GolfPlus - Nov 19 Digital Edition (Nov 19) | Page 45

Styler
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for choosing a putter are as follows:
*Shaft length - The length of your putter
will dictate your posture and, in turn, where
your eyes are at address. Getting it right will
help you monitor face alignment. The eyes
have it. *Head type - Optimally yours should
suit your swing arc, plus your strengths and
weaknesses. While mallets of all shapes tend
to offer extra stability, they can come at the
cost of feel.
*Your preferences – No question, putting
is a confi dence game, so you need to like the
shape, fi nish and sightlines on your putter, as
well as its weight and feel. Get a Grip. There’s
also an array of grip sizes and materials to
choose from. There’s the standard size that
match your other clubs, but what a thicker
grip can do is take your hands and wrists out
of the stroke, which is what golfers seek to
do to improve their putting. The downside of
that is you won’t get the same level of feel of
a standard grip this is because the vibrations
coming up the shaft will be dampened down.
So, if you are a feel putter or have a stroke
that involves a lot of wrist action, then you are
more suited to a standard grip.
And after all that and you still can’t decide
which brand to go with, much like what the
magical name of Andretti is to motor racing, a
golfer can’t go wrong with those manufacturers
ending in “I”- Piretti and Bettinardi. Still, the
fi rms that lead the way and are the best bet
to keep your strokes on the green down, are
those that have been committed to being on
the cutting edge of refi ning the fl at stick for
years including - Ben Hogan, Scotty Cameron/
Titleist, Taylor Made, Ping and Odyssey/
Callaway.
So, what’s trending with putters and what
tips do the experts have for us?
“There seem to be a couple of trends
right now: First, golfers are looking for more
stability and/or minimal ‘face twist’. Bigger
heads and larger grips help with this and allow
golfers to keep the putter face online longer,”
observed Hogan’s White.
“We’re seeing a lot more interest in the
putter shaft,” noted Williams. “The ability
to completely re-balance the putter in a
way that helps golfers square the face more
consistently has been a major breakthrough
and it continues to grow in popularity week by
week on the Tours around the world and in the
marketplace.”
“The eyeline is crucial to golfers in
understanding which type of putter best suits
their address position and stroke. They have
to be comfortable with the shape of the putter
and how they release the putter, whether they
are square-to-square or have more of a toe-
type of stroke. So, the individual golfers’ set
up and eyeline is important and why we would
recommend getting custom fi t,” explained Chris
Trott, Director of Sports Marketing, Putters &
Wedges for Taylor Made. “The MOI (Moment
of Inertia) of a putter is a measurement of its
resistance to twisting on off-center hits. The
greater the fi gure, the more stable your putter
will be and that is the big story in putters right
now and how mallets and blades can deliver
this through technology and shape, as well as
provide the player with stability to hit more
consistent putts more often.” Birdies don’t
come cheap, but when your ball falls into that
hole you’ll be proudly raising that putter in the
air not thinking about the price tag, but rather
the joy, that pure joy of reducing your strokes
in more ways than one.
GolfPlus
NOVEMBER
2019
49