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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00:00When it comes to choosing a new putter for your game, it can be a bit of a minefield.
00:03There's plenty of things to think about, whether it's the head shape, head style,
00:06the length of the shaft, or the type of the grip, and many other things in between.
00:10So I've come here to the Black Bear Golf Club of Florida. I'm going to give you my top seven tips,
00:14the things that you need to look out for when you're choosing the right putter for your game.
00:21So the first thing you need to decide is what type of head style you would like.
00:24There's blade putters and there's mallet putters. Blade putters, as the name suggests,
00:27are long, thin heads. They tend to be very good for people who like a sort of shallower head,
00:32front to back. And these tend to be pretty forgiving, but not so much on the off-center
00:36hits. Mallet heads, as the name suggests, tend to be much deeper. They tend to have a square
00:40shape or sometimes a rounded shape at the back. And what makes these putters different is that
00:44the moment of inertia or the twisting effect of the putter is much reduced. And that's because
00:48there's more weight out here in the edges of the putter and also at the back. And that means if
00:52you don't hit the putter in the middle, then there's less resistance to the face twisting
00:56open or close, which will then send your putter offline. So if you want a little bit more
00:59forgiveness and you like the look of them, then the deeper headed mallets is the one to go for.
01:03The second step is to get the correct length of putter for your stroke and also for your
01:07posture as well. Putters tend to range from about 33 inches right up to 35 inches. And
01:11some of them can be even longer than that. The key thing is really to get the putter that suits
01:15your posture correctly. This is a 35 inch putter. And if I was a short person and it was too long
01:21for me, then you can see here that the toe of the putter raises up from the ground. Conversely,
01:25if the putter is too short for me, what I might have is that my eye line might be outside the
01:29line of the ball. You really want to have your eyes over the ball or just inside the ball,
01:33and therefore getting the right length of putter for you is the key thing. You want to have the
01:38putter sitting flat on the ground, your eyes over the ball, arms in a nice relaxed position,
01:44and that will be the right length for you. Now, the third factor you look for is the type of
01:51hosel that you want, because that is going to have an implication on the amount of toe hang that you
01:54have. And this is quite important because toe hang is what will enable the face to open and
01:59close as you go through the stroke. If you're somebody that has quite a straight stroke,
02:03then you want a putter with very little toe hang. And if you have somebody with a very arc stroke,
02:08you need quite a lot of toe hang so that the face opens and closes and squares the face at impact,
02:13because that is the most important thing. This putter here is what they call a high toe hang
02:17putter, because as you can see, the toe hangs down quite a lot. It's about 60 or 70 degrees.
02:22And the reason it does that is because this is what's called an offset hosel. At the other end
02:26is what you call a face balance putter. So as you can see here, the face is balanced because it's
02:30pointing straight at the sky when I hold it in my hand. And that's because that has a single
02:34bent hosel here. You can see it's a completely different style of hosel. Now, if you want
02:38something in between, you still have putters which have a little bit of toe hang. So you can see here,
02:42this is still another mallet putter, which you might see on a face balance design with a different
02:47hosel. But by changing the hosel, you actually get a little bit of toe hang. So this is going
02:51to give you a very slight arc. Generally in the past, you will have had a mallet, which was face
02:55balanced, and you had a blade, which had a toe hang. But now you've got every combination that
02:59can happen in between. It's all to do with the type of hosel that you have. You put this type
03:03of hosel into a blade putter, then you can get a face balanced blade. And conversely, if you put
03:09the offset hosel into a mallet, then you can get a toe hanging mallet. So the key thing is to go
03:16out and try and see which one suits your game. And the best way to judge that is being able to
03:21make a putt and try and make sure your hands are relaxed. If you feel that your hands are having to
03:25maneuver the head by trying to open it or trying to close it to keep the ball on line, then you
03:29probably haven't got the right hosel. If you can just relax your hands and make a stroke without
03:33without them having any influence on it, then you have the right hosel for your game. Now the fourth
03:38thing to think about when you're buying a new putter is what type of face you want. Now there's
03:42two main types. You either have an all metal face or you have a face with an insert. But why is this
03:46important? It really has to do with the feel of the putter. And when people talk about feel, what
03:50they really mean is sound. The sound is what is important because it allows you to judge the pace
03:54of the putter. It allows you to judge how far you're heading at, how hard you're hitting, because it gives
03:57you that sound feedback. And that is what gives you the feel. Some people like all metal putters
04:01because they tend to give a good sound feedback. They're probably going to sound and feel a little
04:05bit firmer. But even within all metal putters, you can get some that feel softer than others. And the
04:09reason they do that is because of the milling patterns that they have on the face. This putter
04:13in particular has a deeper milling pattern towards the heel and the toe than it does in the middle.
