Golfspy APH: Putter Shootout (Blade Putters)

[GolfSpy_APH]

While I am pretty certain I know how this is going to play out I have been very fortunate to try some excellent putters this season. 

The RUNNER is stupid good - seriously if you have not tried out or seen the reviews they are hands down a must look/see. They may be a little different looking, but when it comes to performance they step up and just flat out work. Add in the adjustability and we have putters that are great for a variety of golfers. 

The T Squared is another great putter with a different feel, look and offers different feedback. I have a lot of good things to say about it and have made a lot of putts with it. This model is a bit different, but appealing and I can certainly see why it performed so well in MGS MW testing. 

The front runner - I have been wanting this putter for a long time and finally got it. Needless to say it has not disappointed. The LAB LINK is very good and toss in the added customization and I have a putter that I am truly enamored with. 

I am going to give all of these several rounds and time to prove their worth. All of them perform well and if you put me in a tournament spot and said okay you have to use this putter I would be more than happy to use it. While I have some favorites in terms of looks and general appeal there hasn't been a ton to separate them performance wise so far. 

Now we get to have some fun with it and see what comes out on top. 

[GolfSpy_APH]

Okay it has been a little bit, but I went through and did a full session with HackMotion - It has a ton of data and truthfully I won't say I understand it all, but figured it could at least give information to help guide me. 

So what I did was 5 putts with each putter, then took a look at the data set. These were natural putting strokes with no specific target inside and just trying to make the same or similar putting strokes. 

The second set was an adjusted data set with the feeling of the wrist leading the way and being more bowed. 

I then did the calculations for averages and standard deviation before tossing it over the ChatGPT to tell me what was the best putter out of the bunch. Here is how it ranked them. 

Based on the total standard deviation (lower is better), the putters are ranked as follows:

1. LINK 1 #1
2. T Squared '1
3. RUNNER #2
4. RUNNER #1
5. LINK 1 #2
6. MEZZ MAX #2
7. MEZZ MAX # 1
8. T Squared#2

I can't same I am overly surprised. The bowed wrist stroke felt like the face was very shut and that I had taken away all loft. While it did feel consistent, it was missing something. 

I will also say I felt as though I had 3 or 4 significant pulls with the MEZZ MAX. This is something I had seen on the course as well. 

The LINK coming in a clear first based on standard deviation was nice to see as I have felt it has performed the best on course. 

The T Squared has been stellar as well, it sets up well and I feel the added weight in the head is really solid. 

The RUNNER did as expected as well. This is truly a great putter and would encourage everyone to check out the reviews. 

Now obviously not a perfect way of scoring and this has nothing to do with on course data but just the consistency of putting stroke I asked ChatGPT to score each putter out of 100 and this is what it came up with. 

Here are the scores for each putter based on their performance with the given dataset:

1. LINK 1 #1: 100.00
2. T Squared '1: 98.59
3. RUNNER #2: 95.00
4. RUNNER #1: 94.14
5. LINK 1 #2: 92.01
6. MEZZ MAX #2: 81.19
7. MEZZ MAX # 1: 78.84
8. T Squared#2: 77.64

These scores are based on the total standard deviation for each putter, with the lowest standard deviation receiving the highest score (out of 100). The putter "LINK 1 #1" received the highest score, indicating the most consistent performance according to the dataset.

My next task with this is going to be the same thing, but with a much larger sample size and I may include another putter. I am thinking between 20-30 putts per putter. 

Let me know what you think?