Anyone still using a counter-balanced putter?

[duffputter]

Does anyone still use a long counter-counter balanced putter? I was looking to pick up a Dual Balanced Scotty (38”) and was thinking I don’t see many anymore. So I was wondering if people are still using them and if not, why not?

[Hougz79]

I have the counter-core inserts in all my SuperStroke putter grips.  Same concept.  Also the Stroke Lab Odyssey putters are counter-balanced.  

 

I'm a little shocked Scotty picked such an un-aesthetically pleasing solution to counterbalancing.....there are far more elegant solutions from other OEMs.  

[968cab]

I play the SS grip with inserts as well, 33 or 34”.

 

I have a Scotty Dual Balance, it’s never been gamed, just couldn’t get used to the length. 
 

 

[RainShadow]

I wouldn't call mine counter balanced, but I use a 93gm grip on my 33" putter which makes it feel less head heavy.

[cw1209]

Had a Scotty Cameron Dual Balance Newport for 1 month. Easily my worst putting with it. 3 footers became terrifying. Wanted to chuck it in a pond, but the resale value is always good with a Scotty. The only good qualify of that putter is I sold it close to what I bought it for.

[Ghostwedge]

Golf buddy has a Newport Dual balance Scotty, cut it to 35 in. new grip, drains a lot of putts with it.

[MPAndreassi]

I have a dual balance type build that I rotate in every once in awhile. I like the heavier total weight to smooth things out. 

[ColinKelvin]

I have a counterbalanced Ketsch TR with a 400g head, a long/heavy grip and an adjustable shaft which I usually set to 38".  I really like it - it does give the sense that the head will not twist offline.

[mikec3672]

I just put the LA TPZ One35 (139 grams) in my putter, and it is amazing. Yes very pricey, but snagged one on ebay for $285. It's severely counterbalanced. So at 34.50 inches cut, with a SS GT2.0 Pistol (54 grams, I went light intentionally on the grip, but may drop a 25g in the SS grip cap), it swing weighted at E0!! Perfect and exactly what I wanted. Amazing distance control and feel, even with the ultra stiff shaft. You don't have to work hard to get the ball to the hole. Can see why so many tour players are moving to these (Bryson, Dustin, etc).

[beaney]

I have a love/hate relationship with counterbalance putters. 
 

I’ve had a couple of scotty dual balance putters, an odyssey o works tank (which lasted the longest) and most recently a ping kinloch cb. 
 

I love the fact that it does feel like it smooths things out, but I just seem to either be very good or absolutely awful, with nothing in between. 
 

i still have the ping, which I play from time to time, and it’s actually a good putter to practice with. But I’ve found that the odyssey stroke lab concept offers a kind of halfway solution that I seem to be more consistent with. 

[968cab]

This is my thought with the SS inserts… 

 

I can match the weight (3 choices) to get the feel I want, rather than pulling the grip, melting the counter weight out, and trial and error fitting. Screw in, screw out, is as easy as can be. 
 

With the ultimate option of just putting the original cap back on with no weight installed at all, and various grip sizes/shapes for many tastes, it’s  an optimal solution, IMO.  🤷🏻‍♂️

 

 

[A.Princey]

I went back to light headed putters, and removed the counter weight. So much more feel back now, more

touch. To each their own, but I never really had a need to change to counterbalanced. 

[DoubleEagle08]

Back when I used a belly putter, I liked to grip up the shaft on those really long putts to help with getting the ball to hole without feeling like a was swinging too hard. With conventional I tend to pull those and almost yip them. I wonder if I could do that with a 38” counter balanced putter or if that would be a disaster. 

[TheDominator273]

I moved on to armlock putting, but if I were to go back to conventional I'd 100% still counterbalance.

[MiniJ83]

I've had a Scotty 6M dual balance for a few years...absolutely love it. The extra weight gives me a lot of confidence, and it feels steady thru the stroke. Definitely worth the experiment. 

[ShortSticks]

I have been experimenting with counterbalanced putters for the last couple of years and figured I would share my findings with anyone here who might be interested.

 

I have found that they help with the short ones, but are harder for the long ones. All that weight helps smooth the stroke out but can make distance control a little tough. Early counterbalanced putters were mostly belly putters that were cut down to 38-36 inches with heavy 400 gram heads and 130 gram steel shafts and 130 gram grips. 600 to 700 grams overall compared to 500-550 grams for regular putters. This makes for a very heavy overall weight.

