mpatrickriley

Played 18 with Kirke this morning. (I actually beat him, but I won't rub that in.)
It was my first time playing 18 with the Edel, and my fifth overall round with the putter. Today's round was interesting: I shot an even 80. I had a putt for 79 that missed on the high side. The round also showed the value of using something like Arccos for tracking strokes gained versus merely tracking putts. I had only 27 putts today (9 one-putts and 9 two-putts). But my SG:Putting for the round is -1.7 compared to scratch. I had a couple misses within 10', but only really a single putt that I felt I "should" have made. Otherwise, I was rock-solid on the short putts I was leaving myself with my wedges.

The more interesting graph is this one from Arccos, tracking my most recent five rounds (with the Edel) against the five rounds before that (with Osltubs):

Three things to pay attention to:
Compared to a scratch golfer, I'm losing 1.3 strokes per 18 holes on the green. If I change the comparison, that makes me the equivalent of a 6-handicap on the greens. Since my actual standard of play is somewhere closer to a 13 handicap right now, putting continues to be a relative strong point of my game. Compared to my previous five rounds (you can see this in the fine print), I'm 2.0 strokes better per 18 with the Edel. That's a pretty big performance gain. What I'm really impressed by is the consistency of the performance of the Edel so far. We're still in relatively small sample size territory, but look at how flat that orange line is. Basically, every round I'm going out with the expectation that my putting is going to be steady. I do have a couple of drill updates to post as well, where the Edel didn't fare quite as well. But if the on course performance is there, it's hard to be upset about that.

Played 18 with Kirke this morning. (I actually beat him, but I won't rub that in.)
It was my first time playing 18 with the Edel, and my fifth overall round with the putter. Today's round was interesting: I shot an even 80. I had a putt for 79 that missed on the high side. The round also showed the value of using something like Arccos for tracking strokes gained versus merely tracking putts. I had only 27 putts today (9 one-putts and 9 two-putts). But my SG:Putting for the round is -1.7 compared to scratch. I had a couple misses within 10', but only really a single putt that I felt I "should" have made. Otherwise, I was rock-solid on the short putts I was leaving myself with my wedges.

The more interesting graph is this one from Arccos, tracking my most recent five rounds (with the Edel) against the five rounds before that (with Osltubs):

Three things to pay attention to:
Compared to a scratch golfer, I'm losing 1.3 strokes per 18 holes on the green. If I change the comparison, that makes me the equivalent of a 6-handicap on the greens. Since my actual standard of play is somewhere closer to a 13 handicap right now, putting continues to be a relative strong point of my game. Compared to my previous five rounds (you can see this in the fine print), I'm 2.0 strokes better per 18 with the Edel. That's a pretty big performance gain. What I'm really impressed by is the consistency of the performance of the Edel so far. We're still in relatively small sample size territory, but look at how flat that orange line is. Basically, every round I'm going out with the expectation that my putting is going to be steady. I do have a couple of drill updates to post as well, where the Edel didn't fare quite as well. But if the on course performance is there, it's hard to be upset about that.

Played 18 with Kirke this morning. (I actually beat him, but I won't rub that in.)
It was my first time playing 18 with the Edel, and my fifth overall round with the putter. Today's round was interesting: I shot an even 80. I had a putt for 79 that missed on the high side. The round also showed the value of using something like Arccos for tracking strokes gained versus merely tracking putts. I had only 27 putts today (9 one-putts and 9 two-putts). But my SG:Putting for the round is -1.7 compared to scratch. I had a couple misses within 10', but only really a single putt that I felt I "should" have made. Otherwise, I was rock-solid on the short putts I was leaving myself with my wedges.

The more interesting graph is this one from Arccos, tracking my most recent five rounds (with the Edel) against the five rounds before that (with Osltubs):

Three things to pay attention to:
Compared to a scratch golfer, I'm losing 1.3 strokes per 18 holes on the green. If I change the comparison, that makes me the equivalent of a 6-handicap on the greens. Since my actual standard of play is somewhere closer to a 13 handicap right now, putting continues to be a relative strong point of my game. Compared to my previous five rounds (you can see this in the fine print), I'm 2.0 strokes better per 18 with the Edel. That's a pretty big performance gain. What I'm really impressed by is the consistency of the performance of the Edel so far. We're still in relatively small sample size territory, but look at how flat that orange line is. Basically, every round I'm going out with the expectation that my putting is going to be steady. I do have a couple of drill updates to post as well, where the Edel didn't fare quite as well. But if the on course performance is there, it's hard to be upset about that.

