# Pro Core



## HomerJSimpson (Sep 29, 2013)

I took my old Odyssey ProType Tour #9 to Woburn fearing my newly acquired Tank may be too heavy for the quick pace of the greens. I got on well with it and putted solidly but couldn't make a putt. The trouble with the milled face is that the sweetspot is quite small and off centre putts are punished.

I was in AG in Camberley today to get a Pro Core put in. I've been following this guy on Twitter for a while and wanted to give it a go http://procoregolf.com/

The idea is to dampen vibration and in essence make off centre putts more controllable. All I can say is the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I hit a load off the toe deliberately on our putting green at Royal Ascot from 25 feet and it still got to the hole whereas these would have been 3-4 feet short before. The same for balls hit off the heel

Definitely worth a look if you are in AG (yes I know!). They seem to be the only main stockists so far but I've a feeling this could really take off. I'm playing on Friday on greens that are slow (about 8 on the stimp) so will report back on how it holds up on the course


----------



## anotherdouble (Sep 29, 2013)

Can you usually switch between 2 putters Homer. I have trouble with just 1.


----------



## HomerJSimpson (Sep 29, 2013)

anotherdouble said:



			Can you usually switch between 2 putters Homer. I have trouble with just 1.
		
Click to expand...

Went to an Odyssey demo day and fell in love with the heavier Tank but was worried that Woburn's greens would be too slick. To be honest I've only had the new putter in the bag a couple of weeks and only played a handful of games with it so the switch back to the predecessor was fairly easy. The dilemma I have now is the Odyssey #9 is behaving again and may usurp the newcomer


----------



## tsped83 (Sep 29, 2013)

With the pro core installed to dampen vibrations, can you still feel a bad putt? Surely this must still be important? How much did it set you back Homer?


----------



## Foxholer (Sep 29, 2013)

Ever thought that it might be better to hit it out of the sweet-spot in the first place?

Not entirely convinced about the test either. A touch of Heisenberg-itis - the fact that you are deliberately hitting it from the toe/heel means you unconsciously hit it harder. A true test would have been otherwise identical putters, apart from the ProCore, and comparing the performance.


----------



## HomerJSimpson (Sep 29, 2013)

tsped83 said:



			With the pro core installed to dampen vibrations, can you still feel a bad putt? Surely this must still be important? How much did it set you back Homer?
		
Click to expand...

You still feel it but the ball manages to roll up further. Cost Â£49.99



Foxholer said:



			Ever thought that it might be better to hit it out of the sweet-spot in the first place?
		
Click to expand...

Do you hit every putt exactly out of the centre. Not sure even the pros do so you must be some putter


----------



## Foxholer (Sep 29, 2013)

HomerJSimpson said:



			Do you hit every putt exactly out of the centre. Not sure even the pros do so you must be some putter 

Click to expand...

The mallet I have is pretty forgiving. Average this year is around 30 putts, so a relative strength - though that's more a function of poor-ish GIR. 

shouldn't you be applying your own philosophy and getting a lesson rather than trying to buy a game?


----------



## harpo_72 (Sep 29, 2013)

You miss the centre of your putter blade? What are you doing, coming over the top on your putter swing? Are the greens that slow you have to give it a full swing ? Use a hybrid they are very forgiving and hot :thup:

as you can possibly tell I am really quite lost regarding this thread?


----------



## chrisd (Sep 29, 2013)

On Wednesday the greens on the Dukes course were good but I wouldn't call them fast. They did roll well and were very smooth. The Duchess course was quite different and the greens were pretty slow. I wouldn't see a change of putter being necessary


----------



## Liqdaddymac (Sep 29, 2013)

The theory is that a heavy putter is better for fast greens, lighter for slow greens.

Re the procore - a chap at our clubs swears by them and I have tested his putter in the manner you did with deliberate toe hits (felt like lee Westwood in that shocking advert!) and it did appear to do what it says.


----------



## Crow (Sep 29, 2013)

So it's something that goes inside the shaft and effectively increases the sweet spot of your putter by dampening vibration?
How does that work then?

(Apologies for the question but the website explains nothing and none of the videos seem to work.)


----------



## CMAC (Sep 30, 2013)

Isn't the 'vibe' the same?


----------



## Slab (Sep 30, 2013)

harpo_72 said:



			You miss the centre of your putter blade? What are you doing, coming over the top on your putter swing? Are the greens that slow you have to give it a full swing ? Use a hybrid they are very forgiving and hot :thup:

as you can possibly tell I am really quite lost regarding this thread?
		
Click to expand...

Snap!

I'm guessing that the 'toe & heel' in this scenario are each about 5mm from the sweet-spot!


