Putter fitting and a surprising result

[Watchnut33]

For a long time I considered putting to be the strength of my game. I regularly had less than 30 putts in a round and averaged about 31.5 putts per round last year. As I improved my game and started hitting more greens, my first putts became longer and I started 3 putting more often, which causes me to reassess my putting stroke, grip, and eventually my entire putter. 
 

I started using a forward press, which helped. Then I tried a new, larger grip which was mostly a disaster. Putting went from a strength to a source of anxiety for me and my putts per round jumped nearly 4 strokes. My game was improving despite my putting and I knew if I could get my putting together I could make a push at my goal of a 10 handicap (I was playing a 23 at the beginning of 2020, got as low as 14.8 at the end of last summer and am currently at 16). 
 

I started looking into putter fitting, and unbeknownst to me, my wife scheduled a putter fitting for me for Father’s Day. My fitter uses trackman, he has fit all of my other clubs so I was pretty excited about it when she told me what she planned for me this morning. After all, getting properly fit last year for irons, wedges and woods helped me drastically improve my game.

He started the fitting by having me roll a few putts to get a baseline, and after 4 or 5 he asked if my miss was a pull left, which it is. He showed me some trackman numbers and suggested that my putter was the wrong lie and angle, and probably not the right weight or toe hang for my stroke. Then he started handing me putters. I’d roll a few, he’d hand me another putter and on we went. After a few different putters he asked if I’d consider something a little different, an arm lock putter. “Why not?” I said, seemed like it was worth a shot.

Once I got adjusted to the arm lock setup and took a few practice strokes, I rolled a putt. It was pure. I rolled another, pure. And another, and another. All pure. He chuckled a little bit and told me it might take some getting used to and a few minor lie and loft adjustments, but he thought it was a winner. 
 

We put it aside and tried a few others, but I kept coming back to the arm lock option. Every time I rolled a putt with it I felt like it was going to go in. The Trackman data and video backed it up too, consistent ball speed, roll %, and starting path. I’d seen enough, and after he made the adjustments, I took my new Cobra Grandsport AL to my favorite practice green to get some putts in. The ball comes off the face so pure, so clean, and it wasn’t hard to get my long distance putting pace down really quickly. All of the sudden I don’t feel anxious about putting, and I’m looking forward to seeing how my game is impacted on the course as soon as this tropical storm passes through this weekend.
 

Here are a few pictures of my new putter:

 

[Blueberry_Squishie]

Sounds like a great result for you. Goes to show the effect that fitting can have on your game. Here's to more hole rattles!

[Shapotomous]

Awesome gift by your wife!!  She probably got tired of hearing about your putting woes!!   

[Watchnut33]

48 minutes ago, Shapotomous said:

Awesome gift by your wife!!  She probably got tired of hearing about your putting woes!!   

I’m sure of it. I have 2 putting mats that I practice on at home and there have been a lot more choice words muttered around them the last few months!

[Watchnut33]

8 hours ago, Blueberry_Squishie said:

Sounds like a great result for you. Goes to show the effect that fitting can have on your game. Here's to more hole rattles!

Definitely would recommend the putter fitting to anyone considering it. My last putter was “fit” for me at a big box store and I’m fairly certain there wasn’t a single adjustment made to it, just a cursory glance at me rolling a few putts and a “yep looks like it’s the right fit”. It worked ok for 8ish years, but as I improved it became obvious I needed to be properly fit. 

[juspoole]

Great to hear how well the fitting turned out.  Putting is so much about confidence so hope that it continues on the course for you.

I tried the Cobra putters recently and agree the ball comes off the face very well.  There is something to that SIK face technology.  They only had the larger mallet in left hand and the aesthetics weren't for me.  Hoping to try the blade soon.

[Watchnut33]

47 minutes ago, juspoole said:

Great to hear how well the fitting turned out.  Putting is so much about confidence so hope that it continues on the course for you.

I tried the Cobra putters recently and agree the ball comes off the face very well.  There is something to that SIK face technology.  They only had the larger mallet in left hand and the aesthetics weren't for me.  Hoping to try the blade soon.

Yeah the descending loft technology gives it such a consistent feel off the club face that I just couldn’t ignore it. Trackman data backed it up with how little deviation I had on ball speed at impact and with my roll percentage. The confidence that gives me will be a huge boost. 

[Sluggo42]

Im looking forward to getting fit in the Edel EAS soon, and oddly one of my golf buddies was recently going on about his new armlock putter.

your new putter slightly reminds me of my old Nike converge batmobile putter- great putter, butt, you will find the stuff gets into that rear compartment youve got there…

[Dave Tutelman]

Two things made the arm-lock putter popular recently, but the concept has been around for quite a while.

