Broomstick Putters

[wetzel1592]

Last year I tried a broomstick putter for a few months. Lag putting felt incredibly easy and natural. Just like rolling the ball to the hole with my bottom hand. The technique also put a great end over end roll of the ball. 

The problem was 10 feet and in. On these shorter ones, I never felt like I was hitting the ball solidly and this caused my speed control to falter. I was leaving everything short. I wrote it off to another failed experiment and went back to my previous putter. 

Has anyone had a similar experience with this style? Did I give up too early? I just think back to how easy lag putting was and that’s always been something I struggled with. 

[bkuehn1952]

Did you give the experiment enough time? Practice shorter putts enough?

I know I tend to not have the patience to fully succeed or fail at times.

[ChetlovesMer]

  On 2/14/2025 at 1:21 AM, wetzel1592 said:

Last year I tried a broomstick putter for a few months. Lag putting felt incredibly easy and natural. Just like rolling the ball to the hole with my bottom hand. The technique also put a great end over end roll of the ball. 

The problem was 10 feet and in. On these shorter ones, I never felt like I was hitting the ball solidly and this caused my speed control to falter. I was leaving everything short. I wrote it off to another failed experiment and went back to my previous putter. 

Has anyone had a similar experience with this style? Did I give up too early? I just think back to how easy lag putting was and that’s always been something I struggled with. 

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Okay, this is my opinion. But you really should consider getting data. No offense but human memory can be odd. Sometimes we make a long putt early on with our new putter and from that first impression onward you have a "putter that's good for long putts." We may miss our first two short ones and now you have "A putter that doesn't work for short putts". Sometimes these things even out over time, sometimes they don't, but it's often tough to break our first impressions of what's happening. 

Plus, let's say that in fact it is true. You putt better from long distance with a broomstick and better from close up with a standard putter. Which one holds more weight? Here's an example. If your short putting is -5 SG (Strokes Gained) and your long putting is +5 SG does that mean your over all putting is 0 SG? What if your overall putting with one putter is -2 SG and +2 SG with the other putter?

The answer to which putter should you use is of course is "It depends". BUT.... If you had SG (strokes gained) data for both putters you would know right away which putter is better for you. Or at least you'd have a better idea. This still doesn't take into account the difficulty of where you are playing, and/or the particular days in which you play. We've all had those putting days where it "feels" like everything you hit rolls in. AND... we've all had those days where it "feels" like you can't make a thing. 

My best advice is get putting lessons. ... My second best advice is get data. 

Unless you just want to get a new putter. Than go ahead. I love shiny things and I'd be the last person to claim I have never replaced a club that was working fine just because I wanted to get a new one. 

[wetzel1592]

  On 2/21/2025 at 2:04 PM, ChetlovesMer said:

Okay, this is my opinion. But you really should consider getting data. No offense but human memory can be odd. Sometimes we make a long putt early on with our new putter and from that first impression onward you have a "putter that's good for long putts." We may miss our first two short ones and now you have "A putter that doesn't work for short putts". Sometimes these things even out over time, sometimes they don't, but it's often tough to break our first impressions of what's happening. 

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This is a good point and I’m going to go down this road. I’ll get some data on both techniques, compare the two, and then make a more informed decision. I’m bad about going off of what I “feel” is the best but should definitely approach it with more hard data. 

  On 2/21/2025 at 2:04 PM, ChetlovesMer said:

Unless you just want to get a new putter. Than go ahead. I love shiny things and I'd be the last person to claim I have never replaced a club that was working fine just because I wanted to get a new one. 

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All that being said, this made me laugh and is likely the cause of me wondering if the broomstick would be a better technique. I mean, who doesn’t want to get a new putter?