Putter Fitting

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Goldie

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Hi guys. I guess this thread has been made a hundred times before, but I am after some experience/information on putter fittings. I live in the East Midlands area (Derbyshire) and am looking at getting a proper fitting, a quick Google search brings up the obvious; The Belfry. Is this the best place to go? Has anyone been and can share their thoughts? Or does anyone reccommend anywhere else in the midlands/surrounding area?
 
Simple questions, how long have you been playing and how many putts do you normally take per round. If you are putting well with your current putter, while a fitting might help, at a mid-handicap level how many shots do you think it will really save. I've been to SAM labs and seen my stroke analysed to the nth degree but once we had a lesson to correct the faults it showed up, I kept with my putter and haven't been fitted further than that
 
Have been playing for 10 years, currently play off 15.5. Average around 34/35 putts per round. Putting has never been my strong point, and the putter has always been a trial and error club in my bag. Started off with a Yes Callie but never felt that my stroke was good enough for a blade putter, so switched to a odyssey number 9. Have always struggled with distance control, so went for a 2 ball 2 years ago and played it at 370g to try and smooth out my stroke. Went back to the 9 at the start of this year but I don't feel like it is right for me. A lot of my misses seem to be right, which I have tried to iron out through different alignment drills such as drawing a line on the ball and aiming with that etc. I am 6 foot 3 tall so have always gone for 34/35" putters but don't know if that is right for how I stand.
I feel that rather than waste another few hundred quid on trial and error putters I would be better to be fitted and then go from there.
 
Goldie said:
Have been playing for 10 years, currently play off 15.5. Average around 34/35 putts per round. Putting has never been my strong point, and the putter has always been a trial and error club in my bag. Started off with a Yes Callie but never felt that my stroke was good enough for a blade putter, so switched to a odyssey number 9. Have always struggled with distance control, so went for a 2 ball 2 years ago and played it at 370g to try and smooth out my stroke. Went back to the 9 at the start of this year but I don't feel like it is right for me. A lot of my misses seem to be right, which I have tried to iron out through different alignment drills such as drawing a line on the ball and aiming with that etc. I am 6 foot 3 tall so have always gone for 34/35" putters but don't know if that is right for how I stand.
I feel that rather than waste another few hundred quid on trial and error putters I would be better to be fitted and then go from there.
Click to expand...

Find a local fitter, preferably someone who stocks several brands and also has Sam Putt Lab to analyse you properly (and explain whats right and whats wrong with your current approach). Also gives you a benchmark that you can then compare to down the line

Dont know your area so cant help with who to visit, may be worth searching on Sam Putt Labs own website (it appears to be down currently)
 
Goldie said:
Have been playing for 10 years, currently play off 15.5. Average around 34/35 putts per round. Putting has never been my strong point, and the putter has always been a trial and error club in my bag. Started off with a Yes Callie but never felt that my stroke was good enough for a blade putter, so switched to a odyssey number 9. Have always struggled with distance control, so went for a 2 ball 2 years ago and played it at 370g to try and smooth out my stroke. Went back to the 9 at the start of this year but I don't feel like it is right for me. A lot of my misses seem to be right, which I have tried to iron out through different alignment drills such as drawing a line on the ball and aiming with that etc. I am 6 foot 3 tall so have always gone for 34/35" putters but don't know if that is right for how I stand.
I feel that rather than waste another few hundred quid on trial and error putters I would be better to be fitted and then go from there.
Click to expand...

I would suggest a putting lesson. Cheap and may serve longer term benefits. From there your pro would be able to advise if a fitting would take you on further
 
I'm 5ft 11 and I've extended my putter From 34" to 35.75" to improve my posture. I don't feel so crouched over, I'm able to rotate my sternum and feel freer to release the putter head. Try holding a counter balanced putter and I bet you'd hold it higher then you do with a 35" putter.
 
3565 said:
I'm 5ft 11 and I've extended my putter From 34" to 35.75" to improve my posture. I don't feel so crouched over, I'm able to rotate my sternum and feel freer to release the putter head. Try holding a counter balanced putter and I bet you'd hold it higher then you do with a 35" putter.
Click to expand...

Is that a Ping putter?
 
Mine was originally 34" but put an extension on it. But yes the extendable Ping putters are great to faff around to get it to fit YOU and not the other way round.
 
Goldie said:
Have been playing for 10 years, currently play off 15.5. Average around 34/35 putts per round. Putting has never been my strong point, and the putter has always been a trial and error club in my bag. Started off with a Yes Callie but never felt that my stroke was good enough for a blade putter, so switched to a odyssey number 9. Have always struggled with distance control, so went for a 2 ball 2 years ago and played it at 370g to try and smooth out my stroke. Went back to the 9 at the start of this year but I don't feel like it is right for me. A lot of my misses seem to be right, which I have tried to iron out through different alignment drills such as drawing a line on the ball and aiming with that etc. I am 6 foot 3 tall so have always gone for 34/35" putters but don't know if that is right for how I stand.
I feel that rather than waste another few hundred quid on trial and error putters I would be better to be fitted and then go from there.
Click to expand...

the most important thing is to be using the correctly balanced putter for your putting style, as well as to implement that style well. Shaft length is one of the factors that will influence the latter.