Nice unboxing and initial thoughts @azstu324!  It's interesting to see that you and I think @GolfSpy MPR also had quite a bit of weight in the grip.
When I did my putting fitting with my Newport I ended up with 90 grams inside the grip.  The thing felt so stable on short putts.  It might take a round or two to get used to, but I think you'll like it! 
That backset on the shaft is very interesting, certainly something you're not going to see without a fitting like this.  Time to drop some long range birdies! 

Here is a video of how each putter sounds. I would argue that the Cleveland HB Soft Premier is one of the softest milled non-insert putters you will find. The video really doesn't do either justice as they both sound much clickier than they really are. The Edel though feels just a hair more firm but with some really nice feedback. It's a feeling and sound that I have no problems with at all. 
The ball is a TaylorMade TP5X pix so it's a tad more firm. 
 

OK so I'll start right off by saying that there will NOT be any video of me doing an unboxing or anything remotely close to the magnificent piece that @GolfSpy MPR put out when he received his putter... 😜
Now that that's out of the way, lets move to the unboxing, specs, and looks of the putter.. 
The putter showed up well-packaged in a quite secure and stout Edel branded box. After watching @GolfSpy MPR's unboxing, I was thinking maybe I'd be seeing a weight kit with the putter. I didn't get a weight kit... But that's actually VERY OK by me. The last thing that I need is a means by which to mess up my whole fitting by giving me extra weights to mess with.. because if you give me matches.. I will burn myself. 


I did however find that in addition to the putter, Edel did include a nice little gift. I'm very much a hat guy and the hat they sent me was right up my alley! Right color, right style, very unbranded but specific to Edel. It's one of those "in the club" type of hats and I love it!

THE PUTTER
The putter itself is noticeably heavier. Based on the specs of how the putter was fit and built, I'd speculate that it's a good 100g+ heavier than my Cleveland HB Premier #4. The grip section alone has an 80g grip with a 40g counter-weight.  The shaft is counter-balanced with 30g. 


As you can see, per the spec sheet above and pics, I was fit with the EAS 1.0.  As I mentioned previously though, per the Blast Motion software, my typical contact is .2 to.4* open at impact. When I'm pushing, it goes to about .5 to .6* open. My fitter Aram at Golf-Tec mentioned that this is relatively neutral compared to most. Within 10', even .5* open is going to go in given my aim point and read is accurate. So while I was never fit into a blade (Answer) style putter, I was able to determine for myself over the past year that it really is the best fit for my setup. I have a tendency to aim slightly to the left as the blade-style putter looks a little more open to my eye and my miss is typically a slight push so in theory, while I'm aimed left, I'm pushing straight down the target line. 
As for my specific specs, and how my weaknesses were addressed without causing me to lose my strengths: The putter was built at 36" with a lie of 74*. For comparison, my Cleveland was 34" and sat at about 70*. Aram wanted to get me slightly more upright in my stance but more importantly move me closer to the ball as to allow my arms to hang without becoming disconnected from my body. In doing the ball drop test I was typically in the right spot with my eyes just slightly behind the ball, but I was just way too bent over and standing much too far away from the ball. Another point relating to my biomechanics was that I was also putting with the butt end much too close to my hips which also forced a lot of my shoulder and body rotation as everything was kind of stuck inside and rotating everything was really the only way that I could get the putter to work. In other words, my arc was pretty severe and just needed to be tamed down. 

As for the hosel, I was fit with the "back-set" option. This is something that I'm definitely going to have to spend some time with getting used to. In David Edel's words, its pretty much a left-handed forward set on a right handed head. Most of us are used to seeing some variation of forward-set hosel, especially with mallet style putters. The look of the Back-set is that of the putter head sitting slightly in front of the hands at address. This is another fitting trick to help neutralize the open face a little as well as tame a little bit of the arc in the putting stroke. As you can see from the pics, this creates the perfect toe-up or "torque-balancing" that the Edel putters are really making a strong charge for in the putter space. 



