2019 Official Forum Member Review-Bettinardi Arm Lock Putter

[MDGolfHacker]

On 4/25/2019 at 9:30 PM, GB13 said:

I've not been able to get out for a round in the last few days, due to some atrocious weather, and it is supposed to snow here on Saturday. WTF?!? 

Anyway, I've still been practicing a decent amount inside, and I can say I'm getting quite comfortable with the armlock. I'm feeling like I can make a pretty consistent stroke, but whether I'm actually improving my putting remains to be seen. 

Does anyone have any questions? Or requests on how to test? 

How are the mishits on the toe and heel? Distance/directional loss?

 

MDGolfHacker

[GB13]

46 minutes ago, MDGolfHacker said:

How are the mishits on the toe and heel? Distance/directional loss?

 

MDGolfHacker

Mishits aren't bad, definately a little bit of speed loss, but the direction is still pretty good. I'd say the heel miss is much worse than a toe miss. You lose a lot more speed on the heel, where it's barely noticeable off the toe. 

[Nunfa0]

6 hours ago, KCLeo12 said:

 

Well my biggest tournament of the year next week I can’t have any uncertainty so it a pause until after that 4 day tournament.


Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

 

Good plan and good luck for the tournament

[GB13]

8 hours ago, MDGolfHacker said:

Just catching up on all these threads.  Great job on the stage one's!  I'm intrigued by this putter as I tend to break my wrists on putts.  Looking forward to your stage 2's!

 

MDGolfHacker

Sorry I didn't see this earlier, if you are struggling with wrist break, the armlock will definately help. I suppose, if you got a cheaper armlock, it could make a great training aid even if you don't put it in play for the long run. 

[GB13]

Okay, we've finally got some decent weather, so I'm heading out tomorrow for a round. I'd say my goal is putts under 30, but it depends how many greens I hit. I'll just say that I want to make some good 5-10 footers. 

[downlowkey]

The weather was gorgeous and I had no work today, so me and the Betti spent a few hours of quality time together on the putting green. Yesterday’s session was pretty lackluster after the inclement weather layoff so I wanted to mix it up as much as possible today.

I dropped two fresh pearls on the moss and hit tons of long sweeping putts with some 3-6 footer cycles mixed in to break things up. I didn’t take any video or keep stats - just tried to pick a lot of fun putts. Some tendencies are beginning to surface but I’m saving the real juice for Stage 2.

However...

*Easter Egg - 3 hour putting session and my back isn’t the least bit sore

[GB13]

I'm a little confused about how to rate my round today. My gut says I putted well, with my mind going to the 2 -10 foot birdie putts I made and the 40 foot par putt. But on the flip side, I had 3 three putts and missed 2 five foot birdie putts. So I just don't know. I do think most of my misses were mis-reads, and I started the ball online most of the time. I did stand a little farther away from the ball, and that fixed my taking the putter outside the line. I'd say I putted pretty well, and am trending more toward keeping the Betti in the bag. 

[GB13]

Sorry it's been a little bit since my last update. Anyway, I've had some additional practice time, and hopefully will get out for a round in the next few days. Now that I'm standing a little farther away from the ball, with my hands slightly lower, I'm getting a much better roll on the ball. As always, the Betti is a high quality putter and feels amazing. It's a fairly soft milled face but not mushy like an insert. At this point, unless something drastic changes the Betti will be with me for a while. 

Edited May 10, 2019 by GB13

[Nunfa0]

1 hour ago, GB13 said:

Sorry it's been a little bit since my last update. Anyway, I've had some additional practice time, and hopefully will get out for a round in the next few days. Now that I'm standing a little farther away from the ball, with my hands slightly lower, I'm getting a much better roll on the ball. As always, the Betti is a high quality putter and feels amazing. It's a fairly soft milled face but not mushy like an insert. At this point, unless something drastic changes the Betti will be with me for a while. 

Good to hear you love it. The putter is the most important club in the bag and yet it gets forgotten because it isn't as "sexy" as driver

[downlowkey]

We had rain threatening most of today, so I found myself at the short game complex (typical) rather than out on the course. For an initial warmup I decided on a forced mix short game to get the Betti some pseudo-gamer reps and took some video for you guys.

I set up 2 fairly tough shots - 50 footer: 12-15 feet carry over the fringe (depending on shot rotation) to a downslope that runs away to the edge of the green and a 25 footer: 10 feet carry over the fringe to a spine that runs away through the hole and sends weak shots short right and warm shots long left. To make things a bit more difficult I have to disregard my preferred shot selection and hit a chip to each hole, then a flop shot, then a pitch shot - 2 rounds of this equals 12 total. Finally, I grab the SS38 Armlock and go through the same routine I would on the course until all are holed.

