Putter Fitting at True Spec

[Butta.Cutz]

I thought I’d share my experience doing a putter fitting at True Spec earlier this year, now that I’ve had a chance to roll the new putter for a while…

I was fortunate enough to win a Fitting at True Spec that included a custom fit putter. I was beyond stoked. My gamer is a Scotty Select Newport 2.5 that I’ve had for a few years now. I love it, and average anywhere between 28-32 putts a round. I have few complaints with my current setup, but was hoping to get some of the more intricate details and numbers as I bought my Scotty straight off the shelf. 
I made sure to practice my stroke before hand both at the putting green, and on a practice putting mat I have at home to make sure my numbers and performance would be as accurate as possible. 

When I walked in, I was greeted by the fitter (who knew I was being given a free putter for nothing) and we got to work straight away. He took my current putter and took some measurements to have a baseline to start off of. He asked my preferences and I told him that I was very interested in the data, and would go into it with no bias. I wanted something purely based on the numbers. 

He had me roll about 10 putts from 10ft and I only missed one. He looked at the numbers and was honest with me. He said “If you were trying to pay for this fitting to buy a new putter, I’d sent you right back out that door because those numbers are going to be pretty tough to beat” (I didn’t know whether to be happy, or disappointed because while putting isn’t a huge weakness in my game, I wanted a definitive “this one will help you shave x amount of strokes” type of result). He said told me my current numbers would be tough to beat, but there was a few things we could maybe tweak in a new setup. 

He started me out on the Bettinardi BB1F putter. I rolled about 10 putts and the numbers were pretty similar to my Scotty. The main difference was that I was launching my Scotty with backspin as I like to forward press, and the BB1F was rolling forward out the gate.
Next up was the Odyssey Toulon Atlanta. I rolled ten more here and it felt good, but the numbers showed the Efficiency was down from 1.64, to 1.58, and the face angle was a full degree more off than the Betti, and my Scotty. So we moved on.

Next up was the Evnroll ERV2. This was one I was most excited to try after reading the reviews from MGS, and Rick Shiels. However I struggled the most with this one. Face angle was -1.4 degrees on average, and it had the lowest efficiency out of any of the putters we tried. I was surprised, and a little disappointed at the results. (10 putts is not enough to go off of in my opinion, and I think if I had a few more rolls, I could have adjusted to it) but we moved onto the next and what would end up being the final putter.

The Bettinardi Innovai Rev 8.0. I rolled 10 putts with this and made 10/10. I tend to prefer blade putters over mallets, but as you will see in my results below, I don’t consistently strike the ball in the middle of the face, so I was willing to try a mallet in hope of not losing speed on off-center hits. I will admit that this wasn’t the most appealing putter to my eye, but after rolling a few more, and then a couple more with an inch shorter shaft (35”) this seemed to be close to the winning putter. I think the fitter went with this one as well because he said earlier that “since you already have a blade putter, and roll it pretty good, why don’t we give you something completely different and see how you like it?” Below are the results.

We ended up going with the Innovai 8.0 with 4* of loft, and a shaft length of 35.5 as he said I have a tendency to get a little too over the ball, so he thought the extra .5” would help back me off a touch. 

We could have rolled a million different putters, and in truth, I would have liked to roll 1 or 2 more, but time was up and I was happy overall with the results. 

Fast forward a few months of having the new flat stick, and I have to admit that I’m not completely sold on it being my go to gamer. I tend to find myself gravitating more towards my Scotty, and it’s what I’m most comfortable with, and I think the blade putters just appeal more to my eye when lining up putts. I still need to give the Betti more of a chance, and force myself to commit to it for a period of time so I can give it a fair shake. I really do like it a lot. It feels great off the face, and I have noticed I’m not leaving as many putts short with off-center hits, so I think there’s a place in the bag for it if I practice with it enough to feel confident.  


 

Let me know what you think of the numbers, your personal preference between blade/mallet, and how long of a true trial run you would give a new putter before going back to “ole trusty”

[DanInGA]

I had a similar experience at PGA superstore at the studio fitting a few weeks ago. I was rolling my old odyssey. O-works seven tank, and we couldn’t seem to find anything that rolled significantly better than that. The fitter after rolling three or four different putter said I really don’t think I can sell you a putter that’s going to make it worth $500 investment. He took the loft down from 3° to one and all of a sudden the ball started rolling vs bouncing. I was pretty happy with that.

