heavygolffeels

Yeah, I had this feeling on the practice greens as well. Was hitting some putts with the Max and then thought I'll have to take some consdierable time to get used to this, and thats not going to help get a stroke dialed in with the Ultimate. Better off focusing on one at a time IMO. I'll definitely give the Max and Quad Tour a thorough run, but after the Ultimate testing and review process.

Nice golf weekend for me. I'm prepping for my Scotland trip, so the wife let me get out both days. I putted pretty well. 30 putts, and 32 putts. Had two 3 putts in my second round, but on really difficult sloping greens. I felt I only made one really poor stroke where I hit a 30 foot putt about 21 feet . Everything else had pace dialed in, and really felt I was finding my lines, just usual issues reading the greens. Collected 2 nice birdie putts that last round as well. I'm feeling really comfortable with the Ultimate. I love the in hand feel. It also has the perfect amount of tack for me. Its getting to be that time of year in Arizona where the weather is predictable as can be, and I played both rounds teeing off between noon and 1. Its 100 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, sweat and sunscreen running down my hands, and the grip never felt slick. I've had some issues in the past with the stock Evnroll and Golf Pride Pro Only that I was previously gaming getting slick, so I am really appreciating the Ultimate in this regard. Time will tell how it cleans and holds up. I'm also quite fond of the grip length. I was on some wild slopes and its nice to be able to really choke up and shorten the putter when need be. An early grievance is that the Ultimate does take a little feedback out of the hands for me. Sort of dulls out every stroke. Its not a problem when you are putting well, but I've noticed when you get that slight miss the right its more difficult to determine if you pushed it, or just misaimed. Something to keep an eye on for me. I'll be hitting the practice greens hard his week. Also have a perfect putting mat that I will be getting some numbers on. But more than anything, just want to get my putting stroke dialed in. I know Scotland is going to test the putter. Some insanely large greens. Some lies where putting from 30 yards out is the preferred method. Some wind that will change the entire read. Alot of things I'm not used to. So hoping to have as much confidence in the putter has any other club in the bag. Short turn around but I'm feeling like I can get their with the Garsen Ultimate.

Really good question. I am of course reviewing the ultimate grip, and I have it installed on my gamer putter, but the first grip I actually put on was the Max. It just felt so different in the hands. I had to try it out right away. Unless you have a really unique grip, the Max is going to force your hands to line up differently. Is that good or bad who knows, but I had to try it. That being said, I knew right away the Ultimate was the right decision but that I would give the Quad Tour a good run once the Ultimate repot was done. I feel like the Quad has alot of potential to be a gamer grip as well. I tend to prefer grips with a flat front, so I'm likely to keep that orientation. But i have seen people turn the flat side of a grip that the flat cat sideways and have success, so I could see that being a possibility with the Ultimate for some as well.

So excited to be headed to Scotland soon! I'm taking off Saturday, May 27th and returning Sunday, June 4th. I'm booked with a group of 20 guys from all over the US that have business relations. Most of us have done some smaller trips together before. About 12 of us went to Bandon a few years back. But this one is going to be quite the experience. I no longer work in the same industry as this group and was a late addition, which affected some of my travel and course planning, but I think it's working out great! We are using Hidden Links for the main part of our package. They've booked 4 rounds at the New Course, Carnoustie, Kingsbarns, Gleneagles and accommodations in St Andrews. I think we are split up into two, maybe even three nearby hotels, but I am staying at the Andrean. Travel to and from the airport, to and from the golf courses, and daily entry into the Old Course ballot is included. So far, their coordinator has been fantastic and very responsive. Much of our group, myself included, is going in a few days early. I'm adding Lundin Links, Dumbarnie, Duke's, and if I don't have early success on the Old Couse ballot, I've got a day set aside to camp out for it. I may have time to squeeze in another round or two. I'm a bit disappointed not to be playing Elie but there are only so many days and I couldn't get an AM tee time when I needed it. Perhaps an excuse to go back, as if I needed one. Here's the course itinerary:

I installed the Max last night with air (posted a short video in the Max thread) but took the Ultimate and my gamer putter into my golf shop today for the install. Just wanted to make sure everything was setup perfectly square. I will get some testing done this weekend but so far I like the in hand feel of both grips. I'm thinking both will require a different grip then what I am used to with my Golf Pride Pro Only. The Ultimate maybe just a slight variation. Feels like my right hand needs to be slightly stronger. We'll see how it goes on the practice greens.

