Feel with Mallet vs Blade Putters

[BlakeB]

I have used mallet putters for basically my whole life with brief stints with blades mixed in. Over the course of the past couple years I realized that I almost exclusively hit putts too firm, especially short puts under 5 or 6 feet. Do you think a lighter blade would help me get some more feel with those putts.  

P.S I also have a superstroke 3.0 on my mallet, im not sure if that increased grip size negatively affects feel or not.

[iacas]

The weight (not only the static weight, but how it's distributed throughout the head, grip, mid-shaft, etc.) can affect your ability to feel the proper distance. Many putters are too light these days as green speeds have increased.

[Pretzel]

I thin that the fastest solution would likely be to practice your putting distance control and improve with your current equipment, but it is possible that your putter is a weight that will not work well for you. A way you could test it out is by going, ideally, to a course with several different types of putters for sale and asking if you could test them against your current putter on the practice green. Not all courses will do this, but many of the better courses will allow it if you leave the plastic on the putter or if they have a demo. You could also ask any golfing partners you have if you could borrow their putters to try out.

[Hacker James]

I  too have used both. I cannot really say which is better because I would switch when something just was no longer working. With blades, I feel that you have more of a manipulative "feel" and when you can finesse it, it works very well. The mallet gives me more confidence and my latest "heavy" mallet came from having cut down a Belly Putter.  It has 400g and is very much like the "The Tank".   I still own an old Northwestern "Tom Weiskopf"  blade (for lack of a better word) and if a change is needed, it seems to fit the bill.  Heck, I even had an old Ping butter knife at one time. Bulls Eye too.

Edited October 22, 2017 by Hacker James

[NM Golf]

I prefer mallets myself, but not because of distance and feel. As far as distance and feel is concerned I don't see much difference in the two, I just have a hard time getting blade type putters on line.

Have you tried counterbalanced putters? My Scotty Cameron is 39 inches long and has 50 grams of weight in the grip above my hands. SEE HERE It has made all the difference for me. Odyssey makes counterbalanced putters as well.

[RussUK]

I started off with a cheap Dunlop Blade putter, Moved to a RAM zebra mid mallet then a Yes! Stephanie. Realised i putted better when i started so got checked by my local pro who said my stoke suits a more blade type putter but recommended i up the weight.

Ended up buying a Cleveland Smartsquare Blade new for £30 and its superb. Looks weird, has the extra weight i need but swings like a blade.

[uitar9]

I tried a heavy mallet putter and have stuck with it for the past three years. C$35 on sale. Some version of Spyder. Love the balance of the club. Found a place on the handle that works for me.

Weekly putting practice hasn't hurt either.

[Groucho Valentine]

Weight definitely effects tempo of the stroke, so maybe your trying to muscle the thing. I think oversized grips take some feel out of your hands. At least that was my sensation. If your budget allows, id try a slimmer grip on your putter and see if your distance control improves. Its ok to have a little bit of wrist in your stroke. Just make sure that your arms and shoulders dont stop through the ball while the putter head keeps going. 

[BlakeB]

Thanks for the responses everyone! I think I'm going to test the bladed putters in my garage and test them against my current Yes! Victoria and see if I like the look and feel of them more and then take it to the course and see if my results on course improve at all!

[Xunzi]

I spent half a day at a golf outlet with a putting green, hitting pretty much every putter on display, progressively eliminating putters and finally got the one I have today, based purely on how well I struck it. I still have it and I'm not looking to replace it. It's an Odyssey Versa, mid-mallet, full offset. It seemed to me that shape (blade, mid-mallet, mallet) + offset mostly impacted angle control while weight + insert impacted depth control.