Are double-bend putters inherently bad?

[me05501]

This opinion seemed very interesting to me, especially considering how many double-bend putters I see on the course and in the pro shops. 

 

According to this pro/fitter/dude, almost no one should be fit into a face balanced or double-bend shaft.

 

Curious to hear other impressions. 

 

 

[MattM97]

Just because something doesn't work for him doesn't mean it doesn't work for everyone else. 

 

Use what's comfortable or what you're fit to and use it. 

[Sean124]

Patrick Cantlay’s bank account would probably disagree. 
 

I miss left with a face balanced putter. 

[Jc0]

17 hours ago, me05501 said:

This opinion seemed very interesting to me, especially considering how many double-bend putters I see on the course and in the pro shops. 

 

According to this pro/fitter/dude, almost no one should be fit into a face balanced or double-bend shaft.

 

Curious to hear other impressions. 

 

 

 

A double bend shaft is just one way of getting the shaft into the head. You can literally adjust it to do what every you want. Long tip at the end is face balanced, the shorter you cut the tip the more toe hang you get. Most people usually associate double bend with face balanced but that isn't always the case. 

 

Recently people have gotten really hung up on putter arc and toe hang. Face balanced is supposed to be for straight back and straight through which very few people actually are, but there is no hard evidence to suggest that. It's just something people have noticed through feel. 

[me05501]

2 hours ago, Jc0 said:

 

A double bend shaft is just one way of getting the shaft into the head. You can literally adjust it to do what every you want. Long tip at the end is face balanced, the shorter you cut the tip the more toe hang you get. Most people usually associate double bend with face balanced but that isn't always the case. 

 

Recently people have gotten really hung up on putter arc and toe hang. Face balanced is supposed to be for straight back and straight through which very few people actually are, but there is no hard evidence to suggest that. It's just something people have noticed through feel. 

 

Right. 

 

Very few people have a textbook perfect stroke and we definitely all have different levels of visual acuity, eye dominance, etc.

 

IMO fitting a putter to a player is about finding out how that person sees the line from behind the ball as well as over the ball and helping them minimize mis-alignment in a way that feels natural to them. A face-balanced putter may not make empirical sense but could also be the perfect fit for someone who sees their line a certain way. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by me05501

[Phabs]

23 hours ago, MattM97 said:

Just because something doesn't work for him doesn't mean it doesn't work for everyone else. 

 

Use what's comfortable or what you're fit to and use it. 

 

This 1000% ... I have 3 college golf buddies that all play face balanced putters and are lights out with them.  I can't put for the life of me with anything face balanced after experimenting with the a mallet putter early last year.  Went back to something with around 60 degrees of toe hang and I was immediately back to hitting start lines and holing more putts. 

[MattM97]

28 minutes ago, Phabs said:

 

This 1000% ... I have 3 college golf buddies that all play face balanced putters and are lights out with them.  I can't put for the life of me with anything face balanced after experimenting with the a mallet putter early last year.  Went back to something with around 60 degrees of toe hang and I was immediately back to hitting start lines and holing more putts. 

 

Also the whole arc to a certain toe hang is also BS at least I think. No one is true SBST no matter what they think. I have a very shallow arc in my stroke like blue on Quintic. The coach/fitter was just curious about face balanced for me we tried it and didn't work. So he said stick to the flow necks for me with more toe hang. 

 

People gotta experiment and accept what works and what doesn't. Just people don't like hearing they're wrong. 

[jomatty]

If you putt exactly like him I would agree it’s most likely a terrible choice.  Lots of other strokes that are just fine.  While almost everyone has some arc there are lots of people with minimal arc that don’t open/close the putter nearly as much as he does.  I don’t know this guy but it sure seems a narrow viewpoint.

it’s hard for me to imagine that the guys on tour using face balance putters just don’t have access to a great fitter like him.

Edited February 9, 2023 by jomatty

[skraly]

Only bad if it’s not supposed to be a double bend putter.  A buddy if mine accidentally ran over his putter with a golf cart.  It put a couple of bends in the shaft.  He never putted well with it after that.

[scott406]

 

17 hours ago, MattM97 said:

People gotta experiment and accept what works and what doesn't. Just people don't like hearing they're wrong. 

