In this video, putter expert Martin Hopley explains the 7 key things you need to get right when it comes to choosing a new putter. It's the club you'll use the most during a round of golf and as a result, there are an awful lot of things to consider - including the length, head design, shaft and grip among others. If you've not given much thought to the putter you use, watch this video to the end as it will certainly spark some ideas in your mind as to how you could improve your putting.
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00:00 When it comes to choosing a new putter for your game, it can be a bit of a minefield.
00:03 There's plenty of things to think about, whether it's the head shape, head style,
00:07 the length of the shaft, or the type of the grip, and many other things in between.
00:10 So I've come here to the Black Bear Golf Club in Florida, and I'm going to give you my top 7 tips,
00:14 the things that you need to look out for when you're choosing the right putter for your game.
00:17 [music]
00:21 So the first thing you need to decide is what type of head style you would like.
00:24 There's blade putters, and there's mallet putters.
00:26 Blade putters, as the name suggests, are long, thin heads. They tend to be very good for people who like a sort of shallower head, front to back.
00:33 And these tend to be pretty forgiving, but not so much on the off-center hits.
00:36 Mallet heads, as the name suggests, tend to be much deeper.
00:39 They tend to have a square shape, or sometimes a rounded shape at the back.
00:42 And what makes these putters different is that the moment of inertia, or the twisting effect of the putter, is much reduced.
00:48 And that's because there's more weight out here in the edges of the putter, and also at the back.
00:52 And that means if you don't hit the putter in the middle, then there's less resistance to the face twisting open or closed, which will then send your putter offline.
00:58 So if you want a little bit more forgiveness, and you like the look of them, then the deeper headed mallets is the one to go for.
01:03 The second step is to get the correct length of putter for your stroke, and also for your posture as well.
01:07 Putters tend to range from about 33 inches right up to 35 inches, and some of them can be even longer than that.
01:13 The key thing is really to get the putter that suits your posture correctly.
01:17 This is a 35 inch putter, and if I was a short person and it was too long for me, then you can see here that the toe of the putter raises up from the ground.
01:24 Conversely, if the putter is too short for me, what I might have is that my eye line might be outside the line of the ball.
01:30 You really want to have your eyes over the ball, or just inside the ball, and therefore getting the right length of putter for you is the key thing.
01:37 You want to have the putter sitting flat on the ground, your eyes over the ball, arms in a nice relaxed position, and that will be the right length for you.
01:46 The third factor you look for is the type of hosel that you want, because that is going to have an implication on the amount of toe hang that you have.
01:54 This is quite important because toe hang is what will enable the face to open and close as you go through the stroke.
02:00 If you're somebody that has quite a straight stroke, then you want a putter with very little toe hang,
02:05 and if you have somebody with a very arched stroke, you need quite a lot of toe hang so that the face opens and closes and squares the face at impact, because that is the most important thing.
02:14 This putter here is what they call a high toe hang putter, because as you can see, the toe hangs down quite a lot.
02:20 It's about 60 or 70 degrees.
02:22 The reason it does that is because this is what's called an offset hosel.
02:25 At the other end is what you call a face balance putter.
02:27 As you can see here, the face is balanced because it's pointing straight at the sky when I hold it in my hand.
02:32 That's because that has a single bent hosel here. You can see it's a completely different style of hosel.
02:37 If you want something in between, you still have putters which have a little bit of toe hang.
02:41 You can see here, this is still another mallet putter, which you might see on a face balance design with a different hosel, but by changing the hosel, you actually get a little bit of toe hang.
02:50 This is going to give you a very slight arc.
02:52 Generally, in the past, you will have had a mallet, which was face balanced, and you had a blade, which had a toe hang, but now you've got every combination that can happen in between.
03:00 It's all to do with the type of hosel that you have.
03:02 If you put this type of hosel into a blade putter, then you can get a face balanced blade.
03:07 Conversely, if you put the offset hosel into a mallet, then you can get a toe hanging mallet.
03:14 The key thing is to go out and try and see which one suits your game.
03:18 The best way to judge that is being able to make a putt and try and make sure your hands are relaxed.
03:23 If you feel that your hands are having to maneuver the head by trying to open it or trying to close it to keep the ball on line, then you probably haven't got the right hosel.
03:30 If you can just relax your hands and make a stroke without them having any influence on it, then you have the right hosel for your game.
03:37 The fourth thing to think about when you're buying a new putter is what type of face you want.
03:41 There are two main types. You either have an all-metal face or you have a face with an insert.
03:45 Why is this important? It really has to do with the feel of the putter.
03:48 When people talk about feel, what they really mean is sound.
03:50 The sound is what is important because it allows you to judge the pace of the putter.