The overall weighting and counter weighting is also something that's very different to me, and not what I'm used to a putter feeling like in my hands. Aside from the hefty 80g rubber grip, there is a 40g counter weight and a 30g shaft weight. As you can see in the photo above, this brings the total weight to a stout 619g vs the pretty standard 497g Cleveland #4. As @GolfSpy MPR mentioned in his post, the club seems strangely but very appropriately heavily weighted. One of my weak spots was my tempo through the putt being much too quick. I would have a good pace going back but then speed up through impact and this was a major culprit to my distance control.. or lack thereof. If the head alone feels too heavy, the tendency is to rush it through impact. After spending quite a lot of time indoors with the putting mat and working with a metronome at about 100 BPM, I'm really finding the benefit of all of the counter balancing. The ability to move all of that evenly distributed mass at a more even tempo really seems to work well for that distance control. 
Alignment: I was fit with 2 lines up front and 1 in the back. I really liked how the 2 up front frame the ball while the 1 in back helps to concentrate on getting my eyes in the right spot over the ball. 

I did have a chance to take the putter for a spin on Saturday at a 2 person scramble. That was literally after unboxing it Friday and hitting about 20 putts with it before going to bed. I'm not really going to count that as its 1st real round as I hadn't even had time to even acquaint myself with it. I just went in with my normal setup, same stance, grip pressure and tried to formulate a stroke throughout the round. So basically my game plan was.. no game plan. While I didn't putt my best round (putts within 10' were hit and miss, and I missed more 3 footers than I'd care to admit) what I did notice was that my lag putting and distance control was off the charts fantastic! Lag putting was something that I had struggled with, with the Cleveland. Anything outside of 15' was just typically "close my eyes, swing, and pray to the golf gods that I'd be within 5-10'. The problem that I was having was that I just couldn't generate enough controllable force without skipping the ball a good 4 or 5 times before it took to rolling. I had quite a few lengthy putts that not only were within 5' but some were well within 3'. I attribute this to having more mass with more momentum, but also having more control of all of the mass and not the feeling of the club disappearing in my hands when having to apply a lengthy stroke. 
Here are just a few more pics of the putter as well as the Cleveland HB #4. As you can all see, this is a beautifully crafter putter. 


 



 
 

I'm going to get a better mic for this as well, but if you want a simple example of the sound of the Edel, here's a tiny clip:
This is with a Srixon Z Star, which (though softer than the Z Star XV) is still a high compression ball.

I'm going to get a better mic for this as well, but if you want a simple example of the sound of the Edel, here's a tiny clip:
This is with a Srixon Z Star, which (though softer than the Z Star XV) is still a high compression ball.

I'm going to get a better mic for this as well, but if you want a simple example of the sound of the Edel, here's a tiny clip:
This is with a Srixon Z Star, which (though softer than the Z Star XV) is still a high compression ball.

So I mentioned that the Edel seemed heavy to me: I confirmed that this afternoon. Here's the Edel as compared to the putter it's replacing, Osltubs:

That's a pretty substantial weight difference, especially since both are 34" putters. For reference, I currently have the 10g weight in the Edel, which is what it came with (I haven't tinkered with the weight kit yet).
Also, the balance point for the Edel is considerably higher up the shaft than the balance point on Osltubs:

I don't have a swingweight scale; I think I've seen websites in which you can input total weight and balance point and it'll kick out a swingweight: I'll see if I can get that info.

So I mentioned that the Edel seemed heavy to me: I confirmed that this afternoon. Here's the Edel as compared to the putter it's replacing, Osltubs:

That's a pretty substantial weight difference, especially since both are 34" putters. For reference, I currently have the 10g weight in the Edel, which is what it came with (I haven't tinkered with the weight kit yet).
Also, the balance point for the Edel is considerably higher up the shaft than the balance point on Osltubs:

I don't have a swingweight scale; I think I've seen websites in which you can input total weight and balance point and it'll kick out a swingweight: I'll see if I can get that info.