[dinomack99]

Gorgeous mallet putter. I would definitely give it a fair shake, look at all that MOI compared to the blade putter. I made the switch about 3 years ago to a mallet style putter and have been very happy. It is a Wilson Buckingham, and a steal for $110. That said, I would love to go for a putter fitting. I've been saying this for months now, everyone is getting custom fit for drivers and irons but hardly anyone is getting custom fit for a putter. 10 putts on a lousy practice hole at Dick's is not going to typically get you what you need.

[cnosil]

5 hours ago, Butta.Cutz said:

I wanted a definitive “this one will help you shave x amount of strokes” type of result). 

(10 putts is not enough to go off of in my opinion, and I think if I had a few more rolls, I could have adjusted to it) but we moved onto the next and what would end up being the final putter.

The Bettinardi Innovai Rev 8.0. I rolled 10 putts with this and made 10/10. I tend to prefer blade putters over mallets, but as you will see in my results below, I don’t consistently strike the ball in the middle of the face, so I was willing to try a mallet in hope of not losing speed on off-center hits.

We ended up going with the Innovai 8.0 with 4* of loft, and a shaft length of 35.5 as he said I have a tendency to get a little too over the ball, so he thought the extra .5” would help back me off a touch. 
 

Let me know what you think of the numbers, your personal preference between blade/mallet, and how long of a true trial run you would give a new putter before going back to “ole trusty”

Here is my opinion.    Have cut out some statements to address.
 

No fitting will ever say you will save X amount of strokes.  You cannot look at putting on a hole by hole or round by round basis, it will be a long term assessment of improvement.  What a fitting looks at is consistency of numbers which may or may not translate to the course.  

10 putts without switching is probably too many putts.  As you even mentioned the more putts you make you would adapt to the putter.  You don’t want to adapt to a putter, a fitting is to find the club that works with your normal tendencies.  

As for not losing speed on off center hits, this happens with both blades and mallets (https://www.paulhurrion.com/media/impact-ratio/). Evnroll doesn’t “fix” the problem, but simply slows down the ball on center contact to try and speed match.   if you can’t hit the center consistently EvnRoll is a good option.   You seem to strike the putter pretty far into in the heel so you are probably toward the outside portion of the  grooves.   I’d suggest working on center contact by using putter gates.   
 

foresight really isn’t known as a tool for putter fitting but based on the shown averages you are prey consistent.  Would be better if you had all the numbers.  Not knowing the various putter configurations that were tried, the Scotty seems the best and the Inovai would be a good option.  I guess you didn’t have the option of trying some of the upgraded putter shafts, based on advertising, they might help you tighten up the standard deviations a bit more and improve your overall performance.   
 

If you are looking for a putter and not just doing personal fun experimentation, there should be no reason to change from a fitted putter so there is no trial period.  Based on my testing I am better with a blade putter, but like you I keep wanting to experiment with a mallet.  This is why I suggested the shafts, it might be an option for some improvement.   

[Julius]

6 hours ago, Butta.Cutz said:

I thought I’d share my experience doing a putter fitting at True Spec earlier this year, now that I’ve had a chance to roll the new putter for a while…

I was fortunate enough to win a Fitting at True Spec that included a custom fit putter. I was beyond stoked. My gamer is a Scotty Select Newport 2.5 that I’ve had for a few years now. I love it, and average anywhere between 28-32 putts a round. I have few complaints with my current setup, but was hoping to get some of the more intricate details and numbers as I bought my Scotty straight off the shelf. 
I made sure to practice my stroke before hand both at the putting green, and on a practice putting mat I have at home to make sure my numbers and performance would be as accurate as possible. 

When I walked in, I was greeted by the fitter (who knew I was being given a free putter for nothing) and we got to work straight away. He took my current putter and took some measurements to have a baseline to start off of. He asked my preferences and I told him that I was very interested in the data, and would go into it with no bias. I wanted something purely based on the numbers. 

