I noticed on another thread in this section that Yoda mentioned his putter was 32 inches long and I seem to remember him being over 6 feet tall. I know most of us buy the store-bought standard of 35 inches. I have seen some teachers imply that most of us are playing with putters that are too long for us. Any thoughts from VJ,Yoda,YodasLuke, or anyone else??
I noticed on another thread in this section that Yoda mentioned his putter was 32 inches long and I seem to remember him being over 6 feet tall. I know most of us buy the store-bought standard of 35 inches. I have seen some teachers imply that most of us are playing with putters that are too long for us. Any thoughts from VJ,Yoda,YodasLuke, or anyone else??
The big idea is that the Putt is a Golf Shot and it should be treated as such. Ideally, its Stroke Pattern is derived from your Basic Stroke Pattern, i.e., the Stroke is only miniaturized, not drastically altered. And that includes the normal condition of the Arms (6-A-4) -- the Left Arm is always straight and the Right Arm is always bent until the end of the Follow-Through (the Both Arms Straight position).
The Putter's upright Lie Angle and its popular 34"-35" Shaft length makes it difficult to fully-extend the Left Arm. Hence, my 32" Clubshaft. Another benefit of the shorter Shaft is a shortened Stroke Radius. Per 2-M-2-2, this automatically results in a reduced Effective Clubhead Mass (and less Clubhead Power). For any given distance, this means you can Stroke your Putts with greater authority. This is especially valuable on high-stimp championship greens.
It is not an accident that Andy North won two U.S. Opens with a putter less than 30" long.
The big idea is that the Putt is a Golf Shot and it should be treated as such. Ideally, its Stroke Pattern is derived from your Basic Stroke Pattern, i.e., the Stroke is only miniaturized, not drastically altered. And that includes the normal condition of the Arms (6-A-4) -- the Left Arm is always straight and the Right Arm is always bent until the end of the Follow-Through (the Both Arms Straight position).
The Putter's upright Lie Angle and its popular 34"-35" Shaft length makes it difficult to fully-extend the Left Arm. Hence, my 32" Clubshaft. Another benefit of the shorter Shaft is a shortened Stroke Radius. And, per 2-M-2-2, this automatically results in a reduced Effective Clubhead Mass (and less Clubhead Power). For any given distance, this means you can Stroke your Putts with greater authority. This is especially valuable on high-stimp championship greens.
It is not an accident that Andy North won two U.S. Opens with a putter less than 30" long.
Skipper . . . Do you add weight to the head so it doesn't feel like swinging a feather? I have SHORT putter too. Looks like it got beat up by a roll of lead tape.
The Putter's upright Lie Angle and its popular 34"-35" Shaft length makes it difficult to fully-extend the Left Arm. Hence, my 32" Clubshaft.
Thanks for that post Yoda as i realised i was bending my left arm.
Does gripping down a few inches achieve the same result? Or does the quality of the contact of your hands on the grip deteriorate too much?
Thx
P.S I wish a very emerry Xmas to everyone and have a happy New Year. As an aussie i am lucky enough to open my presents first. Unfortunately one of those is a new 35# putter.
P.S I wish a very emerry Xmas to everyone and have a happy New Year. As an aussie i am lucky enough to open my presents first. Unfortunately one of those is a new 35# putter.
And a very merry Christmas to all our friends "down under".
Now for your Christmas present......
As a club maker I have an ajustable putter to help fit people. The shaft swings and can lock it so that it has the same lie as the customer's putter. Then he grabs the grip and addresses tha ball. As he does this the shaft slids in and out until it feels good for him and then I lock it. From this I can measure and tell how long to make his putter.
If you don't have a friend that maks clubs, may I suggest that you try your hand at cutting your club. Purchase a new putter grip, double backed tape and a small can of solvent (mineral sperits). You can get all this stuff at Golfsmith or Golfworks.
Take your putter in hand, address the ball and slide your hands up and down the shaft to the point where they feel comfortable, mark the shaft where it is above your hands. With a tape measure determine the new length of you shaft. This is the length along the back of the shaft from the floor to where you want to cut the shaft.
Remove the old grip and old double sticky tape with a utility knife (careful it is sharp).
Go to the Golfsmith/Clubmaking web site. The have a very good tutorial with pictures on how to put on the new grip. It's easy and it takes less time than me telling you how to do it.
If you cut too much off the shaft , don't worry, there is a shaft extension that you can epoxy in to extend the shaft.
When you finish...welcome to the world of making custom clubs.
Merry Christmas.
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Since we were talking about custom fitting your putter in the previous post why not consider making yourself a custom made putter? It's not difficult, does not require a lot of expensive tools and you will end up with a putter that will work as good if not better than those very expensive ones. You can easily adjust the weight on the following two examples. I believe it makes a big difference in my putting.
Take a look Golfsmith at: http://www.golfsmith.com/products/SE...8f8181c7a54cc3
You can get this head for about $50 and a shaft for $7 and a grip for about $5. A total of $62 and some change for the epoxy and double sided tape.
Notice that this head has a weight that can be replaced with heaver and lighter ones.
I have a few putters at varying lenghts, but all of them are below the 'standard' 35"/36" length. I find that I can let my arms hang down easier and I feel more comfortable with a shorter putter (but I have to make sure that the heads are heavy enough to counteract the lack in length)
My current rotation are:
Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Studio Stainless: 33"/350g head
Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Studio Stainless (Black): 32"/350g head
Tom Slighter Tacoma: 33.5"/400g head
Odyssey White Hot #1: 34"
Thanks for all the replies. I guess I have been altering my putting stroke to fit the club all these years---which may explain some of my poor putting. I think Yoda hit it on the head with his comment about not being able to fully extend the left arm with the 34-35 inch models. I went to a left hand low push basic stroke after my lesson with him last spring and still struggled at times because I never felt like I was properly extending the left arm---now I know why. Looks like 2006 might be the perfect time to move to move to a shorter putter. And thank you Jim Cook for stimulating a few neurons---I have a Smoooth 7 putter I made last year (34") and has all the weights in it---heavy as a sledge hammer. When I finish typing this I'm gonna' whack 2 inches off the shaft and see what happens--might as well experiment while the snow is flying, and I can always putt indoors! Thanks everybody!
Stay Healthy Dr Dave
I too use a 31 1/4 inch putter and I'm 5'13. For me it is a product of where my arms hang. If you have a face balanced putter, you are much better off cutting off your putter to the right length and it only will cost you about $10. If you don't grip down or invest in a new putter, not necessarily a face balanced putter.
My clubfitter in MN has tested over 3500 people and has found the average length of a putter should be 32 inches. The only reason they sell 34 and 35 inch putters is because they fit in the bag, they don't fit people!
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Golf can never be considered an enigma. ~HK
Mass produced, un-fitted putters are too long and too upright for nearly all of us. One of the best things you can do is spend some time getting your putter soling correctly. Bending and shortening are usually needed to complete this process.
, don't worry, there is a shaft extension that you can epoxy in to extend 
the shaft.
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