So I mentioned that the Edel seemed heavy to me: I confirmed that this afternoon. Here's the Edel as compared to the putter it's replacing, Osltubs:

That's a pretty substantial weight difference, especially since both are 34" putters. For reference, I currently have the 10g weight in the Edel, which is what it came with (I haven't tinkered with the weight kit yet).
Also, the balance point for the Edel is considerably higher up the shaft than the balance point on Osltubs:

I don't have a swingweight scale; I think I've seen websites in which you can input total weight and balance point and it'll kick out a swingweight: I'll see if I can get that info.

So a few more early impressions.
Got in nine holes with Kirke this morning. I missed two putts that I really wanted to make. Both were within 8'; on both, as soon as I hit the putt, I knew I had changed the face angle at impact (one push, one pull). Even so, Arccos saw my putting as a strength (about a 6 handicap).
Through 27 holes with the Edel, I have 44 putts—with zero three putts so far. That works out to just under 30 putts per 18.
On the subjective side (I know I'm overdue for a gratuitous photo post): I have zero complaints. I don't know that I'd say there's anything about the putter's looks or feel that wows me. On the feel side: I've been an insert guy for a while now, mostly with Odyssey. In general, I favor a soft feel in a putter. The Edel obviously doesn't feel like a soft insert, but it's also in no way harsh. It feels, to me, exactly like what I'd expect. That's what I mean by not wowing me; it's not really a criticism.
The same is true for the looks, especially at address. The Edel looks utilitarian, but in the best way. It doesn't at all look cheap, in my estimation. But it also doesn't look like it's trying to edge into the Tyson Lamb discussion either.
I will say, as one final comment here: my putter is heavy. I do not know the spec of the weight in the handle of the putter. But I do know that the full putter feels really substantial. I'll weigh it in the next couple of days and post a total weight. All that said, during the stroke, it feels properly balanced to me.

So I mentioned that the Edel seemed heavy to me: I confirmed that this afternoon. Here's the Edel as compared to the putter it's replacing, Osltubs:

That's a pretty substantial weight difference, especially since both are 34" putters. For reference, I currently have the 10g weight in the Edel, which is what it came with (I haven't tinkered with the weight kit yet).
Also, the balance point for the Edel is considerably higher up the shaft than the balance point on Osltubs:

I don't have a swingweight scale; I think I've seen websites in which you can input total weight and balance point and it'll kick out a swingweight: I'll see if I can get that info.

So I mentioned that the Edel seemed heavy to me: I confirmed that this afternoon. Here's the Edel as compared to the putter it's replacing, Osltubs:

That's a pretty substantial weight difference, especially since both are 34" putters. For reference, I currently have the 10g weight in the Edel, which is what it came with (I haven't tinkered with the weight kit yet).
Also, the balance point for the Edel is considerably higher up the shaft than the balance point on Osltubs:

I don't have a swingweight scale; I think I've seen websites in which you can input total weight and balance point and it'll kick out a swingweight: I'll see if I can get that info.

So a few more early impressions.
Got in nine holes with Kirke this morning. I missed two putts that I really wanted to make. Both were within 8'; on both, as soon as I hit the putt, I knew I had changed the face angle at impact (one push, one pull). Even so, Arccos saw my putting as a strength (about a 6 handicap).
Through 27 holes with the Edel, I have 44 putts—with zero three putts so far. That works out to just under 30 putts per 18.
On the subjective side (I know I'm overdue for a gratuitous photo post): I have zero complaints. I don't know that I'd say there's anything about the putter's looks or feel that wows me. On the feel side: I've been an insert guy for a while now, mostly with Odyssey. In general, I favor a soft feel in a putter. The Edel obviously doesn't feel like a soft insert, but it's also in no way harsh. It feels, to me, exactly like what I'd expect. That's what I mean by not wowing me; it's not really a criticism.
The same is true for the looks, especially at address. The Edel looks utilitarian, but in the best way. It doesn't at all look cheap, in my estimation. But it also doesn't look like it's trying to edge into the Tyson Lamb discussion either.
I will say, as one final comment here: my putter is heavy. I do not know the spec of the weight in the handle of the putter. But I do know that the full putter feels really substantial. I'll weigh it in the next couple of days and post a total weight. All that said, during the stroke, it feels properly balanced to me.

