Want to improve your game?  Check the most important club in the bag—you may find that it’s costing you strokes.   Most golfers just pick a putter off the shelf.  If it feels good and is pleasing to the eye, it goes in the bag.  Then the newest, hottest putter comes out and the old one gets thrown aside, but most golfers soon find out that their new flatstick is not getting the job done, either.  Clubfitting technology has exploded in the last couple years, but it’s mostly been confined to woods and irons.  Expand your clubfitting to include your putter.  It may be the most important move you make.

    Putters need to be fitted to match your stroke and size preferences.  There are many variables in a putter: length, lie, loft, grip, weight, and balance among them.  A good putter should allow you to stand comfortably over every putt with your eyes looking straight down the target line.  A grip should fit your hands well, plus it needs to have a firmness and shape that puts you at ease.  Many golfers are unable to aim their putts straight, even if they think they are.  I see golfers that are 3-5 inches off every day when we fit them.  This leads to compensations and corrections that rob your game of any kind of consistency.  The solution to this is to find a putter that is weighted to match your stroke.  Most mallets are face-balanced, meaning they are ideal for a square, back-and-forward stroke.  A toe-balanced putter works best with an open-shut stroke.  A putter’s offset can also make all the difference in accuracy.  Find one that is easy to line up (and requires no compensation).  Golfers that find the perfect putter will make most of their good putts and even some of their bad ones.  Getting fitted properly takes about an hour—a small time investment for a big improvement in your game.  Come by Pete’s Golf Shop in Mineola and we can set you on the path to putting excellence.

Woody Lashen has been a professional clubmaker and clubfitter for over 25 years.  He is the Vice President of Pete’s Golf Shop and a board member of the Clubfitters Technology Group (CTG).