1000%

 

 

I have been putting with a face balanced putter for 20yrs

Went from a mallet to a wide blade

As said before, no one is truly SBST, I have a slight arc in my stroke but anything with a toe hang goes wide for me

 

Why would someone learn a new putting stroke just because somebody on youtube said that you shouldn't be putting with a face balanced putter

[mjo23]

That video is quite dumb. I saw that video years ago and he had me convinced for a bit, but it’s complete BS. I’d be willing to bet that a solid 1/4th-1/3rd of guys on Tour use a face-balanced putter, many of whom can usually be found near the top of strokes gained putting. I also bet the number of guys using a fb putter is increasing with the younger pros. I personally prefer a double-bend to a single-bend, and so do guys like Cantlay, Poulter, Zalatoris who had their Scotty’s customized into double-bends (single bend is Scottys stock option). Then you have guys like Lucas Herbert who is a machine with his fb single-bend Spider X. All preference. I like both toe hang and face balanced putters, but I feel like both pushes and pulls come into play (at least for me personally) with toe hang sometimes, while I rarely ever pull a put with my face balanced putter

 

Tldr - no nothing wrong with face balanced putters

[mjo23]

On 2/8/2023 at 4:24 PM, MattM97 said:

 

Also the whole arc to a certain toe hang is also BS at least I think. No one is true SBST no matter what they think. I have a very shallow arc in my stroke like blue on Quintic. The coach/fitter was just curious about face balanced for me we tried it and didn't work. So he said stick to the flow necks for me with more toe hang. 

 

People gotta experiment and accept what works and what doesn't. Just people don't like hearing they're wrong. 

Totally agree about the arc to a certain toe-hang being totally bs. Idk if it’s just a strange marketing tactic or what, but you can have an pretty exaggerated arc and be very successful with a face-balanced putter. All that matters is that u square the face at impact consistently, and some find that easier with face-balanced putters, while others find that easier with toe hang.

 

To someone new to golf or with no prior experience to a certain putter type/hosel, I think face-balanced putters can be more more intuitive.

 

I personally enjoy and switch between both.

[MattM97]

10 hours ago, mjo23 said:

Totally agree about the arc to a certain toe-hang being totally bs. Idk if it’s just a strange marketing tactic or what, but you can have an pretty exaggerated arc and be very successful with a face-balanced putter. All that matters is that u square the face at impact consistently, and some find that easier with face-balanced putters, while others find that easier with toe hang.

 

To someone new to golf or with no prior experience to a certain putter type/hosel, I think face-balanced putters can be more more intuitive.

 

I personally enjoy and switch between both.

 

I think it's just an outdated theory used before people understood the stroke better and before technology as well. The Arc is one thing but tempo and closure rate are huge too for getting that face square at impact.

 

But hey people can use what they want but if they say they are SBST but have a stroke jankier than Zalatoris when he had the putting yipps maybe try something else lol.

[drvrwdge]

I have a strong arc and double bend face balanced putters actually suit me better because my closure rate is far less through impact then going back so with a putter with toe hang it opens too much and doesn’t close coming though. I also for whatever reason consistently align plumbers neck putter 1.5 right, like 98% of the time. Everyone is different. 

[MattM97]

12 minutes ago, drvrwdge said:

I have a strong arc and double bend face balanced putters actually suit me better because my closure rate is far less through impact then going back so with a putter with toe hang it opens too much and doesn’t close coming though. I also for whatever reason consistently align plumbers neck putter 1.5 right, like 98% of the time. Everyone is different. 

 

And this is one example here, I actually say people with a strong arc should try a face balanced putters. It may line up perfect with their stroke. 

[RH82]

I've seen that video before and I think its nonsense. Both styles work for different players. For me, a SBST putter is what I need. Anything w/ toe hang and my stroke gets out of whack and feels unnatural. 

Edited February 13, 2023 by RH82

[von3jack]

That guy lost me 40 seconds in when he referred to a single bend putter as a double bend putter. I agree with everybody above, play what works for you and your stroke. Kevin Kisner is one of the best putters in the world and uses a double bend exclusively. Rickie just switched to one. This jamoke clearly has no idea what he's talking about. If only 1-3% of golfers fit into a face balanced/double bend model then manufacturers wouldn't bother producing them. I trust Trottie way more. 

 

 

Edited February 16, 2023 by von3jack
Added video

[CarlLipbaum]

Retief Goosen won US Upens and putted about as well as anyone ever has putted with a double bend Yes Tracy putter. 

[Bad9]

Not much of a fitter if that's all he come up with. I wouldn't spend any money to go see him.

[jjr]

Really? I not going to waste my time watching the guys video.

[i_have_a_coat]

On 2/16/2023 at 10:36 AM, von3jack said:

That guy lost me 40 seconds in when he referred to a single bend putter as a double bend putter.

surprised i got this far into the thread before someone else noticed that, like yeah i'm not taking any advice on anything from this guy...