So a few more early impressions.
Got in nine holes with Kirke this morning. I missed two putts that I really wanted to make. Both were within 8'; on both, as soon as I hit the putt, I knew I had changed the face angle at impact (one push, one pull). Even so, Arccos saw my putting as a strength (about a 6 handicap).
Through 27 holes with the Edel, I have 44 putts—with zero three putts so far. That works out to just under 30 putts per 18.
On the subjective side (I know I'm overdue for a gratuitous photo post): I have zero complaints. I don't know that I'd say there's anything about the putter's looks or feel that wows me. On the feel side: I've been an insert guy for a while now, mostly with Odyssey. In general, I favor a soft feel in a putter. The Edel obviously doesn't feel like a soft insert, but it's also in no way harsh. It feels, to me, exactly like what I'd expect. That's what I mean by not wowing me; it's not really a criticism.
The same is true for the looks, especially at address. The Edel looks utilitarian, but in the best way. It doesn't at all look cheap, in my estimation. But it also doesn't look like it's trying to edge into the Tyson Lamb discussion either.
I will say, as one final comment here: my putter is heavy. I do not know the spec of the weight in the handle of the putter. But I do know that the full putter feels really substantial. I'll weigh it in the next couple of days and post a total weight. All that said, during the stroke, it feels properly balanced to me.

This is such an important piece of information for those interested in an Edel fitting.
I went in assuming that the fitting was going to involve something like a SAM PuttLab. I was looking for an analysis of my stroke, and then a putter fitted for the stroke.
Instead, at least as I see it, the Edel fitting really consists of three main components:
First, biometrics. They want to know your height and wingspan, and then the upper arm/lower arm ratio. All of this information is relevant to how you are most likely to "naturally" want to swing the putter. Second, aim. We've already talked about this some, but this is especially a major facet of the EAS series of putters. It was very interesting that as we tried out different markings on the topline and flange of the putter, it would make subtle differences in my aim. As I mentioned in my video, my aim with my new Edel isn't perfect, but it's much closer than it was before. The round grip is also part of Edel's theory on aim. Third, speed. This is where the fitter experiments with different handle weights and head weights to dial in your putter so that the ball rolls out the distance that you expect. I suspect that their fitting model is different, at least in part, because Edel is committed to torque balanced putters. That isn't the topline item on the EAS series, but it's been a longstanding commitment of Edel's putters. If all your putters are torque balanced, you're not really interested in arc vs. straight putting, because you're not adjusting toe hang and closure rate.
 
TEST: @GolfSpy_TCG

And here it is: my introduction, fitting, unboxing, and expectations video! (Pro tip: if you don't want to spend 15 minutes of your life hearing me wax eloquent about putting, change the playback speed to 1.5.)
Let me know what questions you have about the putter or aspects of the testing you'd like to see.

It's EDEL DAY!

So a few more early impressions.
Got in nine holes with Kirke this morning. I missed two putts that I really wanted to make. Both were within 8'; on both, as soon as I hit the putt, I knew I had changed the face angle at impact (one push, one pull). Even so, Arccos saw my putting as a strength (about a 6 handicap).
Through 27 holes with the Edel, I have 44 putts—with zero three putts so far. That works out to just under 30 putts per 18.
On the subjective side (I know I'm overdue for a gratuitous photo post): I have zero complaints. I don't know that I'd say there's anything about the putter's looks or feel that wows me. On the feel side: I've been an insert guy for a while now, mostly with Odyssey. In general, I favor a soft feel in a putter. The Edel obviously doesn't feel like a soft insert, but it's also in no way harsh. It feels, to me, exactly like what I'd expect. That's what I mean by not wowing me; it's not really a criticism.
The same is true for the looks, especially at address. The Edel looks utilitarian, but in the best way. It doesn't at all look cheap, in my estimation. But it also doesn't look like it's trying to edge into the Tyson Lamb discussion either.
I will say, as one final comment here: my putter is heavy. I do not know the spec of the weight in the handle of the putter. But I do know that the full putter feels really substantial. I'll weigh it in the next couple of days and post a total weight. All that said, during the stroke, it feels properly balanced to me.

