Being Fit for an Edel Putter

[b101]

So I had my Edel putter fitting a couple of days ago and still trying to process some of it. I've been using a SeeMore that I was fit for about seven years ago when I had a really poor strong (I liked the concept of the red dot) and whilst I have some good days, I felt I was always aiming left and cutting across the ball. Anyway, after the amazing experience with the Edel wedge fitting and using the same fitter (any UK people, Matt Rice at Purley Downs in Surrey is incredible), who I really trust, I booked this one as a sort of Christmas/birthday/for myself gift.

Interestingly, as soon as we went into the putting lab, I started rolling eight footers absentmindedly and holed five straight. Before even goign to the aiming process though, he got me putting on a T line which tracked the roll of the ball - it was skipping for about three bounces before rolling left and slightly curving right. The whole way through, he would explain what we were doing and why; this was because there was too much loft on my putter. Then, as with Erik's opening post, it started with the aim work and, as suspected, I was high left, about an inch outside the cup. We settled on head shape pretty quickly - my brain hates lines, so it was the mallet, which moved the aim slightly inwards. The blade was hideous, aim-wise and pushed it even further left. He then played with a couple of hosels and got it a little closer (I can't recall if this was when the skidding stopped, as we went back to the T line at some point).

Then came to the second part of the fitting, which was totally different and more of a lesson. We started on something called Wright Balance (@iacas - don't know whether you're familiar with it?), which was basically a way of determining my stance and setup, all of which changed my path and stability massively. My right hip has always swayed when putting and I've never known why or how to change it, but it was now rock-solid and the putter was coming back much more 'on-plane/inside' than before. 

We then moved back to the sightlines and after a huge amount of tinkering, ended up with three on top and two below, which had me dead centre or just left of centre every time of five attempts, with the others all way outside. This took a while - we definitely went through about 10-15 combinations! 

Finally, we went out and putted to the string to get the weights sorted - this didn't take too long and he was great at just getting me to clear my head and make the stroke I felt would get the ball there. A bit of tweaking to the weight position in the handle also helped with the path issues some more and all was good 🙂. Finished up just putting some eight footers and gaining trust in the aim as well as building a pre-putt routine that didn't rely on tricking my aim. Subconsciously, I had built my pre-putt routine around ignoring the hole and putting over a starting point about a foot in front of the ball. We now worked on one that helped me take a perfect, consistent stance and build that stance around the putter head rather than the other way around. Felt much more comfortable rolling the ball and whilst I missed a load of those eight footers left, it's because my mind has learnt not to trust the aim of the putter and either push everything, or default aim further left. 

Anyway, long post, but it was amazing. Lasted about 2hrs15mins and worth every penny of what I'll pay for the putter when you consider what that would have cost for that lesson as well! Will post a picture when it arrives in c. 3 weeks, but it'll be a black mallet with yellow printing, which complements the green and blue printing on the 60* and 56* wedges. Cannot wait...

[Killa]

So I am really considering to get fit for an edel putter. There are three things that bug me though. 

 

The first is that I only recently started seriously working on my putting. I will continue to do that for the next 2-3 months when the season really starts. So how will that practice influence the fitting - I changed my grip, my stance, the way I swing and the tempo. So some quite significant changes. 
 

The second thing is that I was always golfing on a “budget”. So while money isn’t really a concern (I can easily afford it) I started out with a full set of nikes with 2 vokey wedges and a Taylormade Rossa putter, that I upgraded with a Cobra King f6+ driver, Cobra 3 wood, Taylormade Tour Preferred CB irons 4-PW, then I have a random Dunlop 52° gap wedge and the old 56 and 60° vokeys (with not enough bounce). And all of this was less than $500. I only recently added a Taylormade UDI 2 iron so that’s the most expensive part of my gear. Now considering that gear am I really gonna go out and buy a 3-600$ putter? Is it really going to shave me a bunch of strokes?

 

And last, but not least, there are only two fitters in driving distance over here. One is 100 miles one way and one is 220 miles (I fear that this one will be a superior fitter and the first one doesn’t fit wedges) And while driving isn’t a big deal it all really adds to the putters cost.

 

 

[Double Mocha Man]

Don't do it! Don't do it! I would spiff up your current set of metals and irons and wedges first.  And not even think of buying a new putter until all your swing changes have settled in, probably midsummer.  Just my $0.01 worth.

[DeadMan]

I’m getting fit for an Edel putter tomorrow. Will post in here with my experience. I’m really excited. 

[DeadMan]

18 hours ago, DeadMan said:

I’m getting fit for an Edel putter tomorrow. Will post in here with my experience. I’m really excited. 

Had some fun with this today! My results were really interesting. I was aiming my current putter about 18" to 2 feet left of the cup, but the fitter fixed that really quickly. I ended up with the size above the blade, I believe. Completely clean putter head - no lines or anything on it. I was aiming that right at the hole. It was actually the first design he put together, and we played around a little bit more with lines and stuff to check. 

Then we went to work on speed. Played around with the weights for a while, and found a great combination for speed. I was hitting putts with perfect speed after a couple of adjustments to the weight, which is very unusual for me. 

Will go back when the putter is in in a few weeks and test it out to make sure it's all correct for me. Can't wait to put this thing in play.

[CharlieB]

How did Corey Pavin win all that money with a simple Bullseye putter? How many times have we heard a tour player state that he is playing with his first putter ever? I understand the technology advances in drivers, balls, or irons, but fail to see anything substantial in putters. I think putters come down to confidence in your stroke.?

