TFlan I have to say that one of the most amazing things I have seen in putter fitting is the effect of the heavier backweights in the grip end of the putter. These days there are at least a couple of companies making these weights, along with the tools necessary to install them in the end of the grip.
For golfers who notice that they have a habit of not being able to keep the putter on path very consistently, installing a 40-70g counter weight into the end of the grip can really have the effect of "calming down" the back and forward stroke to achieve more line consistency. So if you are a golfer, or see golfers who pull and push putts both, this can be pretty amazing to see the results with such butt weighting. Having this much more mass right in the hands is what seems to do it. We're starting to see that the prime candidates are those who are hands/arm putters and who tend not to use the shoulders that much in the stroke. On another note, back when I was with GS, we didn't talk much at all about putter fitting because no one did. It's really only been in the past 4-5 yrs that companies/people have been starting to look at this and begin to dig into the variables. TOM -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of TOM FLANAGAN Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 2:20 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: ShopTalk: Putters, etc. Thanks for the reasoned discourse. I'm one of the zillions who took the advanced clubmaker's course at GS way too many years ago to remember. One thing I do recall though is that we didn't spend a lot of time talking about putters. I had been a clubmaker for a lot of years before I went to Austin (the course was a birthday gift . . . a vacation sort of). It was a good week and well worth the effort. I mentioned I've been playing the same putter pretty constantly since about '67 - a Ping Z Blade. I won some scrip in a tournament and had to spend it at the golf shop. I picked up the Z Blade, went to the practice green, dropped a ball about 30 feet from the hole and canned it. I bought the putter after that one putt. I've changed the length several times - started with a 2" plug and then cut it down about a 1/4" at a time. It's now about 35 1/2" long and it works. I never added weight or tried to bend the single curve shaft. The one constant over the years has been the grip. It's a paddle style Tacki-Mac that isn't made any longer. I have 3 of them and guard them carefully. I have tried just about every other putter on the market, but the first thing I did was pop the grips and slip on one of my Tacki-Macs. Aside from a 2-Ball "blade" I acquired, not one putter has done as well for me as has the Z-Blade. Putting is, I think, 99% mental, 1% physical. I believe the Ping will make putts. I don't believe those branding irons will. Putting is such a purely personal part of the game that I think, and I've said often, if a guy believes it, he can putt with a sidewalk brick on the end of a stick. On the other hand, some guys just suck at putting no matter what the implement. TFlan
