2023 MGS Forum Member Test Garsen Putter Grip - MAX

[GolfSpy_APH]

Testers Announced for MAX Putter grip from Garsen!

 

“Innovation, with a Twist”

The Garsen MAX grip features the most substantial innovation in putter grip technology in the history of golf. By using a square grip with a 45% rotation, the “front” of the grip now becomes an angled area perfectly fitting the players’ grip and creating a much more biomechanically efficient position for the putting stroke. This simple, yet highly effective, grip innovation is the fastest way to immediately improve your putting.

Please welcome and congratulate our 4 testers for this grip!

@Blueberry_Squishie
@Caddie1966
@Subdiver1
@Ben Joest

These testers will be doing their main review on this product, but will be receiving all 3 of the grips from Garsen!

[Blueberry_Squishie]

Hello to all of the MGS Forum members,

 

I’m Michael and have previously tested the Puttout training set a couple of years ago. I have been playing golf since 1998 but up until 5 years ago, it was quite casually but then I decided to join a course. Ever since it has been a round per week on average but then some vacation periods I spend more time at the course than some of the staff.

 

I am a member at Werribee Park Golf Club which is about 30km to the south-west of Melbourne. My most recent purchase was a set of iron covers because my golf cart is a bit jumpy getting around the course. They’ve stopped the obscene clattering that was driving me mad. I just have to convince every other member to make the change so the course can be a lot more peaceful.

 

With testing and reviewing, I’m going to keep it simple – is it aiding my putting stroke? I think there are two elements to a putting stroke; start line and distance control. I will also test to see how the grip stands up to marsupial mucus. I am realistic that a grip isn’t likely to have a gigantic impact on my putting stroke (maybe I'll be surprised) but if I can see improvements in these two areas, then it’s a winner. I regularly use the challenges within the Wellputt app and I have the Puttout trainer from a previous test so will use those extensively. With the Max grip, having a ridge on the front of the grip is something I have never tried so I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes. Seems like it could help keep the face under control.

 

I got my grips in the mail about a day ago and am working through my first impressions, so fire away with any early questions.

Edited May 6 by Blueberry_Squishie

[Caddie1966]

As a baseball obsessed 12 year old my exposure to golf was to chase down balls hit OB at a muni by my house and sell them back to the players who hit them out.  In April of 1966, I hitchhiked 15 miles for the first time to and from a private course and started caddying on Saturday and Sunday.  When school ended for summer, I hitched a ride 7 days a week; caddying Tuesday through Sunday, often 36/day and played 36-54 with the other caddies each Monday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.  I fell in love with Golf back then and have been infatuated ever since.

Like Danny Noonan from Caddyshack, I focused on earning an Evans Scholarship so I could attend college.  Unlike Danny, I did earn the scholarship to Michigan State where I briefly continued my baseball career.  After my freshman year, pro baseball was not in the cards, so I played ball only in the summer, studied harder and played more golf.

I introduced my wife to Golf shortly after we married in 1974.  49 years later, she still plays and enjoys new courses as we travel the US.  We moved to Texas in 1994 where I taught my daughters to play well enough that they both played on HS teams that qualified for the State Championship.  I am now teaching my youngest Grandson to play.  I play to an index of 8 now as a 70 year old but was as low as 3.7 in my late 40s.  I retired in 2017 and play 3-4 times each week and walk 120+ rounds each year in North Texas.  
 

Putting has always been my Achilles heel. Over the past few years, I have developed the Yips inside 10 feet.  My fault is right hand and right elbow breakdown on short putts.  I have been a conventional grip guy for almost 60 years and have NEVER stroked a putt with anything else.  My average putts per round have increased from 29 or 1.6 to 32 putts or 1.8 per hole in the past 3 years.  My birdie count has dropped significantly from over 1.3 per round in 2020 to 1.15 in 2021 to .925 in 2022.  This decline is primarily due to putting inside 10 feet. 3 putts have gone from 5% to 7% in that same stretch.  

My selection to test the Garsen MAX came the same day I had scheduled a switch to a super soft oversize at my proshop. Serendipity?  The only exposure I had to Garsen prior to this test was checking out Tony Finau’s bright green grip with his logo during the Dell WGC this year and learning that Garsen had quite a few wins on the PGA and LPGA tours.  I did not focus on the three grip selections, as I wasn’t considering a grip change until very recently.  
 

