Putters

A “conventional” putter that is designed well for you will:
- a) look and feel good to you;
- b) allow you to line up so that your forearms and the putter shaft are in a straight line, the putter head will sit squarely on the ground, and the golf ball will be right below your eyes or just outside your eyes; and
- c) have a design and feel so that you can aim the putter at the hole, return your putter to your intended line at impact, and you can control the speed of putts with a consistent stroke.

If you watch any professional golf tournament, you will notice that all of the good putters use a putter that results in a ball position right below their eye line or just outside of their eye line. This alignment is optimum to allow you to putt on the line that you see when you line up your putt.

When you buy an”off the rack” putter: a) it may not be designed so that you can correctly aim the putter at your target; and b) it may not have the right weighting so that you can control the speed of your putts. All of these considerations are important in making a choice for your putter.

Just about all elements of putter design – different head shapes, hosels, aim lines, shaft lengths, and other design variables – can promote different patterns of aim and keep you from being able to aim a putter at a target.

Another important putter consideration is adding a “counterweight” in the end of the grip or actually adding weights down the putter shaft. Counterweights and weights down a putter shaft can significantly improve a player’s putter feel and help the consistency of the putting stroke. A heavy putter grip can act like a counterweight in a putter

Some players prefer the look and feel of belly putters or long putters. For these players, proper fitting for lie, length, loft, aim, and speed is just as important for good performance.