mpatrickriley

Introduction
This introduction post will be in two parts: what I thought of my putting going into my fitting, and then my expectations and first impressions when I received the Edel EAS 4.0 putter.
Here are my thoughts on my putting going into my fitting:
I'm a decent putter, and it's a strength of my game, relative to handicap. I've got years of on-course stats to back this up, including Arccos the past two years. Over my past 15 rounds, Arccos has my putting SG equal to a 7-handicap. I average just over 30 putts per round. There's a consistent pattern in that data, though: I'm a better putter (by SG) from 10–25' than I am from 0–10'. This is true in the data for virtually every round I play. I miss short putts far too often. Going into this test, this is my highest priority. As for my actual setup and stroke: I've posted about this before, that I don't see the correct line correctly. I can set a 4' ruler on the correct line for a straight 8' putt, aligned with a laser. If I turn off the laser and address a ball at the end of the ruler, the ruler will look to me as though it is pointing almost outside the cup on the left. I have tried moving my head and body around to all sorts of angles without success. If I address a putt from the left side, the line looks correct. Using a home putting analyzer (SwingByte), I therefore tend to aim about 2° right of the cup. My stroke is quirky. Early on, I read Dave Pelz and decided to work on a SBST stroke. Like many who attempt that, I actually ended up with a stroke that tends to move outside the line on my backstroke. Coming into impact, I close the face relative to address, which starts the ball on the correct line, though a line to the left of where I was aimed. On a normal straight putt, my predominant miss is a pull. I'm intrigued, obviously, to see if any of the myriad alignment options on the Edel change my perception of the line. I'm also probably more interested to see if their torque-balanced putter, combined with custom weighting and their grip options, can mitigate some of my tendency to come outside the line on my backstroke.
Of the four headshapes, the rounded back mallet appeals to me subjectively the least: it's just not a shape I've ever really loved. My baseline expectation is that I'd end up with the fanged mallet: I am currently playing with the Toe Up version of the Odyssey Seven. But if I end up with either of the blades, that is no problem either.
__________________
And here is the video I shot to jumpstart my review on the day I received my Edel:
te
 
FINAL REVIEW
The bones of this review were written over a year ago. Although I started writing it, I never completed it, and that isn’t acceptable. I apologize to Edel and to the community for not getting this final review done in a timely manner. In the spirit of better late than never:
I’m going to lead with the conclusion: the Edel EAS 4.0 is a very good putter—and a better experience, if you can go get fitted.
Look and Feel
This is a challenging category to rate the Edel, for several reasons. There is, of course, the undeniable subjectivity in rating the looks of a putter. But there’s also a difference between putters that exist almost entirely to look pretty (see Tyson Lamb) and putters that exist merely to be functional (see LAB) regardless of appearance.
Edel’s priority is function. That explains the interesting cavities in the sole of the putter: they are designed to put this putter (like the LAB, the Odyssey Toe Up line, and Axis1) in the torque-balanced category. The most obvious indication of this is that my Edel 4.0 is neither face-balanced nor does it have toe hang: it rests with the toe up:

Because the design of the putter is built around function, I don’t think it’s as overtly “pretty” as some flatsticks. Looking down at my Edel, I don’t adore the onset hosel, for instance.
But granting that function is favored over form, the actual quality of the Edel is quite high. The detailing of the head is top-notch. The face groove pattern is distinctive and eye-catching (not at address, mind you). All in all, I give the Edel high marks for looks, especially in comparison to some of the monstrosities created to have the same function.
As for feel: if I were benchmarking putters, the Edel would sit as a standard for neutral. I don’t mean that in a bad way, as though it’s mediocre. The idea is that the Edel face is neither harsh nor mushy. It is precisely what I would expect of a milled face metal putter without some kind of plastic/polymer insert. I find it utterly unnoticeable, in the best possible way.
Accuracy
[Keeping this paragraph from the first version of my review; update after the second full season below.] I’ve played just over 35 rounds (mostly 9 hole) with my Edel now. (I wish Arccos had a functioning “compare this date range to that date range” function, like Game Golf has). So while this comparison isn’t perfect, it captures almost all the rounds I have played with my Edel vs. the previous 35:

You can see from the orange vs. grey line that I started out hot, but that my recent rounds with the Edel haven’t been nearly as good.