 

I like the way a longer putter (37 inches for me) allows me to grip down to my preferred length of about 33 to 34 inches and make a smooth shoulder stroke with a less handsy action, but the heavy overall weight of a traditional counterbalanced putter feels bulky and seems to make distance control harder.  The solution I feel lies in a lighter overall weight, but with the longer length grip and better balance. I am currently trying to find a happy middle ground.

 

Enter the Odyssey Stoke Lab putters which I feel are a great solution to my weight issue. Since the shaft is lighter I can get a longer length without adding so much weight to get to my preferred length. My first couple of experiments showed a lot of promise. I took a 34" Stroke Lab Marxman, took the backweight out and put a 3 inch shaft extension in to get it to 37" then installed a WINN 15" counterbalance 128 gram grip. This gave me a lighter overall weight but still achieved the longer length and backweighting of a counterbalanced putter with a good headweight feel without a 400 gram headweight. The results in the field showed better distance control while still having the short putt stability. I then tried the same setup on a couple other stroke Lab putters but went a little shorter, an EXO Two-Ball at 36.5" and an EXO Marxman at 36". Those worked well and I really liked the 2-ball, but something still felt off, like I needed to get just a little lighter without getting shorter. 

 

I have decided to try to trim a few more precious grams off the overall weight by ordering a 2-Ball Eleven directly from Odyssey at 37" so I can eliminate the extension which should save around 10 to 15 grams and since that is backweight I can lighten the head some and still achieve a good headweight feel. The eleven has 2 ten gram weights that I can experiment by removing one or both to get a lighter headweight and later I can get some lighter weights when they become available and I find out what my preferred headweight is. That should cut another 10-20 grams. I will see what works best. So another 20-25 grams overall weight savings and hopefully it will be putter nirvana, the stability I love on the short putts and better distance control on the long ones.

 

I got the confirmation from Odyssey today that the putter has been built and is on its way so hopefully I will have some early results soon and will post them here for anyone that may be interested.

[tdeutmeyer]

After watching a few Edel fittings on you tube, I decided to try a counterbalance of sorts with my 35" QB6.  I fit the stroke profile that benefits with weight placed under or below the bottom of the grip, so I turned down a bronze 50 gr weight using O rings to lock it in place inside the shaft.  After some experimentation, I ended up with the top of the weight about 1" below the bottom of the grip. This has really helped with distance control and has helped straighten out my wavy stroke.  I have been using it for 3 weeks now and have been making more putts because I am able to get the ball rolling on my intended line much better with the better stroke and confidence. (this is what beat the Mezz.1 out)  So now, I picked up a 50g weight for the end of my counter core super stroke grip and last night turned that in also.  On the putting mat, distance control is not as good so far  I am hitting more short, but still online putts.   The putter seems very balanced and slightly more accurate.  I will be trying this combo out on the course tomorrow afternoon.

[ShortSticks]

Time for the follow up I promised.

 

I received the custom ordered 37 inch 2-ball ELEVEN in record time (ordered on the 4th, received on the 7th). I pulled the stock 76 gram grip and 40 gram weight plug and put a 128 gram WINN 15 inch counterbalance grip on it. Turned out great but as expected without the extension in the shaft this time the balance felt a little more head heavy (365 gram stock).

 

I found the right torque wrench needed to remove the head weights and tried it without the two 10 gram weights. This put the head weight at 345 grams which is my preferred weight for a standard 34 inch setup. This was too light and felt unbalanced in a counterbalanced setup. So I put one of the weights back in for a 355 gram head weight. This was better, and felt better balanced, but the stroke did not feel as stable and the feel was a little less solid. So I put the other weight back in and although at 365 grams it feels a little heavy overall, I think it feels the most stable and solid feeling of all those set ups. I think I will just keep it like this and play it for a while, until I can find a 5 gram weight and get the head weight to 360 grams.

 

Played a round with it and it did well. 30 putts with no 3 putts and even made a 45 foot bomb, I made all the 6 footers and had great distance control. I really like the way the ELEVEN sit so square at set up and I am really enjoying going back to the 2-ball alignment. So far so good, but we will see how this plays out over time.