He had me roll about 10 putts from 10ft and I only missed one. He looked at the numbers and was honest with me. He said “If you were trying to pay for this fitting to buy a new putter, I’d sent you right back out that door because those numbers are going to be pretty tough to beat” (I didn’t know whether to be happy, or disappointed because while putting isn’t a huge weakness in my game, I wanted a definitive “this one will help you shave x amount of strokes” type of result). He said told me my current numbers would be tough to beat, but there was a few things we could maybe tweak in a new setup. 

He started me out on the Bettinardi BB1F putter. I rolled about 10 putts and the numbers were pretty similar to my Scotty. The main difference was that I was launching my Scotty with backspin as I like to forward press, and the BB1F was rolling forward out the gate.
Next up was the Odyssey Toulon Atlanta. I rolled ten more here and it felt good, but the numbers showed the Efficiency was down from 1.64, to 1.58, and the face angle was a full degree more off than the Betti, and my Scotty. So we moved on.

Next up was the Evnroll ERV2. This was one I was most excited to try after reading the reviews from MGS, and Rick Shiels. However I struggled the most with this one. Face angle was -1.4 degrees on average, and it had the lowest efficiency out of any of the putters we tried. I was surprised, and a little disappointed at the results. (10 putts is not enough to go off of in my opinion, and I think if I had a few more rolls, I could have adjusted to it) but we moved onto the next and what would end up being the final putter.

The Bettinardi Innovai Rev 8.0. I rolled 10 putts with this and made 10/10. I tend to prefer blade putters over mallets, but as you will see in my results below, I don’t consistently strike the ball in the middle of the face, so I was willing to try a mallet in hope of not losing speed on off-center hits. I will admit that this wasn’t the most appealing putter to my eye, but after rolling a few more, and then a couple more with an inch shorter shaft (35”) this seemed to be close to the winning putter. I think the fitter went with this one as well because he said earlier that “since you already have a blade putter, and roll it pretty good, why don’t we give you something completely different and see how you like it?” Below are the results.

We ended up going with the Innovai 8.0 with 4* of loft, and a shaft length of 35.5 as he said I have a tendency to get a little too over the ball, so he thought the extra .5” would help back me off a touch. 

We could have rolled a million different putters, and in truth, I would have liked to roll 1 or 2 more, but time was up and I was happy overall with the results. 

Fast forward a few months of having the new flat stick, and I have to admit that I’m not completely sold on it being my go to gamer. I tend to find myself gravitating more towards my Scotty, and it’s what I’m most comfortable with, and I think the blade putters just appeal more to my eye when lining up putts. I still need to give the Betti more of a chance, and force myself to commit to it for a period of time so I can give it a fair shake. I really do like it a lot. It feels great off the face, and I have noticed I’m not leaving as many putts short with off-center hits, so I think there’s a place in the bag for it if I practice with it enough to feel confident.  


 

Let me know what you think of the numbers, your personal preference between blade/mallet, and how long of a true trial run you would give a new putter before going back to “ole trusty”

Sounds like you had a great fitting session, would love to do one of those.  I prefer blade putter, both aesthetically and for performance,  it seems to allow me to connect with the ball better coming off the face.  I have an EvnRoll, I love it although it is heavy and took me some time to get used to it.  I also have in another set of clubs a Bettinardi Mizuno Black Carbon blade putter, that I liked a lot also but the EvnRoll took its place. I think your numbers look good.  Did they say anything about your swing arc, strong, moderate, etc such that they were trying to compensate for that with the putter?  

[Butta.Cutz]

2 hours ago, dmacko99 said:

Gorgeous mallet putter. I would definitely give it a fair shake, look at all that MOI compared to the blade putter. I made the switch about 3 years ago to a mallet style putter and have been very happy. It is a Wilson Buckingham, and a steal for $110. That said, I would love to go for a putter fitting. I've been saying this for months now, everyone is getting custom fit for drivers and irons but hardly anyone is getting custom fit for a putter. 10 putts on a lousy practice hole at Dick's is not going to typically get you what you need.