 
Because I can’t go back and tell Arccos to show me the numbers for the rounds just preceding getting the Edel, I’ll pull up this image from the MGS archives. This includes my first round with the Edel, but with the nine prior rounds before getting it.

[Update after second season]
The one benefit of taking so very long to post this review is that, whether I intended to do so or not, I can do some longer-term stat tracking. Unfortunately, the news isn’t all that good. Here are the Arccos putting numbers for the final 25 rounds of last season:


There’s nothing pretty here. Obviously, it’s tough to control for all variables. A big one: I began last season with a commitment to heads up putting (looking at the hole on virtually every putt). That wasn’t working out for me. So I was flailing around for much of the end of the year last year, trying to find something that might work. I have a hard time blaming the putter for this, but it certainly suggests that finding a good putter isn’t a cure-all.
Conclusion and Takeaways
If you’re reading this, you’re likely (at some level) kicking around whether an Edel putter is right for you. If that’s the case, you probably fall into one of three categories.
The person buying an Edel off the rack
If you’re only interested in the Edel putter as a putter, here’s what you’re getting: a nice putter that’s probably the best-looking of any of the torque-balanced options. Edel isn’t really competing with Scotty Cameron or Bettinardi—not because their putters aren’t of that caliber, but because Edel’s first priority is a specific tech rather than a specific look. The reality is: you can go buy an Edel off the rack or from their website. And you'll get a good putter. But you're really missing out on much of the genius behind this putter: its modular aiming system and the knowledge of the fitters.
The person who already has a putter well-fitted
This was my situation. My fitting process confirmed much of what I already knew about my putting and my preference in putters, which was encouraging. I have confidence that my Edel is well-suited for my stroke.
The person without a fitted putter getting fitted for an Edel
This is the person who has the most to gain from an Edel putter. If you either have never really tinkered with different putters, or if you tinker with every kind of putter because you don't know what you're actually looking for, the Edel fitting and putter stand to give you the most bang for your buck. You will learn how your body type should cause you to favor a particular way of swinging the putter. You'll learn about how you see the line of putts. The knowledge from the fitting alone is worth half the price of the putter, because it will allow you not only to purchase the best Edel for your game, but also give you confidence when you insist on buying yet another putter down the road (because most of us are kind of like that).
Bottom line for me: right at the moment, it's likely that I'll begin my 2023 season with an Odyssey 2Ball Ten in my bag. But I just put an Garsen grip on my Edel, and the early results are quite promising. The Odyssey might be the starter, but the Edel is going to be first off the bench if the Odyssey falters even a little bit.

Introduction
This introduction post will be in two parts: what I thought of my putting going into my fitting, and then my expectations and first impressions when I received the Edel EAS 4.0 putter.
Here are my thoughts on my putting going into my fitting:
I'm a decent putter, and it's a strength of my game, relative to handicap. I've got years of on-course stats to back this up, including Arccos the past two years. Over my past 15 rounds, Arccos has my putting SG equal to a 7-handicap. I average just over 30 putts per round. There's a consistent pattern in that data, though: I'm a better putter (by SG) from 10–25' than I am from 0–10'. This is true in the data for virtually every round I play. I miss short putts far too often. Going into this test, this is my highest priority. As for my actual setup and stroke: I've posted about this before, that I don't see the correct line correctly. I can set a 4' ruler on the correct line for a straight 8' putt, aligned with a laser. If I turn off the laser and address a ball at the end of the ruler, the ruler will look to me as though it is pointing almost outside the cup on the left. I have tried moving my head and body around to all sorts of angles without success. If I address a putt from the left side, the line looks correct. Using a home putting analyzer (SwingByte), I therefore tend to aim about 2° right of the cup. My stroke is quirky. Early on, I read Dave Pelz and decided to work on a SBST stroke. Like many who attempt that, I actually ended up with a stroke that tends to move outside the line on my backstroke. Coming into impact, I close the face relative to address, which starts the ball on the correct line, though a line to the left of where I was aimed. On a normal straight putt, my predominant miss is a pull. I'm intrigued, obviously, to see if any of the myriad alignment options on the Edel change my perception of the line. I'm also probably more interested to see if their torque-balanced putter, combined with custom weighting and their grip options, can mitigate some of my tendency to come outside the line on my backstroke.
Of the four headshapes, the rounded back mallet appeals to me subjectively the least: it's just not a shape I've ever really loved. My baseline expectation is that I'd end up with the fanged mallet: I am currently playing with the Toe Up version of the Odyssey Seven. But if I end up with either of the blades, that is no problem either.
__________________
And here is the video I shot to jumpstart my review on the day I received my Edel:
te
 