I believe the Odessey 9's are counterbalanced and designed for in to square to in as opposed to the 7s which are face balanced and designed for square through square. Any good pro should be able to tell you whether you have the right putter balance for your style, most should be able to tell you if you are using the best style for you. After this, a really good one will be able to tweak and fine tune the stance, posture, swing and equipment...
 
duncan mackie said:
the most important thing is to be using the correctly balanced putter for your putting style, as well as to implement that style well. Shaft length is one of the factors that will influence the latter.

I believe the Odessey 9's are counterbalanced and designed for in to square to in as opposed to the 7s which are face balanced and designed for square through square. Any good pro should be able to tell you whether you have the right putter balance for your style, most should be able to tell you if you are using the best style for you. After this, a really good one will be able to tweak and fine tune the stance, posture, swing and equipment...
Click to expand...

Counterbalanced is different from face balanced although many counterbalanced putters are also face balanced. .

Counterbalanced refers to head/grip balance but face balanced refers to heel/toe balance.

Putters with a heel inserted fat, such as an 8802 style putter, or a Odyssey 9 (Del Mar/TPA XVIII) style are not face balanced but instead have a degree of toe hang. If you balance the putter on your finger a few inches above the head, the face of a face balanced putter will be horizontal, but heel shafted putters will have the toe having down to varying degrees. The face balanced putters are said to be better for straight back-straight through strokes, the toe hang/heel shafted putters for inside to straight to inside (arced) strokes.

Counterbalanced putters are generally face balanced or slight arc putters with a heavy grip and/or adjustable weights and greater overall weight than a standard putter. The idea is that the greater weight makes for a smoother stroke which has its own momentum, but the counterbalance weight in the grip keeps it from feeling unwieldy.
 
3565 said:
I'm 5ft 11 and I've extended my putter From 34" to 35.75" to improve my posture. I don't feel so crouched over, I'm able to rotate my sternum and feel freer to release the putter head. Try holding a counter balanced putter and I bet you'd hold it higher then you do with a 35" putter.
Click to expand...
I'm about the same height, but have gone in the opposite direction, by cutting my putters down to 32 or 33" in length. Seem to get a more dependable pendulum type swing with my arms hanging more of less straight down from my shoulders. Also use the claw grip.
 
Ethan said:
Counterbalanced is different from face balanced although many counterbalanced putters are also face balanced. .

Counterbalanced refers to head/grip balance but face balanced refers to heel/toe balance.

Putters with a heel inserted fat, such as an 8802 style putter, or a Odyssey 9 (Del Mar/TPA XVIII) style are not face balanced but instead have a degree of toe hang. If you balance the putter on your finger a few inches above the head, the face of a face balanced putter will be horizontal, but heel shafted putters will have the toe having down to varying degrees. The face balanced putters are said to be better for straight back-straight through strokes, the toe hang/heel shafted putters for inside to straight to inside (arced) strokes.

Counterbalanced putters are generally face balanced or slight arc putters with a heavy grip and/or adjustable weights and greater overall weight than a standard putter. The idea is that the greater weight makes for a smoother stroke which has its own momentum, but the counterbalance weight in the grip keeps it from feeling unwieldy.
Click to expand...

thank you for the fuller explanation of the terms. the way it was explained to me was that toe hang and counterbalanced were synonymous; but that was probably being explained in a specific context (that I have removed in my post).

anyway, we agree the key bit in bold!
 
duncan mackie said:
thank you for the fuller explanation of the terms. the way it was explained to me was that toe hang and counterbalanced were synonymous; but that was probably being explained in a specific context (that I have removed in my post).

anyway, we agree the key bit in bold!
Click to expand...

In fact counterbalancing tends to be offered mostly in face balanced putters because the whole idea of counterbalancing, with the heavy head balanced by the heavyish grip weight fights the idea of toe hang a bit. You can get some toe hang/arc stroke counterbalanced putters, but most are face balanced.

Toe hang nerds sometimes talk about the amount of toe hang in terms of the angle of the blade expressed as an angle, as in "I really need something with a 45 degrees of toe hang" etc.

There is something in it. I once tried an old Del Mar of Darren Clarke's and it had the heaviest toe, and consequently the greatest amount of toe hang, I have ever felt. He had apparently asked Scotty to make it that way so the toe had been drilled and loaded with lead.
 
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