SeeMore Putter: unofficial review

[myherobobhope]

Hi! I'm somewhat new here (ignore the joined in 2012 part, focus on the less than 50 posts)... I searched and didn't see any SeeMore putter reviews in here, and figured I'd write about my experience... 

Backstory: I've been playing golf actively since the early 90s. Since about 95 I have had 5 putters. In high school I bought a Zebra putter, and then replaced it with a Hog mallet. After high school (around 2000), I replaced the Hog with an Odyssey DFx 2 ball. In 2012, I replaced the 2 ball with a Counterbalanced Tank #7. It was purchased with store credit I had won sinking a 20 foot putt for eagle during a large skins game (I also got strokes on the hole... it was a good day). Why did I replace my 2 ball with a Tank? I don't know. The next year, my wife selfishly gave birth and my golf game went on hiatus... In 2018, I started playing golf again. My whole golf career has been marred by mediocre putts. You know that guy who sinks the unmakeable 50 foot putt to win a match on the last hole? That guy isn't me. My putting has always been the weak spot in my game... and like any mature, rational adult, I just ignored it and focused on the parts of the game I liked. Until I came up lame with a back injury (torn cartilage) last summer, I was playing pretty well...

The Day that will live in infamy: Ok, infamy implies people care. I don't even care and it happened to me. But infamy looks cool in bold. Anyways... I spent the summer of 2020 trying to play as much golf as possible. I did OK. I was playing with my father during one round, and managed to hit the first 10 greens in regulation. My driving and ball striking were on point. I did not have any putts over 30 feet across the 10 holes. I also did not have any birdies. I did have 2 3 putts, for a 2 over stretch.. with 10 greens in regulation. Ugh. Having watched some videos on YouTube, which is always a good and helpful way to spend time, I saw a pro talk about putting with his eyes closed... I did the only logical thing and started putting with my eyes closed. I didn't putt any better, but I didn't putt any worse... Putting with my eyes closed opened my eyes (that's word play, friends) and made me realize I couldn't keep doing what I was doing... it was time to make some changes.

Cue David Bowie:

CHANGES: So this was in July, at the time, my hip hurt, but I didn't think much of it. PAIN DON'T HURT. I started doing things like gate drills, and just generically spending more time on the putting green and practicing. My season ended in August at the Member-Member... A doctor I played with suggested I had hurt my sciatic nerve, I started down the long road known as "dealing with the Health Insurance world" and got my first epidural in October... I stopped playing golf, but kept practicing my putting as much as I could... I knew my putter was an issue, but wasn't sure what exactly I needed to do about it... My golf pro mentioned our assistant pro was both currently an Edel fitter, and soon to send his Edel kit back as he was no longer an Edel fitter. I asked him to fit me before he sent it back, which he did gratis. (This is a whole different issue, but I do take care of the golf shop... not in a tit for tat sort of way, but more of a keeping them happy because they work hard way).

Edel Fitting: Man, that cart is cool. We went through a number of options, talked about heads, shafts, hosels, bends, aiming, counterbalance... it was informative. He then put a string on the ground and had me hit balls at it... basically trying to adjust for speed and see what counter balance setup was correct for me... It went poorly. We found the best possible fit, but the wheels in my head were spinning... I knew what edel putter I wanted, but he was no longer an edel fitter and couldn't order me the customized putter I wanted... I didn't LOVE the setup, but it was better than what i had... More than anything, I liked the way they are counterbalanced. During this time, I also tried a LAB putter. I still think they are cool, but not the right fit for me. 

SeeMore: They had always been on my radar... I had hit some, joked around with them on social media and they are about 3 hours south of me (Louisville to Nasvhille). I had some free time, and they had some availability for a fitting in late January. I got up early one morning, started my first relisten to the Chasing Scratch podcast, and drove to Nashville. This was a business trip. My first since the pandemic started... it was time to get down... to business... I got to the office, met Cody, and we got to work. He put my putter on a scale, tried to get it's swingweight (he didn't CALL me an idiot... but lets just say it was too heavy to register a swingweight) and then he hooked it up to the SAM. I rolled some putts, and he went over my data... If people are interested, I can post them. From there, we discussed how I was set up, how I was stroking the ball, and what I needed to do to improve. I had told him at the beginning I was a bad putter and wanted to get better. He tried his best to help me. We discussed drills to do, he sold me a training aid to help with my tempo... We discussed budget, and he kept things reasonable... I'm not sure they have unreasonably priced putters, but he made sure I was putting with something in my budget... Honestly, it was a very appreciated part of the conversation.