I'm reviewing the Ultimate grip, but wanted to test the Max out on my backup putter. Normally I would use tape and solvent, but seeing as I may remove this to test the others grips or to put on my main putter, I just used air. The Max is a big grip. Easy to slot on the shaft and install. I didnt even need a vice to hold the putter. Just slipped right on. I've only done an air install a few times and that shows, but thought the process might be worthy of a quick video.

Joining the club now as I got my goods in the mail!

Certainly looks the part!

Garsen Ultimate Putter Grip - Official MGS Forum Review by scooterhd2 Introduction: Hey Spies! Your favorite substitute teacher Mr. is here! AKA scooter. I bought my first set of clubs in 2013 at the age of 28, mostly to have some sticks for the yearly company golf tournament. I was living in Oregon at the time, working in an industry that was fairly seasonal and super busy during the peak summer golf season. I was hoping to pick up the game, but ended up only playing two or three times a year and never broke 100. In 2019, I moved to Arizona and decided to really pursue the game more. My work is more flexible. I live right next to a golf course, I work right next to a golf course, the weather is great , no excuses. And so I put in the time on the range, watched countless videos on youtube, had a few lessons, immersed myself in golf content and web forums, became a semiprofessional club flipper on ebay, and I was fortunately able to work my handicap down to under 5 in about 3 years despite having 3 young kids. I’ve sort of plateaued there, and I’m content with that for the time being. I’m sure I’ve driven Garsen’s analytics team mad over the years because I’ve been to their webpage about a thousand times, clicked through every product, watched the videos on every grip, and... failed to purchase. Sorry! I’m just an avid researcher and I am so intrigued by putters and putter grips and just want to know all that is out there. There's so many options it's hard to choose, but there is no doubting that Garsen has some really fascinating products. That's why I keep window shopping them. And of course you see the adoption, and in some cases long time use, by pros like Tony Finau and Dylan Fritelli, so you know they are putting out quality. I am absolutely thrilled and grateful to have this testing opportunity, so thank you so much MGS and Garsen! I went through a long stint of experimenting with different grips, different holds, different putter lengths, heavier swingweights, counterbalanced grips, before I realized or admitted that my putting stroke just sucks. So I sold all my fancy putters, bought a Yes! Putter for pennies, and have been grinding for months on start line drills and ladders drills, and wouldnt you know, my putting is much improved. Now that I have some confidence and some consistency, its a great time for me to use the grip to fine tune things rather than searching for an overhaul. Garsen's tagline is really resonating with me - "Don’t change your stroke, just get a Garsen." I have a putting mat to do some quantitative testing and can set up some games on the practice greens, but for me, the real testing is out on the course and is mostly feel based. Is the face being delivered square, is the applied speed and ball speed matching up, and is the feedback in the hands matching the strike? And that’s where Garsen will need to shine to make the bag! Interesting timing for me on this test... I am headed to Scotland May 27th-June 4th. Will a Garsen grip be in the bag? First Impressions (9.5 out of 10) While the packaging is no frills, I was immediately impressed with the color ways. Each grip is solid in color with no blemishes. The transitions from the coloured grips to white text is pure. After taking them out of the plastic packaging, I was also quite pleased that they were virtually odorless. I’m not sure that directly and completely correlates to quality, but I have had cheap grips before that absolutely wreak for days, and that was not the case here, so that’s an added bonus for me. In regards to the Ultimate, the grip has a consistent tackiness and softness in the hand that is quite pleasing. What immediately stood out to me is that the Ultimate is very light at just 55 grams. That not much different than a regular iron grip and quite different from most of the putter grips I've used in the past that have been in the 70-85 gram range. Still, my first thoughts when holding the Ultimate were that we need to get this on a club ASAP, so that has to be deserving of a strong first impression score. I immediately put the Max