The Stability Putter Shaft and Why you need it or do you? – Unofficial Review

[Cfhandyman]

Overall:  The stability shaft by BreakThrough Technology golf is a premium product that performs as advertised resulting in improved feel and speed control. Testing on Quintic showed very stable and consistent face control with very little to no movement. Putting felt more stable, balanced, with a smooth and consistent feel when putting. Very consistent results from putts 5’ and in. Long putts of 20’ and more were consistently close. Over 50 plus rounds I saw a significant improvement in one putts and corresponding decrease in 3 putts.  It is a potential piece of the puzzle and may not be for everyone.  You still need solid fundamentals and a putter that matches your stroke.  Overall, highly recommended and scored 95/100

Goals of testing:   How does it perform on analytical testing with Quintic as well as on course, with respect to weight, feel, balance speed and lag control?   What is the impact on overall putting performance as it relates to total strokes as well as one putt, two putt and three or more putt percentage. Did it have a positive, neutral or negative impact on overall putting.

Introduction: Up until the last few years, there has been no change in the steel putter shafts for the last 50 years.  So how do you improve putter performance?  There have been significant improvements in driver specific shafts, then iron, hybrid and wood shafts, then wedge specific shafts, but what about the putter?  The stability putter shaft from Barney Adams, the Adams golf founder and CEO of Breakthrough Golf technologies (BGT) then developed the Stability shaft for putters several years ago.  It started with the original Stability carbon shaft and then they added the Tour and Tour one models. According to BGT, it limits unwanted movement by stiffening the shaft by 25% without abolishing feel and reducing torque by almost 50%, to deliver the club face squarer at impact. This will supposedly result in improved accuracy and solid feel and has a lower launch for a predictable roll, resulting in better distance control.  It was tested using high speed cameras, the Quintic ball roll software, robots and Trackman.  Testing showed that Stability shaft causes almost no oscillation, but what will it be in real life in the hands of an average or good golfer.

 From BGT

The heel (green line) and toe (purple line) smoothly increase velocity until center impact. 

STABILITY: Causes almost no oscillation, evidence of how much more stable the Stability shaft is

STEEL: Causes wild oscillations, evidence of how weak and unstable a steel putter shaft is, even on center strikes

 

 How is it made:  From the BGT website, the original stability putter shaft is made of eight layers of high modulus carbon fibre wrapped and widened with no taper.  It’s designed to significantly reduce torsional rotation.  An aluminum insert with connector is added to reinforce the rigidity.  The connector allows for attachment to the tip diameter of any diameter, regardless of the bend profile. See Figure 1

Figure 1 (from BGT)                                            

Putter fitting: My initial plan was to wait for the putter fitting before making the change, but after trying it at Tour Experience Golf (TXG) and knowing I was going away for a week of golf, I had to have it in combination with the Evnroll gravity grip.  Smart investment or imprudent purchase?

The Evnroll gravity grip is a counter balanced grip (figure 2) has an EVA foam body molded in a deep V shape. A 70 gram 10” steel rod is installed in the bottom of the V running the entire length of the grip. According to Evnroll, by positioning the weight directly under and a half-inch away from the shaft, the hands can feel the position of the putter face. Tying the hands to the putter face promotes keeping the putter’s face angle square thru the entire hitting area. This virtually eliminates face rotation at impact.   This heavier-than-usual grip weight allows for more weight in the putter head. The result is a greater overall weight for increased stability and accuracy, while maintaining an ideal swing weight for optimum feel and distance control.                                

 Figure 2 Completed Odyssey Exo 7 putter with Stability shaft and Evnroll gravity grip (figure 3) 

Testing: The Odyssey Exo 7 putter with carbon stability shaft was tested, using the Quintic ball roll system.  Quintic is the gold standard for measuring putter performance and utilises a high-speed camera (360 – 1080 frames per second) to track the putter and golf ball throughout the impact zone.  See figure 4 and 5.