[dennyjones]

2 hours ago, CharlieB said:

How did Corey Pavin win all that money with a simple Bullseye putter? How many times have we heard a tour player state that he is playing with his first putter ever? I understand the technology advances in drivers, balls, or irons, but fail to see anything substantial in putters. I think putters come down to confidence in your stroke.?

It comes down to more than confidence in your stroke.   Most golfers don't aim  their putters correctly. 

[Double Mocha Man]

2 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

It comes down to more than confidence in your stroke.   Most golfers don't aim  their putters correctly. 

How do you feel about stand-up putters for correct aiming?

[iacas]

2 hours ago, CharlieB said:

How did Corey Pavin win all that money with a simple Bullseye putter? How many times have we heard a tour player state that he is playing with his first putter ever? I understand the technology advances in drivers, balls, or irons, but fail to see anything substantial in putters. I think putters come down to confidence in your stroke.?

It's tough to have confidence in a putter that you might mis-aim and which is not fit for your perception of distance control.

[CharlieB]

How many putts is average for a 18 hole round by a amateur player? Just curious.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, CharlieB said:

How many putts is average for a 18 hole round by a amateur player? Just curious.

It depends on a ton of things. What's your point?

Generally, "less" if the player has a putter for which they were fit.

[billchao]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

It's tough to have confidence in a putter that you might mis-aim and which is not fit for your perception of distance control.

I know I’ve posted this before, here’s my story which relates to the above:

I was a terrible putter. Straight up glaring weakness. I didn’t like to practice it, either, because it never seemed to help. Weird thing was, I actually had a pretty good acceleration profile. I’ve taken AimPoint. I’ve had putting lessons on SAM PuttLab before. I should have been mediocre at worst.

Eventually I got around to getting an Edel putter. During the fitting I found out that I aimed my putter 4° right of my target, ala Tiger. Except in my case, I didn’t have decades of practice to execute the putter “release” properly, resulting in both pushes and pulls. No consistency other than consistently off-line. I struggled to make 50% of my four footers. I had completely mangled my setup and stroke in a failed attempt to make this putter work for me.

After obtaining a properly fitted putter, I started hitting my lines. Putts I didn’t expect to make started going in. I started gaining confidence in my putting, which made it more enjoyable. Now I actually like to practice. Last time I got a putting lesson (with @iacas), it was a simple change in my backswing arc - a remnant from my previous putter. I’m about 50% from six feet now and I expect (though I know I won’t) to make four footers. I’m not going to say I’m a good putter, but I’m closer to being good than I am to being terrible.

I like to think it’s the skill of the player and not the equipment, but my experience has shown me the equipment matters, too.

[Darkfrog]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

Generally, "less" if the player has a putter for which they were fit.

 

1 hour ago, billchao said:

I like to think it’s the skill of the player and not the equipment, but my experience has shown me the equipment matters, too.

My confidence and performance with putting oscillates severely between really good (for my standards) to total shit show where 1-footers feel totally awkward.

Talked to my instructor about the putting ups and downs and decided we’ll do a putting session next lesson to help diagnose and fix issues. The facility is also an edel fitting spot so after my stroke is tuned up I’m planning on getting fitted. 

[Sandy Divot]

Kind of a subjective question, but is it better to get an Edel specific fitting, or a putter agnostic fitting at Club Champion?

[billchao]

2 hours ago, Sandy Divot said:

Kind of a subjective question, but is it better to get an Edel specific fitting, or a putter agnostic fitting at Club Champion?

I ended up being fit into a putter with no markings on the top. I don’t know if that’s something that could have been done had I gone to Club Champion.

[Darkfrog]

3 hours ago, Sandy Divot said:

Kind of a subjective question, but is it better to get an Edel specific fitting, or a putter agnostic fitting at Club Champion?

My instructor is really high on the Edel putter fitting system. Now it could be that she teaches at a facility that is also a certified Edel fitting center, so she has some bias. But I don't think this is the case because she is always very honest about other fitting questions I've asked (i.e., told me not to buy shafts from them, gave me affordable shaft options with the characteristics I needed, and pointed me to eBay).

The way she explained the putter fitting was that it customizes every aspect of the putter to match your putting technique. I assume this is possible at another fitter, but the Edel system is designed for this type customization (alignment marks, head shape, weight, hosel, loft, etc.), while maybe other putter manufacturers are not.

[IowaGreg]

People pay big money to be fitted for a driver that you typically use maybe 14 times a round?  Pay for a nice set of fitted Irons?  I would think that the club you would typically use 32 ( or 54 for some of us...…  LOL)  times a round would be the one you would want to get the best fitting for.   Being shown scientifically all facets of your swing and knowing that the putter is set up just for you would, IMO, build confidence.  Still doesn't excuse practicing...……  LOL

 

[iacas]

13 minutes ago, IowaGreg said:

People pay big money to be fitted for a driver that you typically use maybe 14 times a round?  Pay for a nice set of fitted Irons?  I would think that the club you would typically use 32 ( or 54 for some of us...…  LOL)  times a round would be the one you would want to get the best fitting for.   Being shown scientifically all facets of your swing and knowing that the putter is set up just for you would, IMO, build confidence.  Still doesn't excuse practicing...……  LOL

That's a bad way of looking at that kind of thing.

You could tap in 9 times a round with any club, really. That you do it with your putter doesn't mean the putter is providing some unique value there.