on myself with air and had my local shop do a standard tape and solvent installation with the Ultimate on my gamer Yes! CNC milled putter. Aesthetics (8.5 out of 10) I’m a big fan of the more subtle branding. The G on the grip cap. The smallish Garsen logo running down the side of the grip. I do wish that the Ultimate branding followed that same line of thought. In the Max and Quad Tour, the grip model names are both much smaller and more discreetly placed. In the Ultimate, it’s a bit loud for my taste with white text running right down the center of the grip. To be fair, it's not anything that you wouldn't also see on a Super Stroke or Rosemark grip. But I'd be more keen on a black on black version. Still, it’s a simple, clean design without any defects. It certainly looks the part of an upgraded aftermarket grip. The Fit and Feel (16 out of 20) It’s hard not to like the in hand feel of the Garsen Ultimate. It’s a softer, fairly tacky grip, and the material rates highly as a shock absorber. The grip is non tapered and has to be one of the longer grips I’ve used at 11.5 inches. In theory that might work well for people with split hands grips, claw, or left hand low. I found it versatile for my neutral grip with the added length helping on side hill lies with the ball above your feet where you need to choke down. There seems to be alot of versatility here for various grip types. I did notice that in my first practice session with the Ultimate, I had a strong tendency to push putts. I ended up changing my grip slightly, and strengthening my right hand some and was quickly able to normalize my stroke. Feels like Garsen is successful here in getting/forcing the grip more in the palms, as your left hand has to get a bit weaker and the right hand a bit stronger. This externally rotates the arms and gets the elbows more tucked. I can’t say it feels immediately natural in the hands for me, but I do sense more of a straight rocking motion when putting. And when I got in the zone, it worked well for me. Nothing beats draining some putts at work! One thing that bothered me early, but that I started to become accustomed to, was the dampened feel off the putter. I might be hyper conditioned to it using a blade and previously using a Golf Pride Pro Only which is very firm, but I found the Ultimate to be too quiet for my tastes. It seems to mask mishits and make everything feel mushy. I compare it to the Evnroll face. I imagine some people prefer that feel and for me it’s not a deal breaker, but just not my preference. In practice sessions on the Perfect Putt mat from 8 feet to the larger hole, I had mixed results with the Garsen Ultimate. On one hand I had more 10/10 sessions, but also more on the lower spectrum. It seemed to run hot or cold for me. Certainly more volatile. On average I made 8.1 putts with the Ultimate versus 8.15 with my Golf Pride Pro Only, which is slightly worse but not likely to be statistically significant given the sample size. But it’s hard to ignore posting three 6/10s. It is frustrating missing the hole, but I also got hot at times so there may be something to build off and keep working towards. Perhaps some unlocked potential. Here's the results of 20 trials with each grip putting 10 times in a row to a target 7 feet away: On The Course (15 out of 20) Boy did I do some on course testing! Besides running around a few local tracks, the Garsen Ultimate and I did the grand tour of Fife in Scotland and visited Lundin Links, Dumbarnie, The Old Course, The Duke’s Course, The New Course, Carnoustie, Kingsbarns, Gleneagles, and even a lap around the Himalayas . I had caddies for 5 of my rounds in Scotland and 3 mentioned and asked questions about the Ultimate grip. My caddie at the New Course noticed right away and when I putted lights out that day and literally could not miss I found him taking practice strokes on the teebox on more than one occasion. On the flip side, I had the best ball striking day of my career at Kingsbarns where I shot a 77 with three 3 putts, 4 missed birdie putts inside 7 feet, and honestly never made any putt that wasn’t inside the putter length. Post round my caddy said that it was an absolute treat watching my tee to green game but that I should throw my putter in the ocean! Ouch! And that pretty much sums up my on course feelings. At times feeling unstoppable and in command, and other times not feeling comfortable over the putt and playing with ball position, grip, and stance mid round searching for something. There's potential here, but in this testing span I wasn’t able to completely harness it. As far as durability goes, I tested the Ultimate