At the end, he gave me 2 options... one was $225 and one was $350ish... The more expensive one was slighty better, and I liked the way it looked... with a $150 fitting fee, and a training aid, I ended up spending just over $500 for everything... I think it's a reasonably price for a custom built putter... I could have saved $100 on a different putter, but oh well. Cody had all my specs (and shared them with me), put the order in for my putter, and sent me all my SAM data. Another nice customer service perk, he gave me all the information from my fitting for me to look over... I appreciated the transparency. 

About a week later, I got the putter.... and by February I was able to get some time with it outside on decent days... I was still nursing my back, so I took it slow and just practiced putting for a month... Worked on tempo drills, and simply got used to a putter that wasn't made from depleted uranium. 

On the Course: I've finally gotten some rounds in! My back is healthy, and I've started to get to enjoy the game of golf again... of course it snowed in April, so not as much golf as I would like... but I've gotten in multiple rounds this month. My putting has been good! Not great, and there have been some hiccups, but I blame that directly on myself and 20 years of bad putting technique. I'm still working on the pendulum motion and have been leaving things 6-24 inches short fairly consistently... I've been so focused on not having a short back swing and a JAB putting stroke, that I've almost moved to completely NOT starting the putter... This is a technique issue, and I'm getting better. I've rolled some great putts with it, and I'm very happy.

Separating the putter from the fitting: One of the things I've been thinking about is whether or not the $150 putting lesson was the important part, and how much a "new" putter has helped my game... I think it's important to find a putter you like and are confident with, and from there it is 100% technique. I like my SeeMore. it's a good putter, it's built to my specs (37 inches long, but I grip way down on it, so it plays to 36), the correct lie (I can look it up) and the correct loft (3 degrees for my greens, which run at a 10 most days)... It's a tool that was built for me and when I use it with good technique it performs. The Rifle Scope Technology (also known as the goofy red dot) is a great tool for making sure you are lined up correctly. I think the putter itself looks pretty good... the putting lesson, and training aid, were both huge helps, though... but the whole package was tied together. At the end of the day, I paid SeeMore $500 to help make me a better putter, and the final package included a great training aid, a putting lesson with Cody and a new putter built to my specs. I think I got a good deal overall, and I'm excited about where my putting is going to head this season. 

My putting stats: I averaged about 34.5 putts a round last year as a 6 handicap... My three full rounds I tracked this season I had 35, 35 and 30 putts... I'm definitely still adjusting to the putter, but I'm very happy with the direction I'm heading... The 30 putt round was much more indicative as I was more focused on my putting during that round. I think once I get comfortable with the new putting stoke, I'll be around 32 putts per round, which is the standard average for a 6 handicap. 

Conclusion: I had a wonderful experience with SeeMore at SeeMore. If you are driving distance from Nashville and struggling with your putter, it's definitely worth the trip. The facility itself is just a store front in an industrial warehouse, so don't expect anything fancy! The people inside are what make the trip worth it... Cody is very knowledgeable, friendly and wants to help people putt better. I'm not sure what else he could have done to help me, and he told me his door was always open. It was a wonderful experience, and I'm still just blown away that a guy who fits PGA pros took 2 hours out of his day (plus responding to e-mails) just to help me out. 

 

10/10. Would spend $500 there again...

[myherobobhope]

Pictures from My phone.

[NM01]

Thanks for sharing. I put a ptm1 back in my bag this season. I’ve had probably numerous seemores in my bag since 94.

They are good putters and the rst makes alignment easy

[cksurfdude]

Good write up .. great story!! Good luck with your improved putting!

[myherobobhope]

23 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

Good write up .. great story!! Good luck with your improved putting!

Thanks buddy... Hope all is well with you.

I'm hopefully getting in some rounds this week, so we will see if I'm rolling the ball well!