Self-professed, I am not a great putter. At 6′ 2″, I am taller than the average
golfer. In addition, I have bad knees plus spent my fair share of money at the
chiropractor to fix a bad back/neck, so if there is anyone who needs a longer
putter – I would be as good as candidate as anyone. While I have dabbled
with long and even belly putters, I have found something that works for
me. Believe it or not, that is a shorter and heavier putter.
Whenever I pick up a standard length putter (35″ men’s length), my first
instinct is to choke down on the grip to eliminate my arms from forming
“chicken wings”. So essentially I am putting with a 33″ model. I am not alone
as I read on many otherforums that fellow golfers are shortening their putters
as well instead on relying onthe long-time standard that putters are
continuously made to. It makes sense asmy dad instilled into me whenever
working with tools. He would say “pick a tool that you can get closer to your
work”.
By shortening an average putter, effectively the heft of the club reduces to
the point where my full putting stroke looks more like a figure 8 rather
than two lines or arcs that travel over one another on the back and
forward strokes. I made it a point to do some conclusive experimentation so
I custom built a prototype putter that was capable of adding weight to it in
order to find out what just what worked best. I started out with 320g
or the weight so many older style putters are made to. I gradually worked
my way up to the 350-360 range where most modern mallet putters are
producedto. The putting stroke improved. Moving even further toward the
400g range the stroke got even more consistent as it produced a more
natural pendulum motion. The point is the more weight I added didn’t
producea sledgehammer effect, rather the feeling of having a precision tool
in myhands where it did not require as much effort to move the putter.
As more and more custom putter fitting emerges, I strongly
believe that there will be more of a call to heavier putter
head weights. In designing our new Acer CB series of putters, to
go along with our current CB2 model, you will see us develop some
heavier putters than the norm. For those struggling with your current
putting, experimenting with a shorter and heavier head may just be
the solution to your short game woes.
by Jeff Summitt
Hireko Technical Director
jsummitt@hirekogolf.com
05-16-07
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