----------



## Ethan (Sep 30, 2013)

I recently bought another shaft for my 913, to play with over the winter, and it came with a Harrison Shotmaker insert in it. This is a device supposed to increase tip stability without increasing tip stiffness. Sounds a bit like the thing Homer has. I suspect it is largely a placebo effect but we'll see. 

http://www.harrison.com/Techcorners/shotmaker-golf-shaft-insert


----------



## mcbroon (Sep 30, 2013)

Liqdaddymac said:



*The theory is that a heavy putter is better for fast greens, lighter for slow greens.*

Click to expand...

I thought it was the opposite


----------



## HomerJSimpson (Sep 30, 2013)

Slab said:



			Snap!

I'm guessing that the 'toe & heel' in this scenario are each about 5mm from the sweet-spot!
		
Click to expand...

I hit some putts from as far off the heel and toe as possible, certainly a lot more than 5mm from the centre and it still ran out. As always, there are those that will knock without even looking or trying but all I can say is that one session on the putting green seems to have positive results. Whether that is a placebo or not is debatable. However I would suggest that sweet spots on milled faced putters are notoriously small and so anything that benefits any off centre strikes must be helpful in gaugeing distance


----------



## Twire (Sep 30, 2013)

Can't see how a milled face would make a sweet spot smaller, what about a ground face, or cast face? I'd be more inclined to think the overall design would have a bigger bearing on the sweet spot.


----------



## ArnoldArmChewer (Sep 30, 2013)

chrisd said:



			On Wednesday the greens on the Dukes course were good but I wouldn't call them fast. They did roll well and were very smooth. The Duchess course was quite different and the greens were pretty slow. I wouldn't see a change of putter being necessary
		
Click to expand...

Agree with this, I felt the dukes were even paced but not in any way quick, kept putting the ball 4 foot past the hole yesterday until I realised I was still in Friday mode.


----------



## Robobum (Sep 30, 2013)

Twire said:



			Can't see how a milled face would make a sweet spot smaller, what about a ground face, or cast face? I'd be more inclined to think the overall design would have a bigger bearing on the sweet spot.
		
Click to expand...

Agree with this - but happy to be corrected if milling the face of a putter does indeed reduce its sweet spot.

Glad I've changed to an insert


----------



## Slab (Sep 30, 2013)

HomerJSimpson said:



			I hit some putts from as far off the heel and toe as possible, certainly a lot more than 5mm from the centre and it still ran out. As always, there are those that will knock without even looking or trying but all I can say is that one session on the putting green seems to have positive results. Whether that is a placebo or not is debatable. However I would suggest that sweet spots on milled faced putters are notoriously small and so anything that benefits any off centre strikes must be helpful in gaugeing distance
		
Click to expand...

Genuinely wasn't trying to knock it. I actually thought this must be a topic for low handicappers where those few tiny mm's make a difference hence I couldn't believe how the_ toe and heel_ referred to could have been what I understood a _toe and heel _to be. 
I cant see how there's any market for a product installed inside your putter that helps your putt accuracy *if *you are a player who regularly hits up to 2 inches off the sweet-spot with a putter, which again suggested we must be talking about a couple of mm's here 

Although if it really was that momentous I'm thinking the putter manufacturers will have thought about chucking it in as standard so a short term business at best. 

It must be easier to just lay a couple of wooden blocks on the floor and putt through them to drill the stroke


----------



## harpo_72 (Sep 30, 2013)

It does seem that actually practice would be the biggest benefit for all. I also find it all quite ironic that your shoving stuff down the shaft to aid performance and its out of sight out of mind and therefore completely legal. And yes I am a nay sayer .... But we all have opinions and I am sure I do things that make you all think I am peculiar. If it helps you and we see a massive reduction in your handicap then pat on the back old chap and well played :thup:. If not, then just practice !


----------



## Liqdaddymac (Sep 30, 2013)

mcbroon said:



			I thought it was the opposite 

Click to expand...

So so many people, inc me originally.........who knows, I may be wrong, hopefully someone will confirm.


----------



## HawkeyeMS (Sep 30, 2013)

Is it just me that's wondering just how hard you'd have to hit a putt to cause the steel shaft to actually twist?


----------



## HomerJSimpson (Oct 1, 2013)

HawkeyeMS said:



			Is it just me that's wondering just how hard you'd have to hit a putt to cause the steel shaft to actually twist?
		
Click to expand...

I'm bringing it out to play on Saturday. Having seen you struggle on some distance putts with your milled putter it will be interesting for you to try it and see how you think it runs out if you don't get it out the centre


----------



## Slab (Oct 2, 2013)

HomerJSimpson said:



			I've been following this guy on Twitter for a while and wanted to give it a go http://procoregolf.com/

Click to expand...

Just remembered & I meant to post the other day and while its totally unrelated to the thread but I noticed they've changed the twitter logo to fit in with colour scheme on their webpage which I don't think they're permitted to do (without negotiating agreement with the twitter legal eagles) no biggie just interesting


----------



## Foxholer (Oct 2, 2013)

Twire said:



			Can't see how a milled face would make a sweet spot smaller, what about a ground face, or cast face? I'd be more inclined to think the overall design would have a bigger bearing on the sweet spot.
		
