Your opinions on quality of a putters importance?

I have always thought of putters as a really non important club in your bag as far as shape, weight, lie, looks. I understand that this club is where you can really cut off strokes but does putting really have much to do with the actual putter at all? Recently I have really been wanting a scotty? Do you think a putter is just a putter or does having a nice putter with milled face and all that really matter?

Your poll options aren't great. The putter is probably the most important club in the bag to be fitted to you correctly. It's not just the weight of it that matters but where the weight is located on the club. I have a 70 gram weight under the right hand in the handle and it's worked wonders with distance control. Also, you have to know if you can even aim your putter correctly and at what loft you are impacting your putts. Having all these things fitted to you (among other factors) contribute to how "effortless" you can make your stroke. The better your putter is fitted to you, the more you can focus on just plain holing the putt.

I voted for having a nice putter.  Here is my story.  I have a Callie putter with C-Groove.  I really like that putter, but I had lost my confidence with it mainly on down hill putts.  My speed was way off.  I found a Newport 2.5 on craigslist for fairly cheap and picked it up.  After practicing with it for a week on the putting green, I took it out for its first round.  I had a career low on putts... followed it up last weekend with three rounds all under my average and one round just one putt over my career low.

All of that to say, IMO putting is confidence.  Assuming you can get a decent read and somewhat control speed.  The Scotty gave me what the YES was lacking, and that was confidence.

None whatsoever, it's all about feel. I have a $25 walmart putter that I've recently put a 1.67" grip and cut down to 31" and I wouldn't trade it for a $200 stick. I have had it about 5-7 years. This year I've made some grip changes and stance has moved around some, so I changed the club to fit me. Just find something that YOU like the feel of. I still love the way the ball feels on the face of each putt. I can tell my misses and good hits.

I've tried a lot of others, but won't switch. It's certainly not due to funds... I've got new irons, wedges, 3w and 3h this year. Driver and putter are the only clubs I haven't changed this season. All of it was changed due to comfort. I went from g5 irons to g2, different dot color and the sole on the g2 is a little more narrow. Hybrid and 3w were switched out just because the "felt" better. I don't hit either further or probably even much better, but they both feel better at address.

Wedges were a more planned change. I had g15 50/54 I now play rtg 588 53/56. Not having the huge sole lets me play with a few more shot options... They don't feel as good but I've had them 2 weeks and still working with them. Last night actually, I got my 11:30 swing distance figured out to be 65 yards.

If you buy a $25 dollar putter from Wal-Mart or a $400 Scotty Cameron it doesn't matter worth a lick because neither putter could be right for you because of its length, weight, weight locations, putter head design, whether it has an aim line or not, etc.

Find a company that has in depth putter fitting (I chose Edel) and go there. You won't need to buy another putter ever again. All that said, it's up to you. If you can putt well with most any putter and are happy, then that's all you need too. But if you find yourself going through putters like you do sleeves of balls, then its time to go get fit legitimately.

If you had 3 amazing rounds back to back then a putter may be more important than I ever thought.

How are they not great options? your answer is clearly that you have to have a nice putter and in your comment you stated why. Also thank you for your opinion. I never even knew they did fittings for putters.

I think you meant importance of a putter's quality ?

ya I originally wrote importance of a putter then just threw in the word quality. It was one of those situations where nothing really sounded correct to me.

Because the response "I have to have a nice putter" implies that shelling out more money alone means getting a better putter. That's not the case as a $400 unfit putter can be just as useless to you as a $25 unfit putter.

as long as the putter is true, price makes no difference, and even £10 putters are fairly true... i used to put with a >£20 and it was the best putter for me ive ever owned, unfortnately rage got the better of me one day and i snapped it, could of been worse coulda been a scotty :D

well at the time I wasn't aware of putter fitting and you did shell out the money for a putter fitting didnt you?

Actually 4 great putting rounds, but as I said in my post, I think it was mainly due to confidence.  The Scotty did not make the putts by itself.

Second for the poll options being bad.  Having a putter that works for you, feels good in your hands, is the right weight and length, and makes it as easy as possible for you to have a consistent stroke is extremely important.  3-putting lots of holes or having essentially a 0% chance of taking advantage of a really good approach and holing that 12 footer is obviously a killer for scoring.  And having the right putter for you is, I think, clearly a part of putting well.

But having a putter that is right for you is NOT the same as having a "good" putter.  My putter now was ~$80 used last year. I spent 2+ hours at Roger Dunn hitting all the putters, and ended up liking this one the most, even over the $300+ Scotty Camerons.

For me, putting is all about feel, and I have noticed that in general, quality putters feel better than cheapos.  That being said, I think the quality v.s. price curve flattens out around $100, above which you're not finding huge increases in quality.

Every putter made by Ping, Cameron, Odyssey, Yes, Cleveland, NIke, Bettinardi, TM etc. etc. is of very high quality.

Unless it's a really cheap thing that is not square or true, it will be the equal of any other. I'm talking about the ones that are made of nasty metal that has been painted to look like bronze or steel - avoid those ones with the laquered finish. The $30 ones.

None of the name brands are "better" than others in any respect. They are all pumped out in the hundreds of thousands.

The best aid to putting is a solid putting stroke and a putter that you like the look and feel of.

If you have the luxury of te opportunity for a fitted putter, so much the better.

The quality control of all the putters mentioned above (and many more) is equal and you won't find a dud.

Remember, if one particular brand of putter was better than others, EVERY professional or person with means would use it.

Balls are immediately attracted to the hole if you use a Scotty Cameron, or so I've been led to believe. Doesn't really matter to me though, I can three putt with a K-Mart Dunlop or a $2500 Ping Anser clone with a guys name stamped crooked on it with the best of them.

I think you need a good quality putter but you don't need to break the bank. I use a Yes! Athena but putted very well with my previous putter which was a Beethoven Rolloaded that I bought for $10 out of the used bin. As long as you like the weight and can align it properly (I'm sure Edels are worth the money but I've never really had much issue hitting my line, choosing my line is a different story!) you should be good. I'm typically hitting 1.7 - 1.8 putts per hole, I do have the occasional 3 putt but they are usually due to a crappy approach that leaves me miles from the hole and there are always a pile 1 putts to negate the 3. If I could hit more GIR my handicap would probably drop about 10 strokes overnight, easier said than done

IMO the quality of your visualisation is far more important than the quality of your putter, provided it's not a crap a** putter of the variety described by shorty. In my experience good quality visualisation gives me near perfect speed every time, I just don't always make the right read.