I am changing my gamer, an Odyssey EXO7 to the Garsen MAX.  I want to see if my hand and elbow integrity improves with this new grip.   I am going to have the new grip installed with air so I can swap out to the Ultimate and QUAD Tour without cutting the grips off.  I’ve been a stats guy since I collected baseball cards as a kid.  I plan to log my results with the current EXO7 grip and the MAX as follows:

3 rounds each at my home track, pacing off each putt and logging makes, misses, break direction and short, left or right on the misses.  Home putting mat performance from 4 and 8 feet. Putting green testing from 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 feet, logging the same as I do during the rounds I play. Reducing my average putts from 32 and making more inside 10 feet while improving my hand and arm integrity will assure the Garsen MAX stays in the bag.

 

Edited May 10 by Caddie1966

[Subdiver1]

  I learned “soft hands” around the green and a decent putting stroke playing golf in southern New England in the 70s-80s.  Had I been smart enough to listen to coaches when I was a kid who knows where my game could have become; I may have even qualified to play for a community college or maybe the Bob’s Big Boy Tour . I’ve been playing primarily in WA State for the last couple of decades and my handicap has ranged from a low of 4 a couple of years back, to currently in the mid-7s.  I’d been gaming a Callaway BJ-1, what I thought would be my forever putter, since around 1988.  But, an equipment upgrade a couple of years ago got me thinking maybe I should “do a little something” with my putter too (yeah I know, don’t fix what ain’t broke right).

  I’ve pretty much always used the same set-up and putting stroke; standard grip, slightly open stance, ball off the front heel, straight back and through; I feel like this set up allows me to come straight back and through the ball best and see the line.  I admit to some bias when I started my putter search, 1. Had to be a blade, and 2. Big grips were more of a gimmick than a potential benefit.  Enter the Evnroll ER2 and of course, a larger grip.  DAMN! There might just be something to this large grip thing (ironically, I have been playing oversize grips on all my clubs for quite a while).

  I have no background with Garsen and other than my former bias against large putter grips I have no bias for or against the company or the product; my interest is in improving my game; Ummm…I might be a little competitive.  So, why did Garsen pique my interest?  I didn’t pay too much attention to the couple of articles I’d seen until I received an email offer for all three grips for $79 a couple of weeks past.  Hmmm…three?  Why three?  Does golf ever stop costing more $$? WAIT!  Is that grip really DIAMOND shaped???  Hmmm, that looks like it might be comfortable.  Life took over and I missed the window for that deal; then the MGS opportunity popped up; serendipity???

  Garsen claims the Max grip creates a much more biomechanically efficient position for the putting stroke.  One reviewer mentioned that the Quad, “promoted a flat left wrist and square contact,” which might end up fitting my grip and putting style better than the Max, but the Max is my initial focus.  By Shot Scope and an App I use I average 1.8 putts per round.  The goal to keep the Max, or one of the others, is 1.6 or better and no 3 putts.  But, if it feels better and promotes consistent hand position, it still stands a chance.

I bought another ER2 for testing.  I plan to start comparing feel between my current Evnroll Gravity Grip and the Garsen MAX.  From there testing on my Birdie Ball mat, then to the course.  Can’t wait to get started! 

Edited May 7 by Subdiver1

[Ben Joest]

Introduction
My dad grew up one of seven children, with five brothers and a sister. This is relevant because three of those brothers, along with a brother-in-law and my dad would play golf during our weeklong family gatherings. During one of these weeks, around the time I turned twelve, my uncle handed me a nine iron and a ball. I was obsessed with baseball and said something to the effect of “this isn’t a bat.” His response, “No, it’s better.,” aroused my curiosity so I set the ball down and took my best baseball swing. If this were the movies, the ball would have left the club in a high, tight draw and nestled softly a hundred-twenty yards away, while the cheers and adulation of my family washed over me amidst cries of “My God! The boy is a natural!”

Alas, the swing I put on that ball produced a low burner that never got ten feet off the ground, though it did go about eighty yards. I looked to my uncle after I hit it for a reaction, but he was already walking towards my dad. Hustling to catch up, I overheard my uncle tell my dad, “He will be fine. He already hits it further than Al does.” They laughed, and with that I was drafted into the family tee times.

Thus began, what has been a lifelong love affair with the grand old game. Like any good love story, it has been filled with the highest peaks (breaking eighty, Eagles, hole-outs from a hundred yards)  and the lowest valleys (six-putting a green, far too many moments of quiet contemplation over how long it would take for my golf bag and clubs to sink to the bottom of a water hazard). Fast forward thirty-two years and I am a forty-four-year-old father of three. Two girls and a boy, ages ten, eight, and four. They instill in me a sense of purpose, that most parents understand but very few can explain. It is what compels me to pass along my love for golf to them and thus far they have been quite receptive, probably because they know it aggravates their mother to no end. I am raising three little contrarians. We live just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio.

