saskgolfer 7 Become a Boss of the Moss: How to Select the Right Putter for YOU! By Chad Lavallee / Teaching Professional / GolfTown Saskatoon
Length & Lie Length: When selecting your putter, you want to be comfortable and in a position where the arms are close the sides. If you extend your arms a lot when you putt and find that this works well for you, going to a shorter 33 inch putter may be more advantageous to you. Easy ways to find out if the putter may be the incorrect length for you is if the ball is not directly under the eyes or just inside. Lie: Much like the irons, putter lie can make a difference in the direction your ball takes off the face. If the toe of the putter sticks up when putting the tendency will be to pull putts. This can be caused by the putter being too long. Shortening the putter will change its effective lie and in turn flatten out the putter head flush to the ground. If the heel is sticking up it will be the adverse effect in the putts may miss right. This can be caused by a putter being too short and adding length can help change the effective lie of the putter. Grip When it comes to personal preference, this might be the biggest one, so I’m going to keep this brief and just explain the purpose of the new large grips that have become extremely popular over the last few years. Standard Model -Tend to be easier to develop feel as they are thinner -Allows for more wrist movement through stroke -Tapered so the material gets thinner at the bottom -A classic design that has been around for decades Superstroke Model -Tend to be easier for distance control -Allows less movement through wrists -None tapered so bottom hand is less active -If you’re having trouble gauging distance because you use a lot of wrists in your stroke a SuperStroke is a great option That does it for your crash course on putter fitting. Now like I said before, this is extremely personal and chances are you’re going to find something that you like that perhaps won’t fit your buddies quite as well. There are also other small areas to check out, such as face type (insert vs. non) and alternative stroke method putters (arm lock, counterbalanced) But this will give you a good start when you’re going in to look for a new putter. With this knowledge I know you will find a putter that will be dropping putts, and taking money off your buddies, in no time. SaskGolfer Digital Magazine | July 2017