then the line behind it will point towards the target.
05:34You can also get putters which have circles, or they might have an open space which will
05:39be the width of the golf ball, which again will give you some sort of visual reference
05:42for the path of the ball going forward.
05:45It really is personal preference.
05:47Have a try, see which one suits your eye, and go without one.
05:50The sixth thing you need to consider is what type of shaft you want in your putter.
05:54This might not be a decision much in the past because most putters had a steel shaft like
05:57this one.
05:58But what you're seeing these days are some composite shafts.
06:02So these are putters which are mostly graphite with a steel tip.
06:06The point of these shafts is to actually make your stroke a little bit more consistent.
06:09They don't keep the putter in line, but what they help with is the rhythm of the putter
06:13because it changes the swing rate of the putter a little bit.
06:16They might give you a slightly better feel.
06:18They do tend to be more expensive, so check them out and see if it works for you.
06:21Now my seventh and final tip for picking the right putter is to choose the right grip.
06:25Not only does it affect the performance, but it's also how you feel the club because it
06:28is the part of the club that you touch.
06:30Basically there's two types, you've got the pistol type grip which tends to be a little
06:34bit thinner here.
06:35You can see how the butt of it is a little bit wider and it tapers down a bit so it would
06:39be thicker at the top and narrower at the bottom.
06:41These tend to fit well in your hand because the pistol part of it locks into the palm of
06:45your hand and that can help with stability.
06:48Also on the market you've seen grips like this which are a little bit thicker and they tend
06:51to be the same width all the way down.
06:53So if you like to vary the height of your hands on the putter or even if you want to use it
06:57as an arm lock putter where you're putting up against your arm then these types of grip
07:01work very well because you can put your hands in any place.
07:04They also come in various thicknesses as well.
07:05This is one of the narrow ones but you can get quite thick ones as well.
07:08Now the advantage of having those thicker grips is that the thicker the grip the less your
07:12hands are probably able to move.
07:13So if you've got quite active hands in your potting stroke and you want to reduce that then
07:17you can try using a thicker grip because that will stabilize the hands a little bit more and
07:23help you probably get a bit more consistent as well.
07:26You tend to find that the more forgiving larger headed mallets tend to come with these thicker
07:30grips anyway but you can change these grips around but be careful when you do because
07:34some grips are lighter than others and if you take a light grip off and maybe put a heavier
07:38rubber grip on then you will change the swing weight of putter and the feel of it and that
07:42in turn will have an effect on the performance so if you are going to do it make sure you get
07:46it professionally done so you get the right grip for your game.
07:49So there you have it that's my top 7 tips for helping you choose your putter.
07:52The putter is a really important club in your bag, it's the club you use the most so if
07:55you take the time to get the right putter and get it suited to the right shape you like,
07:59the right alignment lines, get the right length and the right grip then you will be rewarded
08:04with a club that will not only help you hold a few more putts but also help you lower your
08:09scores.