A Swiss Company: Single Putt

[GolfSpy_APH]

A little back story…
A few months ago I joined the Swiss Golf Association with a Migro membership. Basically the simplest way to get an official handicap here which is required to play most courses. A side perk was I received a Swiss Golf Magazine delivered to my address. As I am still learning German I eagerly read through it and noticed a few brands I had never seen before. One of particular interest was Single Putt.

I went to their site and posted about it on our Underrated and/or Unknown thread about them. A niche putter company that is relatively new to the market as they were founded in 2019 and an entirely swiss made company. 

With them being located a mere half hour from where I live I figured it would be a great opportunity to reach out and see if I could come by and get to know a little more about the company and this very nice putter (which comes in both right and left hand!) which for me being a lefty was a huge perk. 

A quick email later and a near immediate response we had a date and time setup for me to swing by and get a tour of the facility as well as the chance to demo some putters and discuss more about the brand. 

The Visit…
After some typical Zurich traffic, a missed exit and about 45 minutes of driving in heavy traffic I made it to their shop. Daniel (the owner) owns a production workshop that specializes in making various parts for medical equipment, valves and a whole lot more. The shop itself is tucked between some other buildings and is a pretty good size with several CNC machines and a back area where the putters were assembled and a little office area. 

I wasn’t sure what to expect when going there if this was going to be a little retail outlet or what, but when I saw that it was the actual shop and that is where everything was made, my eyes lit up. The fact it was the start to finish shop for the product really added to the experience not to mention the staff and Daniel were super friendly and easy to talk to.

During a brief tour through the shop and after some introductions we discussed the story about the origins of the company. It is family owned and run with his sons and wife all being avid golfers. Daniel mentioned it was one of the things he loves about golf is that they can play as a family. He also mentioned that he had seen his friends who were good golfers play well and lose a ton of strokes on the green with putting and got the idea for making a new putter which would help. Certainly a benefit having all the tools at your disposal they had various prototypes and different thoughts on what to do, including a circle style 3D insert (think Odyssey RedBall), but ultimately ended up going with the 3 line design for aiding in overall alignment as well as being a consistent visual aid for golfers. 

They own the patent for this design and also have their official R&A newsletter with the approval for the putter. This I found really cool as he showed me the original putter which was not approved because it had a flat side. Apparently (I did not know this) this is not conforming as the side of the putter could be used as well so they updated the design to show this notch in the side. 

Non conforming

Conforming

Seeing everything built in house and being able to talk to the owner and go through the process to me is very unique and adds to the experience of purchasing a putter. With so many options from colors, weights, insert/face choice, length, grip  and more you can truly make a perfect putter for you. There is no big fancy SAM Lab or computer for fitting, but a simple putting matt and cup for testing. However he is designing a clippable laser to attach to the putter in order to help better first customers. They also adjust the lie angle for each individual so that their putter is properly spec’d for them. 

The Putter…
After going through many of the ins and the outs of the putters, their story, designs and more we got to the putters and testing them. 

I first tested the aluminium faced mod. This one has the inset slide into a slot behind the face and honestly I loved the feel of it. The sound was what I came to expect with the metal face and with the grooves it was responsive and not too hard. In this model we had the lighter weights and it was at 35” which is my typical playing length. 

The PMMA inserted face on the other hand had a completely different feel and sound. I was honestly expecting it to be much closer to my whitehot face with that softer feel, but was surprised with how firm it felt. And by firm I do not mean hard, but firm much closer to a metal face then the whitehot face or other softer inserted putter faces. It also had a much higher pitch than I had expected. The pitch was more of what I would come to expect from a metal face vs a composite type face. It also had a good amount of pop off the face. It was still grooved as you can see in the photos, but I would say rolled a good 10% further than the aluminium face. Now I will say with heavier weights this could have played a part as well. 

We were using their Single Putt 3 piece golf balls which I do have now and will look to cut open to see what it is like inside, that is also likely for another later article/comparison. However I would compare it to a Srixon Z star type feel. 

Both faces felt great and I am sure that I could have dialed them in a little more as I certainly preferred the lighter feel (again going back to stroke lab I am more used to a counter balanced putter). With 2 weight options (65gram heavy and 40gram light for totals of 130g and 80g) there really is a lot of options to find the weight and even though it is naturally a face balanced putter I believe you could make it slightly toe hanged if you wanted!  

I have gone all this way and yet to touch on the main selling point of this putter! The insert with 3D lines. What can I say it works as advertised and is a great visual aid as well as posture aid. The way it sets up feels very natural and not forced. The alignment both left and right and eyes over the ball work harmoniously and outside of getting used to the speed of the putters/mat I never felt as though my alignment was off or that I was going to miss left or right with a good stroke. Of course with the exception of a few pulled putts with the heavier putter nearly all went on their intended line. 