as hard as I could in the time period. Between the 100 degree days in Phoenix, even hotter temps in my car, travelling across the pond, British Airways losing my golf bag on the way back for a few days, we certainly gave it a run. I tried to melt you, break you, lose you, and certainly pulled you out of my bag more times in 6 days than I ever thought possible. But one wipe with a damp towel and the Garsen is looking as good as day 1. I did also keep a PPR stat just because it felt like the right thing to do. But I think its a tough comparison under any conditions, but even more so putting in Scotland on massive greens. I feel like it’s hard not to putt more and often a three putt feels like a good thing when you are 50 yards away. That being said, here’s 10 rounds played with the Garsen Ultimate versus my previous 15 rounds with the Golf Pride. My average went from up 32.5 to 33.6. The Good, The Bad, The Inbetween (18 out of 20) High marks here because Garsen was a great company to work with. Communication and shipping was quick and efficient. I’m still feeling blessed that we are getting the opportunity to work with all 3 grips, and I’ve noticed they have the same package together for sale on their website. Really smart. I did not have any of the quality issues on the grip cap that others saw. In fact, I’ve been impressed with the durability and ease of cleaning. I also installed the Max grip myself with air and had my shop install the Ultimate. Both installs were quick and easy. I truly don't have anything bad to say about the grip or company other than my own performance at times. The one oddity that I have to point out is the difference in texture between some of the grips. I noticed the differences on the website and it appears to be validated with our testing samples. The Blue and Green grips have a G cut out stacked across the grip. The red has a diamond like texture and the black has more of a honeycomb look. I doubt there’s any performance difference, but what gives? Different batches? Different manufacturing facilities? Different versions? I know consistency with grips is difficult and even different colors will have different weights, but it just seems odd that the texture would be different. At least what we got is consistent with what is shown on the website… Play it or Trade it? (15 out of 20) A bit of a tough call here because I had moments where I did truly putt my best with the Ultimate. But on the other hand I didnt feel consistent enough where I would use this grip tomorrow in a tournament if my life depended on it. That being said, I’m going to take it off with air to preserve it because you just never know. I could see myself going back to it. Maybe I could get it dialed in and reduce the off days, but for now I am eager to try the Max and Quad as well. I've had very good training sessions this past week with the Max and am very intrigued by it. That being said, I think the Ultimate is probably the most versatile of the bunch and was a great introduction to Garsen. I think any grip style could get comfortable on this grip, and besides fitting a neutral grip well I feel it's especially favourable to left hand low and claw styles. In terms of value, I think the Garsen lineup is more than fair. You can certainly find a Lamkin or Golf Pride for less, but when you start looking at Rosemark, P2, Evnroll Gravity, 2THUMB, etc, the price is right in line. Superstroke floats at or just under that price point as well. When you buy all 3 together in the core pack, its $26 a grip which seems like a great deal. Feels like if you have a putter that you love and are committed to, that might be the way to go. Knowing some big names on tour are playing Garsen as well, has to authenticate the quality and value. Conclusion Garsen has 69 tour wins, so they are clearly doing alot right. The Ultimate is undoubtedly a quality grip. I love the materials and in hand feel. It’s been plenty durable thus far. And I think Garsen is successful here in forcing some biomechanical efficiencies. While it took some conscious effort on my part to change my hand position, I think that was exactly the goal of the grip and in that way it’s a success. Weaker left hand, stronger right, palms more together, elbows more tucked, easier to move the unit together. I find all of that to be true, but maybe did not translate exactly as I hoped to the golf course where I ran more hot and cold than normal. That being said, I think the Ultimate forces more subtle changes than the rest of the Garsen lineup, so I can’t wait to see what’s in store with the Max and Quad Tour. Final Score (82 out of 100)

