Putter Fitting - Anyone Done It?

[delav]

A few weeks ago I was at Golf Galaxy talking with their clubfitter about putters. He said that once I decided on a putter to work with, a putter fitting would really help improve my results. The service includes adjusting length, lie and loft while using both static and dynamic fitting, as well as tracking ball motion off of the putter.

I've been back and forth between a few mallets and blades, but I think I'm going to stick with my SC Newport for a while, and I'm curious if anyone here has done a fitting? My putter is currently 35" and standard lie/loft, although most of my clubs are several degrees upright.

I never gave it much thought previously, but I do have a tendency to strike putts a bit towards the toe, and I wonder if it may help to really dial in my putter to my stance and stroke.

Anyone had this done?

[Ash1974]

I had my Ping Redwood custom fitted, used the Ping Fitting putter that has all the lies and length adjustable so you can get it set right.

My fitting for this was 34" long and Blue Dot (1deg up)

[walfice]

I am having a putter fitting next week. It's my birthday later this month and I'm going to get a new putter so will get custom fitted this time. I currently use a red x mallet, which I like a lot but would like to try a blade style and don't want to spend big money on a newport if it doesn't suit my stroke. It will be interesting to see what numbers the sam putt lab comes up with. If it turns out my stroke is more suited to a mallet then I might get a squareback or maybe just stick with my red x and save my money!

[enis750]

18 holes, one club you use on every hole and a fitting that is probably cheaper than any other.........can't see why not dude
i was fitted for a style of putter and lenght...but thats it

if you know the putter works for your stroke, and its been fitted.....cant blame anything but the user then...right?

[delav]

  enis750 said:

if you know the putter works for your stroke, and its been fitted.....cant blame anything but the user then...right?

This is what I am afraid of most :)

[holybull]

I had my Ping Redwood Anser fitted. I don't think it helped me at all because i stand over the ball differently depending on things like grade, slope, glare, etc.

I do have all my putter the same length.

I don't even use the Redwood much at all, I'm into looks, and i like the blue on my G2.

[enis750]

  delav said:

This is what I am afraid of most :)

hahhaha!

no doubt!!! hahaha!

[CrazyXGolfer]

My putter was custom made for me so it was fitted also. I can tell the difference between thid putter and my old one, I usually Push putts with my old putter and now I have my fitted/custom made one, I find im holing ALOT more putts. EG: last round I played, I had 26 putts :)

[WAM-Golf]

Makes sense to me. I've never done it but will probably have it done when I pick up a new putter... hopefully soon!

[delav]

Anyone have any before/after feedback about adjusting loft?

[Danattherock]

It amazes me that folks don't get custom fit for putters. It is the most important club in the bag. Even worse, folks spend money on driver fitting, searching for the perfect shaft, the cool factor, the brand name, etc.. but still don't get fit for their putter. It is beyond me. Get fit for your putter man. Also, before doing so, read the "Tips" section on Geoff Mangum's website Puttingzone. There is some amazing info there. You could spend all day reading it in fact. I just bought his $9 e-book (Optimal Putting) and it is amazing. Some 280 pages worth of info. The hard copy is $200+ on Amazon due to being out of print (2008 and sold out). The e-book can be bought on Geoff's wesbite and one guy in SD sells them on Ebay which is where I got mine. This is must read info for anyone that wants to improve their putting.


http://puttingzone.com/ziptips.html


-Dan

[delav]

Had a fitting today.

Turns out years of bag time (slamming/dropping putter, traveling, leaning on putter, etc) had bent my SC to +5* upright. Ideally, I'm fit for 1* up, so naturally I was pretty surprised.

As a result I was standing too close to the ball, as well as compensating for the tendency to turf the heel and miss putts left but holding the face slightly open through impact.

We dialed in the lie and loft, and checked length at setup. Overall an awesome process, huge difference in confidence at setup now that things are where they should be again.

He said that the Mid-Slant models are most susceptible to being accidentally bent by a careless user due to the longer neck, and to have the lie and loft checked a few times a season.

Apparently it's bad news to lean on your putter while reading putts... time to break that habit.

[CassinoNorth]

Definitely get it done.

as Dan said, only club you use every hole...well 99% of the holes but still, most important club. If you want to see your scores drop, it starts and ends with getting your putter game dialed in.

