How to choose a putter: length, lie and balance
Three measurements decide whether a putter helps you, and none of them is the brand on the sole. Check them before you spend anything.
A putter is the club you use on nearly 40 percent of your shots and the one most golfers buy on looks alone. Three measurements decide whether a putter helps you: length, lie angle, and how the head is balanced. None of them is expensive to check, and all of them matter more than the brand stamped on the sole.
Length: most putters off the rack are too long
The standard 34 or 35 inches was set for a taller stance than most people use. If the shaft is too long, your hands sit too far from your body, the eyes end up inside the ball, and the face aims left of where you think it does. You then compensate, and the compensation is what you take to the course.
Set up as you normally would and have someone measure from your hands to the ground. If a shorter putter puts your eyes over or just inside the ball with your arms hanging, that is the length you want.
Lie angle: the sole tells the truth
Put the putter down as you address the ball and look at the sole. If the toe is in the air, the face is aiming left at impact. If the heel is up, it aims right. Either way you are starting putts offline before the stroke begins, and no amount of practice fixes a static aim error.
Lie angle is adjustable on most steel-shafted putters, and any club fitter with a bending machine can do it in a few minutes.
Balance: match the head to your stroke
Balance the shaft on your finger. If the face points at the sky, the putter is face-balanced and suits a stroke that moves straight back and through. If the toe hangs down, it is toe-weighted and suits a stroke with a natural arc.
Most golfers have some arc. Face-balanced mallets are popular because they look forgiving, but a golfer with a strong arc will fight one all day. This is the single easiest thing to get right in a fitting bay.
Head shape is aim, not fashion
Blade or mallet is less about forgiveness than about how easily you aim the thing. Some people aim a simple blade with a single line perfectly and cannot aim a large mallet with three lines to save their lives. The reverse is just as common. Ask a fitter to check your aim with a laser on two or three shapes, and buy the one you aim straight, whatever it looks like.
Where to buy
In the United States, PGA Tour Superstore and Golf Galaxy both have putting studios where you can try several models on a real surface and have length and lie adjusted on the spot. Independent club fitters, listed through the Association of Golf Clubfitting Professionals, tend to spend longer on aim and stroke type than a retail bay does.
For used putters, 2nd Swing and GlobalGolf both grade condition and take trade-ins, which makes it realistic to try a shape for a season and move on. Your club pro shop is worth a call as well: many keep demo putters and will fit length and lie for the price of the adjustment.
Panxis Golf has no commercial link with any of these retailers and earns no commission on what you buy.
Before you spend anything
- Check your current putter’s lie on a hard floor. Half of all fixes start there.
- Have your aim measured before you shop. It narrows the choice fast.
- Try any new putter on greens running at a speed you actually play.
A fitted putter you already own beats a new one that does not fit. Start with the measurements, and only then go looking at what is in the rack.
