Two golfers go through the comprehensive putter fitting process with SIK Golf to find their perfect match and hole more putts
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00:00How many of you watching right now have been custom fitted for your putter?
00:04I bet it's very, very few of you.
00:07And while we all tend to rightly focus on our irons and drivers when we invest in new clubs,
00:11we often neglect the club we use the most on course, which is the putter.
00:15Getting fitted for a putter should be done as meticulously as your irons,
00:19if you're really intending on lowering your handicap and playing better golf.
00:23To show you the process of a putter fitting and to give you an idea about why they're so beneficial,
00:28we've teamed up with Sick Golf to educate you on the ins and outs of a good,
00:32and importantly, wide-ranging putter fitting.
00:35We'll also take a dive into the technology behind the latest range of Sick putters,
00:39which represents some of the most advanced technologies currently on the market.
00:42We've brought along with us two Golf Monthly readers who have never been fitted for a putter before
00:47and are also very curious about the process.
00:50They've also told me they're really looking to improve their putting
00:53and are willing to try any new techniques or equipment to help chip away at their handicap.
00:58The technology used by our fitter Oli Leet today at his putting hub here in Somerset
01:02will be able to give both of our readers a real education into what their putting stroke is actually doing.
01:08Whilst using Sick's extensive range of fitting options,
01:10they should both be able to find the exact putter to help them out on the greens.
01:14So with all that in mind, let's go and meet our readers at the wonderful Tickenham Golf Centre,
01:18find out a bit about their golf and see how they get on during their fitting.
01:23TICKENHAM GOLF CENTRE
01:54TICKENHAM GOLF CENTRE
01:58The putter I have been using prior to the fitting is a Scotty Cameron Dual Balance putter,
02:03which I went to probably about four or five years ago just to give, in my mind, more stability when I was putting
02:10because, frankly, I was a pretty streaky putter.
02:13So I was trying to find something that would suit me but was a little bit more consistent.
02:18I've never been fitted for a putter before.
02:20In fact, it's the only club in the bag that I've never been fitted for,
02:23which is remarkable, really, when you consider how many times you use it.
02:26I found the experience fascinating.
02:28Frankly, I had no idea of the amount of information that could be captured from just hitting 10-foot putts.
02:34It actually made a lot of good sense for things
02:37because things that I instinctively or intuitively felt were happening,
02:40in some cases were, but in other cases were completely different.
02:44So the whole process, as well as chopping and changing different options and this kind of thing
02:49and seeing the impact of them, I just found it fascinating.
02:52Sure, if I'd had to characterise my poor putts coming into the putter fitting,
02:56I would have said I tended to push shorter putts but also hit off-centre with some of the longer putts.
03:02I felt they were coming out the heel.
03:04As it turns out, through looking at the statistics, that wasn't the case.
03:08In fact, I was hitting them high out the face rather than out the heel.
03:11I'd never seen a sick putter before.
03:14Before this fitting, I did actually have a quick look at what they were about,
03:18but didn't necessarily recognise that they would be radically different.
03:22When I started hitting some putts, I found that the actual quality of the strike of the putt,
03:27even though it was telling me they were off the top of the head, was actually an awful lot better.
03:32It felt a much purer strike, even though the loft was getting it rolling quicker than my current putter.
03:40Frankly, it wasn't anything I had to change.
03:43That just came with the technology with Insect Putter, so that became very comfortable very quickly.
03:49It was great from the perspective of having all the different combinations,
03:52that I felt I could try some different things.
03:55Even some that I would not, if I'd been in a normal purchase to go into a shop and try a few things,
04:00I'd have never even picked them off the shelf.
04:02Although I've ended up settling for something that's not a million miles away from what I originally had,
04:08it was great to an extent to discount some of the other shapes.
04:12Not because they were bad, but just because either they suited my eye less,
04:15or I just found the putting experience with them not quite as good.
04:19Mike was putting well when he first came in.
04:21He's been taking some tuition and been doing really well with it.
04:25What we identified with Mike was there was a few things we could improve.
04:29His face change from where he was aiming to where the face was at impact was a little inconsistent, down at 50%.
04:35Another thing was his launch.
04:37Interestingly with Mike, he was hitting it high on the face, but he was adding loft as well,
04:42so really losing a lot of energy through poor roll.
04:46We gave him the equivalent putter in the sick head,
04:48and the launch just changed massively on the slow motion.
04:52We could see before it was really taking off,
04:55and we got it down with the technology in the face to get that ball rolling really, really quick.
05:01It was a super real game changer.
05:04To get a good roll, the optimum launch for a putt,
05:07you would get the first 10% in the air, the next 10% it would be bouncing,
05:11and then it reaches true roll at 20%.
05:14Mike's was still bouncing outside of that 20%,
05:17and when we changed the sick technology,
05:19straight away within 15%, 20%, that ball was on a pure roll.
05:23The next thing we identified was the type of hosel that was suited for him.
05:28We tried in the face balance, which is what he had.
05:31Not a lot of change in the consistency of the face change.
05:35As soon as we went to the plumber's neck,
05:37it really made a huge difference in delivering that club face back to square more often,
05:41which is key, what we were looking for.
05:43From memory, it went from 50% to 77%.