03:53 It allows you to judge how far you're heading at and how hard you're hitting it because it gives you that sound feedback, and that is what gives you the feel.
03:59 Some people like all-metal putters because they tend to give a good sound feedback.
04:03 They're probably going to sound and feel a little bit firmer.
04:05 But even within all-metal putters, you can get some that feel softer than others.
04:09 The reason they do that is because of the milling patterns that they have on the face.
04:12 This putter in particular has a deeper milling pattern towards the heel and the toe than it does in the middle.
04:16 All that does mean is try to equalize the ball speed because there's more points of contact with the ball in the heel and the toe and there's less in the middle.
04:23 That in turn will affect the feel and also the speed of the head.
04:26 If you want an insert head, then you can get various putters which have different types of materials in the face of the putter.
04:32 The reason they do this is partly for feel but also partly for forgiveness because they can take weight out of the center of the head and put it elsewhere in the putter.
04:39 Then they fill the middle of the face with a material that is lighter than the steel or other material that they've taken out of the face.
04:46 You can see here there's lots of different options.
04:48 There's lots of different roles that you can get from this putter because it all comes back to feel and sound.
04:53 So get the feel and sound that suits the ball you use and the type that you like to hear and the amount of feedback that you want to get and that is the right face for you.
05:00 Now the fifth thing you want to think about when you're trying to pick your putter is what type of alignment lines you would like.
05:05 Some people like some alignment lines, some people like nothing at all.
05:08 As you can see here on this blade, there's no alignment lines at all and people like that if they just want to make a stroke.
05:12 They don't want anything complicating their minds when they're doing it.
05:14 You can also get lines that point towards the target.
05:16 So if you use a line on your golf ball or you just want some visual reference for that, then these type of putters are quite good.
05:21 You also get alignment lines which can then be perpendicular to that.
05:25 So here this putter has a silver line which is going this way which might help you align the face and then the line behind it will point towards the target.
05:33 You can also get putters which have circles or they might have an open space which will be the width of the golf ball which again will give you some sort of visual reference for the path of the ball going forward.
05:44 It really is personal preference. Have a try, see which one suits your eye and go with that one.
05:49 The sixth thing you need to consider is what type of shaft you want in your putter.
05:52 Now this might not have been a decision much in the past because most putters had a steel shaft like this one.
05:57 But what you're seeing these days are some composite shafts.
06:01 So these are putters which are mostly graphite with a steel tip.
06:05 The point of these shafts is to actually make your stroke a little bit more consistent.
06:08 They don't keep the putter in line, what they help with is the rhythm of the putter because it changes the swing rate of the putter a little bit.
06:15 They might give you a slightly better feel.
06:17 They do tend to be more expensive so check them out and see if it works for you.
06:20 Now my seventh and final tip for picking the right putter is to choose the right grip.
06:24 Not only does it affect the performance but it's also how you feel the club because it is the part of the club that you touch.
06:29 Basically there's two types. You've got the pistol type grip which tends to be a little bit thinner here.
06:34 You can see how the butt of it is a little bit wider and it tapers down a bit so it would be thicker at the top and narrower at the bottom.
06:40 These tend to fit well in your hand because the pistol part of it locks into the palm of your hand and that can help with stability.
06:47 Also on the market you've seen the grips like this which are a little bit thicker and they tend to be the same width all the way down.
06:53 So if you like to vary the height of your hands on the putter or even if you want to use it as an arm lock putter where you're putting up against your arm,
06:59 then these types of grips work very well because you can put your hands in any place.
07:03 They also come in various thicknesses as well. This is one of the narrow ones but you can get quite thick ones as well.
07:08 The advantage of having those thicker grips is that the thicker the grip the less your hands are probably able to move.
07:13 So if you've got quite active hands in your putting stroke and you want to reduce that,
07:17 then you can try using a thicker grip because that will stabilize the hands a little bit more and help you probably get a bit more consistent as well.
07:25 You tend to find that the more forgiving larger headed mallets tend to come with these thicker grips anyway.
07:30 But you can change these grips around but be careful when you do because some grips are lighter than others.
07:35 If you take a light grip off and maybe put a heavier rubber grip on,
07:38 then you will change the swing weight of the putter and the feel of it and that in turn will have an effect on the performance.
07:43 So if you are going to do it, make sure you get it professionally done so you get the right grip for your game.
07:48 So there you have it. That's my top 7 tips for helping you choose your putter.
07:51 The putter is a really important club in your bag. It's the club you use the most.
07:54 So if you take the time to get the right putter and get it suited to the right shape you like, the right alignment lines, get the right length and the right grip,
08:02 then you will be rewarded with a club that will not only help you hold a few more putts, but also help you grow your scores.
08:09 [Music]