What do You Actually Look for in a Putter? (Quick Anonymous Survey)

[Chris Kaufman]

Hey everyone! I am a senior at UNC Chapel Hill, and from Pinehurst NC - so have been around golf for a long time. A couple of buddies from college and I are looking at a research project aimed at putter preferences and purchasing behavior.

We’re trying to better understand what actually drives golfers to choose and stick with a putter (feel, alignment, weighting, price, brand, etc.). One of the guys I’m working with is an aerospace engineer and we’ve been kicking around some design concepts, but before going any further we wanted to pressure-test our assumptions with real golfers (rather than our +20 handicap friends from college lol).

If you have 2–3 minutes, we’d really appreciate your input. The survey is anonymous and purely for research purposes. We are more than happy to share results once we achieve enough responses.
To continue the discussion beyond the questionnaire, I'll ask: What has made y'all change putters in the past? or What has given you the most confidence in your short game?

Putter Questionnaire

forms.gle

 

[Chris Kaufman]

For reference, I have not had enough playtime and equipment to be able to distinguish these myself. Although I have personally found a simpler putter with good weight to be effective for me. When I get some more money and time I plan on being able to make distinct decisions around my equipment, but for now, my hand me down will have to do.

 

[irip]

Done

 

[Slab]

Milled, with Answer style head and no insert in the face, pistol grip. Anything else I'll ignore

 

[Lucifer MorningStar]

Milled face and no insert. Those are my only non negotiable’s for a putter, can’t stand the feel of an insert.

Don’t care if it’s a mallet or blade head, if I like it I like it.

 

[clubchamp98]

Depends on green speed imo..

In the UK the greens are not as fast as the USA “ normally”

I like a milled face balanced putter.
The weight has to be right and easy to align.
It starts the ball online.

Imo a cheap putter is as good as an expensive one as long as it suits you.

 

[Orikoru]

Completed.

A long time ago I got a fitting and ended up with a toe-hang anser-style. I used it for years and then even got another one in the same spec. Then one day a couple of years ago I decided I wanted to try a face-balanced mallet, bought a couple secondhand. Instantly better! It was chalk and cheese. I would never go back to toe-hang again, I think it's snakeoil - no idea why you'd want the putter opening and closing of its own accord.

I do want to try a zero-torque this year. Really like the look of the Spider ZT and the Odyssey S2S Jailbird (newer red version with the hosel behind the face). I reckon these could be gold dust now I've started using the pencil grip to keep everything square.

I have tried inserts and milled, I think I prefer the softer inserts overall. With milled, when our greens get quick and I've got a downhiller, I almost feel like I can't hit it soft enough.

 

[nickjdavis]

Always been a mallet man...but none of these new fangled spaceship style designs with wings, flares etc. Something compactish and full of curves sets my pulse racing...



Also do not like plumbers neck style shafts....give me a nice soft sweeping flow neck any day...or a double bend.

I like a nice milled face...or a milled insert.

But like my women....although I have my preferences...I've been happy to play around with other models when in need of a bit of reassurance, and can find positive qualities in many of them.

However...one thing they must all do is "aim naturally"...so when you set them down behind the ball they don't appear closed or open...you can immediately spot this quality simply by rolling a few putts at your target without aiming from behind the ball as you might normally do when playing...just stand over the ball, set the putter to what you think is the desired target line and swing...if the putter does not "aim naturally" you will see a consistent miss to one side or the other.

 

[Slab]

Always been a mallet man...but none of these new fangled spaceship style designs with wings, flares etc. Something compactish and full of curves sets my pulse racing...

View attachment 61296

Also do not like plumbers neck style shafts....give me a nice soft sweeping flow neck any day...or a double bend.

I like a nice milled face...or a milled insert.

But like my women....although I have my preferences...I've been happy to play around with other models when in need of a bit of reassurance, and can find positive qualities in many of them.

However...one thing they must all do is "aim naturally"...so when you set them down behind the ball they don't appear closed or open...you can immediately spot this quality simply by rolling a few putts at your target without aiming from behind the ball as you might normally do when playing...just stand over the ball, set the putter to what you think is the desired target line and swing...if the putter does not "aim naturally" you will see a consistent miss to one side or the other.

Oh I'm very partial to a plumbers neck
In fact anything other than that just looks like someone was attempting to do a plumbers neck and messed it up so they ended up with some messed up bent out of shape effort they decided to polish and pass off to Joe public as something a bit arty

 

[nickjdavis]

Oh I'm very partial to a plumbers neck
In fact anything other than that just looks like someone was attempting to do a plumbers neck and messed it up so they ended up with some messed up bent out of shape effort they decided to polish and pass off to Joe public as something a bit arty

That mallet with a plumbers neck I used when I played with you last summer was one of the oddest contraptions I've ever used in anger on the green!!!

 

[Hobbit]

Mallet with a centre shaft.

 

[Crow]

The more variety in my putters I can play the more fun I have.

 

[Slab]

The more variety in my putters I can play the more fun I have.


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I dunno if that's carpet or wallpaper, either way get decorating

 

[jim8flog]

Hey everyone! I am a senior at UNC Chapel Hill, and from Pinehurst NC - so have been around golf for a long time. A couple of buddies from college and I are looking at a research project aimed at putter preferences and purchasing behavior.

We’re trying to better understand what actually drives golfers to choose and stick with a putter (feel, alignment, weighting, price, brand, etc.). One of the guys I’m working with is an aerospace engineer and we’ve been kicking around some design concepts, but before going any further we wanted to pressure-test our assumptions with real golfers (rather than our +20 handicap friends from college lol).

If you have 2–3 minutes, we’d really appreciate your input. The survey is anonymous and purely for research purposes. We are more than happy to share results once we achieve enough responses.
To continue the discussion beyond the questionnaire, I'll ask: What has made y'all change putters in the past? or What has given you the most confidence in your short game?

Putter Questionnaire

forms.gle

Some important to me questions missing

I would only buy a centre shafted putter.
For many years the putters I have used have weight inserts which can be changed to suit time of year, condition and speed of the greens, which in the UK can be very variable.
Type and thickness of grip.

 

[kp17]

Newport/anser style blade with a bit of weight. Have tried everything over the years but just always revert back to the above.