Advice from Fitters
It’s time to get this common hand-me-down club out of your bag
Adam Gault
You’re probably guilty of this equipment mistake. Don’t feel bad, staffers here at Golf Digest have done it, too. This is how it usually happens: You’re talking about your putting woes with your golf buddies and someone says they have an old putter you can try. You’re desperate, aching from the lingering pain of missed birdie opportunities and wrecked attempts to save par. You’ll try anything. You take the hand-me-down putter.
Angela Aulenti, head professional and club fitter at Sterling Farms Golf Course in Stamford, Connecticut, says if you’re playing with a hand-me-down putter, you’re making a big mistake. She sees it far too often.
“Your putter needs to be the correct length and lie for your stroke,” says Aulenti. “Golfers who have more of a straight-back, straight-through stroke should use a face balanced putter, and a mid hang for an arced stroke.”
If you've been fit before and know that you should be in a face balanced putter, a way to test is to balance the putter shaft on your finger or on the corner of a table. If the face points straight up it’s face balanced, if the toe is rotated down slightly or even completely, it has some degree of toe hang.
Like any club in your bag, you should get fit for your putter. Your stroke is specific to you. To get the most out of it, you need a putter that works with that stroke.
“A putter should fit the stroke that you have,” says Aulenti, “It’s the club you hit the most!”