No feel whatsoever with my putter

[topspin4hand]

So I've been using this Nike Unitized Tiempo putter for most of the summer and I still have zero feel with it. I'm a newer golfer but I put in as much practice time as I can and still work in a demanding profession.

Yesterday I had a couple birdie puts inside 20 feet (I rarely have any at all) and about 4 par puts (2 after the birdie putts). I can easily blow the ball by the hole 6+ feet on a 12 footer or put the ball 6 feet when facing a 12 footer. It just seems like the putter's sweetspot is too meaty for me (I don't feel the ball coming off the face). Honestly, my distance control was MUCH better when I had the putter that came with the old beginner et someone had given me from their garage. That was a hunk of steel that had no sweetspot but you could feel the ball off the putter. I may bring that bad boy out next week ...

My question is can yall recommend some putters for me to try at the local course pro shop next week? I want something that does little or no work for me ... if that's the way to describe it.

p.s. I actually do like the offset of the club head, lie, etc. It works well for my eye. I just can't control the dang distance ...

[FlopShotArtist]

Try the Odyssey DFX 3300. It can be had for $70 new, and it has nice feel.

[Jordasch]

I was having the same problem. I bought my White Hot #3 about 5 years ago, and recently it had lost all feel. I was putting okay, but not the way I was with a newer putter. I went and bought my Odyssey Sabertooth today, and cant wait to try it! I was sinking putts like crazy at Dicks.

[FlopShotArtist]

  jordasch said:

i was having the same problem. I bought my white hot #3 about 5 years ago, and recently it had lost all feel. I was putting okay, but not the way i was with a newer putter. I went and bought my odyssey sabertooth today, and cant wait to try it! I was sinking putts like crazy at dicks.

i want the sabertooth so baddddd

[joshtpa]

I play the "tuning fork" odyssey. I liked it a little more than the sabertooth, but I could not go to anything else. It just feels great.

[Crafty]

Yes! putters have the best feel of any brand IMO and have a relatively small sweetspot.

[topspin4hand]

  joshtpa said:

I play the "tuning fork" odyssey. I liked it a little more than the sabertooth, but I could not go to anything else. It just feels great.

Re: the Odyssey White Hot XG #7 and the Sabertooth ... they just look like they're too "meaty" - for lack of a better term - and will do too much work for me??

[FlopShotArtist]

  topspin4hand said:

Re: the Odyssey White Hot XG #7 and the Sabertooth ... they just look like they're too "meaty" - for lack of a better term - and will do too much work for me??

Go to your local Dick's or Sports Authority. I also though the same about the 7 and Sabertooth and I loved the feel of them and drained everything.

[topspin4hand]

  Crafty said:

Yes! putters have the best feel of any brand IMO and have a relatively small sweetspot.

I was thinking about the Abbie a few weeks back, but it has a similar physical design to what I have, imo.

I was peeked at a couple Ansers I saw on ebay, they look thin enough - again for lack of a better term - to give me what I'm looking for. Maybe I'll add those to what's suggested on here to my list of putter to try. I'm trying to methodically go thru several putters and not just get a brand name like I did when I picked this last one up (I tested all my other clubs, got fitted etc. but for some reason did not for the most used stick in the @$%! bag).

[ks8829]

I have the following putters:

Scotty Cameron Newport 2
German stainless steel billet

2 ball odyssey putter blade style
white material face

Yonex, Super ADX
forged steel

Never compromise zl1 alpha
gray material

Arnold Palmer, "The Original" Callaway
forged steel

I play the most with and have scored the best with the Scotty Cameron Newport 2, but the Yonexs, Super ADX has the best feel because it has a soft forged steel face with a graphite shaft.

[topspin4hand]

All great suggestions. I'm going to try every single putter mentioned.

Thinking back to this past Saturday frustrated me so much that I almost purchased a couple putters on Ebay the past 48 hrs. The first mentioned a DFX 3300 and I was actually the high bidder until topped me in the last 5 minutes so I said that was prolly a sign for my a** to be patient in this process. What really got me was (I think it was the Open telecast or the Golf channel) and the color announcer was saying "putting is about the heart" #@$%@!.

[topspin4hand]

Just to follow up ... I ended up with a Ping Karsten Answer 3 putter that I got for $30. Although I genuinely feel that this club offers more control/feel than what my previous putter offered, I must mention that I have moved the ball back in my putting stance which has helped me make more consistent sweetspot contact with the ball. Today I made two medium range putts (good for me) as well as great distance control on most of my other long & medium-length putts and more importantly, I only had 1 really bad putt where I hit the ball 8 feet on a 16 footer (used to have ton of these and blow bys) and even that stroke occurred after I didn't place the ball where I had practiced in my stance.

  topspin4hand said:

So I've been using this Nike Unitized Tiempo putter for most of the summer and I still have zero feel with it. I'm a newer golfer but I put in as much practice time as I can and still work in a demanding profession.

[Dub]

Good luck with the PING putter. My PING has been in my possesion longer than any putter I've ever owned. Normally I'll sell a putter to a buddy when I buy a new one.

One thing that I'd advice is to set up the ball in the center of you stance and have a very slight shaft tilt forward at address. Pendulum stroke that returns your hands just ever so slightly ahead at impact.

Putting is all about feel and confidence. Get to the course early and work on the putting green to develop the feel before your round. Work on the ten footers.....then hole out the short leaves. Try this from uphill / downhill / breaking putts. Then back up and work on lag putts and chips. Finish out by holing out 10 footers again and spend the last few minutes dropping short putts.

Many of us may never hit the ball like Tiger.....but there is no reason we can't putt like him.

Putters that I'm looking at going with next are:
1) Scotty Cameron Red X3 (can't decide on shaft length 34 or 35)
2) Yes Tiffany

Both of these offer great feel and super alignment....bottom line is I feel very confident with them. I've always sort of wanted a Scotty, anyway, just never done as well with blade stlye putters...now his mallets are looking great for me.

[JaY_B]

I do love my Nike equipment, but there putters are not known for their brilliance, imo go for a specialist putter brand such as Yes who have been mentioned before.

I have always felt with Nike that their putter line was an after thought, although admittedly I have never tried one, I am simply going on hear say.

[JaY_B]

  Dub said:

Many of us may never hit the ball like Tiger.....but there is no reason we can't putt like him.

Have you seen the greens in South East England at the moment..... there's a big reason we can't putt like him

lol

[walfice]

I agree with the original post. I got a nike unitized retro putter a couple of months ago (special offer with the irons). It looks very good and I do get very similar results to my previous ping anser putter but it has nowhere near the feel and feedback of the ping. I personally thing ping make the best putters.

[ks8829]

feel and solid contact may be two separate issues:

Feel
I play the Scotty Cameron Newport 2 made out of a single billet of Germany stainless. I can tell when I made solid contact and when I don't, the feeling is different along with the sound.

Solid contact
I think you need to learn to make solid contact with any putter you use and making solid contact might be the reason you don't have feel from your putter.

Some tips to make solid contact with you putter
1) Use only your shoulders and eliminate any hand movement
2) Keep the putter low as though you are pressing down on the green on the back swing of your putt
3) Putting is personal and unique to everyone, so don't be afraid to try experimenting with different putting methods, ie ball positions, back shoulder lower, (like Phil Mickelson), forward press just before your take away, having 60% of your weight on your front foot, open stance and ball in the back of your stance.
4) bounce the ball on the putter face so that you can get the feedback of solid contact.
5) distance control will follow with consistent solid contact, same tempo of all your putts and how far you take you putter back and the distance of your follow through.