FINAL REVIEW
The bones of this review were written over a year ago. Although I started writing it, I never completed it, and that isn’t acceptable. I apologize to Edel and to the community for not getting this final review done in a timely manner. In the spirit of better late than never:
I’m going to lead with the conclusion: the Edel EAS 4.0 is a very good putter—and a better experience, if you can go get fitted.
Look and Feel
This is a challenging category to rate the Edel, for several reasons. There is, of course, the undeniable subjectivity in rating the looks of a putter. But there’s also a difference between putters that exist almost entirely to look pretty (see Tyson Lamb) and putters that exist merely to be functional (see LAB) regardless of appearance.
Edel’s priority is function. That explains the interesting cavities in the sole of the putter: they are designed to put this putter (like the LAB, the Odyssey Toe Up line, and Axis1) in the torque-balanced category. The most obvious indication of this is that my Edel 4.0 is neither face-balanced nor does it have toe hang: it rests with the toe up:

Because the design of the putter is built around function, I don’t think it’s as overtly “pretty” as some flatsticks. Looking down at my Edel, I don’t adore the onset hosel, for instance.
But granting that function is favored over form, the actual quality of the Edel is quite high. The detailing of the head is top-notch. The face groove pattern is distinctive and eye-catching (not at address, mind you). All in all, I give the Edel high marks for looks, especially in comparison to some of the monstrosities created to have the same function.
As for feel: if I were benchmarking putters, the Edel would sit as a standard for neutral. I don’t mean that in a bad way, as though it’s mediocre. The idea is that the Edel face is neither harsh nor mushy. It is precisely what I would expect of a milled face metal putter without some kind of plastic/polymer insert. I find it utterly unnoticeable, in the best possible way.
Accuracy
[Keeping this paragraph from the first version of my review; update after the second full season below.] I’ve played just over 35 rounds (mostly 9 hole) with my Edel now. (I wish Arccos had a functioning “compare this date range to that date range” function, like Game Golf has). So while this comparison isn’t perfect, it captures almost all the rounds I have played with my Edel vs. the previous 35:

You can see from the orange vs. grey line that I started out hot, but that my recent rounds with the Edel haven’t been nearly as good.



 
Because I can’t go back and tell Arccos to show me the numbers for the rounds just preceding getting the Edel, I’ll pull up this image from the MGS archives. This includes my first round with the Edel, but with the nine prior rounds before getting it.

[Update after second season]
The one benefit of taking so very long to post this review is that, whether I intended to do so or not, I can do some longer-term stat tracking. Unfortunately, the news isn’t all that good. Here are the Arccos putting numbers for the final 25 rounds of last season:


There’s nothing pretty here. Obviously, it’s tough to control for all variables. A big one: I began last season with a commitment to heads up putting (looking at the hole on virtually every putt). That wasn’t working out for me. So I was flailing around for much of the end of the year last year, trying to find something that might work. I have a hard time blaming the putter for this, but it certainly suggests that finding a good putter isn’t a cure-all.
Conclusion and Takeaways
If you’re reading this, you’re likely (at some level) kicking around whether an Edel putter is right for you. If that’s the case, you probably fall into one of three categories.
The person buying an Edel off the rack
If you’re only interested in the Edel putter as a putter, here’s what you’re getting: a nice putter that’s probably the best-looking of any of the torque-balanced options. Edel isn’t really competing with Scotty Cameron or Bettinardi—not because their putters aren’t of that caliber, but because Edel’s first priority is a specific tech rather than a specific look. The reality is: you can go buy an Edel off the rack or from their website. And you'll get a good putter. But you're really missing out on much of the genius behind this putter: its modular aiming system and the knowledge of the fitters.
The person who already has a putter well-fitted
This was my situation. My fitting process confirmed much of what I already knew about my putting and my preference in putters, which was encouraging. I have confidence that my Edel is well-suited for my stroke.
The person without a fitted putter getting fitted for an Edel
This is the person who has the most to gain from an Edel putter. If you either have never really tinkered with different putters, or if you tinker with every kind of putter because you don't know what you're actually looking for, the Edel fitting and putter stand to give you the most bang for your buck. You will learn how your body type should cause you to favor a particular way of swinging the putter. You'll learn about how you see the line of putts. The knowledge from the fitting alone is worth half the price of the putter, because it will allow you not only to purchase the best Edel for your game, but also give you confidence when you insist on buying yet another putter down the road (because most of us are kind of like that).
Bottom line for me: right at the moment, it's likely that I'll begin my 2023 season with an Odyssey 2Ball Ten in my bag. But I just put an Garsen grip on my Edel, and the early results are quite promising. The Odyssey might be the starter, but the Edel is going to be first off the bench if the Odyssey falters even a little bit.