Looks so good.

Weight in my opinion.

Yeah, was a big MTBX fan, and I applaud Dean for his creativity. But theres no doubt this new series is a backup plan. Its not the ball Dean really wanted to make. Doesnt mean it wont be good or wont be a great value. But its a loss for the golf industry.

I get it for the right player. Ive hit a 64 a few times on practice greens for fun, but I just dont see the use for it on the course for me. Not often where I am thinking I need more loft than a 60. However, Im not content with a 58 as my highest lofted club. Going to 60 makes a big difference for me. So not hard to see where someone else would have the same feelings about 60 to 62.

Left dash, Bridgestone BX, Chrome Soft LS.

Callaway 2016 Apex, or the Apex Pro in more recent releases. Upgrade stock shaft to something heavier to keep the path from getting left. At least 85 grams, but dont be afraid of 95-105. That might allow you to cut 1/4 or 1/2 off the shaft which make the lie flatter as well. Or had some headweight. Heavier, shorter, flatter is the recipe.

A 1 headcover bag is always going to look good. Also dont play these people for money.

Nice! Welcome. I work like 10 minutes from Ken McDonald but have never made it out there. Opposite direction from my house, but need to check it out.

All guesswork. Lowering the loft is actually opening the face and aiding the right miss. Your draw setting is then compensating by making the lie angle more upright. In theory lofting up would actually close the face and help you more. Should be a draw setting at STD, but at +1 draw setting would help the most with the right miss. Does that added loft hurt in the wind? Possibly. Could be a higher ball flight. Maybe. But could also take away the cut spin and fly straighter through the wind.

Typically you just use the PW shaft in 9, and then again in the actual PW. Yes, not truly hardstepped, but very common to play wedges at a slightly lighter flex and you are keeping the same weight profile as the rest on the iron set.

Ive made several purchases. The last round was 2 putters in good condition and they both had new stickers all over them. Looked shop worn new at worst. Been very pleased with them.

That's true when are talking about playing. I'm talking about fitting strategy. I could easily add 8-10 yards to my driver by lofting down and using a low spin head. At 2k spin I am hitting the longest shots of my live. I've done it on a sim. Done it on the course. The problem is it's too easy to mishit for me and get a sub 1.6k ball that drop outs of the air or dives down and left and runs out of play. Can't have that. So I will gladly trade a few yards for something that is in play. I won't trade even more yards for something that is marginally straighter.

I agree that longer in the rough is better, but longer OB is not. I'm all about forgiveness. I game a G400 Max at 44.5 length. Average drive is 270-280. I'm not swinging for fairways, but swinging to keep the ball in play. Its important to know you average distance as well. If 220 is a good strike and 210 is bad but you hit 7/10 good, your average is 217. If 230 is good and 210 is bad but you hit 3/10 good, your average is 216. In that case the forgiving driver is longer and is putting you in better spots more often.

No worries. Very minor but prevalent. Mine looks good for the time being though

Lets see. I have 3 drivers. 3 different woods lofted 14-17. 4 hybrids lofted 17-22. 3 sets of irons. 3 sets of wedges. 4 putters. 3 bags. And I've got a beautiful set of J15CBs, AMT Whites, BB&F ferrules, Iomic grips that I need to build. But what really irks the wife is the 20 long, skinny cardboard boxes in the corner of the garage.

This is the hardest spot in the bag to fill and is the most prone to rotation. There will never be consensus here. Completely depends on the conditions you are playing in, your swing, especially in terms of speed and attack angle, and the ball flight you prefer to see. Often home course is a consideration as some courses you maybe hitting 200 yards into several greens on long par 3s or shortish par 5s where height and spin are needed. And other courses, 200 yards might be a tee shot on tight par 4s, or as a safe advancement club on a long par 5. Just so many different needs here. For myself, I've opted to generally play a hybrid as my 210 club. Warm air, little wind, and hard, dry greens in Arizona lends well to height and spin. I've experimented with 7 wood as well, but the hybrid is just more versatile from a variety of lies. Fair amount of desert shots, hardpan, dry fairway bunkers out here. I tend to be more consistent with the shorter shaft as well, so my misses are less severe. I do keep a utility iron in the backup bag though, and am actually testing several more for a Scotland trip. In the past I've been killed at Spanish Bay and Pacific Dunes on windy days when I realized my game, my ball, my clubs are not conditioned well for it. I'll be better prepared this time.