I was sooooo wrong.....

[bjwestner]

"You can't judge a book by its cover"......a popular quote that I am sure everyone has heard of before.  I am now wondering at how many times I have done this and in doing so, have potentially cost myself at acheiving better putting results?

Right from when I first started golf, I did not like the way a blade putter looked.  With all the putters I have tried out and purchased I never even thought that a simple blade putter would do anything for me.  It was ugly to me.  Therefore it must not be as good as the fancy mallets out there that I was buying up.  The mallets had to be more stable and I needed this (I kept telling myself) so any putter I used had to be a mallet.

Recently I forced myself to try out some blade putters.  It was hard at first because it seemed awkward that I could keep such a thin blade square enough consistently enough to make putts.  As I was forcing myself to try out the blades I was also trying out mallets.  But instead of going on instinct or feel, I wanted to listen to the numbers.  I always say that the numbers don't lie but I realized that I was not really listening to the numbers in this case.  What I found was that I was actually more accurate and made more putts with the blade then the mallet!  Yes it was a small sample size but it was a fact.  Also after forcing myself to try the blade the feel and look was starting to grow on me a bit.  I had confidence because the numbers supported it.

I ended up purchasing a blade (Scotty Cameron Select Newport 2).  I still have a mallet (Golo), when I want to change it up, but even then the Golo is not that large of a mallet and is in fact lighter than the Newport 2!  As I have been practicing every night this week, I've been going back and forth between the two and charting the stats.  After several hours, I have a better percentage of made putts with the blade!

If you had told me this a few weeks ago I would have never believed it.  My bias towards blades in the past resulting in my stubborness not to force myself to try it.  I wonder if this has happened with other club choices since I started golfing?

There are tons of articles out there on putting and how people say that the sound or feel is important to them as well as looks.  It was too important to me I think.  Ultimately, the only thing I should care about is the numbers because that's what really matters.  If my putting numbers are better with a club that I thought was ugly, I'm stupid for not using it!

Has this situation happened to anyone else out there where they have switched from mallet to blade or vise-versa?

[tristanhilton85]

The simple fact is that the majority of golfers can't line up their putter correctly. We all perceive the putter head differently and what looks square to you might look open to me. A lot of putting is finding the head shape/design that you see as square when it is indeed square. The next big thing is the weight of the putter as that has a lot to do with distance control. I looks like you may have finally found a putter that sets up right for you.

I too was a long time mallet user and changed to a blade a few years ago and have had a little more success with it. Glad to hear that your putting is coming around.