Introduction
This introduction post will be in two parts: what I thought of my putting going into my fitting, and then my expectations and first impressions when I received the Edel EAS 4.0 putter.
Here are my thoughts on my putting going into my fitting:
I'm a decent putter, and it's a strength of my game, relative to handicap. I've got years of on-course stats to back this up, including Arccos the past two years. Over my past 15 rounds, Arccos has my putting SG equal to a 7-handicap. I average just over 30 putts per round. There's a consistent pattern in that data, though: I'm a better putter (by SG) from 10–25' than I am from 0–10'. This is true in the data for virtually every round I play. I miss short putts far too often. Going into this test, this is my highest priority. As for my actual setup and stroke: I've posted about this before, that I don't see the correct line correctly. I can set a 4' ruler on the correct line for a straight 8' putt, aligned with a laser. If I turn off the laser and address a ball at the end of the ruler, the ruler will look to me as though it is pointing almost outside the cup on the left. I have tried moving my head and body around to all sorts of angles without success. If I address a putt from the left side, the line looks correct. Using a home putting analyzer (SwingByte), I therefore tend to aim about 2° right of the cup. My stroke is quirky. Early on, I read Dave Pelz and decided to work on a SBST stroke. Like many who attempt that, I actually ended up with a stroke that tends to move outside the line on my backstroke. Coming into impact, I close the face relative to address, which starts the ball on the correct line, though a line to the left of where I was aimed. On a normal straight putt, my predominant miss is a pull. I'm intrigued, obviously, to see if any of the myriad alignment options on the Edel change my perception of the line. I'm also probably more interested to see if their torque-balanced putter, combined with custom weighting and their grip options, can mitigate some of my tendency to come outside the line on my backstroke.
Of the four headshapes, the rounded back mallet appeals to me subjectively the least: it's just not a shape I've ever really loved. My baseline expectation is that I'd end up with the fanged mallet: I am currently playing with the Toe Up version of the Odyssey Seven. But if I end up with either of the blades, that is no problem either.
__________________
And here is the video I shot to jumpstart my review on the day I received my Edel:
te
 
FINAL REVIEW
The bones of this review were written over a year ago. Although I started writing it, I never completed it, and that isn’t acceptable. I apologize to Edel and to the community for not getting this final review done in a timely manner. In the spirit of better late than never:
I’m going to lead with the conclusion: the Edel EAS 4.0 is a very good putter—and a better experience, if you can go get fitted.
Look and Feel
This is a challenging category to rate the Edel, for several reasons. There is, of course, the undeniable subjectivity in rating the looks of a putter. But there’s also a difference between putters that exist almost entirely to look pretty (see Tyson Lamb) and putters that exist merely to be functional (see LAB) regardless of appearance.
Edel’s priority is function. That explains the interesting cavities in the sole of the putter: they are designed to put this putter (like the LAB, the Odyssey Toe Up line, and Axis1) in the torque-balanced category. The most obvious indication of this is that my Edel 4.0 is neither face-balanced nor does it have toe hang: it rests with the toe up:

Because the design of the putter is built around function, I don’t think it’s as overtly “pretty” as some flatsticks. Looking down at my Edel, I don’t adore the onset hosel, for instance.
But granting that function is favored over form, the actual quality of the Edel is quite high. The detailing of the head is top-notch. The face groove pattern is distinctive and eye-catching (not at address, mind you). All in all, I give the Edel high marks for looks, especially in comparison to some of the monstrosities created to have the same function.
As for feel: if I were benchmarking putters, the Edel would sit as a standard for neutral. I don’t mean that in a bad way, as though it’s mediocre. The idea is that the Edel face is neither harsh nor mushy. It is precisely what I would expect of a milled face metal putter without some kind of plastic/polymer insert. I find it utterly unnoticeable, in the best possible way.
Accuracy
[Keeping this paragraph from the first version of my review; update after the second full season below.] I’ve played just over 35 rounds (mostly 9 hole) with my Edel now. (I wish Arccos had a functioning “compare this date range to that date range” function, like Game Golf has). So while this comparison isn’t perfect, it captures almost all the rounds I have played with my Edel vs. the previous 35:

You can see from the orange vs. grey line that I started out hot, but that my recent rounds with the Edel haven’t been nearly as good.



 
Because I can’t go back and tell Arccos to show me the numbers for the rounds just preceding getting the Edel, I’ll pull up this image from the MGS archives. This includes my first round with the Edel, but with the nine prior rounds before getting it.

[Update after second season]
The one benefit of taking so very long to post this review is that, whether I intended to do so or not, I can do some longer-term stat tracking. Unfortunately, the news isn’t all that good. Here are the Arccos putting numbers for the final 25 rounds of last season:


There’s nothing pretty here. Obviously, it’s tough to control for all variables. A big one: I began last season with a commitment to heads up putting (looking at the hole on virtually every putt). That wasn’t working out for me. So I was flailing around for much of the end of the year last year, trying to find something that might work. I have a hard time blaming the putter for this, but it certainly suggests that finding a good putter isn’t a cure-all.
Conclusion and Takeaways
If you’re reading this, you’re likely (at some level) kicking around whether an Edel putter is right for you. If that’s the case, you probably fall into one of three categories.
The person buying an Edel off the rack
If you’re only interested in the Edel putter as a putter, here’s what you’re getting: a nice putter that’s probably the best-looking of any of the torque-balanced options. Edel isn’t really competing with Scotty Cameron or Bettinardi—not because their putters aren’t of that caliber, but because Edel’s first priority is a specific tech rather than a specific look. The reality is: you can go buy an Edel off the rack or from their website. And you'll get a good putter. But you're really missing out on much of the genius behind this putter: its modular aiming system and the knowledge of the fitters.
The person who already has a putter well-fitted
This was my situation. My fitting process confirmed much of what I already knew about my putting and my preference in putters, which was encouraging. I have confidence that my Edel is well-suited for my stroke.
The person without a fitted putter getting fitted for an Edel
This is the person who has the most to gain from an Edel putter. If you either have never really tinkered with different putters, or if you tinker with every kind of putter because you don't know what you're actually looking for, the Edel fitting and putter stand to give you the most bang for your buck. You will learn how your body type should cause you to favor a particular way of swinging the putter. You'll learn about how you see the line of putts. The knowledge from the fitting alone is worth half the price of the putter, because it will allow you not only to purchase the best Edel for your game, but also give you confidence when you insist on buying yet another putter down the road (because most of us are kind of like that).
Bottom line for me: right at the moment, it's likely that I'll begin my 2023 season with an Odyssey 2Ball Ten in my bag. But I just put an Garsen grip on my Edel, and the early results are quite promising. The Odyssey might be the starter, but the Edel is going to be first off the bench if the Odyssey falters even a little bit.

