Bucky CC

Played another 18 with the Array F-2 today. Didn't convert any birdie putts on the day but I also only had 1 three putt (from a very tricky location). For the most part it was nice, boring two putt golf.

Going strong on year 2 with the Clicgear 4.0. This is really a high quality push cart.

That's how my Edel fitting went about 10 years ago as well. Technology was a lot less impressive back then though. My fitter used a dry erase marker on the top of a blank putter head to see which alignment worked best for me. Ever since then I've tried to find putters with dot alignments versus lines.

All of the above could be accurate. In my case it's due to the fact that I wasn't able to go through a fitting. Edel did not supply any Wisconsin retailers with the Array fitting kits until after all of the orders had to be placed. We were about 2 months behind the early fitting locations.

A weight change may help with distance control. It's probably asking too much, but it would be awesome if Edel would include one extra set of weights along with a 2nd alignment plate for those of us that like to tinker. Yes you can buy them directly from Edel, but $50 for a pair of weights ($175 for the entire weight set) and an extra $45 for a 2nd alignment plate is a bit steep.

It's been great for this round of testing, but I'm not sure it will really hold up over time or anywhere other than my perfectly smooth garage. It was definitely on the cheaper side of things coming in around $50 for the 6' by 21' roll.

Definitely missing more short with the F-2. Even on the putts that I have been making I've noticed that they are barely rolling. The white hot insert typically has the speed of a foot or two of rollout past the hole. Could just be that I'm not used to the different feel of the F-2 and things will get better with more usage.

Adding in the first Array impressions to my main post and also here to bump the thread. If anyone has any questions please fire away! The Fitting: Before I get into my scoring I want to put a huge disclaimer out there. I was not able to get fit for the Array before it had to be ordered for our testing. Edel rolled out the Array to all corporate owned Golftec’s along with select other fitting studios a few months ago. Unfortunately all of the Golftec’s in Wisconsin are franchise locations and did not receive their fitting kits before my order had to be placed. The Club Champions in Wisconsin also chose not to carry the Array line so I did not have an option to get fit. If you look at my previous history with putters you can see I’m pretty set on fang style mallet putters. I ended up matching the specs of my gamer as best as I could for this test: 35" length, face balanced, dot alignment, standard loft and lie. First Impressions (18 out of 20) Out of the box I was immediately impressed with the Array F-2 putter. Very clean lines, weight felt comfortable, and the headcover seemed to be well constructed rather than a throw-in afterthought. I ended up choosing the F-2 with three dot alignment as it most closely resembles my current Odyssey White Hot OG #7 putter. The styles are very similar, with the Odyssey coming in slightly larger while the Array is 10 grams heavier (563 vs 573 grams for the F-2). I'm not sure what alignment plate would have been picked for me through an actual fitting. While the dots are comfortable to me I wonder how things would have looked with the two line alignment or one of the other 5 options. Technology-wise Edel really focuses on the customization available through the fitting process. Their website mentions things like aim/path bias, face rotation, optimizing weight to control your speed, and stroke type being key to finding the perfect putter. Unfortunately most of those are dependent getting professionally fit for the club. The face has a special milling pattern, but Edel doesn’t seem to explain on their site what exactly the pattern does. I assume it helps with off center hits and is not just a fancy design for visual enjoyment. Overall this is hard for me to grade as most of Edel’s claims about the putter are about the customization available through the fitting, and I was not able to be fit. The putter is unquestionably well made and I have zero reservations about taking it out to the course. It's familiar yet different enough to be distinguishable from the other five million fang style mallets out there. Aesthetics (9 out of 10) I touched on the style a bit already, but if you’ve ever gamed a winged mallet putter you’ll have no problem feeling comfortable with the Array F-2. All of the graphics and paint fill are done extremely well with tight tolerances. You can tell just by looking at it that Edel makes a very high-end putter without being overly flashy about it. No one in my regular foursome noticed I had a new putter until a few holes into our first round. Once it was passed around they all remarked on how clean it looked and comfortable hitting a few practice putts. Feel of the F-2 is hard to explain. It’s a forged and machine milled face made out of 1025 carbon steel. The impact feels more harsh than the white hot insert on my Odyssey, but somehow it also comes off at a slower/softer speed. I found myself having to purposefully swing a bit harder with the F-2 to make sure I didn’t leave putts short. The white hot insert seems to bounce/spring off the face while the F-2 is more of a concentrated swing effort to get it rolling the correct speed. Big plus on the aethetic side is being able to pick up a ball with the back of the putter. It may seem like a small detail but I like that they made sure the wings can pick up the ball even with the alignment plate taking up so much space. The Numbers (7 out of 10) (indoors only so far) In preparation for this test I went to my local home improvement store and purchased a 6’ wide by 21’ long strip of thin carpet. A makeshift stimpmeter showed the mat rolls somewhere in the 10-11 range. I set up a 9 hole course with a putt locations every two feet all the way up to 18’. The Stack putting app helped me randomize the putt length and keep track of the head to head putter battle. After the first 144 shots my gamer is a clear winner over the F-2. As you can see from the table below I have no problem with straight putts less than 10’ but once you get past that mark I start having issues with the Array. I’ve taken the F-2 out on the course a few times and so far my on-course experience has mirrored my indoor testing. I have no doubt the putter has the potential to be great with a proper fitting, but will my off the rack specs show enough on the course to be able to knock the gamer out of my bag? More to come soon!

