Bobbers

Yeah, that's sort of like a television show where they "tease" something significant and then cut to a commercial...

Long lag putts, for me anyway, have a tendency to miss right pretty consistently and it's not my inability to pick a line. I'm convinced that a forceful stroke causes a bit of shaft deflection that contributes to the putter head "fanning" a bit open due to the deflection. Perhaps that's just me.

Yes, the ARE confidence inspiring. And I can use all the confidence I can get...heh heh.

I'd planned to play Sunday. Temperatures at tee time were 26 degrees, 15 mph winds and the course was closed to play for several hours until the frost was off the greens and we were forced to cancel. Did play yesterday. One of those Open Championship rounds where temperatures were in the upper 40's but the winds were a steady 20 mph with gusts to 30+ mph. A daunting day to say the least. First things first. NO THREE PUTTS. Sixteen putts on the front nine, sixteen putts on the back nine. Lag putting: Best example was a 40 footer that ended up six inches from the hole. The course we played has a LOT of undulation on the greens, it's one of the "signatures" of the course. I've played this course several times and this is equal to the best I've ever putted it. Wind velocities were such that while I normally chip from more than 2 feet off the green I used the Runner several times from up to 6 feet off the green just to keep the wind out of the playing equation. Shot 48 on the front nine and 47 on the back. Given the weather challenges I couldn't wait to get the ball near or on the green, it was the closest to feeling "normal" that we could get. Even at that you had to, seriously, take wind direction into consideration when choosing your putting line. And speaking of "line", the Runner continues to excel at holding the line. I've acclimated to the weight and feel to the point that yesterday I felt I was being successful on the greens because of the putter. Our forecast is for rain pretty steadily from this afternoon until next Monday when I hope to get out again. As always I'm happy to try and answer any questions.

My putter has a KBS putter shaft, 120 grams, looks good and performs even better. I get no sense of bend or deflection on even the longest putts. It's a quality component as are the rest of the elements of the putter.

I tend to deloft a bit and with my straight back/straight through putting stroke I find I don't end up low on the face very often so that's a tough one for me to answer. I can say that a) this putter gives the user a lot of feedback and b) it likes to hold the line you've chosen regardless of point of impact. The feel and sound of off center strikes is clearly heard and definitely felt immediately. Some loss of distance is the "penalty"; the further off center the impact the greater the distance loss.

I'm going to say distance loss on off center hits, those where I deliberately centered the ball on the heel or the toe resulted in a distance loss of 15-20%. But given the width of the face those were my effort to grossly mishit, not something I'd expect pretty much anyone to do unless they had some sort of spasm during their putting stroke. The more common misses cost perhaps 8-10% distance loss but the mass of the head kept the ball on whatever line I'd chosen.

Added advantage (for some) is that the width of the Runner putter face is very game improvement oriented, it's wide with a decent sized "center spot". I hope that makes sense...

Sorry for the delay in getting this posted but I needed time to really ponder and analyze how I putted with the Runner this past Sunday. The course I play on the weekend is at the highest point in that county and thus can be counted on to offer windy conditions regardless of the day. Sunday at tee time the temperature was about 55 degrees and it actually warmed up a bit as the round progressed. I arrived early and spent 30 minutes on the practice green trying to get things dialed in before hitting the course. It's one of those practice greens that you either love or hate in that there's nothing remotely resembling a flat putt. Breaks of 2,3, even 4 feet are the rule rather than the exception. The greens on course, however, rarely have a break of even 2 feet regardless of how long the putt may be. Still, some practice beats no practice for me at least. It's tough for me when the practice green is so different from the greens on the course that you can't necessarily “take something with you” from practicing to the actual round. First hole, par 5, a three putt. Second hole, a medium length par 4, another three putt. Time for a deep breath, a glance toward the heavens to see if there's an angry putting god scowling down at me. The remaining 7 holes on the front nine yielded 2 putts per hole. Shot a 46 for the front. While every hole was a two putt the second putts were tap-ins for the most part so at least the stress level was decreasing and my confidence was increasing. Positive signs heading to the back nine. Back nine was a totally different story. Three one putt greens, the longest putt being a twenty footer. Six two putt greens yielded a total of 15 putts on the back nine, more in keeping with what I expect. Shot 42 on the back for a round of 88. Total of 35 putts, higher than my normal range which is 31-33 per round pretty much regardless of what course I'm on. The putter looks like a work of art. Very up to date look. I have to concentrate on distance control with the Runner moreso than my Cobra, an issue of familiarity in my opinion. Feedback is very good. You could close your eyes, putt, and know if you were hitting the center of the face, a pleasing “tink” or off center, a more definite “thock”. Center of the face has that nice “I don't feel like I hit the ball” feeling while off-center hits offers a more “oops!” feedback. Headed out for another round on Monday, I'll report back with the expectation that I can shave 2-4 putts off on the next round. As always, questions are welcome.

