Buy putter based on Distance control or Allignment?

[ThreePuttForPar]

Im buying a new putter… Again. Ugh. Have settled on the Scotty phantom 11 or 11.5. I spent a lot of time (almost two hours) comparing the two at my local shop. I left with some findings that leave me unsure which to go with.

 

I have always putted with toe hang putters due to the fact my stroke has some arc. When putting with the 11 (face balanced) I rolled the ball much more end over end, as well as on the target line more often. However, my distance control was far more inconsistent. The other thing I noticed was that the 11 Sat square to my eye and ready to go right when I set it down behind the ball (with the 11.5 I was adjusting a lot before the stroke).

 

With the 11.5 (toe flow) my putts were consistently much better for pace, but the ball would skid off the putter face more, and miss the target right or left more often. As I mentioned above the 11.5 didn’t sit ready to go, it required a lot of adjusting and readjustment of the head before feeling lined up right.

 

So which do I prioritize? The distance or the line? The square setup right off of the bat with a cleaner roll, or the tweaking with the better pace ? Will it be easier to get the distance control manger with practice, or will it be easier to learn to set it up and align it with some fanagalig at address?

 

Edited May 22, 2023 by ThreePuttForPar

[Ghostwedge]

II'm sure I'll get booed off the putter forum for this but my 2 cents is you go with what you can control your distance with. When you set up over the ball and you  know you will have a tap-in if you miss then that's your putter. Distance control is king, once you have it even alignment becomes easier. What ever it takes to free up your stroke works.

[twidener]

I always go with what gives me the best pace. Very much for the same reason Ghostwedge mentioned. When I practice putting I'll spend most of my time on 25-40 foot putts. Uphill, downhill, left to right, right to left. Not many where it's flat. I'm working on putts that I might face on the course so I work on pace. From 40 feet my target is a 2 ft. circle around the hole. You'll be surprised how many putts you make when the pace is correct, long and short putts.

 

[MattM97]

Larry Bobka says the 3 most important things in putting are:

 

- Speed

- Speed

- Speed

 

But that's one take on putting and I think for most golfers where first putt distance is pretty far I'd say that's a category you should probably focus on. But at the same time need a putter you can line up those short putts to knock them down.

 

Best bet find a putter that allows you to do both fairly well, from what you said I'd take the one with better roll as you can always practice speed.

[bladehunter]

Neither.  Buying one that doesn’t do the other is settling. And it’s settling for a poor fit.  
 

you need to feel like you can aim the one that you can get a good roll out of.  

[Fuscinator]

If you rolled the ball better with the 11, get that one, especially if you had a much easier time lining it up. Distance control will come with usage.

[EKB]

I struggled for awhile with distance control but never really with alignment.  I now have a couple of putters where my confidence in the distance control gives me additional confidence to trust my line.  

 

You don't indicate that you've had an actual fitting but part of the issue may be getting the right lie and loft which can have a huge impact on your putting.  Might be worth the time and money to get a fitting?

[CoolBreeze]

Distance can control can either be learned by more putts with the putter or an easy addition of weight to the putter head or grip. You can't change how your eyes see line. I would choose line everyday for that reason (if I had to choose). Of course I would want both if I could, but sometimes you can't find the perfect package off the shelf. As such, choose line, and mod accordingly for distance. There is nothing more eerie than standing over a 6 ft putt and not sure if you have the right line. If you have the line, you can putt with confidence and have more fun and lower scores. NO DOUBT.

Edited May 22, 2023 by CoolBreeze

[TourSpoon]

Speed then line. 

 

I struggled with this with my Scotty and Spider. The Scotty was amazing for distance control and the Spider for those automatic 3-5 footers. I took this issue to my club guy and he adjusted the Scotty because the loft was jacked up. There was immediate improvement on line especially 10 feet and in as the ball was now rolling sooner. He also took the Spider and threw more weight on it to help with speed. In the end, the Scotty now has both, while the Spider is a decent back up (slightly loses out on speed). 

[Byrdman2230]

21 hours ago, bladehunter said:

Neither.  Buying one that doesn’t do the other is settling. And it’s settling for a poor fit.  
 

you need to feel like you can aim the one that you can get a good roll out of.  

This. 

[dfeldss]

I think you go with the putter you control distance with. 

 

How many times are you going to misread/misalign by 3 or 4 feet? Probably pretty few.

 

If you're confident in your distance control getting you within a foot or two, you can easily set yourself up for a ton of tap ins and a few makes here and there

[TheDominator273]

Absolutely the one you roll the ball true with.  You can't really have good distance control unless the strike and roll are consistent.

[bladehunter]

14 minutes ago, Byrdman2230 said:

This. 