Introduction
This introduction post will be in two parts: what I thought of my putting going into my fitting, and then my expectations and first impressions when I received the Edel EAS 4.0 putter.
Here are my thoughts on my putting going into my fitting:
I'm a decent putter, and it's a strength of my game, relative to handicap. I've got years of on-course stats to back this up, including Arccos the past two years. Over my past 15 rounds, Arccos has my putting SG equal to a 7-handicap. I average just over 30 putts per round. There's a consistent pattern in that data, though: I'm a better putter (by SG) from 10–25' than I am from 0–10'. This is true in the data for virtually every round I play. I miss short putts far too often. Going into this test, this is my highest priority. As for my actual setup and stroke: I've posted about this before, that I don't see the correct line correctly. I can set a 4' ruler on the correct line for a straight 8' putt, aligned with a laser. If I turn off the laser and address a ball at the end of the ruler, the ruler will look to me as though it is pointing almost outside the cup on the left. I have tried moving my head and body around to all sorts of angles without success. If I address a putt from the left side, the line looks correct. Using a home putting analyzer (SwingByte), I therefore tend to aim about 2° right of the cup. My stroke is quirky. Early on, I read Dave Pelz and decided to work on a SBST stroke. Like many who attempt that, I actually ended up with a stroke that tends to move outside the line on my backstroke. Coming into impact, I close the face relative to address, which starts the ball on the correct line, though a line to the left of where I was aimed. On a normal straight putt, my predominant miss is a pull. I'm intrigued, obviously, to see if any of the myriad alignment options on the Edel change my perception of the line. I'm also probably more interested to see if their torque-balanced putter, combined with custom weighting and their grip options, can mitigate some of my tendency to come outside the line on my backstroke.
Of the four headshapes, the rounded back mallet appeals to me subjectively the least: it's just not a shape I've ever really loved. My baseline expectation is that I'd end up with the fanged mallet: I am currently playing with the Toe Up version of the Odyssey Seven. But if I end up with either of the blades, that is no problem either.
__________________
And here is the video I shot to jumpstart my review on the day I received my Edel:
te
 
FINAL REVIEW
The bones of this review were written over a year ago. Although I started writing it, I never completed it, and that isn’t acceptable. I apologize to Edel and to the community for not getting this final review done in a timely manner. In the spirit of better late than never:
I’m going to lead with the conclusion: the Edel EAS 4.0 is a very good putter—and a better experience, if you can go get fitted.
Look and Feel
This is a challenging category to rate the Edel, for several reasons. There is, of course, the undeniable subjectivity in rating the looks of a putter. But there’s also a difference between putters that exist almost entirely to look pretty (see Tyson Lamb) and putters that exist merely to be functional (see LAB) regardless of appearance.
Edel’s priority is function. That explains the interesting cavities in the sole of the putter: they are designed to put this putter (like the LAB, the Odyssey Toe Up line, and Axis1) in the torque-balanced category. The most obvious indication of this is that my Edel 4.0 is neither face-balanced nor does it have toe hang: it rests with the toe up:

Because the design of the putter is built around function, I don’t think it’s as overtly “pretty” as some flatsticks. Looking down at my Edel, I don’t adore the onset hosel, for instance.
But granting that function is favored over form, the actual quality of the Edel is quite high. The detailing of the head is top-notch. The face groove pattern is distinctive and eye-catching (not at address, mind you). All in all, I give the Edel high marks for looks, especially in comparison to some of the monstrosities created to have the same function.
As for feel: if I were benchmarking putters, the Edel would sit as a standard for neutral. I don’t mean that in a bad way, as though it’s mediocre. The idea is that the Edel face is neither harsh nor mushy. It is precisely what I would expect of a milled face metal putter without some kind of plastic/polymer insert. I find it utterly unnoticeable, in the best possible way.
Accuracy
[Keeping this paragraph from the first version of my review; update after the second full season below.] I’ve played just over 35 rounds (mostly 9 hole) with my Edel now. (I wish Arccos had a functioning “compare this date range to that date range” function, like Game Golf has). So while this comparison isn’t perfect, it captures almost all the rounds I have played with my Edel vs. the previous 35:

You can see from the orange vs. grey line that I started out hot, but that my recent rounds with the Edel haven’t been nearly as good.



 
Because I can’t go back and tell Arccos to show me the numbers for the rounds just preceding getting the Edel, I’ll pull up this image from the MGS archives. This includes my first round with the Edel, but with the nine prior rounds before getting it.

