27 January 2023|Golfing with gratitude
I think I've got a problem! Scratch that, I know I have a problem! There have been far too many putters over the last few years. Since I started trying to understand putting better and working with Bruce Rearick, I've disappeared down a rabbit hole and struggled to get back out again. The initial purchase of the White Hot Pro #3 probably was as close to a "one and done" answer as I think you could ever get but I just couldn't stop! I also remember going to a fitting/lesson with Ross MacLeod after I got a custom Lajopsi putter (designed with the help of Bruce). He told me that it fitted me perfectly for length, lie, alignment etc and just to commit to it. I'll never sell it but I've never been able to commit to it either. Retirement has slowed the experimentation down, but I was still pretty bad last year. The putters below are a selection of the ones I've tried over the last 5-6 years and are only the ones I could find on my phone - I know I deleted some!
For me, putters are just so different to the rest of the bag when it comes to fitting. There are very few places I've found where you can try a large variety of putters and get really good advice on what's best for you. Most of the fittings I've tried have been strongly influenced by the preferences of the fitter - "get your eyes over the ball" etc. It's been rare for a fitter to ask me how/where I see the line of the putt. That's been the difference working with Bruce, understanding how to fit the putter to me, my posture, my preferences, my dominant traits etc, rather than adapting all of those to fit a putter. I think I finally understand why a putter change can work for a while and then break down as your dominant traits re-assert themselves. I wish there were more places where you can try different heads, necks, lengths, lines, no lines, head and line colours etc to find what works best with your dominant traits. Maybe I should open a putter fitting studio!
The putter I'm using now is a Toulon Atlanta with a flow neck. It has a short blade length, which I like, and it gives me some toe hang, as recommended by Bruce. It also has a bit more stability, which I also like. Understanding my eye dominance has helped me get more comfortable with the alignment line on the flange too. It started and finished the year in the bag (but there were a few brief experiments with others too).
I'm still fascinated by blade putters though and I pick them up every time I'm in Auchterlonies (they must be sick of me in there). I just know I'll end up trying more - but hopefully just trying them and not buying them on eBay! If Ping made the Anser PLD in black with a flow neck then I'd find it hard to resist! I'm also curious about the Tri-Hot range from Odyssey and the Mizuno OMOI - if they deliver the promised stability of a mallet in the shape of a blade, then maybe they're worth a try too. I really do have a sickness, so as motivation not to change, my long-suffering golf partners have been given permission to "hit me where it hurts" if I change putter again! After only taking 25 putts on the New course this week, I do think they've got a point (ba, humbug).
There’s actually been more than you see here, but you get the idea, there's been a lot of putters! I think I've tried almost every conceivable style of putter out there at some point, although this list of photos is heavy on toe-hang blade style models. Fortunately, most have only cost me eBay fees, but I really feel quite ashamed of myself now!
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