Do you have a putter with adjustable weights? Do you ever change the weights?

[Siamese Moose 781]

I got fitted for, and took possession of, a Mizuno OMOI #3 putter today. It has a weight kit. Obviously I will practice with it with different weights in it, and dial in a set I will use the most. The majority of the greens I play are pretty slow (my username in a different age was "My Greens Stimp At 2"), so I suspect it will normally be pretty heavy. However, some of my rounds will be traveling (I leave for MB on Tuesday), and I expect some fast greens. Do you change weights for this situation, or am I better off with "use what you brung"? If you make changes, how do you decide? Do you actually test? How long does that take? Can I do it before a round at the practice green? Do you just go with "the experts say use lighter weights for fast greens", and adjust accordingly? Weather permitting, I'll play in my league tomorrow and get some real play with it, but those greens are usually around 6-7, and I don't think anything in my MB rotation will be that slow. If you have any experience with this, I would greatly appreciate hearing about it!

[cnosil 26,073]

there are different schools of thought on this.  Some say lighter for faster, some say heavier for faster, and some say never change.    I personally fall into the  never change camp.  

Pretty straight forward if you want to try and experiment.  I would work through the weights and roll some 5, 10, and 20 foot putts and see how you do with distance control.  If you want to go the changing weight approach,  once you get this figured out you will just set the weight and go once you do your warmup and see how fast the greens are.  

 

Also, There was a discussion on this about a couple of weeks ago:

 

[Siamese Moose 781]

5 minutes ago, cnosil said:

there are different schools of thought on this.  Some say lighter for faster, some say heavier for faster, and some say never change.    I personally fall into the  never change camp.  

Pretty straight forward if you want to try and experiment.  I would work through the weights and roll some 5, 10, and 20 foot putts and see how you do with distance control.  If you want to go the changing weight approach,  once you get this figured out you will just set the weight and go once you do your warmup and see how fast the greens are.  

 

Also, There was a discussion on this about a couple of weeks ago:

 

I missed that thread, thanks for linking it!

[Puttingmatt 44]

Having putter weights allows for  various set up changes that can be beneficial.

Its all about choices, fits my needs 

 

 

[russtopherb 9,718]

I do have adjustable weights in my current putter in the bag, and no I have not messed with them at all.

[bens197 12,799]

1 hour ago, russtopherb said:

I do have adjustable weights in my current putter in the bag, and no I have not messed with them at all.

Same.  The moment I picked mine up I knew it was exactly what I wanted out of a putter.  Zero need to toy around.

[MNUte 383]

And I'm in the camp of find that one club that works for you and learn how to use it to its fullest rather than learning how to alter it to the conditions. I have an Odyssey White Hot Pro 2.0 blade putter with no weights and I love it. Then again, I've been using it for years on everything from cow patches to pro speed greens, so it could be more the comfort with the club than the club itself at this point. 

[mtcowdog 7]

I have tried out different weights with an m-craft putter (comes with weight kit) and odyssey putters (picked up weight kit online). I like to find what feels best and appreciate that opportunity in a putter. 

[tony@CIC 22,660]

I have an Odyssey O Works and I've played around with different weights but haven't seen a notable difference in sinking putts. Maybe just marketing hype?

[BIG STU 11,114]

Technically yes technically no---- My old Santa Fe does not have weight ports so I am not allergic to lead tape. I do use a SS 3XL and I could counter weight if I wanted but I pretty well balanced it out for my feel like it is. As long as the Indian wielding it does ok it works fine and dandy and like MNUte I have used it on everything from Championship Caliber bent greens to goat ranch greens

[OssiansFolly 3]

Didn't your fitter go through all of this and set up the optimal weights for you? I can move mine (just like my driver), but I don't because once I get fit they did the work and have the tools to make it proper. 

[Bob Pegram 18]

I use a Rife Switchback Two putter which has adjustable weights. I usually use the same red weights all the time. Each set of weights is a different color so it is easy to see at a glance which ones are on the putter (blue are 2 5 grams weights, red two 10 gram weights, and black two 15 gram weights). However if I am going to play a course with very fast greens and don't have hours to get used to the speed I will switch to the blue lighter weights. I will take the weight kit with me to the course and figure out which ones work the best on the practice green. I assume it is the same speed as on the course. I want to use about the same stroke as usual so the lighter weights make the ball go about the same distance as I am used to.

Depending on your type of stroke - gravity driven pendulum or more mechanical - you could do better on faster greens with a heavier or a lighter putter (usually in that order - heavier for pendulum stroke and lighter for mnechanicsl stroke).

