Amazing that the simple question of Seemore vs. Edel can create such polarized and misdirected posts. Erik arrogant about Edel? I sure don't think so. Passionate, yes, but not arrogant. And he was that way before he became an Edel fitter - to me he simply seems passionate about anything that can make us common golfers get better, whether it is in the swing or the equipment.
What seems to be missing in all this discussion is "What truly are the fundamental differences between the two companies' approaches?" Both make excellent putters, but SeeMore and Edel are coming at the problem of making someone a better putter through different directions.
SeeMore
The SeeMore putters have proven themselves on Tour and for many amateur golfers, and they make quality putters in a variety of shapes and sizes. Their primary distinction is the red dot and little sight lines (their "RST technology" that are designed to help ensure a consistent ball, hand, and eye position in order to make the stroke more consistent. If you keep everything lined up, it helps make sure the putter is delivered at the ball the same way every time with a consistent loft. What the RST does not do is aid one's perception of where the putter is initially aimed. It is up to the user to sort through the SeeMore product line and find the putter that has a head shape, length, and weight that they feel works best for their swing.
Edel
Edel's approach is targeted towards that latter problem: to find the best putter style for the user that addresses how that individual person perceives where the putter is aimed, and then to find the right weight and balance to help them make a controllable stroke. Every person perceives where they think the putter is aimed a little differently, and that is the whole premise behind Edel's philosophy. There approach is somewhat predicated on the user having a fairly consistent stroke with decent enough fundamentals that they can best benefit from something that fits their brain's interpretation of what they see and their stroke physiology.
They two companies' approaches are to address different problems for different people. It isn't really a SeeMore vs. Edel question. If you're having issues with your the consistency of how you deliver the putter head on the ball, SeeMore's technology may help. If you can figure out which putter head fits your aim perception the best, they can be a great solution. If you have a reasonably consistent stroke, Edel takes fitting the putter to your eye to a whole new level. I'd characterize that the SeeMore is focused on repeatability, and Edel on controllability. It's a pity that the two can't be combined, as that would probably make a really great solution!
Tour Use?
We see a number of the SeeMore putters on Tour, probably most notably Zach Johnson. So why don't we see any Edels out there? I think the answer is also closely related to why we see so many Scotty's on Tour. Edel's major premise is to finely tune a putter that fits you, and among putter manufacturers they probably the ones that have brought the finest degree of variability and locations to the amateur masses. Scotty, however, has long provided this same service to the Tour pros. In a way, the pros don't need Edel as much as us amateurs. Cameron's putter studio in the north San Diego county area has been the destination of Tour pros for years, and they get a detailed analysis using high speed cameras and other measurement tools. For Cameron, this is also very smart marketing - by providing this extensive service he gets more of his putters in Tour pros' hands than any other manufacturer, and that has made him a pretty wealthy man. In some ways, Edel mimics the whole treatment that a Tour pro gets at Cameron's studio.
My Recent Edel Experience
Disappointed with my general putting performance, I've been looking at different putters to see if there might be something that worked better for me. I checked out the SeeMore putters, and quickly found that my stroke was pretty consistent already with what their RST technology was trying to do - without focusing on it, I found I already kept the little dot nicely centered throughout my stroke. That was a nice reinforcement that I must be doing something right. In my quest, I recently dropped by my local Edel fitter to see what it was all about. I'm pretty objective, so I had no preconceived notions that this was the holy grail, but I do feel that the psychology of perception and feel are pretty intertwined with being able to putt well, so I felt there might be something to the Edel approach.
Since the fitter had a little time to kill, he grabbed the aiming tools from his Edel kit and we headed to the range to see how my current putter stacks up. The fitter set up his little black screen background and laser, and we checked the aim with my putter where I lined up multiple times to a simulated cup about 8 feet away. Here is where it got very interesting. I was absolutely dead on consistently aimed. The problem was I was consistently aimed about 3" outside the left edge of the cup. My putter was an Anser-style, with a single sight line on the flange. The fitter took a little piece of tape to cover the line, and then we experimented with different marks using a Sharpie. After a little trial and error, he came upon a solution that had me consistently lining up dead at the center. The solution? Cover the sight line completely, and put a single little dot on the top of the head.
We went back and forth multiple times on this and it was astounding how consistent I was between the solutions. Sight line visible, I'd aim left. Dot only, I'd aim right on. At this point the fitter was happy to send my on my way with no charge, suggesting I could probably improve quite a bit by simply keeping a little tape on the back and a Sharpie dot. Distance control has been my other issue, so I went ahead and did the full Edel fitting the next day to see if things could be improved.
Starting from scratch with the Edel heads, some experimenting quickly validated the previous days results and showed that I was best staying with the Anser-style head and a hosel similar to what I was already using, but put an aiming dot and no sight lines on the putter. Again, we went back and forth for about an hour doing blind tests and tweaking only a variable at a time, and the results were consistent. We also then spent some time with a high speed camera stroking putts in front of a measuring stick to pick the loft that provides the best roll for my stroke; this didn't take very long, but looking at the video it was surprising how much difference a degree one way or the other had on how much the ball skidded.
We then spent almost another hour on the weighting, and again it was very revealing. Edel's process doesn't just concern itself with how heavy of putter head you like, but the distribution of weight throughout the shaft. We eventually came on a solution with some weight anchored about 6 inches down from the shaft butt, and my distance control was greatly improved. Again, we went back and forth with the different combos to reduce the variables and make sure the effect we were seeing was really caused by the weight changes and not just by my zeroing in on the distances on the green.
I've only had my new Edel a week and haven't been able to get out on the course yet, but I have noticed that I am more consistent on the practice green. No, I'm not making every 10 footer, but it seems like I'm making more of them, and I'm also leaving a lot more 30 footers within a couple feet than I used to. If the Edel is only worth a stroke every few rounds, it will have been worth it to me.
