Yes! No, I'm not shouting. The Putter company Yes! has proprietary grooves on their putters - very fancy grooves that claim to impart forward spin sooner for better accuracy, roll, something else, and something else. I'm in marketing and that's good marketing. Nothing against Yes! putters here as they are highly rated and very well made with superior CNC milling and 303 stainless options, but their claim is well, a claim and likely only that.
There are myriad tests done about putter grooves. Ultimately, the best, most thorough tests, with empirical data, reveal that grooves do nothing but change the feel of a putt. Putter loft is MUCH more important than grooves to get the ball rolling as intended, and here's why:
The ball isn't on the putter face long enough to take advantage of grooves. Period. We don't compress a ball with a putter like an iron or driver. We merely "hit" it. There's no grab, per se. Loft, however, is critical to getting the right roll and lifting the putt out of depressions.
The right loft is very much contingent on our hand position at impact and the type of greens we play on. Get the loft right, and you'll get the roll right. If you want a softer feel than perhaps your 17-4 stainless putter from yesteryear, then grooves might be a good call. But that's about it. So let's talk about loft.
Out here in Northern California, it's Poa Annua country. The greens are bumpy later in the day, and can be rather plush most of the year. That means the ball tends to sit down into small depressions and a putt will need to navigate small bumps and mounds on the way to the hole - a clear need for more loft. But, that's only part of the equation. If you forward press your stroke, you're delofting the putter face, and will require more loft. If you have your hands somewhat back at impact, ie. Zach Johnson, less loft is needed. For most of us, we need at least 3 degrees of loft, and in some cases, 4 or 5 degrees. Putter neck type plays a role as well, so, for example, if you need 3 or 4 degrees of loft but don't forward press, a plumber's neck hosel is one ideal option that will put the hands in a good position to maintain the ideal, stated loft of the face. But, don't forward press with a plumber's neck hosel. Try a flare tip or shaft over hosel design if you're going that direction.
All said and done, pay attention to putter loft with respect to the greens you play on and how you stroke a putt. It's not the grooves that will help you here but how much the face is angled. Get this right and you'll be feeling groovy without, well, you know, grooves.
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I have to disagree on the impact (no pun intended) that face grooves have on the putter. While I agree that one should certainly take into consideration the type of greens at their local course (soft, bumpy, plush, etc.) when choosing a putter. I strongly disagree that grooves universally have little effect other than feel. I own 8 putters and weather conditions on the east coast provide me with 8 months to play. Over the course of 2 years I put a different putter into play each month (changing the order in year 2 to account for seasonal green conditions) and tracked each clubs performance. My Rife 2-Bar Hybrid putter (with horizontal face grooves vs. the Yes! circular grooves) outperformed the nearest challenger by 2.8 putts per round. Qualitatively, my naked-eye (while admittedly not the same as ground-level slow-motion video) observed putts that seemed to track on the intended line much sooner then all other models. Keep up the good work MERF.
ReplyDelete- Johnny "DoubleWing" C.
I applaud your zeal for testing. Perhaps, just perhaps, you're onto something with the grooves in the Rife, and the combination of grooves, loft, hosel design, weight, etc. gets you rolling a little better than other putters in your bag. One wonders if the 2 degrees of loft your Rife is supposed to have is actually 3 or more in reality, and hence, the main contributing factor for the better role. Or, the COG is back further than the YES! and others, adding that one extra degree of loft, and hence lift, out of the depression, giving the better role. I'm not discounting the grooves, but it might be other factors associated with the design of the putter head. Anyway, who's to argue with a guy that has 8 in rotation. If it works, and it has grooves, go forth young man. I like you Betty.
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