You can tell them. But you can’t make them drink. 

[North Butte]

Either being tough to align (on short putts) or causing poor distance control (on long putts) disqualifies a putter from regular use for me.

 

I have a couple of putters in the closet that are not-quite-ideal in one or the other of those ways and they're fun to pull out for a round or two occasionally just for a change of pace. Sometimes just using something totally different helps reset my vision and imagination on the greens.

But day in and day out I take a holistic view. I keep stats for Strokes Gained: Putting for most of my rounds and after 10-20 rounds with a certain putter it becomes crystal clear if it's costing me strokes. Good putting for me (with a 14hcp) means being within a couple strokes of scratch. It's not unusual to try a putter that FEELS like it's working well, look back after a dozen rounds and I'm averaging -3 or -4 versus scratch rather than -2. That means the putter is "close but no cigar". 

[Jeff58]

Distance control has virtually no correlation to toe hang. What was likely happening was that you were spending so much time manipulating the alignment of the “better” putter that you accomplished an unintended pre-shot feel routine.

[noubrat]

In my opinion, if the putter doesn't work then it doesn't work. There isn't really a point in choosing between two things when neither of them works well, get a fitting and tell the fitter what you are experiencing, they can help the most.

[ThreePuttForPar]

On 5/21/2023 at 5:52 PM, EKB said:

I struggled for awhile with distance control but never really with alignment.  I now have a couple of putters where my confidence in the distance control gives me additional confidence to trust my line.  

 

You don't indicate that you've had an actual fitting but part of the issue may be getting the right lie and loft which can have a huge impact on your putting.  Might be worth the time and money to get a fitting?

I bit the bullet this morning and got a fitting for the first time. Mind blown. What works for me would have never been found off the rack. 
 

I went into the fitting open to any putter that the fitter thinks is what will work best for me. Told him my picking and choosing what I think I like has gone no where.

 

 The end result, I needed a 36” putter 2 degrees flat with 1.5 degree loft. I would’ve never found that off the rack. The putter we dialed in best was a spider Gtx, I have never liked the look of spiders, but man once that was dialed, we couldn’t beat it with anything I wanted to try because I like the look better.

 

Take away, yup, get fitted. Duh. Lol.

[EKB]

That is awesome ThreePutt, so glad it worked out for you.  Let us know how it works on the course!

[LoopySwing13]

17 hours ago, ThreePuttForPar said:

I bit the bullet this morning and got a fitting for the first time. Mind blown. What works for me would have never been found off the rack. 
 

I went into the fitting open to any putter that the fitter thinks is what will work best for me. Told him my picking and choosing what I think I like has gone no where.

 

 The end result, I needed a 36” putter 2 degrees flat with 1.5 degree loft. I would’ve never found that off the rack. The putter we dialed in best was a spider Gtx, I have never liked the look of spiders, but man once that was dialed, we couldn’t beat it with anything I wanted to try because I like the look better.

 

Take away, yup, get fitted. Duh. Lol.

Glad you found something that did both! I woulda told you option 3 which is, pick what looks good to your eye then go hit 100 putts 😂! Partially joking, but fitting is always a great answer as sometimes (as you show) the end result is something the golfer never considered.

 

might have to change your name to two putt for par now! 

[ThreePuttForPar]

On 5/23/2023 at 5:15 PM, EKB said:

That is awesome ThreePutt, so glad it worked out for you.  Let us know how it works on 

[ThreePuttForPar]

So I got the spider. First of all, hats off to Taylormade, I received the putter in 5 days from ordering.

 

Now the bad news. I’ve played two rounds with it and spent some time on the practice green. I HATE this putter. I’ve never liked spiders, but went in open minded and trusted the fitting process. The 36” length feels awkward (the one at the fitting was a 35”, but was told I need a 36). And delofted to 1.5 the putter sits open at address and I’m constantly fidgeting with it behind the ball to line up. 
 

It Just doesn’t feel comfortable in my hands, or to look at. Luckily my shop honors their satisfaction guarantee on everything, including special orders. 

 

Take away: 2 degrees flat was good to find out. I don’t like a 36” putter, I don’t like spiders regardless of numbers, and I don’t like a delofted putter because it sits open (would rather work on a forward press and have it sit square). It wasn’t a total loss because the fitting was only $40 (normally $75) and I learned a lot, I need the putter flat, I need to work on a forward press, and I also learned a lot about what I don’t like in putters.

 

The putter will go back, and I’ll pick something the old fashioned way, but with some newly acquired knowledge, I’ll  putt for hours at the store until I nail down something I like, and then have it bent 2 flat. After that, practice practice practice.

Edited May 31, 2023 by ThreePuttForPar