Weight and Balance

[JLN]

Restoring balance to a putter after adding weight to the head?

I don't know if this is a flatstick forum or a clubmaker's forum question, but here it goes.

If one were to start off with a 35 inch putter with a 330 gram head, then add about 20 grams of weight to the head, what would one do to restore the overall balance to the putter?

I ask this because I've been experimenting with weight on a beat up Red X2 to see if weight would help in situations where there is pressure and a lot of semi-short putts on fast greens (basically, trying to do what I can to de-yippify myself). Weight on the head seems to help, but I'm wondering if I could be doing something more or differently in this little low-tech experiment (balancing via weight in the butt, etc.). Or is this just a matter of feel/taste?

Thanks!

[dfung]

I don't have any direct experience doing what you're trying out, but if you look at a Heavy Putter, they have a super heavy head (something like 475gm), then put around a 250gm weight in the top of the shaft (in the grip area) to shift the center of gravity back upward. The shaft weight varies with the shaft length, and the heads have adjustable weight ports too.

 

So, I think you might think about something like the Balance Certified weight set to compensate and tune your putter. They have a set of weights that fit in the grip end of the shaft to tune the center of gravity as well. If you tune the balance exactly back to where it was (I guess you could mark the balance point beforehand weighting the head, although that's only a static measure) I guess the theory is it will swing the same, but you'll have extra stability from the extra mass in the head.

 

Even though that's the way it's supposed to work, that extra mass will give you stability but may also make the head feel less responsive to any influence you you try to exert over the head.

 

I use a Big Ben putter that's 2" longer than I would like, but I've had really good luck with it, and I'm afraid of irreversibly upsetting the balance. I've got 2 backups along the line and I'm getting ready to have one shafted with the Frequency Filtered Putter shaft in the proper length to see what happens (it's that darn banner ad for the thing on the top of these very forum pages!). I would have done it already, but I contacted Joe Kwok about doing the work (he's local for me, which makes me lucky) and he tells me that it's hard to pull the heads on this particular putter cleanly.

 

I really love the way the Red X2 looks (except the alignment guide seems off to me - wants me to set up too far to the right), but found that the head feels light and has very little feeling. What you're trying should be awesome. I hope your experiment works out well!