Putters

Much of our content for Golf grip, shaft, club head and loft & lie is still applicable for putters. However, there are some important things you should look out for when choosing a new flat stick.

There are many factors with a putter that affect how suited it is to your preferences. There are many different styles, shapes, sizes, weights, materials and colours to choose from hopefully this guide will help you with your choice.

Grip

The grip is an important component of any club and also with a putter. You are currently able, under the current rules of golf, play with a wide grip which allows you to place your thumbs together side by side on the grip. There are many styles of grips available - the thickness is a matter of personal choice and you should experiment to see what gives you more confidence.

The biggest tip we can give you regarding putter grips is "make sure they are installed correctly and aligned squarely".

If you have a putter grip that is NOT square then you can either take it back from where you purchased it and get them to swap or rectify depending on their exchange and refund terms and conditions or if the club is outside of any warranty or consumer goods controls (i.e. purchased a long time ago or bought as seen second hand etc) then you can of course easily and quite inexpensively change the grip. Please see the greenseekergolf.com guide to changing your own grip to help you change your putter grip.

Shaft

With putters you can still get different options for weight and stiffness of shaft and these can affect your feel - however the biggest difference between shafts used for putters is the attachment and style of the neck where the shaft attaches to the club head. First of all there are variation in the position along the club head the shaft attaches. Generally speaking putters attached toward the heel end of the club head will tend to hang "toe down" and will look similar to the rest of your clubs in that regard. Some shafts are attached more toward the centre of the club head (centre-shafted putters). These putters tend to be more face balanced and hang with the face pointing up toward the sky if balanced on the palm of your hand for example.

The next variation is the position of the club face relative to your hands and is achieved through the offset and bends in the shaft. Clubs which are offset i.e. the face is behind the shaft help many people square the blade or club face at impact and encourage the hands to be ahead of the club head through impact.

Face Balanced or Toe down

Depending on where weight is placed in the club head and the design of the putter neck a putter can be made to lie with the face at various angles when the club is balanced in a horizontal plane i.e. balancing the club shaft in the palm of your hand - see where the club face points.

Face Balanced putters will point straight up and the face will point skywards. This kind of putter is well suited to a golfer who sees their putting stroke as a straight back and through motion.

Toe down putters will hang at varying degrees down from the position of a face balanced putter. These putters tend to be better suited to players who see the putting stroke more as a gentle arc rather than a straight line.

Club head style

It is often said that a mallet putter is better suited for slow greens and a blade style putter for fast greens - mainly because traditionally larger heads have been heavier. However with modern inserts and space age materials the physical size of the club head whilst a factor is not the only one relating to the weight of the club head itself.

Manufacturers are constantly trying to improve the putter and create a club which gets the ball rolling early and avoids skips, hops and jumps. They are also designing a putter club head to be more stable at and through impact by reducing the twisting of the club head through weight placement.

You need to check the club head suits your eye - your going to look at it a lot - on average over 30 times a round.

You also need to feel that you can line it up with confidence - different clubs have different ways of achieving alignment - some use straight lines and extension pieces to the head and some use images similar to golf balls all to help the golfer see the alignment.