This is such an important piece of information for those interested in an Edel fitting.
I went in assuming that the fitting was going to involve something like a SAM PuttLab. I was looking for an analysis of my stroke, and then a putter fitted for the stroke.
Instead, at least as I see it, the Edel fitting really consists of three main components:
First, biometrics. They want to know your height and wingspan, and then the upper arm/lower arm ratio. All of this information is relevant to how you are most likely to "naturally" want to swing the putter. Second, aim. We've already talked about this some, but this is especially a major facet of the EAS series of putters. It was very interesting that as we tried out different markings on the topline and flange of the putter, it would make subtle differences in my aim. As I mentioned in my video, my aim with my new Edel isn't perfect, but it's much closer than it was before. The round grip is also part of Edel's theory on aim. Third, speed. This is where the fitter experiments with different handle weights and head weights to dial in your putter so that the ball rolls out the distance that you expect. I suspect that their fitting model is different, at least in part, because Edel is committed to torque balanced putters. That isn't the topline item on the EAS series, but it's been a longstanding commitment of Edel's putters. If all your putters are torque balanced, you're not really interested in arc vs. straight putting, because you're not adjusting toe hang and closure rate.
 
TEST: @GolfSpy_TCG

Let me throw in some way too early feedback on my EAS 4.0 so far.
I did have a league match last night. Arccos loved my putting:
Basically, I missed one putt that I should have made. I had about a 2.5' putt for a par. The hole was cut on the edge of the green, just off a ridge. It was going to be quick; it just need to be tapped. But I also expected that it would have a slight right break and it didn't. I burned the left edge of the hole and made the comebacker after it rolled 3' by. So the putter did exactly what I asked of it—it was clearly user error.
Otherwise, I felt really good with the putter in my hands last night. The 3–7' putts that typically give me fits felt much less daunting; as the round went all, I started expecting them to go in. Again, this is early, merely nine holes. We're still firmly in honeymoon season.
Yet the Edel didn't come with a price tag on it. Typically, once you remove the price tag, the magic goes away. So there might be something to this.... 🙂
One more thing: I did some pretesting with my current putter on a drill on my putting mat. I set up the PuttOut and start at 1'. In order to move back, I either have to make a perfect putt or (much worse) take 10 attempts. I work my way back to 7', and then total up the number of attempts. Before my Edel came, I did this three times with my Odyssey Stroke Lab Toe Up Big Seven (OSLTUBS—that's going to be its new name, Osltubs, because it's way too long to type). In those three attempts, I got scores of 45, 43, and 55.
Did my first attempt with the Edel this morning: 39. What was amazing, I started similar to normal: I took six putts from 1', and then failed to make a perfect from 2', 3', and 4' (so 10 putts at each of those). But then I made a first attempt perfect at 5', then again at 6', and then again at 7'.
Whoa. Interesting....
 

So a few more early impressions.
Got in nine holes with Kirke this morning. I missed two putts that I really wanted to make. Both were within 8'; on both, as soon as I hit the putt, I knew I had changed the face angle at impact (one push, one pull). Even so, Arccos saw my putting as a strength (about a 6 handicap).
Through 27 holes with the Edel, I have 44 putts—with zero three putts so far. That works out to just under 30 putts per 18.
On the subjective side (I know I'm overdue for a gratuitous photo post): I have zero complaints. I don't know that I'd say there's anything about the putter's looks or feel that wows me. On the feel side: I've been an insert guy for a while now, mostly with Odyssey. In general, I favor a soft feel in a putter. The Edel obviously doesn't feel like a soft insert, but it's also in no way harsh. It feels, to me, exactly like what I'd expect. That's what I mean by not wowing me; it's not really a criticism.
The same is true for the looks, especially at address. The Edel looks utilitarian, but in the best way. It doesn't at all look cheap, in my estimation. But it also doesn't look like it's trying to edge into the Tyson Lamb discussion either.
I will say, as one final comment here: my putter is heavy. I do not know the spec of the weight in the handle of the putter. But I do know that the full putter feels really substantial. I'll weigh it in the next couple of days and post a total weight. All that said, during the stroke, it feels properly balanced to me.