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, the head style, the length of the shaft,
00:08or 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.
00:12I'm going to give you my top seven tips for things that you need to look out for
00:15when 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.
00:26Blade putters, as the name suggests, are long, thin heads.
00:29They tend to be very good for people who like a sort of shallower head, front to back,
00:33and these tend to be pretty forgiving, but not so much on the off-center hits.
00:36Mallet heads, as the name suggests, tend to be much deeper.
00:40They tend to have a square shape or sometimes a rounded shape at the back.
00:43And what makes these putters different is that the moment of inertia, or the twisting effect of the putter, is much reduced.
00:48And that's because there's more weight out here in the edges of the putter, and also at the back.
00:52And that means if you don't hit the putter in the middle,
00:53then there's less resistance to the face twisting open or closed, which will then send your putter offline.
00:58So if you want a little bit more forgiveness, and you like the look of them,
01:01then 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 posture as well.
01:07Putters tend to range from about 33 inches right up to 35 inches, and some of them can be even longer than that.
01:13The key thing is really to get the putter that suits your posture correctly.
01:16This is a 35-inch putter, and if I was a short person and it was too long for me,
01:21then you can see here that the toe of the putter raises up from the ground.
01:25Conversely, if the putter is too short for me, what I might have is that my eyeline might be outside the line of the ball.
01:30You 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.
01:37You want to have the putter 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.
01:48Now the third factor you look for is the type of hosel that you want,
01:52because that is going to have an implication on the amount of toe hang that you have.
01:55And this is quite important because toe hang is what will enable the face to open and close as you go through the stroke.
02:01If you're somebody that has quite a straight stroke, then you want a putter with very little toe hang,
02:06and if you have somebody with a very arc stroke, you need quite a lot of toe hang so that the face opens and closes
02:12and squares the face at impact, because that is the most important thing.
02:15This putter here is what they call a high toe hang putter, because as you can see, the toe hangs down quite a lot.
02:20It's about 60 or 70 degrees.
02:23And the reason it does that is because this is what's called an offset hosel.
02:25At the other end is what you call a face balance putter.
02:28So as you can see here, the face is balanced because it's pointing straight at the sky when I hold it in my hand.
02:32And that's because that has a single bent hosel here.
02:36You can see it's a completely different style of hosel.
02:37Now, if you want something in between, you still have putters which have a little bit of toe hang.
02:42So you can see here, this is still another mallet putter, which you might see on a face balance design with a different hosel.
02:48But by changing the hosel, you actually get a little bit of toe hang.
02:51So this is going to give you a very slight arc.
02:53Generally, in the past, you will have had a mallet, which was face balance, and you had a blade, which had a toe hang.
02:58But now you've got every combination that can happen in between.
03:00It's all to do with the type of hosel that you have.
03:02If you put this type of hosel into a blade putter, then you can get a face balance blade.
03:07And conversely, if you put the offset hosel into a mallet, then you can get a toe hanging mallet.
03:15So the key thing is to go out and try and see which one suits your game.
03:18And the best way to judge that is being able to make a putt and try and make sure your hands are relaxed.
03:23If 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,
03:29then you probably haven't got the right hosel.
03:31If you can just relax your hands and make a stroke without them having any influence on it,
03:35then you have the right hosel for your game.
03:38Now, the fourth thing to think about when you're buying a new putter is what type of face you want.
03:42Now, there's two main types.
03:43You either have an all-metal face or you have a face with an insert.
03:46But why is this important?
03:47It's really to do with the feel of the putter.
03:49And when people talk about feel, what they really mean is sound.
03:51The sound is what is important because it allows you to judge the pace of the putter.
03:54It allows you to judge how far you're hitting it, how hard you're hitting it.
03:57Because it gives you that sound feedback and that is what gives you the feel.
04:00Some people like all-metal putters because they tend to give a good sound feedback.
04:03They're probably going to sound and feel a little bit firmer.
04:06But even within all-metal putters, you can get some that feel softer than others.
04:09And the reason they do that is because of the milling patterns that they have on the face.
04:12This putter in particular has a deeper milling pattern towards the heel and the toe than it does in the middle.
04:16All 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.
04:23And there's less in the middle.
04:24So that in turn will affect the feel and also the speed of the head.
04:26If you want an insert head, then you can get various putters which have different types of materials in the face of the putter.
04:32Now the reason they do this is partly for feel but also partly for forgiveness.
04:36Because they can take weight out of the center of the head and put it elsewhere in the putter and 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.
04:47So you can see here there's lots of different options.
04:49There's lots of different roles that you can get from this putter because it all comes back to feel and sound.
04:54So 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.
04:59And that is the right face for you.
05:01Now the fifth thing you want to think about when you're trying to pick your putter is what type of alignment line do you like.
05:05Some people like some alignment lines, some people like nothing at all.
05:08As you can see here in this blade, there's no alignment lines at all and people like that if they just want to make a stroke.
05:13They don't want anything complicating their minds when they're doing it.
05:15You can also get lines that point towards the target.
05:17So 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.
05:22You also get alignment lines which can then be perpendicular to that.
05:26So here this putter has a silver line which is going this way which might help you align the face.
05:31And then the line behind it will point towards the target.
05:33You 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.
05:45It really is personal preference.
05:47Have a try.
05:48See which one suits your eye and go without one.
05:50The sixth thing you need to consider is what type of shaft you want in your putter.
05:53Now this might not have been a decision much in the past because most putters had a steel shaft like this one.
05:58But what you're seeing these days are some composite shafts.
06:02So these are putters which are mostly graphite with a steel tip.
06:06The point of these shafts is to actually make your stroke a little bit more consistent.
06:10They don't keep the putter in line.
06:11What they help with 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.
06:17They do tend to be more expensive so check them out and see if it works for you.
06:21Now my seventh and final tip for picking the right putter is to choose the right grip.
06:25Not 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.
06:30Basically there's two types.
06:31You've got the pistol type grip which tends to be a little bit thinner here.
06:34You can see how the butt of it is a little bit wider and it tapers down a bit so it will be thicker at the top and narrower at the bottom.
06:41These 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.
06:48Also 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.
06:53So 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.
07:00Then these types of grip work very well because you can put your hands in any place.
07:04They also come in various thicknesses as well.
07:05This is one of the narrow ones but you can get quite thick ones as well.
07:08Now the advantage of having those thicker grips is that the thicker the grip the less your hands are probably able to move.
07:14So if you've got quite active hands in your putter stroke and you want to reduce that 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.
07:26You tend to find that the more forgiving larger headed mallets tend to come with these thicker grips anyway but you can change these grips around.
07:33But be careful when you do because some grips are lighter than others and if you take a light grip off and maybe put a heavier rubber grip on then you will change the swing weight of putter and the feel of it.
07:42And that in turn will have an effect on the performance.
07:44So if you are going to do it make sure you get it professionally done so you get the right grip for your game.
07:49So there you have it that's my top seven tips for helping you choose your putter.
07:52The putter is a really important club in your bag.
07:54It's the club you use the most 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.
08:03Then you will be rewarded with a club that will not only help you hold a few more putts but also help you lower your scores.