Happy about my new Happy Putter

Dr Rangelove · July 17, 2016

It's like having a Tour Van at my disposal!

Some will probably snicker at the thought of carrying these practically neon bright flatsticks but yesterday I spent about 45 minutes dicking around with a Happy Putter from BrainStorm Golf. I had seen this in a local shop and was intrigued with the adjustability. I've always been a tinker and like my father, I am the son of a tinker so I'm always fiddling with something, it's like this putter was made for me. Since I had some cash on the books from past trade ins, I grabbed one, the 34" silver faced blade model.

I must admit in the shop, on their little putting green set up I wasn't hitting the hole much but the putter was a bit upright and light, maybe swinging in the C range. And nobody in the shop was giving me the sell by changing this that or the other thing so it was hard to determine if it was right for me. Eh, bought it anyways. Once I got it over to the local course's putting green I was able to unlock all the wizardry that makes this so special, it has adjustment variations that are supposed to measure over one thousand and that may be so but really just saying "oh, that feels about right" and moving on to the next one get's you fairly dialed in pretty fast.

The first thing I adjusted was weight. It comes with lite, standard, and heavy screws that are easily changed in the side of the toe and the side of the heel. I pulled both the standards and opted heavy right off the bat and the putter seemed to track much smoother during my swing.

Next was the lie angle. With this model you again have 3 options: flat, standard, and upright. I've been using a 2* flat Bettinardi BB2 for years so that's what feels natural to me. After taking a couple of strokes with the standard version I switched out the little clamp that sets the lie angle for the flat one. This is an area where it would be nice to micro tune but their version of flat feels pretty close to where I wanted so it is what it is and the only other way to change it beyond the 3 is if at some point BrainStorm offered a Micro Adjustment Kit. Maybe with demand but not right now I guess.

The offset is the same as the lie angle, you have set spacers you move forwards and back on the hosel mount: Pull off the screw at the back, set one spacer in front and one behind the hosel, that is standard. After more then a few putts with the standard set up I set mine up with the hosel forward putting the spacers to the rear of the hosel, made some putts and found that worked best for me.

Once I had the putter set to where I was very very accurate on the shorties, 5' - 10', I started making passes at 20' - 30'. These I struggled with as the ball just seemed to keep coming up short even with a longer swing. Again, 3 options via elastomer plates behind the face that can be changed to flat, standard (which I guess is 4*), and high. I've used a slight forward press to great success so I changed the face angle to the flat elastomer and boom, I was dropping or at least lagging to tap in on the longer putts.

I didn't end up playing as it was getting late but I did leave the putting green with great confidence about my set up. I know in golf things change on a daily basis so today I'll go back to the course and check everything, then go out for an afternoon 9 and I'm hoping my elation on having a putter that has been set up to MY STROKE specifically translates to short game magic. If not then I can continue to tweak or just go back to my Betti. And the Betti has been working extremely well lately helping me card a 2 under on Friday, the first time sub par in a decade at least.

So why change? I'm a tinker!

Dr Rangelove · July 18, 2016

I was able to get in 9 with the Happy Blade and am happy to say - no 3 putts! However, I also had some putts that I thought I was lined up on and yet missed and these were about 8' or so. While the putter feels really good and lines up well, I like a putter that is flat and even changing out the shim to "flat" lie angle, it was too upright. This was also a 34" putter and I've been playing a 33" for years so that also effected my stroke.

On the upside, I had also ordered a Happy Tour Pointed Mallet in 33", that came in the mail today and I was jazzed (tired of saying happy) to go down to the putting green and try it. Oh, so much better having a putter the correct length for me. It was the same amount of time spent tweaking, maybe a little less due to fewer adjustments. There aren't the heel and toe weights, the PM uses a interchangeable weight behind the center of the face so not quite as adjustable as the blade that comes with 3 sets of weights. The blade is also center shafted, making it interchangeable RH and LH, and this has a heel mounted shaft. It also has a interchangeable alignment aid which at first I thought "why do I need so many?" I had called Brainstorm and got sent directly to Vikash Sanyal who explained a small test for me to perform: line up a putt and without moving the putter set a tee against the face pointed toward your target, remove the putter and go see where the tee is pointing. Sure enough, I was a hole out from 20'. Next change the alignment aid and try this again. Same thing happened. With the 3rd alignment aid I was right on target. Seems people see differently so make sure you find the alignment aid that works best for you. As soon as I found the one that worked I started treating 10 footers like tap in's, 20's were about 40%. There are however two flaws I found. The lie angle set flat was still not flat, this was confirmed when i went by my local shop and they measured it at 70* which is pretty much standard. Vikash had mentioned I could have it bent pretty easily and it did bend to 3* flat with a little coxing. The other peculiarity is that with the blade model the face plate felt snug against the elastomer angle plate and the ball came off quite nicely, with the PM it seemed not as tight to the elastomer, you could even hear a slight difference so I think they need to set their tolerances a little tighter.

So will either of these stay in the bag? Yea, the Tour Pointed Mallet fits me well and knocks them dead. Don't get me wrong, I love my Bettinardi DASS BB2 but I love coming home with skins money a little bit more.

hlca · August 10, 2016

Thanks for the review. Tinkered with one at a store, but could not really figure it out in a five minute span.

Rich Douglas · September 5, 2017

In the original Happy Putters, the blade is about 30g lighter than the mallet. Having both, this difference was too much for me. The blade was just too light. I added some lead tape to each side of the putter; that did it.

Cwing · September 5, 2017

Nice review.

LandOf10000WaterHazards · September 7, 2017

I tried one out at PGA SS the other day and thought the feel was pretty nice actually. But the colors and design would definitely keep it out of my bag.

Rich Douglas · September 7, 2017

I LOVE the colors and design.

Both the blade and the mallet have the same adjustable features. But the blade is 30g lighter, which was too much for me. I added lead tape on each side of the sweet spot and it feels much better. But I suspect I'll return to the mallet soon.

The new putters are heel-based. (The originals are center-shafted). I do not know if the new putters are weighted to accommodate this change. I don't have any reason to think otherwise, but I can't be sure.

I'm a center-shafted putter kind of guy, and have been for decades. I tried to return to a heel-shafted putter--the TM Spyder--but just couldn't get used to it. They say that people with a straight-back, straight-forward stroke should use a center-shafted putter, and I do. Those with a more circular backswing (in, then out) should use a heel-shafted putter. This might matter for your choice of putter.

I love the adustability of the Happy Putter, no matter what version you choose. You can change heel weights to increase or decrease overall weight, swing weight, or the difference in weight between the heel and toe. You can adjust the lie angle, offset, and loft. Heck, you can even switch it all over to the other (left-handed) side.

Yes, people notice the color scheme. But then they want to know more about how adjustable it is. So I clue them in. This is the best putter I've ever owned.