                          Figure 4                                                                                                                   Figure 5

 

The goal was to make 12’ putts on a level stable platform while the high speed camera catches your motion and subsequent ball roll. I consistently made putt after putt.  Figure 6 shows the data capture for a typical putt highlighting attack angle, face angle, launch angle etc.  Amber indicates average, green is very good, red is poor and blue is tour level (elite). For a complete summary of how to interpret the numbers see the following link.    See www.quintic.com/downloads/Quintic%20Ball%20Roll%20-%20Numbers%20Explained.pdf    

Figure 6

In my case, the roll was true and the face angle was solid as a rock.  Quintic showed that it was either green or occasionally blue (tour level).  The recommendation was that the putter suited me and my stroke well and I did not need to make any more changes to the putter. So at this point, smart investment.

On course testing,   More stable, balanced, with a smooth and consistent feel when putting.  I have noticed a significant improvement in putting of at least 2-3 strokes per round as measured by number of single putts versus two and three putts.  On putts of 20 feet or more, speed and lag control was very good with a consistent clustering of balls near the hole. Three putts have become for me almost nonexistent, however this very much depends on the speed and undulation of the greens as well as your short game.  Following the installation of the stability putter shaft and Evnroll gravity grip and playing 10 rounds, single putts on average went from 0 - 1 per round to 2 - 4 per round.  More importantly, 3 putts dropped significantly to 0 - 1 per round following the installation of the stability putter shaft and Evnroll gravity grip.

Longer term on course testing (50 round data compared to a 0 handicap – Arccos) Prior to the installation of the stability shaft/Evnroll gravity grip, I averaged 34-35 putts per round, which then dropped to 32-33 putts per round. This is also with addition of putting, speed control and green reading lessons. Currently, I average between 31 – 32 putts per round. A 0 handicap, is at 31 putts per round (Arccos).  My Arccos data listed below.

        

Consistency: Putts within 5 feet are very makeable    Even within 10’ feel I have a solid shot at one putt.  For long putts (30 plus feet), I was able to consistently get it close.     

Confidence inspiring: Confidence inspiring in knowing you can make short putts, so it allows you to go for the flag on approach shots or get up and down with a good chip.   If I hit a good approach shot, i.e. within 10’ of flag, I felt confident I had solid chance at birdie, at worst two putt for par.

Overall: Transformational difference, much better feedback, stability and feel on putts.  I liken it to using a faster speed computer.  Once you’ve tried, you will never go back. As a result every subsequent putter I’ve had has a Stability putter shaft installed. 

 Current putter: Evnroll Tour with Stability tour shaft and Two thumbs grip (like it, but will be switching back to Evnroll gravity grip this season.)

Pros: Putter fitting is a definite must, well worth the investment especially when combined with putting and short game lessons. I have shaved 2-3 strokes off my putting

Cons:  It’s expensive Cost: $200-$329 + grip $40, so not inexpensive.  However, when you think about it, it’s the most used club in your bag with about 40% of your strokes coming from it.  The average golfer makes about 34 - 36 putts per round, whereas the PGA tour professionals sit at 27 – 29 per round.  A 0-5 handicap sits at 31-32 putts per round (Arccos).  The USGA statistics shows that the average male who shoots 98-99 has at least 40 putts per round. Moreover, a 1 foot putt counts the same as a 300 plus yard drive.  Hmmm.  So for me, it has been one of the best investments I’ve made in my golf game and definitely worth the money and I highly recommend it.  At the very least, I would strongly recommend a putter fitting at a high quality fitter prior to this and see what the data shows with respect to putter and shaft recommendations as well as trying it.

The caveat It is a potential piece of the puzzle and may not be for everyone.  You still need solid fundamentals and a putter that matches your stroke.  Putting this into any putter will not necessarily make you a better putter. What it can do is make your putts more consistent with respect to speed (lag).

