Putter loft...

[Ryan Smither]

What have been your experiences in tweaking the loft of your putter? How did you determine the change? What loft do you use now?

I read a good deal of Stan Utley's book today, and I was interested to read that he uses over 5 degrees of loft. Most putters are made around 3 degrees I believe.

 

[Robbohank]

Putter Loft

Ryan,

I messed around a little with this last year. I had 2 putters that I decided to add some loft to - a Bettinardi and a Ping. I took the Bett to a local shop, and I honestly don't think they were equipped to REALLY know if they added a couple of degrees of loft. For $5 I figure it was at least worth the effort. The Ping was one of the Isoforce Anser styles (like Dimarco uses) which I sent back to the factory (I think it cost me $25) to have them get it to 5.5 or 6 degrees of loft. That one I think they got right, and let me tell you, it does have a different "look" to it at address. I haven't messed much with the Ping, but the Bettinardi has seen some action. Not sure I could see enough of a difference in performance to have an opinion, but I sort of buy into the concept (particularly as one who plays on lots of grainy bermuda".

Robbo

 

[otto6457]

You may only want Brian's input on what you actually need, but I know Cameron's are 4 degrees standard loft. My old Yes Callie came standard with 2 degrees of loft. I emailed Yes about the small amount of loft in their putters and they told me that the grooves in their putters work better with a little less loft.

I do know that how much loft you need has a lot to do with your hand position at impact. Utley uses a forward press and wants the hands leading the putter through impact, so he needs more loft. You may or may not need as much as Utley. Plus, the greens you usually play on may effect how much putter loft works best for you. If you putt on slower greens you might putt better with a little more loft. Plus, a Yes, or Rife, or other grooved putter might make a difference in what loft works best.

For me personally (and this is ONLY me) my Scotty is at 5 degrees loft, 69 degrees of lie, and is 35.5 inches long. My swing weight is D-5 with a total putter weight of 500gms. My hands are a little forward at set-up and my hands lead the putter head to impact. Here in West Texas, 95% of our greens are bentgrass.

I apologize if you only wanted Brian to respond

 

[Brian Manzella]

Loft...

It matters a lot.

To me, it is VERY individual.

I have always HATED the look of loft, and like your boss Ryan (Mike Finney), I always looked for putter that had very little loft.

The funny thing is BOTH M AND MIKE both putted our best—two completely different putting styles—using relatively lofted PING A-Blades!

The only decent conventional putting I did in the last 20 years was with aputter Tom Bartlett bend very flat and lofted.

I sold it to a student (like a dummy).