Below: Over the Top Sight Line with proper angle. 

Below: Sight Line toe up or putter too far away from you (white line moves under closest orange line)

Below: Sight line Toe down or too far overtop of the putter/putter too close to body and white sight line under far orange line.

The bottom of the putter is pretty basic and plain. No branding or anything flashy, but still does look elegant to me with the cnc milling lines and leaves some level of mystery to the putter when looking at it from the bottom.

The shaft itself is a typical steel shaft. They can cut to length for the customer and I was fortunate that I used a 35” putter and both demos I tried were 35”. They have several grip options being the superstroke 3.0 or 2.0 and also have their own Single Putt grip. Their house grip would be the one I would lean towards if I was to make the purchase. 

Putter Customization…
This is a huge selling point to this putter. As I’ve already talked about specs for customization I’ll leave that out and get to the fun stuff. 

Colors colors and more colors! Although they have some limited options on their website if there is a color you really want they can do and make it for you. They can also engrave various logos, put diamonds on the face and a whole lot more to make it a completely unique putter to you. 

This also includes the lines within the insert. The price for the putter is quite costly, however with the attention to detail, level of customization and keeping in mind the price for golf and golfing equipment in Switzerland it really isn’t that far out. 

There are also options for headcovers which again are hand made by a family member within the company. 

Wrap Up...
To finish off I just want to say thank you to Daniel at Single Putt for taking the time out of his morning to talk and go over everything about the putter, his company and everything else. It was really cool to go and see how it was all made and the fact they do it all in house to me is just impressive. The putter also really works and feels great. To have that many options from colors, weights, insert vs metal is simply impressive to me. 

I hope you all enjoyed reading this and check out their website if not just to read a bit more about their story and let me know what type of putter you would pick or what colors would suit you the best! 

 

[Peaksy68]

I’d be interested to see how they compare to my Swiss MLA

[GolfSpy_APH]

MLA has seemingly give MIA over the last while.

[Josh Ross]

This is pretty cool! Being that I'm so close to a few golf companies I've always wanted to do a tour so I'm envious of your experience. I may have missed it, but how does David fit in with Daniel and the rest of the family pictured? So cool that the whole thing is family run!

[GolfSpy_APH]

8 minutes ago, Josh Ross said:

This is pretty cool! Being that I'm so close to a few golf companies I've always wanted to do a tour so I'm envious of your experience. I may have missed it, but how does David fit in with Daniel and the rest of the family pictured? So cool that the whole thing is family run!

That would be me and some baby brain. Ivan is going through sleep regression and i wrote that at 2am. Thanks for pointing it out and i fixed it!

[Josh Ross]

22 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

That would be me and some baby brain. Ivan is going through sleep regression and i wrote that at 2am. Thanks for pointing it out and i fixed it!

Oh. I was genuinely interested in how he fit in with the family, haha. Baby brain is a real thing!

[TheCanadianBogeyman]

Those look great.  I love the sight lines.  A little pricey for me to give a try without having the putter in hand, but hopefully we see them in North America in the future to give a shot.

[cksurfdude]

4 hours ago, Peaksy68 said:

I’d be interested to see how they compare to my Swiss MLA

..was thinking the same thing...

4 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

MLA has seemingly give MIA over the last while.

..and that's too bad...

Still have the MLA mallet from a forum test a few years back, and still like it and use it.

[GolfSpy SAM]

What an awesome experience! Thanks for taking the time to make this happen, and thanks to Daniel (and family) for getting you in there to show it to us.  Can you explain a little further about the 3D alignment aid?  Is the idea that the center line is visible when you're properly situated over the ball, or that it's hidden?  I'm guessing that it's something like once it's centered between the outer two lines, you're in the "right" spot?  For golfers who putt with eyes outside/inside the ball, is this maneuverable, or would they just need to adjust what they see as "middling" the line so they know they're in the "right" spot for them?  

Really like the look of these things - fun stuff!

[GolfSpy BOS]

So which one did you order!? haha

full custom... I'm guessing orange for the main color?  Super cool story and interesting tech too.

[GolfSpy_APH]

2 hours ago, Samsonite said:

What an awesome experience! Thanks for taking the time to make this happen, and thanks to Daniel (and family) for getting you in there to show it to us.  Can you explain a little further about the 3D alignment aid?  Is the idea that the center line is visible when you're properly situated over the ball, or that it's hidden?  I'm guessing that it's something like once it's centered between the outer two lines, you're in the "right" spot?  For golfers who putt with eyes outside/inside the ball, is this maneuverable, or would they just need to adjust what they see as "middling" the line so they know they're in the "right" spot for them?  