1. The USGA/R&A banned anchoring, but bracing against a forearm was still legal.
2. Matt Kuchar adopted it.

As early as 2002, I built myself an arm-lock putter. It didn't go nearly as high on the arm as a modern ones, but it shared a lot of characteristics with them. At the time, it didn't stay in my bag. But I made the switch for good about 7 years ago. I built myself a few variants of the modern arm-lock, and still use the one I found best at the time Here is what I would expect you to find, at least based on my experience.

• Good news: your line is likely to be better than before.
• More good news: if you have any tendency to the yips, this is likely to ward them off. I developed the yips in my early 70s. Tried a lot of things, with varying degrees of success. The arm-lock was the most successful.
• Not-so-good news: You will have to recalibrate your distance, especially if you were a "feel" putter. You may find it hard to dial in your distance feel. Stick with it; you will probably get there. It just may take some time.

Hope this helps.

[KC Golf]

That putter looks awesome. Have never tried an arm lock but it’s definitely interesting to see it grow in popularity.

I got fitted for my Scotty last year. Tried 5 brands and both mallet and blades. Really thought I would putt better with a mallet, but the fitter showed me the data and got me onto another Scotty. 

I found from my fitting that my putts now start rolling quicker off the face based on the fitting data and my putts are heading exactly where my line is now vs my previous inconsistency on most putts. Major difference is slight adjustment to loft and longer putter length.

Have always been a decent putter, but now it’s even better. My distance control is definitely user errors and not my putter. 
 

[Mike Coker]

Recommendations for getting putter fitting?? I'm currently in western Wyoming for the summer, then down to Mesquite NV over the winter.

Thanks

[Watchnut33]

1 hour ago, KC Golf said:

That putter looks awesome. Have never tried an arm lock but it’s definitely interesting to see it grow in popularity.

I got fitted for my Scotty last year. Tried 5 brands and both mallet and blades. Really thought I would putt better with a mallet, but the fitter showed me the data and got me onto another Scotty. 

I found from my fitting that my putts now start rolling quicker off the face based on the fitting data and my putts are heading exactly where my line is now vs my previous inconsistency on most putts. Major difference is slight adjustment to loft and longer putter length.

Have always been a decent putter, but now it’s even better. My distance control is definitely user errors and not my putter. 
 

It’s funny, I never would have considered this putter without the fitting. I was set on trying to get into a Scotty or Bettinardi or Oddysey but the data just didn’t support any of those over this one. 

[Watchnut33]

15 minutes ago, Mike Coker said:

Recommendations for getting putter fitting?? I'm currently in western Wyoming for the summer, then down to Mesquite NV over the winter.

Thanks

My fitter is a locaL golf shop that uses trackman. There are other putter fitting systems out there, but I don’t have experience with those. I can definitely recommend trying to find a course or shop that uses trackman for fitting. You’re going to have to pass through Las Vegas to get to Mesquite, you could probably find some options there. 

[Mike Coker]

Roger that, and thanks for the reply. Thinking LV could be a place to start my search...... Was hoping to find a good recommendation for a known good fitter closer to my summer spot. Thanks again.

[Watchnut33]

13 minutes ago, Mike Coker said:

Roger that, and thanks for the reply. Thinking LV could be a place to start my search...... Was hoping to find a good recommendation for a known good fitter closer to my summer spot. Thanks again.

Depending on where in western Wyoming you could probably find decent options in SLC. I have a lot of family in eastern Idaho, beautiful part of the country. 

[JoshDay]

Sounds like a great experience. It'll be interesting to see how it translates on the course. Good luck and less us know!

[JonMUSC08]

i've been looking to schedule a putter fitting as well! Good to know they are helpful as they should be. Hoping to learn more about my putting issues too as im abt 35 putts/rd. 

[artful_golfer]

I recently inherited the Bettinardi armlock that @downlowkey reviewed for MyGolfSpy.  I was surprised at how much easier it is putt and I'm now a super fan of armlock. Enjoy!

[Godawgs]

glad to see you found a great fit for your putter. Congrats and have fun when the storm ends.

[Watchnut33]

Updates: 

Got back out to the practice green again yesterday after spending the last several days rolling putts in the house. Distance control is spot on for me and now that I’m getting comfortable with the arm lock and setup. 

Got out to play 18 this afternoon and all I can say is wow. I felt like I was going to make everything, rolled in a few 20 footers, lipped out a 40 footer and ended the round with 30 putts and a career low 83. This putter is going to be a game changer for me. 

[gman8966]

My brother recently was professionally fitted and ended up with a SIK putter, even after just recently purchasing a new Scotty Phantom 5.5. Since then he has been putting lights out, if he doesn't 1 putt I am surprised. I never realized putter fitting was so important, but this post reaffirms that. Thanks for the info.

[JonMUSC08]

After @Watchnut33 inspired me to finally go get a putter fitting, i scheduled my appointment yesterday to give it a go!