Click to expand...

I agree.

No relationship at all

Every Yes putter has a milled face and there are plenty with large sweet spots.

Likewise, all Bettinardis and Rifes and many Seemores are milled and forgiving.

Seems to me there are misconceptions and unwarranted pigeon-holing going on.


----------



## HawkeyeMS (Oct 2, 2013)

HomerJSimpson said:



			I'm bringing it out to play on Saturday. Having seen you struggle on some distance putts with your milled putter it will be interesting for you to try it and see how you think it runs out if you don't get it out the centre
		
Click to expand...

Getting it out of the centre isn't the problem, hitting it hard enough is. I am currently working on the tempo of my putting stroke to try to get more consistency. Last Saturday leaving it short wasn't the problem, hitting it too hard on the other hand...

I'm sure once I get to grips with the new tempo things will improve no end.

I'm pretty sure what they say in the video has some engineering value to it, they use the word vibration and sweet spot a lot without actually explaining why vibration is bad (unless I missed it). As usual with these things, I'm skeptical as to how much difference it really makes, I mean who actually hits the ball an inch off of the sweet spot with a putt?


----------



## patricks148 (Oct 2, 2013)

Liqdaddymac said:



			So so many people, inc me originally.........who knows, I may be wrong, hopefully someone will confirm.
		
Click to expand...

Yes it is . 

I too thought the opp, but our Pro and the club champ were chatting to me about putting when i was strug with my mine.


----------



## Foxholer (Oct 2, 2013)

There's a touch of personal preference about what works best for quite fast or quite slow greens - as opposed to very fast/slow ones. I can get away with a single putter for all styles these days. I used to use a heavy, but relatively muted face on quick greens and light-ish hot-faced one on slower greens. I have a heavy hot-faced one that I can't control on quick greens though - this rarely gets an outing these days.


----------



## tsped83 (Feb 14, 2014)

Resurrecting an old thread here, but how are you finding the pro core now Homer? Still in the putter and happy with it? Just watched an interesting video on the product and my interested is piqued...


----------



## HomerJSimpson (Feb 14, 2014)

Hell yeah. Off centre putts on a milled face still roll out sufficiently to get to within tap in distance. I even tried hitting out of the toe deliberately on putts around 25 feet and the ball still got to within a foot. I would recommend it highly but then I use Aimpoint and DMD's and had a trackman fitting today so what do I know!


----------



## the_coach (Feb 14, 2014)

tsped83 said:



			Resurrecting an old thread here, but how are you finding the pro core now Homer? Still in the putter and happy with it? Just watched an interesting video on the product and my interested is piqued...
		
Click to expand...


You may have already seen this, but just in case.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf-sWmLP99Q


----------



## Blue in Munich (Feb 14, 2014)

Liqdaddymac said:



			The theory is that a heavy putter is better for fast greens, lighter for slow greens.
		
Click to expand...




mcbroon said:



			I thought it was the opposite 

Click to expand...




Liqdaddymac said:



			So so many people, inc me originally.........who knows, I may be wrong, hopefully someone will confirm.
		
Click to expand...

I think Liqdaddymac is right.  If I remember correctly, energy = mass times velocity squared; so the speed of the putter head has a greater effect on the energy applied to the ball than the weight.  As most people find it easier to swing a lighter putter faster, the theory is that lighter works better for slower greens as it is easier to hit the ball harder.  Heavier on faster greens seems to slow the stroke down and keep better control.  That's how I remember it anyway.  I personally think a heavier putter works better, also find a counterbalanced one works better for me.


----------



## tsped83 (Feb 14, 2014)

the_coach said:



			You may have already seen this, but just in case.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf-sWmLP99Q

Click to expand...

Cheers, that's what I just watched!

Glad it's going well Homer!


----------



## Piece (Feb 14, 2014)

This ProCore looks identical but updated version of the old Dave Hicks Putting 'VIBE'. I have this in my Odyssey putter and have done for over two years.

Does it work? Yes.

Does it improve putting? Yes.

How? It makes the putter face more consistent (rather than extending sweet spot) across a wider area.

Why? You don't worry about hitting the centre of the putter face. One less parameter to worry about.

Result? Better consistency on length, leading to fewer putts. Best mate saw the improvement, got himself a VIBE and now putts so much better.

Disclaimer: Doesn't mask a dodgy stroke or inconsistent weight of putts, much like an offset driver doesn't cure a slice.


