I am guilty of being a high handicapper and buying equipment before taking lessons. Recently, I have splurged on lessons thanks to the company I work for pays out $800/yr on "fitness" lessons, gym memberships, or "exercise" equipment. After about my 3rd lesson of various drills to fix my slice, I started hitting fairways more often and quickly realized that my high score wasn't because of my horrid drives, I was 3 and sometimes 4 putting most holes. I asked my coach to help me with putting. Pulled out my Odyssey Marxman, putted a few, and my coach quickly pointed out I have an alignment problem and consistency problem. So I went and bought a Scotty Cameron X7.... Then a Bettinardi BB1. A lesson or 2 with each, he asked me why I didn't listen when he told me a center shafted putter would best suited for me for alignment reasons. I went to the local Edwin Watts and came out with a Cleveland HB soft milled 10.5. I ended up hating it. I don't know why, I just did. Went back to my X7. I was averaging 2.9 pph. I happened to stop by the PGA Superstore this past weekend and they were doing free putter fittings. Low and behold, I was told I needed a center shafted putter again. I walked out with a L.A.B. Mezz 1 Max. Played a VGA tournament the next day, averaged 2.1 pph, shaved a total of 10 strokes off from previous VGA tournament. I thought the whole balancing act their CEO markets was just another marketing gimmick... It probably is, but the feel is great, and I'm putting better. Gimmick or not, I'll see how my pph is in the next tournament.
