Less than 4 degrees of Loft

[r7 425]

Are there any companies that use less than 4 degrees of loft on their putters. I know the standard is 4 degrees. I think if you had a putter that had 1 degree of loft then the ball wouldnt skip as much. I think the guerin rife 2 bar is like 2 degrees. Maybe all companies should lessen loft to make a truer roll

[Masa]

I believe most of the Yes! putters are about 2.5 degrees. When I got fitted for mine they bent it to be 2 degrees for me. Putts great. Most major companies seem to be around 4 degrees though.

[Bignose]

Are there any companies that use less than 4 degrees of loft on their putters. I know the standard is 4 degrees. I think if you had a putter that had 1 degree of loft then the ball wouldnt skip as much. I think the guerin rife 2 bar is like 2 degrees. Maybe all companies should lessen loft to make a truer roll

Putters come in a wide variety of lofts. A lot of the mallet putters are around 2.5 degrees. Check out a lot of the TaylorMade Rossa line... 2.5 degrees. I don't think that there is any standard at all. There are putters out there with negative loft (see

http://www.purestrikegolf.co.uk/about_pro.asp as one example) Another point is that because putting is such a slow motion compared to the full swing, you can manipulate the head much easier with much less chance of ruining the swing. So, if you have a putter that is 4 degrees and you think that is too much, just put the ball farther back in your stance. Hands ahead at impact will equal less loft. Hands behind at impact will equal more loft. Finally, the amount of loft can depend on the type of green. If you are playing on certain strains of Bermuda, the ball will almost always settle into a small depression and the extra loft helps hop the ball up out of that depression. If the green in like most bentgrasses, that isn't as much of an issue. The maintenance of the green comes into play, too -- how recently were they aerated? Are the ball marks fixed well? I think in general too much is made of the loft. Like I said, you can always manipulate the face to pick the loft you want. I think that much more important factors are the type of head, where the shaft connects, the weighting scheme (face-balanced or toe-weighted), total weight, head weight, and counter balancing. Of these, the total weight and head weight I think think are the most important, because to a certain extent the rest are just style. The great unknown is feel, and that is probably the most important and unpredictable. I think that feel is probably the biggest thing because if you feel comfortable over a putt because of the confidence generated in a putter that feels good to you, you will just naturally make more putts.

[Everardo]

Are there any companies that use less than 4 degrees of loft on their putters. I know the standard is 4 degrees. I think if you had a putter that had 1 degree of loft then the ball wouldnt skip as much. I think the guerin rife 2 bar is like 2 degrees. Maybe all companies should lessen loft to make a truer roll

As Masa mentioned most Yes! putters are 2.5 but most putters can be adjusted for loft as well.

[Weekend Pro]

Hi Matt, I beg to disagree with you on the need for loft in a putter. In the old days the putter was known as the flat stick because unlike the other irons, it had no loft. Lifting the ball with the loft is what causes the ball to skip up before assuming its forward roll. This is what is sometime avoided by golfers moving their hands forward of the putter head when addressing a put. They are unknowingly trying to eliminate the loft and bringing the head to vertical zero loft. If you were putting from off the green, I would agree with you that the loft was advantageous, however once on the green, if you have marked your ball and then replace it before putting, it should not be down in the grass. Try a zero loft putter and see if you don't get better results than your lofty putter. Happy putting. Weekend Pro

[blkdiamond]

Over the past few months I have been working on my putting stroke in which I now "deloft" the putter by moving my hands in front of the ball. I have found that not only does it get the ball rolling faster, but my putting stoke seems smoother.

[iacas]

Hi Matt, I beg to disagree with you on the need for loft in a putter. In the old days the putter was known as the flat stick because unlike the other irons, it had no loft.

Define "old days." Because in the mid-1900s, the putter had about ten degrees of loft. It needed that much because the grass was so much longer on the greens.

They are unknowingly trying to eliminate the loft and bringing the head to vertical zero loft. If you were putting from off the green, I would agree with you that the loft was advantageous, however once on the green, if you have marked your ball and then replace it before putting, it should not be down in the grass. Try a zero loft putter and see if you don't get better results than your lofty putter. Happy putting. Weekend Pro

If a zero-lofted putter was the best thing, people would be using putters with zero degrees of loft. Suffice to say the four degrees of loft that's present on most putters still matters and is still useful.

Contrary to your statement, loft doesn't cause the "skipping." We'd see more skipping with putters with zero loft.

[thumper07]

thank you erik