Putter shaft locations

[ballemore1029]

I was browsing around at Dick's the other day and realized how many different spots putters shafts connect to the head. What is the difference in hitting a putter with the shaft in the center back as to a "traditional" putter on the side closest to your body?

[tweaky]

it's a visual thing.  some players prefer to see the ball line up with the shaft at address and some prefer the shaft be out of the way and line up the putter face.

from a design standpoint it helps to balance the clubhead.  also helps to increase MOI.

[drglew]

Some say a heel-shafted putter is better for folks whose swing path has a little more arc, as the weighting is more toward the toe, compared to center shafted (i.e. face-balanced) which might be better for those that try to keep their putting stroke straight back/through.  Some say if you push a lot of putts right (for a righty), then you might do better with a center-shafted putter, as one cause for those pushed putts might be incomplete rotation of a toe-weighted putter back to square.

Although in theory there's lots of science and physics to putters & putting, the biggest element is probably in the mind though, so use whatever "feels" best.  I think a golfer who is a "good putter" would be a "good putter" even with a cheapie from a Putt-Putt course, where most "bad putters" will be bad no matter what they use (until they practice enough to get that combination of being able to make a repeatable stroke with proper distance control, and also able to read greens well)!