[Update after second season]
The one benefit of taking so very long to post this review is that, whether I intended to do so or not, I can do some longer-term stat tracking. Unfortunately, the news isn’t all that good. Here are the Arccos putting numbers for the final 25 rounds of last season:


There’s nothing pretty here. Obviously, it’s tough to control for all variables. A big one: I began last season with a commitment to heads up putting (looking at the hole on virtually every putt). That wasn’t working out for me. So I was flailing around for much of the end of the year last year, trying to find something that might work. I have a hard time blaming the putter for this, but it certainly suggests that finding a good putter isn’t a cure-all.
Conclusion and Takeaways
If you’re reading this, you’re likely (at some level) kicking around whether an Edel putter is right for you. If that’s the case, you probably fall into one of three categories.
The person buying an Edel off the rack
If you’re only interested in the Edel putter as a putter, here’s what you’re getting: a nice putter that’s probably the best-looking of any of the torque-balanced options. Edel isn’t really competing with Scotty Cameron or Bettinardi—not because their putters aren’t of that caliber, but because Edel’s first priority is a specific tech rather than a specific look. The reality is: you can go buy an Edel off the rack or from their website. And you'll get a good putter. But you're really missing out on much of the genius behind this putter: its modular aiming system and the knowledge of the fitters.
The person who already has a putter well-fitted
This was my situation. My fitting process confirmed much of what I already knew about my putting and my preference in putters, which was encouraging. I have confidence that my Edel is well-suited for my stroke.
The person without a fitted putter getting fitted for an Edel
This is the person who has the most to gain from an Edel putter. If you either have never really tinkered with different putters, or if you tinker with every kind of putter because you don't know what you're actually looking for, the Edel fitting and putter stand to give you the most bang for your buck. You will learn how your body type should cause you to favor a particular way of swinging the putter. You'll learn about how you see the line of putts. The knowledge from the fitting alone is worth half the price of the putter, because it will allow you not only to purchase the best Edel for your game, but also give you confidence when you insist on buying yet another putter down the road (because most of us are kind of like that).
Bottom line for me: right at the moment, it's likely that I'll begin my 2023 season with an Odyssey 2Ball Ten in my bag. But I just put an Garsen grip on my Edel, and the early results are quite promising. The Odyssey might be the starter, but the Edel is going to be first off the bench if the Odyssey falters even a little bit.

Introduction
This introduction post will be in two parts: what I thought of my putting going into my fitting, and then my expectations and first impressions when I received the Edel EAS 4.0 putter.
Here are my thoughts on my putting going into my fitting:
I'm a decent putter, and it's a strength of my game, relative to handicap. I've got years of on-course stats to back this up, including Arccos the past two years. Over my past 15 rounds, Arccos has my putting SG equal to a 7-handicap. I average just over 30 putts per round. There's a consistent pattern in that data, though: I'm a better putter (by SG) from 10–25' than I am from 0–10'. This is true in the data for virtually every round I play. I miss short putts far too often. Going into this test, this is my highest priority. As for my actual setup and stroke: I've posted about this before, that I don't see the correct line correctly. I can set a 4' ruler on the correct line for a straight 8' putt, aligned with a laser. If I turn off the laser and address a ball at the end of the ruler, the ruler will look to me as though it is pointing almost outside the cup on the left. I have tried moving my head and body around to all sorts of angles without success. If I address a putt from the left side, the line looks correct. Using a home putting analyzer (SwingByte), I therefore tend to aim about 2° right of the cup. My stroke is quirky. Early on, I read Dave Pelz and decided to work on a SBST stroke. Like many who attempt that, I actually ended up with a stroke that tends to move outside the line on my backstroke. Coming into impact, I close the face relative to address, which starts the ball on the correct line, though a line to the left of where I was aimed. On a normal straight putt, my predominant miss is a pull. I'm intrigued, obviously, to see if any of the myriad alignment options on the Edel change my perception of the line. I'm also probably more interested to see if their torque-balanced putter, combined with custom weighting and their grip options, can mitigate some of my tendency to come outside the line on my backstroke.
Of the four headshapes, the rounded back mallet appeals to me subjectively the least: it's just not a shape I've ever really loved. My baseline expectation is that I'd end up with the fanged mallet: I am currently playing with the Toe Up version of the Odyssey Seven. But if I end up with either of the blades, that is no problem either.
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And here is the video I shot to jumpstart my review on the day I received my Edel:
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FINAL REVIEW
The bones of this review were written over a year ago. Although I started writing it, I never completed it, and that isn’t acceptable. I apologize to Edel and to the community for not getting this final review done in a timely manner. In the spirit of better late than never:
I’m going to lead with the conclusion: the Edel EAS 4.0 is a very good putter—and a better experience, if you can go get fitted.
Look and Feel
This is a challenging category to rate the Edel, for several reasons. There is, of course, the undeniable subjectivity in rating the looks of a putter. But there’s also a difference between putters that exist almost entirely to look pretty (see Tyson Lamb) and putters that exist merely to be functional (see LAB) regardless of appearance.
Edel’s priority is function. That explains the interesting cavities in the sole of the putter: they are designed to put this putter (like the LAB, the Odyssey Toe Up line, and Axis1) in the torque-balanced category. The most obvious indication of this is that my Edel 4.0 is neither face-balanced nor does it have toe hang: it rests with the toe up:

