What's up with those old guys and them long putters........heh.?

That is what I used to think. I thought it was a last ditch, desperate move of someone who can no longer stroke a "real" putter.

My golf bud and I finished up 18 at our favorite local muni and then went to a golf shop right up the road that deals in just used clubs as he needed a sand wedge.

I began to check out the putters to see if there was a belly putter I could try and there was one but it didn't feel good at all and then I noticed a long putter.....yuck. I am a fairly young guy at 36 who was just curious to try a belly putter and surely am not about to swallow all my pride and be seen using a long putter!

I tried the long putter and liked it. The little practice green had two holes that gave about a 9-10 foot putt. There were five balls and I had watched Adam Scott putt so I knew the basics of how to anchor a long putter and swing using just the right arm and I put those five balls right in the center of the cup from about 8.5 feet. I told my buddy, "I just sank 5 in a row with this big goofy putter", he said yeah right. I pulled the balls from the hole and aimed at the hole which was diagonal to this last hole which is about 9.5 feet and holed the 6th-10th putt in a row. He actually saw all these and the rest drop.

He walked over and watched and I said, "I just made 10 in a row and If I can hit 25, I am going to buy this thing". I proceeded to drop 27 in a row total before slightly missing so I did buy it. It's a 47.5" Odyssey Long White Hot 2 Ball.  I tried hard and was not able to hit more than 7 in a row with a traditional putter.

I have been practicing all night in the living room from 14 feet to the leg of a chair and I am able to die the ball at the leg  from any angle about 95% of the time.

Going to play tomorrow for the first time with the long putter.

What's everyone elses experience with a long putter on course the first time?

I've been using one for about 3 months (until yesterday, that is). Mine's a 50" Yes! Natalie. I'm practically automatic with it from about 6 ft. in. The trouble is I struggle really bad with speed control on long putts. Really long putts (25 ft. or so) are hard for me to line up as well as being hard to judge my speed. I'm getting better with it but I decided to go back to a standard putter for right now. For the past 2 days I've been gaming an old brass headed Ping Zing that I picked up at GG for $53. That thing's money from any distance. I'm going to give it a while and see if it stays that way. If I start getting the yips or something I can always go back to my long putter.

From what I hear almost everyone struggles with speed on the long putts with a long putter. The word is it takes most people about 6 months or so to get the feel for speed control.

Blackxpress,

You are so right. I played yesterday with the long putter. I got my approach inside 10 feet on the first two holes and birdied each one. I was totally blown away and thought this putter was pure magic.  From here on out, my approaches were less than great and had a very hard time with distance control with the long putter.

A few times I was outside 40 feet and one shot came up 15 feet short and a few were 10 feet long. I shot 91. I had no idea where I was. I went back to the regular putter today and shot 79.

Oh well, just another learning experience.

any thoughts on carrying two putters? if they both excel in different situations, would that make sense ?

I've considered it but right now my old Ping Zing is excelling in both categories. The jury's still out but I might have actually found the Holy Grail.

I went to a belly putter at the beginning of the summer, and I have never looked back. There was a bit of a learning curve and I struggled with it for a month or so but after reading a couple online articles with tips for belly putters I have really improved. Here are some nice little stats:

Since switching my average putts per round have dropped 4.1 ppr, and that's with no real change in GIR or proximity to the hole. For as long as I remember I have averaged around 34-35 ppr (yuck!). Since switching I am around 30 ppr. Another stat that is impressive is my putts per GIR. Using my last 30 scores I average 2.01 putts per GIR (ick!) and it has been that way forever. Using only my last 20 rounds its down to 1.92 putts per GIR. Last 10 rounds it drops to 1.83 putts per GIR, and in my last 5 rounds it is down to 1.75.

The great thing about my belly putter is it has improved ALL aspects of my putting. My short putts are nearly automatic, I have shown HUGE improvement from inside 20 feet, and my lag putting is a great deal better than its ever been as well. This putter is the reason my stroke average for my last 12 rounds is a half stroke under par!

what method are you using,. ie grip and anchor point... ive switched to belly this year.. short putts are dynamite... but my distance control at anything over 20 ft is suffering... any tips on how to make this transition smoother??

Some things I work on are extremely light grip pressure. I had a tendency to choke the putter. Also, I have the exact same putter in a normal length and I find practicing with the normal putter helps my long putter. Lastly, I work to keep my elbows in closer to my body and rock the shoulders. One of the reasons I struggled with it in the beginning was I had my elbows wide and I wanted to swing the putter with my arms and not my shoulders.

COOL.. thanks for the tips... i actually did some work on it this week... putted pretty well yesterday... made some long ones that i usually dont make and the short ones were pretty automatic... i was working on keeping my elbows in too... the light grip pressure is something i havent thought about, but i would imagine im holding on too tight.. ill have to look into it!