[delav]

  CassinoNorth said:

Definitely get it done.

Yep. I had been swapping putters so often, I hadn't realized how poorly the putter was setting up. Time to start draining putts.

[WUTiger]

Won a putter fitting at a Golf Galaxy demo day. Got my Ping Pal fitted in summer 2009. Changes made:
* Cut 1" off the shaft (no surprise, guessed it myself)
* Got new slightly thicker Winn grup
* Increased loft 2* (improved roll consistency)
* Flattened lie 1* (cut down on left-edge misses)
* Increased swingweight form C9 to D4 (club fitter, and some online sites, say average golfer has too light a putter )

I have virtually eliminated three putts since the fitting.

[Stretch]

Had a great experience this morning getting my putter checked out at Golf Science in Cape Town, a specialist clubmaking/fitting outfit who are (I think) the sole South African dealer for both Wishon and Miura. I spent almost 3 hours with one of the owners, Warren Lake, a 1 handicap and wicked good putter himself, and left with the same stick I came with, a copy of Jeff Mangum's ebook and so much new information stuffed into my head it was practically dribbling out of my ears.

To start with, Warren put me on their green and had me hit five straight putts while he watched from behind the hole. "You don't need a new putter," he decided immediately. "But you do need to change how you putt. Let me put you on the machine and I'll show you why." Being the suspicious bastard I am, I asked him to lay out what he thought the problem was before we enlisted mechanical assistance. "You usually miss left (true) because you let your center of gravity go forward, which sends your stroke out to the left. To try and find the right line, you open the putter face and cut the ball. The good news is you still hit it solid, which means you have decent touch. If you were doing it only one or two degrees you could just live with it, but I reckon you're almost ten off line and no putter tweak in the world is going to fix that."

Then he hooked me up to the SAM Puttlab for five more putts, which generated the following data (and reams more besides). Not much to argue with there!

Attachment 2571

This was followed by a solid hour of back-and-forth on putting philosophy (Warren's becoming a PuttingZone certified coach) and practice as he taught me a series of drills and we worked to get the right feel for a straight stroke. It's going to take a while, but one thing's for sure: I know a whole hell of a lot more about rolling the ball today than I did yesterday.

Total cost $40. Actual value rather higher I reckon!

[Robato]

Dude, I wholeheartedly recommend a putter fitting. I have seen the light. It is possible that a putter off the shelf can fit a player perfectly, but I think that most players conform their style to the putters tendencies. Nothin wrong with that too. But the fitting process has worked wonders for me. First of all, I wanted to have a good setup position at the ball. This can be different for different players, but I decided to have my eyes directly over the ball, an idea also recommended by a tip from Luke Donald. After letting my arms hang totally relaxed, and grabbing my putter, I found that in order to hold the handle the way I wanted, with the shaft parallel to my wrists, the head of the putter was not flat on the ground. It was actually toe down by a lot. I at first experimented with this style, and thought, hey, it works for Steve Stricker. But I decided to adjust the lie because I wanted to have the putter head flat as can be through the stroke. (I use an anser-type Byron 007)
After going back and forth with the putter guy on the bending machine, (I live in Japan, and my bad Japanese was assisted by way too much gestures and nods of assurance about the fragility of the matter) we found a great setup. I tried it out in the showroom putting floor, and sunk every shot long and short, effortlessly. I mean it was that much of a difference. The putter went from like holding a long piece of heavy metal outward, to guiding Marty McFly's hoverboard with a string. That smooth. The setup allows me to worry only about the back and forth motion of the putt.

If you can get that feeling with an off the shelf putter, I say its good to go. I actually first felt an almost perfect setup feeling with a putter in the local shop, but I didnt give up on my putter until around 5 adjustments. But I think its perfect now. A good test is if you hold the putter in position and then let your arms hang relaxed. If the putter move closer to your feet, I think its because you are holding it out with muscles that you dont need to recruit.

And as far as loft, I adjusted it according to how I like to tilt the putter at my setup, so that the ball comes off the face nicely, without being driven into the grass/carpet. ^_^

[Slappy9]

Could I take my Ping Anser to Golf Galaxy and have it done or do i have to buy a new putter...