*Disclaimer - 8 minute video (skip to 4:00 for Armlock only viewing)

TLDW: chilly + windy = my hands felt like stone and I faced some serious footage in this first series of 12 (6 putts from 6-12 feet). Up & down stat line: 11/12 (with a cold start for the Betti - zero prior practice putts/strokes). The line on my sole miss (3rd from last) took me over a little furry spot the mower missed and shuttled the ball left almost immediately. It may have still missed just left but I think it would have at least hit some of the hole otherwise. And that’s the Easter Egg takeaway for those who read this far - cold, windy, no warmup, doesn’t matter - the misses keep getting smaller with this wand. That is all for now... unless anyone has questions.  

[GB13]

Alright, so the round didn't go well. But I really don't think this was Betti's fault at all. I just played and putted, horribly. I couldn't read putts, my stroke just wasn't on. I wouldn't have made any more putts with any other putter, it was completely the Indian, and not the Arrow today. This really isn't a round I think I can include in an accurate review, I was just off. 

Edited May 16, 2019 by GB13

[Nunfa0]

7 hours ago, GB13 said:

Alright, so the round didn't go well. But I really don't think this was Betti's fault at all. I just played and putted, horribly. I couldn't read putts, my stroke just wasn't on. I wouldn't have made any more putts with any other putter, it was completely the Indian, and not the Arrow today. This really isn't a round I think I can include in an accurate review, I was just off. 

Nevermind, we can't be awesome all the time. Otherwise we would be at Bethpage this week rather than haunting our favourite forums

[downlowkey]

Last week, I got in one full loop and several hours on the putting green with the Armlock. My round was of the super social variety and I subsequently never wrapped my head around scoring that day - result: 33 putts. That’s _a ton_ compared to my average and I didn’t make anything of significant length. But again, I really wasn’t in the mindset to grind. And I also didn’t wiff any short ones.

Stage 2 for our Bettinardi SS38 Armlock review team is slated to drop on Memorial Day. That gives us one more week (cold & wet in my case) to do any specific testing you guys would like. So please reach out ASAP in the official review thread if you have any suggestions or requests.

[PING Apologist #9]

9 minutes ago, downlowkey said:

Last week, I got in one full loop and several hours on the putting green with the Armlock. My round was of the super social variety and I subsequently never wrapped my head around scoring that day - result: 33 putts. That’s _a ton_ compared to my average and I didn’t make anything of significant length. But again, I really wasn’t in the mindset to grind. And I also didn’t wiff any short ones.

Stage 2 for our Bettinardi SS38 Armlock review team is slated to drop on Memorial Day. That gives us one more week (cold & wet in my case) to do any specific testing you guys would like. So please reach out ASAP in the official review thread if you have any suggestions or requests.

Question for all testers, and I apologize if it's been asked and answered earlier...

Have you gotten used to setting up with your grips or has it been a struggle to remember how to set-up each time. In other words, have you found you need to "think" about setting the armlock or has become more natural the more you use it?

[downlowkey]

6 minutes ago, PING Apologist #9 said:

Question for all testers, and I apologize if it's been asked and answered earlier...

Have you gotten used to setting up with your grips or has it been a struggle to remember how to set-up each time. In other words, have you found you need to "think" about setting the armlock or has become more natural the more you use it?

My grip felt natural from the start. But the putter fitting at CC centered around maintaining my typical setup, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to hear the other guys on the team experienced a different (possibly ongoing) adjustment period.

[GB13]

26 minutes ago, PING Apologist #9 said:

Question for all testers, and I apologize if it's been asked and answered earlier...

Have you gotten used to setting up with your grips or has it been a struggle to remember how to set-up each time. In other words, have you found you need to "think" about setting the armlock or has become more natural the more you use it?

In the beginning, it was very unnatural. It took me a good 2 weeks and a couple thousand putts to get used to it. Now, it's muscle memory, and no thought is required.  

[MaxEntropy]

14 hours ago, GB13 said:

In the beginning, it was very unnatural. It took me a good 2 weeks and a couple thousand putts to get used to it. Now, it's muscle memory, and no thought is required.  

I played around with an armlock putter a couple months ago and, like you, it felt very unnatural to me. Bad enough that I wasn't sure I was doing it "right". I'm sure it would have come to me, but don't know that I would have the patience to make it muscle memory.

I haven't been paying enough attention to this thread - are you seeing benefits?

[GB13]

3 hours ago, MaxEntropy said:

I played around with an armlock putter a couple months ago and, like you, it felt very unnatural to me. Bad enough that I wasn't sure I was doing it "right". I'm sure it would have come to me, but don't know that I would have the patience to make it muscle memory.

I haven't been paying enough attention to this thread - are you seeing benefits?

