Trackman Putter Fitting

[BMart519]

After my CAPTO putting lesson and discovering my in-to-out path tendency and closed face at impact I decided to book a fitting at the only local facility that uses Trackman. I've now used 3 systems - TM, SAM Puttlab, and CAPTO. All of these systems provide valuable info and there are small differences in the outputs. For Trackman, I found the skid vs. roll measurement and face to path to be most valuable for that system. 

The face to path numbers agreed with CAPTO results. The fitting consisted of hitting 20-30' putts on a large indoor green, this distance is required by Trackman to capture the ball data. I began the fitting using my TP Berwick face balanced putter to get a baseline. After this I rotated hitting 4-8 putts with a variety of putters including: Scotty Cameron Squareback, plus 1 other SC mallet and blade, EVNROLL ER2, 2.2, 1.2 and 5, an Anser style Cleveland Frontline and PING Heppler. The Mizuno M Craft putter was the best feeling of the bunch and the performance was similar to the Scotty Squareback. I guess nothing does feel like a Mizuno. 

EVNROLL putters seemed to consistently provide the lowest skid numbers which resulted in tight groupings around the hole. I don't remember many 2nd putts that I would have been concerned about the remaining length. I settled on the ER2.2 as the additional toe-hang of the plumbers neck compared to the ER2 seemed to sync well with the arc of my stroke as evidence by some of the best face-to-path numbers on TM. The SC Squareback was the runner-up as I was looking for something with a firm feel. The EVNROLL grooves appeared to help mishits as claimed, I called out 1 miss-hit off the toe as soon as I struck the ball and watched as it settled 1-2 feet short of the hole. Similar misses with other putts would finish 1-2' shorter (3-4' total). I then intentionally hit a few off the sweet spot, as with most putters - heel side misses do perform better in terms of distance than off the toe. 

The extended blade on the 2.2 fits my eye better than a traditional Anser style which always appear closed with plumber's necks. I moved from the TM putting station to hit some 6-7 footers and see if I could aim the blade given my preference for mallet shapes. I made the first two putts and the misses were all burning the edges, as the fitting continued the 2.2 continued to separate itself.

With time running out, I went back to the 2.2 on the TM station to hit one last set of 4-5 balls from approx 25'. (This putt had about 18-24" of break which was dialed in by this point.) I drained the first putt which basically sealed the deal. And again, left all the misses tightly grouped around the hole. 

The funny thing is I previously owned a used ER2 I found online, it performed well on the iPING app indoors, but I had some mixed results on the course. I made the mistake of having it bent to 4 degrees of loft which combined with the grooves led to launching the ball to hop and skid and then sold it. The extra toe hang of the 2.2 fits my stroke better and visually it is my favourite EVNROLL head. Now the only thing left to decide is whether to order the small red rubber pistol grip I used on the demo club or the oversized EVNROLL pistol. These 2 grips have significant weight differences, so a part of me wants to match the specs of the demo putter. The traditional pistol grip fit my hand OK as the EVNROLL is a bit better than the traditional profile on a Scotty and it definitely performed, but I still prefer an oversized grip. 

The demo putter was 34" with 370g head which matched my old ER2. I traditionally play 35" putters but choke up on the grip which would put me into a different standard head weight with the EVNROLL putters. An earlier static fitting put me at 34", so again I am tempted to order a putter to match the demo which worked so well at the fitting even though the head is a bit heavier than my usual range. 

Edited November 9, 2020 by BMart519

[BMart519]

Got an email from the fitter on Friday that my ER2 showed up which was a surprise as the initial feedback was 370g ER2 heads would not be available until January. Needless to say I was getting excited when Saturday morning rolled around and I was scheduled to pick up the new flat stick and roll some putts on Trackman to see if the Gravity Grip made any difference in my delivery vs the standard EVNROLL rubber pistol grip.

Half hour before I leave the house, the fitter calls to notify that they checked the putter and it was shipped with a 355g head.  Asked if I wanted it and would otherwise get it sorted with EVNROLL to get the correct specs... 

Had to settle on going to the driving range to hit some balls as it was 50+ degrees this weekend in the middle of winter and this place has heated stalls. The rest of the Calgary golf nuts had the same idea and the whole range was full at 10AM (including non-heated stalls) and there was a line-up outside the office to buy balls.  Turned around in my vehicle and headed home and then proceeded to have a horrible hitting session in my garage stall with a ton of shanks while trying to hit off sidehill lies. 

The golf gods were not kind on this day... 

[BMart519]

ER2.2 showed up this past weekend and I managed to sneak in a full swing lesson before they were shut down due to the COVID restrictions in this part of the world. 