Who is it for: If you have taken putting lessons and invested in a putter fitting it may be an additional piece of the puzzle help to lower your scores

Stability tour shaft -fire

Tester: I’m a 65 year old male, and live in the greater Toronto area in Ontario, Canada.  I am a 6.5 handicap playing an average of 100 rounds per year with 400 rounds on Arccos. I play the majority of my rounds at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley. I am driven by the need to learn and improve. I am data driven and analytical.  With respect to my game, I tend to be somewhat steep with a slight out to in swing with an average clubhead speed of 77-80 mph for 7 iron and 90-95 mph for driver.  The strengths of my game are short game and putting with driving being my weakest feature.

Evaluation and Scoring

 References

 

 

1.    Breakthrough technology Golf BGT - High Performance Golf Shafts (breakthroughgolftech.com)

2.    Evnroll Evnroll Putters - (www.evnroll.com) Precisely Milled & Handcrafted, Made in USA

3.    Quintic sports Quintic Ball Roll | Quintic Sports (www.quintic.com) 

4.    Tour Experience Golf (now Club Champion Canada) ( www.clubchampion.ca)

Edited April 13 by Cfhandyman
Revised scoring to be out of 100

[cksurfdude]

..and now I'm thinking I need/want/have-to-have one....

Great review, thx!

[Cfhandyman]

11 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

..and now I'm thinking I need/want/have-to-have one....

Great review, thx!

Thank you. Ideally find someone who has one and try it first.  As soon as I tried it, I loved the feel and balance and yes, had to have it.  Even when I was thinking, am I nuts to be doing this.  In retrospect, it was money very well spent and had very positive impact on my putting.

[duuuval]

Any ideas on how this compares to Odysseys dual material shaft that comes standard on many of their putters now? 

[Cfhandyman]

40 minutes ago, duuuval said:

Any ideas on how this compares to Odysseys dual material shaft that comes standard on many of their putters now? 

Funny that you should ask that. A couple of years ago, I purchased an Odyssey Rossie putter with the stroke lab shaft. Compared to their regular steel shaft, the stroke lab felt smoother and more balanced than the similarly steel shafted Rossie. It was also more consistent in making putts.  MGS did a comparison  see below

https://mygolfspy.com/labs/odyssey-stroke-lab-putters-vs-non-stroke-lab-putters/

Now compared to the stability shaft, I much preferred the stability, although the stroke lab is pretty good.  Unfortunately, my wife tried the Odyssey Rossie with stroke lab and it promptly went into her bag, when she told me, “you realize you’re not getting this back”    It’s been lights out for her.

[cnosil]

45 minutes ago, duuuval said:

Any ideas on how this compares to Odysseys dual material shaft that comes standard on many of their putters now? 

Stability type shafts and the stroke lab shafts are completely different animals.   The stroke lab was designed to reduce shaft weight and allow the weight to be moved to the head and grip ends.   

[Josh Parker]

Great review. It's the one part of the game/shafts that I haven't messed with a ton. 

[Hoyoymac]

Have had a BGT Stability Tour Shaft in my putter for the last few years and love it.  So much so that I now have the BGT ZNE shafts in all my wedges.  I love them too!

Even tried their Brava Shaft but did not get fit for it and probably used too stiff a version.

 

[chippingwithchris]

I just picked one up used for a good price on a Bettinardi ss28. First thing I noticed was off center hits felt bad but when hit in the sweet spot felt pure. Did you notice this too when first using the BGT shafts? Otherwise it may just be the new Bettinardi feel to me as well. 

[Cfhandyman]

There is definitely a different feel when you use it the first few times. As it’s much stiffer than a regular steel shaft, there is significantly less twisting and feedback is very good. I.e. You can clearly differentiate an off center (toe or heel) strike from middle of the face. What I liked the most was the smooth, balanced feel and overall consistency and feedback it provided.  Hope that helps.