TaylorMade Performance Lab Putter Fitting

First, some background info:

I currently play an Odyssey White Hot Rossie putter which I have owned since 2004.I bought the putter when I started playing golf on a more regular basis. Then I took a few years off from 2007- mid 2012. In August of last year I was fitted for new Ping i20 irons and now that I have started playing again on a consistent basis I was ready for a putter change. My current handicap is 16 and is on a steady decline. I average two 3 putts per 18 holes and rarely make anything outside of 10'. My goal is to eliminate the 3 putts and to make up a few strokes on some of the 10'-15' putts.

Now for the review:

I am fortunate enough to live within a hour of the TaylorMade Performance Lab at the Redstone Golf Club in Humble, TX (north side of Houston - site of the Shell Houston Open) so I figured I'd give it a shot.

The fitting was awesome. My fitters name was Edwin Fuh. We started the fitting by examining my current putter, an Odyssey White Hot Rossie putter which I have owned since 2004. We discussed what my issues with my putting game are. Mainly that I use a straight back - straight through stroke on close putts, and an arced stroke on longer putts (7'+). This is due to a lack of feel on the SBST stroke on long putts. I attribute this to the fact that choking down that far on my Rossie just feels awkward.

Edwin confirmed that my putting stroke (when I use the SBST and don’t try to arc my stroke) is pretty damn good. This is shown by the “Face Angle” stats in the attached photos. They are very consistent - although I obviously pulled the 3rd putt to the left a bit. Positive changes in angles on the report are movements to the right, and negative changes are movements to the left (since I am right handed).

The strokes recorded in the photos were made with their test putter (a TM Ghost Manta) that had some sensors on it for motion capture (think Tiger Woods video game motion capture). I was aiming at a hole exactly 10’ away and was told to treat it as a straight put with no break. Their monitor generated my putting stroke in 3D so that we could evaluate it and see if there were any major issues.

Edwin recommended a TM Daddy Long Legs (DLL) putter for me based on my putting stroke and my build. He handed me a 35” putter and I made a few strokes with it. He felt it was a touch too short so he handed me a 38” DLL to make a few more strokes. I choked down approximately 2" for the 10' putts. He then swapped out the 10g weight for a 2.5g weight.

Once we had that part settled we went out to one of the practice greens behind the lab. We started out on a 10' uphill putt to get a feel for the green. We then moved onto 20 and 30 ft putts. I was rolling them within 4 feet of the hole with great topspin on the ball. One of the putts was a 25 footer downhill with about a 1.5 ft right to left break. I made 1 of the 5 putts, with the other four putts stopping within 3 feet of the hole.

We determined that the Odyssey WH Rossie putter I have been using is OK, but the head is way too light and the grip is too short since I need to grip down on the putter. It did have the correct balance in the face of the putter for my swing type though: face balanced with no toe hang.

In the end we decided on a TaylorMade Daddy Long Legs putter. 36” in length (standard lengths are 35” or 38”). The lie has to be bent 3* so that the putter sits flat when I hold it comfortably. TaylorMade is going to build the putter to the specs he gave them and they will ship it straight to my house.

Edwin also gave me some green reading tips which should prove very useful.

Overall the experience was great. I recommend it to anyone in the market for a new short stick. The cost for the fitting was $50 and it took approx 40 minutes to complete. Edwin did apply a discount to the purchase of the putter to try to offset a portion of the cost of the fitting.

Well, got home from work late last night and found this sitting on my doorstep...
Length: 36" (38" cut down)
Lie: Bent 3* flat
Loft: Standard

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That's awesome! Enjoy it. I play a spider blade and my pops play a DLL and these are the best feeling putters I've tried in years. Beat out both of my Camerons. There are awesome. Go drain some putts now!