I went to a local fitting place near me in Charleston, SC (David Ayers Golf) where they utilized the LAB system to review my putting stroke. Real cool info to see. I attached a sensor bar to my gamer putter and putted 5 balls. Gave analysis of the tempo, speed, stroke arc, stroke path, impact on the face, face angle, and some other info. 

Come to find out I had an out-to-in stroke, my face is open, but cutting across closed to the path. 

Respectfully, my fitter did not necessarily recommend a new putter (dont tell my wife) but wanted me to work on a better putting path. He thought the putters i had worked well as any new putter would be based on personal feel. Essentially he provided some putting lessons. 

[cnosil]

7 minutes ago, JonMUSC08 said:

After @Watchnut33 inspired me to finally go get a putter fitting, i scheduled my appointment yesterday to give it a go!

I went to a local fitting place near me in Charleston, SC (David Ayers Golf) where they utilized the LAB system to review my putting stroke. Real cool info to see. I attached a sensor bar to my gamer putter and putted 5 balls. Gave analysis of the tempo, speed, stroke arc, stroke path, impact on the face, face angle, and some other info. 

Come to find out I had an out-to-in stroke, my face is open, but cutting across closed to the path. 

Respectfully, my fitter did not necessarily recommend a new putter (dont tell my wife) but wanted me to work on a better putting path. He thought the putters i had worked well as any new putter would be based on personal feel. Essentially he provided some putting lessons. 

For people that want to know the numbers and details, puttlab provides great and insightful information.   Fixing path isn’t bad if it is really inconsistent,  but face angle is really the key in determining where the ball will go.  Most people have a bias to the left or right and just like the full swing sometimes it is best to embrace that bias and not try to zero your path and possible end up with a 2 way miss. 
 

what strategy did he provide for working on path.?

[JonMUSC08]

@cnosilwe worked with a tool called the Putting Arc just to get the feel of a putting arc and not a direct straight back, straight forward swing. As much as i wanted straight back/forward, i was out to in a few degrees. Then we laid down some alignment sticks to make sure my putter didnt go above the top one or much below the bottom one. 

I have a Taylormade Spider Interactive putter which is actually used for fittings (unbeknownst to me) and the Blast Motion sensor that fits in the top gives all of the same metrics (just not the visual like the LAB system). I'll be practicing with that to get more consistent. 

[cnosil]

4 minutes ago, JonMUSC08 said:

@cnosilwe worked with a tool called the Putting Arc just to get the feel of a putting arc and not a direct straight back, straight forward swing. As much as i wanted straight back/forward, i was out to in a few degrees. Then we laid down some alignment sticks to make sure my putter didnt go above the top one or much below the bottom one. 

I have a Taylormade Spider Interactive putter which is actually used for fittings (unbeknownst to me) and the Blast Motion sensor that fits in the top gives all of the same metrics (just not the visual like the LAB system). I'll be practicing with that to get more consistent. 

Yep, no such thing as SBST unless you manipulate you arms and elbow bend. Better to accept that there is some arc and rotation.  Keep it up, sounds like you are on a path to a more sound putting stroke. 

[Middler]

6 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Yep, no such thing as SBST unless you manipulate you arms and elbow bend. Better to accept that there is some arc and rotation.  Keep it up, sounds like you are on a path to a more sound putting stroke. 

+1. For anyone who thinks they are SBST, it's easy to prove otherwise for yourself. Just put down a 2x4 or similar lined up parallel with your target line, address a ball with the heel of your putter against the 2x4 and take a stroke. Most if not all will find it feels very awkward when your putter is truly forced on a SBST path. I was shocked when I tried it. We all have an arc, it's just a matter of how much...

[JonMUSC08]

Just trying to find a way to cut off like 3-4 strokes from my scores. Eliminate the 3 putts and maybe make a few more from 10ft. 

[jayjay0808]

Probably the most overlooked aspect of fitting. Majority tend to go to a golf store pick up a putter off the rack, rolls and holes a couple putts and walks away with that putter. So many variables in a putter fitting so it is best to see a professional. Huge value for the amount of strokes it can save you.

[Watchnut33]

Another follow up here. I’ve had the new putter in the bag for 4 rounds now and I’ve never putted better than I have lately. It took me a couple weeks of practicing to get my set up in a comfortable place, and now I feel like I’m going to make every putt. Yesterday I rolled in a couple from beyond 25’ and only missed 1 from inside 10’. My misses were all close, leaving a lot of tap in clean ups. Distance control has been such a huge improvement with this putter, and the ball coming off the face is even better now that I’m really comfortable with my setup and stroke. For reference my Arccos handicap for putting yesterday was +5, whereas with my old putter it was typically anywhere from 2 to 10.

I can’t recommend strongly enough getting fitted for a putter and keeping an open mind if your fitter suggests a putter you wouldn’t have considered.