After writing our first “Five Minute” driving article a few days ago, we have received tons of feedback, challenging criticism, and it’s all been fun! After seven years of tracking everything, there’s another correlation we’ve come across and it has everything to do with putter design and choice.
In our humble opinion the two most important aspects of the game are Driving and Putting. Driving sets the emotional tone of the hole and quite possible the entire round. If you can’t get off the tee, the entire day is a struggle. Putting is the great equalizer regardless of where you play. The hot putters win tournaments on tour and the hot putters win the nassaus at home. David the putter beats Goliath the driver ever time.
How can you find the putter of your dreams in five minutes or less? Here’s what we have found.
We cannot classify putting style into categories like we did with driving. History’s greatest putters like Crenshaw, Faxon, Locke, Stockton, Utley, Woods, Nicklaus, Player, and Palmer (we are probably leaving out someone like Zach Johnson and Steve Sticker) all use different putters, stand in different posture, use their arms and hands differently, and lean their shafts one way or another, etc.
They all putt great, especially when they need to. The putt is made in their mind before they step foot on the green. If you ask them who they would want to make a life or death putt, we bet they’ll take on the putt themselves. Sure, they have all had different putter swing thoughts and putters throughout their careers. They probably struggle at times. But they all share one thing in common: confidence.
Amateurs are just as confident or tremendously not confident. We’ve seen all sorts of styles like we see on tour: crosshand, split hand, belly, long, baseball grip, forward press, reverse press, in fact we have one player that putts with the toe of his putter! Some players putt great, some putt 40 times per round on the way to something terrible.
Confidence in your putting directly affects your putter selection. It’s an emotional decision based purely on your perception of putting. You can have the perfect roll (as Scotty Cameron has found) or a terrible roll that bounces its way to the hole and still goes in. Some players aim perfectly and miss every time. Some players have no idea where they aim, but still think their aim and read is perfect and make the putt. Trying to “fix” a great putter that aims terribly could make him a terrible putter.
If you are a great putter and think you are a great putter with results, you already have the putter of your dreams. Stop reading now! Still searching for “The One?” Keep reading.
According to several sources, two thirds of the world are right eye dominant, while one third of the world is left eye. Eye dominance is important when correlated with hand dominance. There are many sources that suggest 70-90% of the world is right handed but we can all agree that a super majority of golfers are right handed. Therefore, most golfers are right handed and right eye dominant. According to the records on our players since 2003, 95% are right handed right eye dominant golfers.
When fitting players for putters, our first question is always “Do you know which eye is dominant?” Some players know, some players don’t, and we’ve had several players that are legally blind in one eye. Once we know the answer, we’ll give them a putter with offset, then a putter with no offset and we ask them, “Which putter SEEMS easier or more comfortable to line up and putt?”
Full Shaft Offset Preferred By Left Eye Players (Scotty Cameron Monterey)
Zero Shaft Offset Preferred By Right Eye Players (Scotty Cameron Newport 2.6)
Right handed right eye dominant players choose less shaft offset. Right handed left eye dominant players choose more shaft offset. Every time!
There are several schools of thought on putter design, offset and instruction. But in our opinion, matching offset with eye dominance inspires more confidence especially with alignment, even if their aim is technically wrong.
Every time a player seeks our advice on putting or putter fitting, the ultimate goal is to have that player leave with confidence regardless of the instruction or the putter they chose. That’s the goal for any golf professional. Matching eye dominance to shaft offset boosts confidence nearly 100 percent of the time. A confident putter is a better putter regardless of style.
Since shaft offset is our number one factor in choosing the putter of your dreams, does forward pressing like Brad Faxon or reverse pressing like Zach Johnson influence confidence and putter selection? Not in our minds. Brad uses a full shaft offset putter and forward presses slightly. In fact Brad is a right eye dominant player that does not correlate with our findings! As far as we know, Brad is the lone exception. Zach uses a zero offset putter and reverse presses significantly. He is a right eye dominant player that correlates with our findings.
Should Brad change putters and and get less offset to match his eye? Maybe if he struggles, but he still remains one of the best of all time. We wouldn’t change anything. Should Zach change putters to something with a little more offset to negate the reverse press? We wouldn’t change anything either! In fact he keeps improving his putting stats, especially this year.
1/2 Shaft Offset (Scotty Cameron Del Mar)
3/4 Shaft Offset (Scotty Cameron Newport 2.5)
There are “tweener” putters with half shaft offset and 3/4 offset that can influence your decision and confidence. Left eye dominant players should consider the full and half offset first. Right eye dominant players should consider zero offset and 3/4 offset putters first.
We test player’s perceived aim and in some cases, left eye forward pressers prefer less offset like the Scotty Cameron Del Mar. Some right eye reverse pressers prefer more offset like the Scotty Cameron Newport 2.5. The only rule: confidence correlates with offset and eye dominance.
The players that really struggle with putting tend to have a room or closet full of putters. They are not collecting. They are searching! Organize the putters by shaft offset and you might be amazed. Do they have anything in common? Is there nothing in common? Please let us know in the comments below.
Checking Eye Dominance
Take your hands and form a hole about the size of a golf ball like the picture to the left and aim at a light switch or door knob or in this case, The Studio Hoop. Close your left eye and if you can still see the target, you are right eye dominant. If the target is blocked by your hand, you are left eye dominant.
Match your eye dominance to the correct shaft offset and you’ll probably have a great putter in 5 minutes or less. Then if you think you have a hard time making solid and consistent contact, head to a local fitter (or us!) to adjust the lie, loft, length or weight and you’ll have the putter of your dreams in five minutes…maybe five rolls.
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