05:46Then we messed around with heads and sight lines,
05:49and we got that consistency up into the 90s,
05:52which is a real game changer, really, to know he's hitting it where it's aiming,
05:5690% of the time rather than 50% of the time.
05:58The current putter that I bag is a tailor-made Spider.
06:01I've had it for about five years.
06:03Generally, it's pretty reliable.
06:05A few errors, a push and a pull, but that's standard golf for you.
06:08Today, I got fitted for the show in a face balance.
06:13In the end, it was kind of robotic with the stats.
06:16It was more so, how many did I make more than I miss?
06:19Yeah, it's a really good experience and good fun.
06:22With the fitting today, with the technology used in sick,
06:25it was very interesting.
06:27The current putter, the Spider, when we put it on the Sam Putt Lab,
06:31there was a lot of check to it.
06:32There was a lot of bouncing.
06:33It kind of lifted in the air, bounced a couple of times,
06:35then spent on average potentially losing a yard or two,
06:38which on that longer putt could be the sake of missing it three foot short
06:43or next to the hole.
06:44Once I started hitting the sick putter, it felt very different.
06:48It was completely contrasting to what I'm using in the Spider.
06:52Where I felt I was hitting off the face, it just rolled.
06:55It just straight off the face.
06:56No matter if I hit it a bit low, a bit high, it just went off like a rocket.
07:00For me, it'll be a learning curve to my weight now of how to hit the putt
07:05and to get it going, but it's a smooth putter.
07:08It come off lovely.
07:09It's just really good technology behind the head.
07:12Yeah, I'd say if you've never been for a putter fitting
07:15and it's something you're considering, I'd say do it.
07:17At the end of the day, it's where we save the most shots potentially on a course.
07:21A long game can be brilliant, but it's no point if you're on a two, three,
07:24four putt on every green.
07:25Having the right putter that works for you and you can work on that putting
07:28and then get used to it, you know that's fitted to the optimum performance
07:31for yourself.
07:32As I said previously, I've walked in and just brought one off the shelf,
07:35made it work for me.
07:36Now, got a proper fitting, I realize how different I would have gone
07:40if I had that fitting from day one.
07:42Matt was using a Spider putter and he was putting really well.
07:46He had a great ability to return the face to where he was aiming.
07:50We made sure we didn't lose any of that during it.
07:53But what was really inconsistent was his path and the arc.
07:57I think the path consistency was 14% and the arc was 18%, so really poor.
08:03Although the delivery of the face was pretty good, matching the arc
08:07and the rotation of the stroke was a little bit more difficult.
08:11I think part of the putter fitting, there's always going to be an element
08:14of coaching in there.
08:16Today with Matt, we were noticeably going outside the line and quite short
08:21on the way back and then a big acceleration through.
08:24We did talk a little bit of technique there to allow him to bring that club
08:28inside the line and a bit further, which certainly helped him
08:32with his start line.
08:33He had his club face, his hands were back 2.9 degrees,
08:37launching the ball at 5.5 degrees.
08:39From the slow-mo video, we can see that it's hopping and skipping
08:42outside of that 20% range.
08:44We just give him the sick putter, didn't do anything,
08:47and straightaway within the 15%, 20%, the ball was rolling well.
08:50Gaining energy, and now we can't stop hitting the ball
08:53so far past the hole.
08:54Yeah, we went for the show head, which really suited him.
08:57It was slightly heavier than his tailor-made spider,
09:01and it felt heavier as well because it was a thinner grip than he had
09:04on the 2.0 Super Stroke, which was on his current club.
09:08Just by having that lighter, thinner grip, give him a bit more head weight,
09:13the face balance really helped for his off-centered strikes,
09:16and he just aimed it beautiful and stroke it beautiful,
09:19so it was nice, good to see.
09:21The sight lines on the putters are really interesting.
09:23It can change absolutely everything, or it could change nothing.
09:27I think it's a lot of trial and error, but typically, like,
09:31more lines on putters, golfers will aim further left,
09:34less lines or lines near the top line will aim further right,
09:38as a rule of thumb, but I've seen it go both ways,
09:41so left-eye dominant tend to prefer the line on top rather than the bottom,
09:45but again, it's sort of trial and error, and through the fitting process,
09:48we try them all, and we find which one gets you aiming like a laser
09:52and putting like a laser.
09:54Well, there you have it. We've had a fantastic day here
09:56at the Tickenham Golf Centre, learning the ins and outs
09:59of everything that goes into a good putter fitting.
10:01As well as that, we've seen some fascinating technology and innovation
10:04in the latest range of SICK putters that have helped both of our readers,
10:08different golfers with very different putting strokes,
10:11find a solution on the greens.
10:13It's been fascinating to see how many solutions there were on offer
10:16for each of them, and hopefully, you've seen today the importance
10:20of a good putter fitting with a wide variety of heads and shafts available
10:24to help them with their putting stroke.
10:26But for now, a massive thanks to Ollie Leet
10:28at the Ollie Leet Putting Hub here in Somerset.
10:30Thanks for watching this video. We'll see you next time.
10:32To explore the full range of SICK golf putters for yourself,
10:35you can visit their website at www.sickgolf.com.
10:46SICK