My handicap hovers between eight and ten. My putting has never been a strength or a weakness, it has always just been there. When I signed up for this test, I was unfamiliar with Garsen. I have since learned they offer three unique grips, which are all markedly different from the super strokes I have been gaming for the last decade plus. In December, I purchased a perfect practice putting mat, so my plan to evaluate the Max involves the mat, a practice green at the local practice facility and real-time feedback from playing rounds, including a round with @Siamese Moose. Because putting has never been a priority, I look forward to focusing my attention on these grips and by default, my stroke.

Unboxing/Initial Thoughts

The USPS envelope was waiting patiently in the mailbox for me when I got home yesterday. The contents revealed, upon opening, to be a nice letter from Bernerd Garsen, 2 quality stickers, and the 3 grips of my choosing.

 

I opted for the red/black Max, the green Ultimate, and the tapered Quad Tour. My initial impressions of these grips are positive. The materials look and feel to be of a high quality. The feature of the Max grip is the spine that runs down the center of the face of the grip.

As you can see, I wasted no time getting these grips on my putters. After some consideration, I have decided to install each grip on a different putter concurrently , rather than installing each grip on the same putter consecutively. My rationale is that it will allow more time, within the testing window, with each of the grips for comparative purposes. Also, I picked a putter for each grip that I thought would work well together. Part of the fun will be determining whether my instincts were correct.

For the Max, I chose my current gamer:

Evnroll ER7v

For the Quad Tour I chose:

Scotty Cameron California Monterey

For the Ultimate I chose:

Odyssey White Hot OG Rossie

With the lineup chosen, it is now time to get down to testing!

 

 

[Josh Ross]

Huge congrats, now the fun begins!

[sirchunksalot]

Congratulations testers! 

[cojobro77]

4 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Testers Announced for MAX Putter grip from Garsen!

 

“Innovation, with a Twist”

The Garsen MAX grip features the most substantial innovation in putter grip technology in the history of golf. By using a square grip with a 45% rotation, the “front” of the grip now becomes an angled area perfectly fitting the players’ grip and creating a much more biomechanically efficient position for the putting stroke. This simple, yet highly effective, grip innovation is the fastest way to immediately improve your putting.

Please welcome and congratulate our 4 testers for this grip!

@Blueberry_Squishie
@Caddie1966
@Subdiver1
@Ben Joest

These testers will be doing their main review on this product, but will be receiving all 3 of the grips from Garsen!

Way to go gents! Let us know how these perform!

[xOldBenKenobiX]

5 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Testers Announced for MAX Putter grip from Garsen!

 

“Innovation, with a Twist”

The Garsen MAX grip features the most substantial innovation in putter grip technology in the history of golf. By using a square grip with a 45% rotation, the “front” of the grip now becomes an angled area perfectly fitting the players’ grip and creating a much more biomechanically efficient position for the putting stroke. This simple, yet highly effective, grip innovation is the fastest way to immediately improve your putting.

Please welcome and congratulate our 4 testers for this grip!

@Blueberry_Squishie
@Caddie1966
@Subdiver1
@Ben Joest

These testers will be doing their main review on this product, but will be receiving all 3 of the grips from Garsen!

Congrats testers 

[Jnoble89]

Congrats testers! 

[GolfSpy TCB]

Congratulations

@Blueberry_Squishie
@Caddie1966
@Subdiver1
@Ben Joest

Looking forward to your testing and results!

 

[Ben Joest]

It is an honor to be selected for this test. I appreciate the faith that is being placed on a relatively new face and I can’t wait to get started! Let’s Go!!!!

Big congrats to my fellow testers!

[MDGolfHacker]

Congratulations testers!

[tdroma98]

Congratulations Testers!! 

[Berg Ryman]

having done something similar to this with a SS2 from Superstroke back in the day, I wonder how our testers will appreciate the new feel. Can't wait to see how it works for everyone!

[RjGolf4Life]

Congratulations testers!

[Caddie1966]

Excited to be included and to get started on the testing process. I’ve been a conventional putting grip guy all my life so this should be fun.

[Blueberry_Squishie]

Just posted my introduction. I also got my grips in the mail so will be getting the Max installed this week and will share my first impressions soon.

[Ben Joest]

I have added my unboxing photos and some initial thoughts/photos. This is gonna be fun!

[ChitownM2]

1 hour ago, Ben Joest said:

I have added my unboxing photos and some initial thoughts/photos. This is gonna be fun!

Which of the grips is closest to the original grip on the Evnroll in your opinion?