 

Overall I am happy with how these counterbalance experiments have turned out. What I have learned is that with a standard putter I will make more long putts but miss too many short ones. With the counterbalanced putter I may not make as many long ones, but the short ones are much more automatic. Overall the statistics say I am better with the counterbalanced set up. As I get older I can feel the effects of age take a toll on my putting and I feel like this helps me fight back at father time a little. YMMV

[Sean124]

My gamer is a Pro Platinum Mid Sur (375g) cut to 35” with a 50g countercore weight. 
 

I have an LAGP One35 shaft on the way and am guessing I’ll be able to drop to a 25g weight, but we’ll see. 

[hitnfades]

I have 4 Toulon’s with the Stroke labs in 34” now. I have the: Chicago, LV, Memphis in DB and Atlanta in H7.  The counter balanced shaft along with this milled head really helped me around the greens. I use to play a longer Odyssey Black #1, but did not like the insert and found that a shorter putter was a better fit for me overall. Also, I was using heavier head weights and Super Stroke shaft weight as well. I tried all different setup’s before I made the change to my current putters. No looking back for me. 

[ShortGolfer]

I bought a 32 inch Stroke Lab Ten on CPO that was marked as a 33 inch putter.  I cut off one inch and took out the 30g counterbalance.  Swapped out the grip for a White Hot Pro (thinner)

I now have a 31 inch Stroke Lab Ten swing weighted at C6.  My fitter suggested a 31 inch face balanced putter and handed me a Odyssey Ten as the first putter to try.

 

I now have a collection of three 31 inch face balanced putters and one 32 inch toe hang putter.

 

Edited July 15, 2022 by ShortGolfer

[ShortSticks]

This is a follow up to my counter balance experiments. It has been a couple months since I got my custom 37" Odyssey Eleven 2-ball that I have been playing at the stock headweight (365g) and it has gone pretty well but I still felt it could be better.

 

I contacted Odyssey about a weight kit for the Eleven putter and was told the Toulon weights would not fit, but that the Tri-Hot weights do fit the Eleven. Since they sell the Tri-Hots weights in sets of two equal weights, I had to order a set of 5g weights. I wanted to take the total headweight from 365g to 360g so I only needed one 5g weight. I got the weight kit yesterday and switched the 10g toe weight in my Eleven with one of the 5g from my new weight kit and it feels perfect now. I know that is just 5 grams difference, but I swear it makes a big difference. The putter swings much easier and the balance now feels just right. YAY! Total weight of this set up is less than my previous set ups that had shaft extensions, but now the balance feels better and not so head heavy since this one has no shaft extension. I still need to get some time on real greens before I call it a complete success, but so far so good. I will follow up again after I get a few rounds in with this new set up.

 

It has been a long experiment (last couple of years) but I feel it was worth it. As I have gotten older my once smooth putting stroke has gotten a little shaky and this counter balance set up really does help. YMMV.

[dasparks]

Using an Odyssey stroke lab 7 and still like it. I did add some slightly heavier weights in the head

[hwwong]

Went through the experiment of building one recently.  I think a lot of people are just going to heavier grips at normal lengths.   It kind of gives you the best of both worlds.  

[ShortSticks]

There seems to be an uptick in the Long Grip/Counter Balanced putters on the tours currently with Ricky Fowler and now Wyndham Clark. Won't be much longer until they find a way to ban these putters too.

 

Here is my list of current Long CB putter users:

Victor Hovland

Rickey Fowler 

Wyndham Clark

Keegan Bradley

Beau Hossler

Brian Harman

Freddy Couples

Annika Sorrenstam

Edited May 8, 2023 by ShortSticks

[ShortSticks]

I am still using mine and love the stability they provide.

[texcellence86]

With the Jailbird craze happening, anyone still using a CB? Been looking around to see what old(er) models would be a good convert.

 

Maybe a 2-Ball or Rossie/mid mallet?

[Golfingfanatic]

Currently testing this Rickie-adjacent set-up. 36” 2Ball Tank w/ Superstroke 1.0 17”

[texcellence86]

52 minutes ago, Golfingfanatic said:

Currently testing this Rickie-adjacent set-up. 36” 2Ball Tank w/ Superstroke 1.0 17”

This is exactly what I was thinking but maybe the MH style/face? Do you recall the TANK head weight? The MH has the adjustable weight in the back. How do you like the grip?

[Golfingfanatic]

1 hour ago, texcellence86 said:

This is exactly what I was thinking but maybe the MH style/face? Do you recall the TANK head weight? The MH has the adjustable weight in the back. How do you like the grip?

headweight is 400g, I believe. Grip is really nice. Good middle ground between stability and feel.