Because the design of the putter is built around function, I don’t think it’s as overtly “pretty” as some flatsticks. Looking down at my Edel, I don’t adore the onset hosel, for instance.
But granting that function is favored over form, the actual quality of the Edel is quite high. The detailing of the head is top-notch. The face groove pattern is distinctive and eye-catching (not at address, mind you). All in all, I give the Edel high marks for looks, especially in comparison to some of the monstrosities created to have the same function.
As for feel: if I were benchmarking putters, the Edel would sit as a standard for neutral. I don’t mean that in a bad way, as though it’s mediocre. The idea is that the Edel face is neither harsh nor mushy. It is precisely what I would expect of a milled face metal putter without some kind of plastic/polymer insert. I find it utterly unnoticeable, in the best possible way.
Accuracy
[Keeping this paragraph from the first version of my review; update after the second full season below.] I’ve played just over 35 rounds (mostly 9 hole) with my Edel now. (I wish Arccos had a functioning “compare this date range to that date range” function, like Game Golf has). So while this comparison isn’t perfect, it captures almost all the rounds I have played with my Edel vs. the previous 35:

You can see from the orange vs. grey line that I started out hot, but that my recent rounds with the Edel haven’t been nearly as good.



 
Because I can’t go back and tell Arccos to show me the numbers for the rounds just preceding getting the Edel, I’ll pull up this image from the MGS archives. This includes my first round with the Edel, but with the nine prior rounds before getting it.

[Update after second season]
The one benefit of taking so very long to post this review is that, whether I intended to do so or not, I can do some longer-term stat tracking. Unfortunately, the news isn’t all that good. Here are the Arccos putting numbers for the final 25 rounds of last season:


There’s nothing pretty here. Obviously, it’s tough to control for all variables. A big one: I began last season with a commitment to heads up putting (looking at the hole on virtually every putt). That wasn’t working out for me. So I was flailing around for much of the end of the year last year, trying to find something that might work. I have a hard time blaming the putter for this, but it certainly suggests that finding a good putter isn’t a cure-all.
Conclusion and Takeaways
If you’re reading this, you’re likely (at some level) kicking around whether an Edel putter is right for you. If that’s the case, you probably fall into one of three categories.
The person buying an Edel off the rack
If you’re only interested in the Edel putter as a putter, here’s what you’re getting: a nice putter that’s probably the best-looking of any of the torque-balanced options. Edel isn’t really competing with Scotty Cameron or Bettinardi—not because their putters aren’t of that caliber, but because Edel’s first priority is a specific tech rather than a specific look. The reality is: you can go buy an Edel off the rack or from their website. And you'll get a good putter. But you're really missing out on much of the genius behind this putter: its modular aiming system and the knowledge of the fitters.
The person who already has a putter well-fitted
This was my situation. My fitting process confirmed much of what I already knew about my putting and my preference in putters, which was encouraging. I have confidence that my Edel is well-suited for my stroke.
The person without a fitted putter getting fitted for an Edel
This is the person who has the most to gain from an Edel putter. If you either have never really tinkered with different putters, or if you tinker with every kind of putter because you don't know what you're actually looking for, the Edel fitting and putter stand to give you the most bang for your buck. You will learn how your body type should cause you to favor a particular way of swinging the putter. You'll learn about how you see the line of putts. The knowledge from the fitting alone is worth half the price of the putter, because it will allow you not only to purchase the best Edel for your game, but also give you confidence when you insist on buying yet another putter down the road (because most of us are kind of like that).
Bottom line for me: right at the moment, it's likely that I'll begin my 2023 season with an Odyssey 2Ball Ten in my bag. But I just put an Garsen grip on my Edel, and the early results are quite promising. The Odyssey might be the starter, but the Edel is going to be first off the bench if the Odyssey falters even a little bit.