I've been hitting lag putts on the slow carpet in my basement with my previous gamer for the past month to get used to making longer strokes which was feedback in my CAPTO putting lesson regarding leaving putts short. Launch conditions on carpet can be a crap shoot, but first day with the EVNROLL was a big success. I made a lot of putts on my PuttOut trainer from 15'+ (which is probably the equivalent of a 25-30" putt on a real green). Only 1 leave outside tap-in range.

First day of work on start line... The pushed putts are showing the result of additional toe hang, now working on cleaning up my push stroke to roll the ball off a yard stick consistently and tempo on short putts with heavier putter to let it do the work. Also, tweaking hand position on the unique profile of the gravity grip. Can't wait for the EXPUTT to get here so I can get some numbers and practice lags at normal green speeds. 

Was disappointed to see EVNROLL no longer putts the magnetic holder and ball marker on the headcovers. 

[BMart519]

Preliminary on course performance with the EVNROLL 2.2 from the fitting is strong and has validated the fitting after some ups and downs. I believe the skid vs roll measurements from Trackman correlate strongly to improved distance control, EVNROLL's face grooves probably help as well. I've had multiple runs of 18+ holes with no 3 putts and my longest streak was 53 holes. Not bad for someone averaging 2.5 3putts per round last season. I am making more in the 6-9' range after setup adjustments to get my eyes closer to the target line which is showing up in the last 5 rounds after this was becoming an area of concern to start the season (GIR is up by 3% in the last 5 rounds as well). 

Below are a couple stats from ShotScope. 

                           2020        2021          Last 5 rounds
putts/round        35.1          32.8           31
1 putt%                 25           26             36 
2 putt%                57            65             57
3 putt%                18             9               7
6-9' make%         36            21              29

[release]

On 11/8/2020 at 8:52 PM, BMart519 said:

 but I had some mixed results on the course. 

Have you had your vision checked ?  For an instance, do you know which one is your more dominant eye ?

I remembered there was an "eye Doctor" who fixed the putting issue of professional golfer.  Can't remember the names now.  The eye exercise she gave to the PGA player fixed the putting issue that had been plaguing the player.

Sometimes it's not the putter, and it's the vision we perceive, which gave us the wrong signal/direction.  I have no obvious dominant eye, I could see the putting line very clearly so, what's left is to determine the speed of the roll.

[cnosil]

15 minutes ago, release said:

Have you had your vision checked ?  For an instance, do you know which one is your more dominant eye ?

I remembered there was an "eye Doctor" who fixed the putting issue of professional golfer.  Can't remember the names now.  The eye exercise she gave to the PGA player fixed the putting issue that had been plaguing the player.

Sometimes it's not the putter, and it's the vision we perceive, which gave us the wrong signal/direction.  I have no obvious dominant eye, I could see the putting line very clearly so, what's left is to determine the speed of the roll.

Are you referring to Craig Farnsworth?    Based on what I have learned vision and perception have a lot to do with how we putt.  There are quite a few instructors that teach setting up, based on how you see the line,  it doesn’t “fix” anything but teaches you how to setup to see the line if the putt better.  Mike Malaska has a few videos that explain this and a few other instructors such as Bruce Rearic and Phil Kenyon teach about adjusting younsetup to see the line correctly. 

[release]

5 hours ago, cnosil said:

Are you referring to Craig Farnsworth?    Based on what I have learned vision and perception have a lot to do with how we putt.  There are quite a few instructors that teach setting up, based on how you see the line,  it doesn’t “fix” anything but teaches you how to setup to see the line if the putt better.  Mike Malaska has a few videos that explain this and a few other instructors such as Bruce Rearic and Phil Kenyon teach about adjusting younsetup to see the line correctly. 

I guess, it's very much an individual thing of how to generate confidence over the putt.  I just don't believe the tools determine how we perform with this game.  

The physical ability and experience will trump over most the techy stuff, with the exception of the improvements of the drivers and the golf balls in the last few decades.  That came in after the technology of CAD to aid the design to reach the limit put on by the USGA.

One can switch putters like a revolving door and not getting any meaningful improvement.  Great golfers used to bag several putters in their bags, some used 4-5 putters when there is no limit on the number of golf clubs in a competition round of golf.

There is no miracle putter, just like there is no miracle driver , or any other particular stick in the bag.  Thank goodness for that, because, it helps the OEM to market their products.

It is true of the old saying of " the more putt one makes, the more one will make ", with the exception of physical handicap.   

I was not referring to any of the videos you mentioned for putting.  If memory serve correct, It might be Greg Norman or Tom Watson whom had benefitted from eye exercise to correct their failing vision and did came back and played better golf for awhile.