I do love the aesthetics of this mallet compared to others I’ve seen. It has a more compact head which makes it more appealing to my eye. I definitely think that putter fittings are underrated. I had a great time and would definitely recommend one for nothing else than to get feedback on your stroke, and see how you deliver the club. 

[Butta.Cutz]

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

Here is my opinion.    Have cut out some statements to address.
 

No fitting will ever say you will save X amount of strokes.  You cannot look at putting on a hole by hole or round by round basis, it will be a long term assessment of improvement.  What a fitting looks at is consistency of numbers which may or may not translate to the course.  

10 putts without switching is probably too many putts.  As you even mentioned the more putts you make you would adapt to the putter.  You don’t want to adapt to a putter, a fitting is to find the club that works with your normal tendencies.  

As for not losing speed on off center hits, this happens with both blades and mallets (https://www.paulhurrion.com/media/impact-ratio/). Evnroll doesn’t “fix” the problem, but simply slows down the ball on center contact to try and speed match.   if you can’t hit the center consistently EvnRoll is a good option.   You seem to strike the putter pretty far into in the heel so you are probably toward the outside portion of the  grooves.   I’d suggest working on center contact by using putter gates.   
 

foresight really isn’t known as a tool for putter fitting but based on the shown averages you are prey consistent.  Would be better if you had all the numbers.  Not knowing the various putter configurations that were tried, the Scotty seems the best and the Inovai would be a good option.  I guess you didn’t have the option of trying some of the upgraded putter shafts, based on advertising, they might help you tighten up the standard deviations a bit more and improve your overall performance.   
 

If you are looking for a putter and not just doing personal fun experimentation, there should be no reason to change from a fitted putter so there is no trial period.  Based on my testing I am better with a blade putter, but like you I keep wanting to experiment with a mallet.  This is why I suggested the shafts, it might be an option for some improvement.   

Thanks for the reply and feedback. I would agree and no fitter that knows what they’re doing could/should ever say “this will save you this many strokes.” I didn’t realize how heely my strikes were until I saw the impact points. Putter gates would be a great option and something I’ll need to practice with moving forward. The fitters solution was to lengthen the shaft to keep me from getting too over the ball, causing a heel strike, which I agreed with, but there’s only so much a fitter can do.

Experimenting with different shafts was something I would have liked to test, but we didn’t get into that. I’d be interested in seeing if that would help at all, but I’m always eager to put in practice time, especially when I have something specific I can work on. So I will be doing some drills to help hit the ball in the middle of the putter face. 

[Butta.Cutz]

2 hours ago, Julius said:

Sounds like you had a great fitting session, would love to do one of those.  I prefer blade putter, both aesthetically and for performance,  it seems to allow me to connect with the ball better coming off the face.  I have an EvnRoll, I love it although it is heavy and took me some time to get used to it.  I also have in another set of clubs a Bettinardi Mizuno Black Carbon blade putter, that I liked a lot also but the EvnRoll took its place. I think your numbers look good.  Did they say anything about your swing arc, strong, moderate, etc such that they were trying to compensate for that with the putter?  

Sounds like you have a great putter selection! I really liked the EvnRoll, but for some reason the numbers just didn’t translate. I had a moderately low arc, and he opted for the slightest bit of toe hang on the fitting. Overall I felt it was a good fitting, and I would recommend to anyone if the opportunity arose. 

[mattjamd]

Thanks for sharing. Interesting to read about your fitting experience, and also see the strike pattern on your putter face. Center strikes are not easy, even with a putter.

 

[Donn lost in San Diego]

I put a fat grip on my cheap K-Mart Precise mallet face balanced putter.  Amazing.  Love it.  I like it better than my circa 2016 Scotty Futura X with a large but not fat grip.  I might put a fat grip on the Scotty.  Super Stroke Pistol Tour 3.0.

[Butta.Cutz]

4 hours ago, mattjamd said:

Thanks for sharing. Interesting to read about your fitting experience, and also see the strike pattern on your putter face. Center strikes are not easy, even with a putter.

 

And here I was thinking I hit in the center 90% of the time. Golf has a funny way of humbling you when you least expect it!