I've got a round scheduled for Sunday morning. It's a busy time so I'm not sure if videos will be made but I'll have 18 holes worth of putting to report on. Should be about 45 degrees (Fahrenheit) at tee time but no snow or rain in the forecast. Yay, spring may finally have arrived.

Happy anniversary, enjoy the day.

I tried the "hit it off the toe" and "hit it off the heel" and found that distance suffered in the range of 15-20% compared to more centered strikes but the line of the putt didn't vary much if at all.

I suspect it's early days for all of us, some haven't even received their putters yet. That said it's nice to have the option.

Something of a "Swiss army knife" of the putter world.

Here's what I guess you'd call an unexpected benefit of the Runner putter based on its construction. Let me start with a photo: If you look at the photo you'll see three distinct "sections" of the putter. The front, the face; the black midsection where the hosel resides, and the rear. The three pieces are mechanically joined with bolts. More importantly they can all be removed with the supplied tool. The lie angle, in this case 71*, is "built in" to the middle section of the putter. If one were to completely disassemble the putter and reverse the front (face) with the rear, let's call it the "body", presto! What had been a right handed putter is now a left handed putter! I found that particularly ingenious. (Told you I was gonna look at this in as many ways as possible...heh heh.)

I'll be happy to do that. My goal is a realistic review with all the pluses and minuses I can wring from the experience. That's what the four reviewers committed to from the beginning. We were told, very clearly, to be honest and not feel obligated to do what you'd call a "puff piece".

Had a chance to get the Runner out for an initial run (pun intended...). I mentioned in my unboxing/initial impressions post that the head was large and, for me at least, confidence inspiring. I put it next to an L.A.B. Directed Force 2.1 for comparison purposes. The L.A.B. is about 3/8 inch wider than the Runner. I alternated between a sleeve of Bridgestone R XS balls and a sleeve of Wilson Duo Soft balls figuring that would give me a chance to compare a low compression, soft ball with something more traditional in terms of compression. Other than the sound, obviously attributable to the ball, performance was similar. The Bridgestone ball came off the face with a "click" and the Wilson was a much more muted "tock". Hit several series off the toe and several series off the heel just to see the impact of seriously off center strikes. Distance was affected but, in my opinion, the mass of the putter head kept the putts on line very nicely. I could definitely feel the difference between center strikes, they felt very "pure", the way a perfect shot off a forged iron feels. Short putts, four feet or less, felt pretty automatic. Below are two photos of a series of three putts from a distance of 30 feet. Keeping in mind I'm a 20 handicapper I'll take those second putts any day of the week from the starting distance. Feel free to ask any questions that occur to you, I'll do my best to answer.

We seem to have had similar reactions/impressions to the putters. I noticed with interest you live somewhere that the sun apparently does shine from time to time. I envy that.

I believe they were, for me at least, set up for my stroke. Simon had a chance to review videos of my stroke both from an overhead view and a straight on view. Having said that I have no doubt I'll be experimenting. Their website does have a pictorial on "how to adjust the weights" in terms of what effect you either want to achieve or, in my case, what I want to avoid...

One of life's great pleasures has to be unboxing a new golf club. Have fun.

I'm in the royal blue or darker zone. Light head covers don't look very good in pretty short order in my experience. Look great the first few rounds and then it's downhill for me at least.

Hard no. I wouldn't even engage in a discussion with the person offering "the deal".

The Cobra F9 and the LTDx are worthy choices. To the extent that iron lofts keep going down the opposite seems true when it come to woods. I see "HL" 3 woods at 16 or 16.5 degrees which used to be a pretty typical 4 wood loft, etc. Forget what's on the sole and see if you can find a Callaway "Heaven Wood" to test drive. You get a forgiving loft and the longer shaft. It's to the point where I have to think "I'm looking for something that goes 'x' yards" rather than think in terms of what # is etched on the bottom.

Someone was making these within the past year or so. I believe I recall an article here (?) on those exact balls. Is Yes! still making putters or have they gone the way of all flesh?

It's too soon to tell, got out for a round on a freakishly warm day in early March but the winter has returned to Wisconsin. I'm hopeful based on the few shots but I've been overly optimistic before...