Played in a scramble today with my gamer. The one thing that I haven't fallen in love yet with the Array is distance control. The milled face doesn't not have the same soft and responsive feel as my White Hot insert, and I just felt much more comfortable on long lag putts using my gamer. Next round is schedule for Thursday but I hope to get a few indoor sessions in before then.

Was able to get 9 holes in tonight before the rain really picked up. Overall I'd say the F-2 performed pretty well. Here are my stats compared to other Arccos 4 handicaps. Ended up with 2 one putts, 6 two putts, and 1 three putt from 48 feet. Best putt of the round came on the last hole where I made a 25' uphill, left to right birdie. Worst putt(s) came from the 6-9' range where I was ice cold. 6-9' was also my worst range over the last 50 rounds. I think I get hung up on trying to play the perfect amount of break and have the putt die at the hole rather than add a little speed to take some break out of the equation.

Unfortunately not in the garage. There is a 1° slope that I could play with a little bit, but it's probably not enough to make a noticeable difference with anything.

Was able to set up my indoor putting studio tonight and give the new Array F-2 a thorough test. I mentioned this in a previous post a few pages back, but I bought a 6'x20' roll of carpet from my local home improvement store. It measures about a 10 or 11 on a makeshift stimpmeter. I set up a 9 hole game with putts starting at two feet going all the way up to 18 feet (even numbers only). I then randomized the distance through the Stack putting app. Here was my first attempt at the course with my new F-2. Pretty solid on shorter putts, but terrible from 10'+. Overall I ran through the course 7 times with each putter for a total of 144 putts hit. The gamer definitely has the advantage this early in the test. I struggled to make a smooth stroke with the Array on any type of distance putt. I have a tee time set for 3:15pm tomorrow to hopefully take things outdoors. Forecast calls for an 80% chance of rain though so we may have to head back to the garage for round 2 of indoor testing.

Since I couldn't go in for a fitting I picked it based on my current White Hot OG #7 putter. I've hit less than 100 putts with the Array, but so far I prefer the Odyssey alignment. I like having the dots closer to the face and not set back like the Array insert.

It has finally arrived! I'll have more thoughts later, but first impressions are pretty strong. The putter has a very clean look. And yes, I had to test if it could pick up a ball. Struggled to grab it up by sweeping the ball, but it sticks well if you push down on the ball from above.

My putter doesn't arrive until tomorrow. Due to a lack of fitting options in Wisconsin I also had to order it blind. It'll be interesting to see if an off the rack/best guess order can compete with the guys that were actually able to go through a full fitting.

