My First SAM Lab Fitting - Questions

I had my first SAM putter fitting yesterday and I was pretty surprised with the info I received. I am hoping there are a few of you on here with some SAM putting experience that can confirm what I was told. I honestly felt that I was more knowledgeable about golf equipment than the fitter was, and that he solely relied on what the SAM told him.

I am 30 years old and have been playing golf for the last 23 or so years. I have had multiple club fittings throughout my adult life, but I have always self fit myself for my putter. Club champion is running a 50% off deal right now on their fittings, so I decided to go in.

I have always played a face balanced mid mallet, and when I miss, it is usually a slight push to the right (I’m right handed). Everyone has always told me I had a straight back straight through putting stroke, and I feel like I do as well, so I have never strayed away from face balanced putters.  

My SAM results were interesting. My fitter told me that I do in fact have a straight back straight through putting stroke, but I come slightly to the inside and finish slightly to the outside, not really making an arc at all.... but my face was 0.8 closed at impact.

I thought it was kind of odd that SAM and my fitter suggested I go with a mid mallet with approximately 30 degrees of toe hang “to help me with my arc” when my face was 0.8 closed at impact already. I understand it would help me come back to the inside a little, but wouldn’t that also make my face more closed at impact?

I do have to say, I grabbed a Spider X slant neck (32° toe hang) after he told me, and I made 8/10 15 footers and it felt great.

Another thing he suggested, was for me to go with 1° of loft. That seems insanely low to me. Anyone play at 1°?

I would really appreciate it if some of you guys would chime in here and maybe break down these results for me and let me know what you think.

He fit me into the Spider X - 34.5” / 1° loft / 71° lie. This is what I’m leaning towards purchasing, but I want to hear some of your opinions before I spend this amount of money on a putter.

I have attached my SAM results below.

I know in one of the TXG videos on SAM or Quintec fittings they talk about face rotation in the context that you're asking. Basically the toe hang doesn't work like you would think. A heavier toe hang putter actually closes slower, not faster, so if you have a lot of rotation and want to slow that down you need more toe hang. I think I have that right. Whatever the explanation was, I remember Ian explaining that it's the opposite of what people usually think. So in your case, I think the fitter is getting it correct. You're too closed at impact so you need the face to stay open longer, meaning you need a bit of toe hang.

Actually, it's this video, starting around the 6 minute mark:

Wow.  That actually makes sense from the standpoint of keeping the face open longer to offset the closed face at impact.  I have never seen that video or heard it explained that way.   Thank you!

What still puzzles me, is the fact that the ones I didn’t make with my putter, I pushed just slightly and missed maybe an inch to the right.  But at the same time, my putter face was closed at impact?  I don’t get how that’s possible.

One more thing..... can anyone look at the putter loft slide?  The recommendation that the fitter gave me was to go with a 1° loft.  Does that make sense?  

Thanks again guys.  Just want to make sure I’m getting the most out of the fitting and spending my $400+ wisely lol

You miss putts to the right with a closed face because your path is to the right. Look at slide 3; it shows your path from above. You are hitting a push-draw with your putts.

Loft of 1-degree was recommended because you are hitting up on the ball. You are adding loft to the putter with your strike.

Okay. That’s what I was thinking but wanted to make sure others saw the same. 1° of loft just seems like so little.

I had a SAM fitting several months ago and it recommended that I play with 1 degree of loft. I didn't think it would work, but I went with it and don't regret it at all. It has been several months and I've been putting much better than before; the ball rolls so much better now.

For what it's worth, you and I have almost identical paths. I don't close the face as much as you (I start about 2 degrees open and end about 2 degrees closed) but have found that 30 degrees of toe hang works perfectly. You may want to try 45 degrees and see how that feels, as it may help more than the 32 degrees you tried.

Quite interested in this. I have my clubs 2 degrees strong because at impact I deloft the club, like you do on your putting stroke.

I had the loft on my spider taken down to 1.5* after a Quintic fitting session and I hated afterward. It made the head sit too open at address and the ball came off a little hotter to me. I'd be interested to know if you were fit indoors or outdoors? I was told by a pretty knowledgeable putting instructor that fitting for loft on a synthetic surface always suggests less loft, but when you do the same on a real green you actually need more because the ball sits in a bigger indentation on the grass vs synthetic and there's a different in surface friction that impacts the roll/skid.

Anyway, the fitting seems to make sense. A face-balanced is will be more closed at impact than toe-hang. Sasho MacKenzie and Andrew Rice did a study on the impact of toe-hang here: https://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/2/6/244/pdf

I was fit on a synthetic surface and was suggested more loft, FWIW. I started with a putter at 2.5 degrees of loft and ended up at 4 degrees. Here's the before (with my old putter) and after (with a putter tuned to my specs):

I was fit indoors at Club Champion in Omaha. It was a straight 15 foot putt on a synthetic putting green. What you said makes 100% sense. I think I’m going to pull the trigger on a TaylorMade Spider X (Copper with true path sight) at 34.5” / 71° lie / and 2° loft (instead of 1°). Thanks to everyone who chimed in and helped me break down my SAM results. GolfWRX is a great community!

Very interesting results here!! Compared to mine and curious that you don't take the putter back very far do you?? Big upswing too on the impact as well. Congrats on the new putter!