Should I change my putter? Dissecting golf’s oddest relationship

It’s a question our resident collection of basket cases ask themselves every day: Should I change my putter? In this edition of Fourball we take a look at the flat stick, the club responsible for around 45 per cent of our shots. And more if you can’t chip…

What is your history with your current putter?

Alex: I changed to my current Ping Anser 2 in 2017 after several years with an old Scottsdale. It was an awkward re-coupling. My regular playing partners were furious, calling me things like “muggy” behind my back, and I got a lot of flack on social media, but I felt an instant connection we were, indeed, meant to be together. My head could be turned – who knows? – but it is what it is.

Joe: I’m 22 and I got my first set of irons for my 17th birthday after playing the odd bit of golf with my dad’s set which included a putter which was pretty much just a strip of metal on a stick. I wanted to round off my new set with a swanky new putter and took a trip to American Golf to try some out on their artificial green – you know, the one that feeds to the hole and makes you putt like Jordan Spieth circa 2015. I decided on the Nike Method Core MC3i and we’re still going strong almost six years on.

Harvey: I go through putters like I go through fun-size Mars bars. If I’m not happy with how I’m putting then I change my tool, it can’t be all my fault!? I’m currently gaming an Odyssey Stroke Lab which is my seventh putter of 2019, it replaced a Nike Method, 006 an old love of mine which always goes in the bag in between transitions. To be honest, I think my grip’s the problem.

Mark: Me and my Odyssey Works 1W are coming up to going steady for two years now. I won it, coincidentally, in a Nearest The Pin putting competition which simply involved over-hitting a putt from 60 feet, hitting the pin and sitting on the lip. It replaced a variety of clubs but mainly a Yes! Sandy which I had re-gripped, added weights and generally did everything I could to stay in love but our time had come. 

What do you like and dislike about your putter (and yourself) and when using it?

Joe: I accept that as this is the only putter that I’ve ever really used but I’m saying I’m a blade man. It’s a simple, slick design, which looks good behind the ball, I don’t see the need for the OTT designs. The main problem I have with my putting has nothing to do with the club but my own ability to judge pace. Sometimes it’s spot on, other times a two-footer becomes a four-footer.

Alex: We were getting on very well, until recently when I was playing with Darren Clarke (yeah, whatever) and he gave me a little putting tip on one of the greens in which he told me to “feel the head release through the ball”. I DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS DARREN.

Harvey: Seeing as I’ve had it for just two weeks, I’ll make this quick. I’m a fan of its simplicity, nothing too jazzy, no bells and whistles hanging off it just a clean, sleek blade. But, the crucial part for me is it’s only 30 inches and with me being 6-foot-1 it makes me feel like I’m closer to the ground, which ultimately adds nothing but sounds good. No?

Mark: I like the way that mine just sets up square to save me the inner turmoil of wondering what I’m doing and, given that I under-hit every putt, it runs out really nicely due to the ‘tech’. I’ve fatted up the grip and had it fitted properly so I know everything that goes wrong is simply pilot error which saves a lot of conversations in my head. 

You ask yourself ‘should I change my putter?’ but how close has it come to being moved on?

Harvey: It’ll probably be on the naughty step in 17 days’ time, thinking long and hard why it has made more three-putts than one-putts. I’m really not a good putter, maybe I should try anchoring it…

Joe: We’re surrounded by putters in the office which I inevitably knock balls across the carpet floor into the skirting board. This is great; I enjoy picking up the latest putter and critiquing it a typically amateur fashion and mutter this and that. But, no, I’ll never change from the Nike.

Alex: As long as there is water in the ocean I will have a blade-style Ping Anser in my bag.

Mark: I hope it will still be in the bag as we’re in quite a good place at the moment and she’s been part of my process from day one. Obviously things change but I really struggle to actually like any putter which seems an odd thing to say. They look good on the shelf or in the office and then when we get on a putting green together and actually hit a putt I go off most of them.

What’s your relationship like? Let us know in the comments below, or join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. If you’re asking yourself “should I change my putter?” please don’t listen to these idiots, seek professional advice or ask our equipment guru Hannah Holden.