Heavier putters

Weight gain can be a plus

Proponents of heavier putters cite improved pack of stroke

By E. Michael Johnson
Golf World
May 25, 2007

Albert Einstein once said, "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." Maybe Einstein was a puttermaker in his spare time.

That's because when things go bad on the greens, there's an "opportunity" for those with a different idea in putters to make inroads. At last month's Henrico County Open on the Nationwide Tour, Stephen Boccieri, president and CEO of Boccieri Golf, makers of the Heavy Putter, was presented just such an opportunity with Nick Flanagan.

"[He] came over and said ‘Listen, I hit a lot of fairways, and I hit greens [but] my putting stinks,' " said Boccieri, whose tour staff fitted Flanagan with a B3 model (with a headweight of 475 grams and an overall weight of 900 grams) that the former U.S. Amateur champ went on to win with.

Although it may appear radical to use such a hefty flat stick on lightning-fast tour greens, the concept is simple. Troy Matteson, who used a Heavy Putter A1 in winning last year's Frys.com Open, is a believer. "To putt well--especially for the average golfer--the most important thing is speed," he said. "A heavier putter makes you use bigger muscles instead of smaller muscles. That produces a consistent path and a better tempo. Some people think, ‘This is so out of the norm.' Well, sometimes you gotta get a little crazy."

For years the conventional wisdom was that players should use a light putter on fast greens and a heavier putter on slower ones. Chris Couch, however, doesn't buy that thinking.

"It's the opposite, really," said Couch, who uses a 355-gram Ping JAS Craz-E One. "With a heavier putter you can swing slower, and the ball still comes off with a lot of speed. More guys are using heavier putterheads and having success."

Still, there is no denying the heft takes some getting used to. Which may explain why Flanagan, who won again last week at the BMW Charity Pro-Am, returned to a more conventionally weighted Scotty Cameron by Titleist model for that event.

THE BAG ROOM

Chris DiMarco changed putters recently not because he was dissatisfied with the Ping Anser F he had been using, but because the hosel area wasn’t holding up. “I’d been using [it] for eight years, and I thought I’d never switch,†said DiMarco. “[but] the hosel had gotten really weak. If I tapped down spike marks, I’d go the next week and [the loft] would be off a degree here or there.†Ping made DiMarco a one-of-a-kind Redwood Anser with a pixel insert as a replacement. … With TPC Sugarloaf thought to be a “bombers†course, Troy Matteson changed to a 7.5-degree Titleist 907 D2 driver in an effort to pick up more distance. It worked. Matteson ranked third in distance last week at 320.1 yards. … Not everyone is keen on heavy putters. At the AT&T Classic, Bob Estes used an old Bulls Eye blade putter and finished T-6 while ranking first in putts per round and fourth in putts per GIR. … Some prototype clubs have been seen on the PGA Tour lately, including Sonartec’s HB-001 hybrid, a club with a more-rounded look than the company’s rectangular-shaped MD Transition club. … Henrik Stenson has new irons—Srixon’s prototype I-701, a forged, cavity-back club.

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at first, i didn't like very heftiness of the new heavy putter craze.

 

buuuut, i'm contemplating picking up a heavy putter a2 or b3. they seem to hold lines very well... it's almost impossible to make a bad stroke. misses most often come from poor alignment.

I spoke Mike Johnson our Equipment Editor at Golf World and asked him for a response to moecat's question. It's posted below:

 

"Great question. It used to be that many tour players did switch back and forth, using heavier putters on slow greens and lighter on faster greens. Curtis Strange, for example, would go back and forth between a Ping Anser (at 312 grams, one of the heavier putters in the late 70s and early 80s) and a Bulls Eye depending on green conditions. Today, however, very few players on the tour change depending on green conditions. They tend to look for something that works and then, when they change, it's not usually because of green conditions. However (not that you asked), many players will change the loft of their driver depending on course conditions, upping the loft when it is wet to increase carry distance since the roll will not be there. "

 

Mike Johnson

Equipment Editor

Golf World