Putter Session
Sixty minutes on the indoor roll strip. The cheapest fitting in the building and frequently the one that removes the most strokes.
A Third of Your Strokes, Fitted Least Often
Putting accounts for roughly forty per cent of the shots in an average round, and the putter is the club golfers are least likely to have measured. Most are bought off a rack at whatever length the manufacturer decided, which is nearly always too long for a golfer of average height in a comfortable posture.
A putter that is too long forces the hands in toward the body and lifts the toe off the ground. The face then points left of where the golfer thinks it does, and every miss on a short putt gets blamed on reading the green.
We start with your posture, set length to it, correct lie so the sole sits flat, and only then look at head shape.
Four Adjustments, in Order
Eye Line and Length
We drop a ball from the bridge of your nose while you stand in your natural putting posture and see where it lands relative to the target ball. Directly over, slightly inside, or well inside — each produces a different view of the line, and none of them are wrong, but the putter has to suit the one you use.
Length is then trimmed or extended until your posture stays comfortable without your hands being forced anywhere.
What we record
- Eye position relative to the ball
- Forearm angle at address
- Comfortable spine tilt
- Resulting playing length
Lie Angle and Sole Contact
With length settled, the sole should sit flat on the surface at address. A toe-up putter aims left of where it looks; a heel-up putter aims right. Both errors are small in degrees and large in consequence over a four-foot putt.
We bend the hosel on the machine and confirm the sole sits flat before moving on.
Lie check
- Sole contact confirmed visually and by tape
- Hosel bent to suit the measured posture
- Aim re-checked after correction
- Final lie recorded on the card
Loft and Forward Press
Putters carry a few degrees of loft to lift the ball out of its resting depression and start it rolling. Golfers who lean the shaft forward at impact remove that loft, and the ball skids before it rolls. Golfers who add loft at impact pop the ball into the air for the first few inches.
We watch the first foot of roll on the strip and adjust the loft to match your delivery, so the ball starts turning over quickly.
Roll assessment
- Skid distance before true roll begins
- Shaft lean at impact
- Loft adjusted on the machine
- Roll re-checked with your own ball
Head Style and Toe Hang
Last, and only after the geometry is right. A stroke that travels on a noticeable arc generally suits a head with some toe hang; a stroke that stays close to straight suits a face-balanced design. Head shape and alignment aids are then chosen on what looks right to you at address.
Style matching
- Stroke arc measured on the strip
- Toe hang matched to that arc
- Blade and mallet both compared
- Alignment aid chosen on your preference
Book a Putter Session
Most golfers leave this one with the same putter head they arrived with, cut to a different length and bent a degree or two. That is usually all it takes.