----------



## 3565 (Feb 14, 2014)

I tried a Dave Hicks No2 putter (Cameron del mar type). Both myself and my mate instantly knew that it was the best feeling putter we've ever tried. It was then we found out about The Vibe and what it does, it was so soft off the face but the ball just rolled. He wouldn't sell it, so I got the 50g vibe in my Del Mar now, and upped the weights to 2x25g in bottom of the putter making it about 750g in all. I got to say that the heavier putter swings really nicely and on faster greens works a treat.


----------



## standrew (Feb 15, 2014)

Works well for me also. Definately getting less lip outs and more in.


----------



## theputterman (Apr 30, 2015)

I think this " Vibe" weight you guys are referring to is really called " Opti-Vibe" its made buy Tour Lock Golf from the US. I pretty sure there is a patent on this weighting system.


----------



## stevelev (Apr 30, 2015)

theputterman said:



			I think this " Vibe" weight you guys are referring to is really called " Opti-Vibe" its made buy Tour Lock Golf from the US. I pretty sure there is a patent on this weighting system.
		
Click to expand...

No putterman, definitely the ProCore, there is also a very similar device in the States, but this is called and made by ProCore with good ol British Engineering.


----------



## ScienceBoy (Apr 30, 2015)

HomerJSimpson said:



			Went to an Odyssey demo day and fell in love with the heavier Tank but was worried that Woburn's greens would be too slick.
		
Click to expand...

I'm sure I read somewhere that heavier putters are better on faster greens, or is that for certain stroke types only?


----------



## HomerJSimpson (May 1, 2015)

theputterman said:



			I think this " Vibe" weight you guys are referring to is really called " Opti-Vibe" its made buy Tour Lock Golf from the US. I pretty sure there is a patent on this weighting system.
		
Click to expand...

http://procoregolf.com/ Definitely a UK product and not a weight but a dampener


----------



## Baldy Bouncer (May 1, 2015)

Is there anywhere in the North West of England where I can go and try one before buying?


----------



## HomerJSimpson (May 1, 2015)

I think AG were fitting them at one time. Maybe go to your nearest one and see if they are still selling them and if they have any demo models


----------



## Foxholer (May 1, 2015)

There is also 'The Vibe' from Dave Hicks. Also good reviews.

I have a couple of Dave Hicks putters (neither of which are 'vibed' though). Definitely a UK product.


----------



## Oddsocks (May 2, 2015)

Homer, when you fiddle with new putters, do you swap the core across


----------



## User20205 (May 2, 2015)

Vibe is the forerunner of procore.
Both made by Dave Hicks. Definitely English as he's a member at my club. 

Really nice fella :thup: 

From their website


To find out how to purchase and have Pro-Core fitted to your putter please contact +44 (0) 1425 624545 or enquiries@procoregolf.com


----------



## chrisd (May 2, 2015)

therod said:



			Vibe is the forerunner of procore.
Both made by Dave Hicks. Definitely English as he's a member at my club. 

Really nice fella :thup: 

From their website


To find out how to purchase and have Pro-Core fitted to your putter please contact +44 (0) 1425 624545 or enquiries@procoregolf.com

Click to expand...

So he'd have had golf balls vandalised by a yobbo using a green sharpie!


----------



## User20205 (May 2, 2015)

chrisd said:



			So he'd have had golf balls vandalised by a yobbo using a green sharpie!
		
Click to expand...

You've not played Brok have you???

He's a fella that wouldn't hit through the group in front, so no sharpie action would be needed.


----------



## chrisd (May 2, 2015)

therod said:



			You've not played Brok have you???

He's a fella that wouldn't hit through the group in front, so no sharpie action would be needed.
		
Click to expand...

No, never had the pleasure!

But there are yobbo's about who don't wait for the green to clear!

I guess everyone at your place has the Procore fitted?


----------



## HomerJSimpson (May 2, 2015)

Oddsocks said:



			Homer, when you fiddle with new putters, do you swap the core across
		
Click to expand...

No. It's in the Odyssey #9 (milled face). Felt with the Ping Cadence and the TR (true roll) face there was enough leeway with that insert not to warrant it


----------



## theputterman (May 11, 2015)

Are there different weights to the pro-core? I assume that the ones that goes into the putter weighs more than the ones that goes into the swing clubs. I also thought that there were 2 putter pro-core weights, one heavy and one light.


----------



## Baldy Bouncer (May 11, 2015)

What sort of price we looking at? Ball-park figure.


----------



## Baldy Bouncer (May 12, 2015)

Anyone got an idea on price for this Pro Core thingy?


----------



## HomerJSimpson (May 12, 2015)

Baldy Bouncer said:



			Anyone got an idea on price for this Pro Core thingy?
		
Click to expand...

Had it done about three years ago. Somewhere around Â£40 including fitting at AG


----------



## Baldy Bouncer (May 13, 2015)

Cheers HJS.:thup:


----------



## bigslice (May 13, 2015)

ive the pro core in my scotty n it works as homer says:thup:


----------