Really like the look of these things - fun stuff!

So the alignment aid works for posture over the ball with the 3 lines being equal and no overlap (I tried to show in the sequence of photos) the middle line is normally white and the outer lines are custom colors. The middle line is lower in the insert (you can see this in the photo of the non metal face) so if it too toe up or down it will be under the outer lines. Hope that makes sense. 

[GolfSpy SAM]

36 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

So the alignment aid works for posture over the ball with the 3 lines being equal and no overlap (I tried to show in the sequence of photos) the middle line is normally white and the outer lines are custom colors. The middle line is lower in the insert (you can see this in the photo of the non metal face) so if it too toe up or down it will be under the outer lines. Hope that makes sense. 

Total sense - I'm pretty sure I could have figured that out, but I have a tendency to over-complicate things like that, and thought I'd be better suited to having it spoon-fed to me, lol. It's a really smart invention - I know companies have toyed with things like this in the past, but it's a clever implementation.  

[fixyurdivot]

Great write-up Jamie! That the company is a family affair is cool.

[Clay5477]

"Quite costly"... How much?

[GolfSpy_APH]

1 hour ago, Clay5477 said:

"Quite costly"... How much?

From 600 usd

[GPS111]

Very good article and description. Being there and having a tour generates enthusiasm and excitement for what you are seeing.

Factory tours are a great influence to purchasing decisions and that is what they are for.  Everything looks good in the place where it is made, especially when the owner is the tour guide.  You do gain a lot of insight but proof of product is not in the the glamour of the tour but in use on the course.  I agree it looks good from a great article but with a hefty starting price of $640 US it is a risky price to pay to find out and a high price to try and break into a market where putters that cost half that are are winning on tour and in pro shops and on the local courses. 

Knowing I won't pay between $600-700 for a putter will be the thing that keeps me from trying it.

Three years in business so far and working in a shop the size of an office.  Not a negative but what are his sales volumes?  How many is he selling and who is using any?  Did you buy one?  Or do sales say he stays a boutique item working in a shop the size of an office? Just making them is an invention, not a success.  

[GolfSpy_APH]

16 minutes ago, GPS111 said:

Very good article and description. Being there and having a tour generates enthusiasm and excitement for what you are seeing.

Factory tours are a great influence to purchasing decisions and that is what they are for.  Everything looks good in the place where it is made, especially when the owner is the tour guide.  You do gain a lot of insight but proof of product is not in the the glamour of the tour but in use on the course.  I agree it looks good from a great article but with a hefty starting price of $640 US it is a risky price to pay to find out and a high price to try and break into a market where putters that cost half that are are winning on tour and in pro shops and on the local courses. 

Knowing I won't pay between $600-700 for a putter will be the thing that keeps me from trying it.

Three years in business so far and working in a shop the size of an office.  Not a negative but what are his sales volumes?  How many is he selling and who is using any?  Did you buy one?  Or do sales say he stays a boutique item working in a shop the size of an office? Just making them is an invention, not a success.  

We didn't go into sales numbers. He mentioned they were a little less this year vs last year, however something important to understand that everything in Switzerland is expensive. A box of Pro V1 is closer to 80 USD here. Many putters in shops are in the 500 USD range. Other clubs are the same way as wages here are much higher than other countries. There is also a lot of national pride and with only a few places that produce their own products here in Switzerland he certainly has that home market to draw on. 

I did no purchase one as I was more interested in the story and seeing what it was all about. Plus my strokelab is a stellar putter for me which is the best part of my game. I will say that when I do purchase a new one I will be giving them strong consideration. 

Their operation is a good size. I couldn't say what it is in square feet or anything, but it certainly isn't small. I hope to see more of them around and also hope to see his company grow. As with many I'm sure it will take time and the golf club market is a tough one to break into, but from what I see they have a product that works well, customer service to back it up, customization to make the product standout and a market where many will enjoy having something that is made here in Switzerland. 

Time will tell! 

Just looked up retail prices on some putters nearly all were $400 plus and a lot of scottys and others were well over $500 so yes they are a bit more, but it has the features mentioned above to set it apart enough to justify the $100 or so increase. 

[GPS111]

It is worth keeping my eye on.  The concept is interesting.  I'm interested to see how and where it hits the US and any costs.  Watching to see if it hits the tour as well.  Swiss PGA has about 400 members and DP World Tour has a stop in Switzerland.  Have seen a couple names here but no one regularly playing in the US.

[Hakr4ever]

Great article! Very interesting