04:17All that does mean is try to equalize the ball speed because there's more points of contact with
04:21the ball in the in the heel and the toe and there's less in the middle. So in turn will affect the feel
04:25and also the speed of the head. If you want an insert head then you can get various putters
04:29which have different types of materials in the face of the putter. Now the reason they do this
04:33is partly for feel but also partly for forgiveness because they can take weight out of the center of
04:38the head and put it elsewhere in the putter and then fill the middle of the face with a material
04:42that is lighter than the steel that or other material that they've taken out of the face. So you
04:47can see here there's lots of different options. There's lots of different roles that you can get
04:51from this putter because it all comes back to feel and sound. So get the feel and sound that suits the
04:55ball you use and the type that you like to hear and the amount of feedback that you want to get
04:59and that is the right face for you. Now the fifth thing you want to think about when you're trying
05:03to pick your putter is what type of alignment lines you like. Some people like some alignment
05:06lines. Some people like nothing at all. As you can see here in this blade there's no alignment lines
05:10at all and people like that if they just want to make a stroke they don't want anything complicating
05:14their minds when they're doing it. You can also get lines that point towards the target so if you
05:17use a line on your golf ball or you just want some visual reference for that then these type of putters
05:21quite good. You also get alignment lines which can then be perpendicular to that. So here this putter
05:27has a silver line which is going this way which might help you align the face and then the line
05:32behind it will point towards the target. You can also get putters which have circles or they might
05:38have an open space which will be the width of the golf ball which again will give you some sort of
05:42visual reference for the path of the ball going forward. It really is personal preference have a
05:47try see which one suits your eye and go with that one. The sixth thing you need to consider is what
05:51type of shaft you want in your putter. Now this might not be a decision much in the past because
05:55most putters had a steel shaft like this one but what you're seeing these days are some composite
06:02shafts. So these are putters which are mostly graphite with a steel tip. The point of these shafts is to
06:07actually make your stroke a little bit more consistent. They don't keep the putter on line. What they help
06:12with is the rhythm of the putter because it changes the swing rate of the putter a little bit.
06:16They might give you a slightly better feel. They do tend to be more expensive so check them out and
06:20see if it works for you. Now my seventh and final tip for picking the right putter is to choose the
06:24right grip. Not only does this affect the performance but it's also how you feel the club because it is
06:28the part of the club that you touch. Basically there's two types you've got the pistol type grip
06:33which tend to be a little bit thinner here. You can see how the the butt of it is a little bit wider
06:37and it tapers down a bit so it would be thicker at the top and narrower at the bottom. These tend to
06:41fit well in your hand because the pistol part of it locks into the the palm of your hand and that
06:46can help with stability. Also on the market you've seen the grips like this which are a little bit
06:50thicker and they tend to be the same width all the way down. So if you like to vary the height of your
06:55hands on the putter or even if you want to use it as an arm lock putter where you're putting up against
06:59your arm then these types of grip work very well because you can put your hands in any place. They
07:04also come in various thicknesses as well. This is one of the narrow ones but you can get quite
07:07thick ones as well. Now the advantage of having those thicker grips is that the thicker the grip
07:11the less your hands are probably able to move. So if you've got quite active hands in your putting
07:16stroke and you want to reduce that then you can try using a thicker grip because that will
07:20stabilize the hands a little bit more and help you probably get a bit more consistent as well.
07:26You tend to find that the more forgiving larger headed mallets tend to come with these thicker
07:30grips anyway but you can change these grips around but be careful when you do because
07:34some grips are lighter than others and if you take a light grip off and maybe put a heavier rubber
07:38grip on then you will change the swing weight of putter and the feel of it and that in turn will
07:42have an effect on the performance. So if you are going to do it make sure you get it professionally
07:46done so you get the right grip for your game. So there you have it that's my top seven tips for
07:50helping you choose your putter. The putter is a really important club in your bag. It's the club
07:54you use the most so you take the time to get the right putter and get it suited to the right shape
07:59you like, the right alignment lines, get the right length and the right grip and you will be rewarded
08:04with a club that will not only help you hold a few more putts but also help you lower your scores.