How to choose a putter
Start with length, because almost nobody checks it. Standard men's putters run 33 to 35 inches and women's 33 to 34. A putter even an inch too long changes your posture and moves your eyes outside the ball, and no amount of practice corrects for that. Measure from the floor to your wrist crease and take off about two inches as a starting point.
Then match the head to your stroke. If your putter face stays square through the stroke, you want a face-balanced mallet. If it opens and closes noticeably, you want a blade with toe hang. To check which you have, balance the shaft on your finger: if the toe hangs down you have toe hang, if the face points up it is face balanced.
Then worry about how it looks. This sounds like the wrong order and it is not. But putting is the one part of golf where confidence genuinely changes the outcome, so once length and balance are right, buy the one you like looking at.
Which putter brand does what
- Odyssey. Callaway's putter brand and the deepest range here by some distance. Ai-One and Ai-DUAL are the current milled families, Tri-Hot and DFX cover blades and mid-mallets, and Toulon is the premium milled line.
- Scotty Cameron. Titleist's putter brand. Milled, traditional shapes, the most sought after putters in golf and priced accordingly. Mostly blades and compact mallets.
- TaylorMade Spider. High MOI mallets built to hold their line on off-centre strikes. Spider ZT and Spider Tour are the current lines. SYSTM2 is TaylorMade's classic shape range.
- PING. Long-running shapes like the Anser and its descendants, and a fitting system built around lie angle and length that no other brand matches.
- Cleveland and Tour Edge. Huntington Beach Soft from Cleveland is milled and accessible. Tour Edge covers a wide range at the value end. Both are where to look if a premium putter is more than you want to spend.
Our take on putters
The putter is the club you use most and the one most golfers have owned the longest. A new putter is a smaller outlay than a new driver and it touches the ball more often than anything else in the bag. If you have been putting with the same club for a decade, it is worth half an hour of your time to find out whether it fits you.
Common questions
Blade or mallet?
Mallets are more forgiving on off-centre strikes and easier to aim, and they suit a straighter stroke. Blades give more feedback and suit a stroke with more arc. Most golfers putt better with a mallet than they expect to.
What length putter do I need?
Standard men's lengths run 33 to 35 inches and women's 33 to 34. Measure from the floor to your wrist crease and take off about two inches as a starting point, then try either side of that.
What is toe hang?
Balance the putter shaft on your finger and see where the toe points. If it hangs toward the ground the putter has toe hang, which suits an arcing stroke. If the face points at the sky it is face balanced, which suits a straight stroke.
Is an expensive putter worth it?
A milled face and a premium finish feel better and hold their value, but they will not hole more putts than a well-fitted putter at a third of the price. Get the length and the balance right first, then spend what you want to spend.
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