Absolutely, once I got past the adjustment period, my putting has definately improved. At first, my main issues were, alignment, and an outside to inside putting stroke. I fixed my alignment by adding a couple extra lines to my golf ball, which framed the putter better at address, so I wasn't relying on aligning a line to another line. I'll take a picture of it, and it will explain it so much better than I just did. 

As for the out to in stroke, turns out, I just need to stand a little farther away from the ball. No complicated fix there, just change my setup a little, and then just rock my shoulders. 

The armlock technique is definately one I'd recommend to try at least once. In all honesty, if you don't end up sticking with it, it can be used as a great training aid if you have too wristy of a stroke. After my initial comfort adjustment period, fixing my alignment, and stroke path, I can honestly say, I'm putting better than I ever have. I've really noticed improved speed control, and I'm making a LOT more 3-10 footers. 

Edited May 21, 2019 by GB13

[MaxEntropy]

12 minutes ago, GB13 said:

In all honesty, if you don't end up sticking with it, it can be used as a great training aid if you have to wristy of a stroke.

When I had my putter fitting in preparation for the Stroke Lab testing, the guy asked me if I had ever tried the claw grip to help with quieting my hands. I used it for about a year and had good results starting the ball on line, but my distance control sucked (there are other reasons for that too, but you'll have to wait for the thread). He suggested trying it just in practice to get the feel of a less wristy/quieter hands stroke.

[downlowkey]

Do I spy a murdered out Bettinardi SS38 Armlock lurking amongst the tour loaners at the Charles Schwab Challenge this week?

Ya dig?

[GB13]

In the slightly vulgar words of my playing partner today, who had a severely limited vocabulary, "Holy s*** that motherf***** putter is f****** awesome!" At this point, I wholeheartedly, emphatically agree.

   I had 27 putts today, and didn't miss inside 7 or 8 feet. I made a lot of putts over 15 feet. Unfortuanlty I don't have Arccos or Shotscope to giving me a putting handicap for the day, but I can absolutely guarantee that it would have been + a lot. Now I still somehow shot 82, but that was the fault of some extremely poor ball striking and chipping. But yeah, you are here for putter reviews, not me to complain about the rest of my game. So I'll leave it at this, this putter is awesome. 

[CarlH]

My Stage 2 review is posted here.  Please feel free to address any questions or concerns here and I'll try to respond the best I am able.

[PING Apologist #9]

1 hour ago, CarlH said:

My Stage 2 review is posted here.  Please feel free to address any questions or concerns here and I'll try to respond the best I am able.

First, I wish you a speedy recovery from your cyborg implementation surgery-do what the Doc says and kick some butt during rehab!

Second, a fine review Sir! Very insightful and honest. I'm actually a little surprised to hear that you'll want more time to decide if it becomes your gamer or not with so many positives that stick seems to have. But it is refreshing to know there is at least one patient fellow out there. Great work Carl!

[CarlH]

9 minutes ago, PING Apologist #9 said:

First, I wish you a speedy recovery from your cyborg implementation surgery-do what the Doc says and kick some butt during rehab!

Second, a fine review Sir! Very insightful and honest. I'm actually a little surprised to hear that you'll want more time to decide if it becomes your gamer or not with so many positives that stick seems to have. But it is refreshing to know there is at least one patient fellow out there. Great work Carl!

Yes, my initial impression is very positive, but since I had to discontinue playing the last month, I didn't get a good feel as to which style putting I prefer long term.  30 plus years of conventional putting will require a commitment to change, but if I'm showing enough improvement, I'm willing to go with it.  Looking forward to hearing what the other testers concluded after their testing!

[PING Apologist #9]

5 minutes ago, CarlH said:

Yes, my initial impression is very positive, but since I had to discontinue playing the last month, I didn't get a good feel as to which style putting I prefer long term.  30 plus years of conventional putting will require a commitment to change, but if I'm showing enough improvement, I'm willing to go with it.  Looking forward to hearing what the other testers concluded after their testing!

I like your style Sir! Cheers!

[downlowkey]

Stage 2 bumparoo!

Let me know if you guys have any questions.

[CarlH]

13 minutes ago, downlowkey said:

Stage 2 bumparoo!

Let me know if you guys have any questions.

Excellent write up and very much on par with my feelings on the putter (especially that darn headcover!)

[downlowkey]

15 minutes ago, CarlH said:

Excellent write up and very much on par with my feelings on the putter (especially that darn headcover!)

Thanks buddy - right back atcha!

That headcover is a beautifully hand-crafted POS.

[GB13]

1 hour ago, downlowkey said:

Thanks buddy - right back atcha!

That headcover is a beautifully hand-crafted POS.

Great job! 

I have a pretty similar line in my review. It's so nice and well made, but it's also terrible and no one put any thought into it!!  

Edited May 31, 2019 by GB13

[GB13]

My stage 2 is up! Please let me know if you have any questions.