Any great deals on golf nets out there for Master's week? I may or may not have sent a ball screaming through my old net into the neighbor's yard last night. On the plus side it was a great shot and didn't hit any windows.

As I wait for my Edel Array to arrive I've been continuing to practice with my Odyssey White Hot OG #7. I set up a Stack training session of 9 putts ranging every two feet from 2-18'. The putts are listed in order below, but it's randomized when actually doing the program. Slight direction bias to the right but overall the numbers have been great through 5 sessions. It's going to be hard for the Array to be a big improvement over my gamer when it comes to straight putts up to 18'.

As someone who hasn't been able to book an Edel fitting yet I would say it's probably not the most ideal process for other OEM's to copy. If you want more people to be fit to your products availability and cost are huge factors. I'm sure Edel will appear in more locations if the Array is a hit with consumers, but for right now it's difficult to find a fitter nearby and all of them or on the higher end of the scale cost-wise. Ideally I'd like to see a tiered model for putter fitting: Self trials at the big box stores - free 15 minute talk with employees - minimal cost and/or free for rewards members Any type of technology involved in a 30 minute fitting - moderate cost ($50?) Full fledged hour+ fitting at a specialty shop (Club Champion, Golftec, etc) = $100 Right now to get fit for an Edel Array your only option is the fourth bullet point.

Glad to see some of the fellow testers are getting their putters. Mine was ordered a bit later so hopefully it will be on the way soon. One issue that has me a bit worried is I was not able to get fit for my putter. If you use the Find a Fitter feature on the Edel website it lists 4 locations in Wisconsin (all Golftec) that carry the Array system. Unfortunately all four of these locations are franchised and not corporate Golftec, and their kits still have not arrived. I called Club Champion as well but my location (Milwaukee) is not receiving the Array system. I hope Edel has a clear winner with the new line of putters, but I can see one of the big downsides is they are not available outside of a few select fitters. Shout out to the MGS mods for working behind the scenes to get things figured out. The plan for now is to receive an Array based on my gamer specs and then go through the fitting process once my local Golftec has them in stock. The great thing about having a modular putter is the ability to make a lot of changes even after the club is built.

I heard Stack had a new putting app but I haven't looked at it before. I see they offer a free 30 day trial; I may have to download this once the Edel arrives for some indoor competition. One of the upsides about living in a northern state where you get 70° days followed by snow is you tend to go a bit stir crazy. Why is that an upside? Because the latest snowfall led me to head to my nearest home improvement store and buy 6' x 21' of artificial turf to use in my garage. I put together a makeshift stimpmeter using the ball return from my Perfect Practice mat and my phone as a level to make sure I was at 20° slope when releasing the ball. It's hard to see in the picture but I also have it marked at 30" to determine where to start the ball from. Is it perfect? No, but it's close enough to know approximately what the turf is rolling at. I have a PuttOUT that works great for all the straight on putts, but if I want to go from other angles I might have to find a different cup. Chalk seems to work really well to mark off locations. I'm thinking of testing left, middle, and right at 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 feet. The full length of 21' (or max length of 21.84' for you Pythagorean theorem nerds) may be used as the final challenge tiebreaker.

I'm in no rush after waking up to this yesterday. At least we'll be in the 50's this week so the snow will melt fast.

Pretty ugly day with the Odyssey today. Greens were still full of sand and very bumpy. 10 day forecast looks terrible here so hopefully I'll have my Edel Array on order by the time I have my next outdoor round. The 25-50 foot strokes gained is deceiving as I lucked out on a 42 foot birdie putt that bounced about 10 times on it's way to the hole but somehow went in.

Hoping to get out to the course on Saturday for some more pre-Edel work. High of 52° with winds 15-20mph. Indoor work on the Perfect Practice mat continues. Current record for most made 8 footers in a row is 31. Next highest after that is in the high teens so I'm not sure what happened to make that many in a row. Must have something to do with the headcover motivation at the end of the ramp. You don't mess around with Prison Mike watching you.