Do some experimentation to see which works for you and whether you should switch weights at all..

[GPS111 15]

There is some merit in " use what you bring".  Before all of the advancements, like the ability to adjust, that's what we had to do.  I have adjustable weights in my putter and set them to compensate for my tendency to close the face at impact (heel and toe are different weights). Other than that I leave them alone.  I would need to know a whole lot more than I do about anticipating how I might perform on any set of greens and understand how to adjust accordingly for every set of circumstances.  For me setting the  weight for a swing I can trust did me the most good.  Knowing that made it a lot easier to adjust my pace for speed of greens.

[Jim N 15]

I have a putter with adjustable weights. Tried all the combinations and decided it worked best with the original setup. For me, changing the weights would mean having to practice a lot with the putter before playing to figure out how pacing and distance are affected, for days or a week or more, rather than simply using the practice green prior to a round and adjusting my touch.

FWIW, I'm a fairly good putter in general who has almost always used blade style putters. I'm not comfortable using a putter that feels as heavy as most mallets, which might account for opting to adjust touch rather than equipment.

[Breakfast Ball 2]

I found it would get in my head more if I kept thinking about changing weights and instead found the best setup and kept it moving. 

[Subdiver1 56]

On 4/24/2022 at 6:26 PM, Siamese Moose said:

I got fitted for, and took possession of, a Mizuno OMOI #3 putter today. It has a weight kit. Obviously I will practice with it with different weights in it, and dial in a set I will use the most. The majority of the greens I play are pretty slow (my username in a different age was "My Greens Stimp At 2"), so I suspect it will normally be pretty heavy. However, some of my rounds will be traveling (I leave for MB on Tuesday), and I expect some fast greens. Do you change weights for this situation, or am I better off with "use what you brung"? If you make changes, how do you decide? Do you actually test? How long does that take? Can I do it before a round at the practice green? Do you just go with "the experts say use lighter weights for fast greens", and adjust accordingly? Weather permitting, I'll play in my league tomorrow and get some real play with it, but those greens are usually around 6-7, and I don't think anything in my MB rotation will be that slow. If you have any experience with this, I would greatly appreciate hearing about it!

I read though this as I was reading other articles/posts and when I caught your comment on putter weight to speed matching it rang some faint recollection of the exact opposite; so I did some more reading.  Seems that depending on who you talk to, there can be conflicting schools of thought; below is a link to one pro who believes heavier for faster (which happen to agree with; but then I just like a heavier putter).

https://www.csgalinks.org/content/csga/links-lessons-weight-gain-for-speed-control

Anyway, whichever way you go I personally believe that putter weight is all personal.  Nothing wrong with having a few generic "rules of thumb" to start with, but in the end what works better for you may not be what works for the general population.

May the wind be always at your back and may the rain hold off until you are back in the club house, 

[sg419 26]

It is personal preference 

I have a PXG with the Weight kit and change the weights to make it lighter when playing fast greens.

I played around with the weights and ended up ordering extra weights because the standard weights in the kit didn't work out for me

Trial and error

They are no correct answers

 

 

[BIG STU 11,114]

On 5/7/2022 at 1:28 AM, Subdiver1 said:

I read though this as I was reading other articles/posts and when I caught your comment on putter weight to speed matching it rang some faint recollection of the exact opposite; so I did some more reading.  Seems that depending on who you talk to, there can be conflicting schools of thought; below is a link to one pro who believes heavier for faster (which happen to agree with; but then I just like a heavier putter).

https://www.csgalinks.org/content/csga/links-lessons-weight-gain-for-speed-control

Anyway, whichever way you go I personally believe that putter weight is all personal.  Nothing wrong with having a few generic "rules of thumb" to start with, but in the end what works better for you may not be what works for the general population.

May the wind be always at your back and may the rain hold off until you are back in the club house, 

It can be very subjectable like most of golf---- What works for me may or may not work for you---- When it comes down to brass tacks especially on putting it is what feels right to you and what you have confidence in no matter how you choose to do it. No really etched in stone correct answer here either. You just have to experiment to see what works for you

[thegolfgal 88]

I have a PXG Closer 2 and I have the weight kit.  After putting with it I pretty much made it as heavy as possible.  If I played on lightening fast greens all of the time lighter may be better but since it is usually rare I will just bring an extra lighter putter along in case I run into slick greens on a road trip.  Love my closer BTW!  

[Stephen1125 46]

I have changed weights several times but there always seems to be one “magic” weight that works best for me. I’ve heard of swapping for green speeds too but never actually done it.

this thread has renewed my curiosity.