We’re Making Progress
No one wants to be 10, 20, or 30 yards behind their pals off the tee, so golfers are wising up and getting fit for their drivers.
No one wants to hit 6 iron into that par 3 when their buddies are hitting 8, so golfers are getting smart and getting fit for their irons.
No one wants to stuff their approach to 4 feet and then miss the putt, so golfers are…continuing to play whatever putter winds up in their bag.
Why aren’t golfers getting fit for their putters? One major reason is that golfers can’t see the improvement with a putter the way they can with a driver. In this edition of Golf Myths Unplugged, we’re going to show golfers that improvement…if it exists.
The Myths
Myth #1 – Toe hang impacts face angle control
Myth #2 – Toe hang impacts strike consistency
Myth #3 – Toe hang impacts club path
Myth #4 – Toe hang impacts consistency
Myth #5 – Toe hang is important to putter fitting
How We Tested
For this test, we brought together six golfers, ranging in handicap from 10 to scratch. Each player hit five straight, ten foot putts with four different putters. We used putters representing a variety of toe hangs – toe up, face balanced, 45 degrees of toe hang, and 90 degrees of toe hang.
Each player tested the putters in a different order. Every putt was tracked by SAM Puttlab.
All testing was done at, and with the help of, Club Champion.
The Results
Predictably, a putter’s toe hang had a significant impact on our tester’s ability to control the club face. We found that, across the four putters tested, our players changed their face angle at impact by an average of 2.3 degrees.
Our testers did show a range of abilities to compensate for different putters. The smallest variance was 1.2 degrees, a change that could cause a missed putt at ten feet. On the other end of the spectrum, one tester saw his face angle vary 4.3 degrees, meaning he would miss a putt as short as three feet!
Many golfers don’t think about the impact of a mishit putt, but it can easily be the difference between making and missing. While many manufacturers gear their putter design toward minimizing the effect of mishits, our testing shows that if you really want to minimize mishits, you need to get into the correct toe hang.
Fighting an improper toe hang caused our testers to miss the sweet spot by an average of 8.8 mm. When in the proper toe hang, our testers missed the sweet spot by less than 1 mm. In the most extreme case, a player went from nearly perfect (0.1 mm from center) to absolutely awful (12.7 mm off center)!
Our testing showed that toe hang had a large impact on club path. On average, our testers’ club paths moved 4.1 degrees across the four different putters. Two players even saw their club path change from left-to-right to right-to-left as a result of changing putters.
In putting, far more than in the full swing, there are a lot of ways to be effective. There are boatloads of players who aim way left, aim way right, pull everything, push everything…and still make a lot of putts. However, any player who putts well is consistent, so we wanted to know if toe hang affects consistency.
The answer is an unequivocal “Yes.” Whether we look at single aspects of consistency (face angle, path, strike location, or face rotation) or overall consistency, we found huge disparities between putters that fit well and putters that didn’t. Our testers averaged an overall consistency score of nearly 80 with their best-fit putter compared to an average of less than 65 with their worst fit.
At this point, the answer to our final question should be obvious: yes, toe hang is important to putter fitting. If you want a putter that you can swing consistently, that you can hit on the center of the face,with a club face that you can control, you need the correct toe hang.
How do you find the correct toe hang for you? That’s where the fitting comes in.
Conclusion
It’s our hope that this data shows you just how important it is to get fit for the correct toe hang in your putter. While toe hang is just one variable in selecting the right putter, this test demonstrates what an important one it is.
The Data
Matt lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with his wife and two daughters.
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You already knew that didn’t you?
Bruce,
I’ve always trusted what you’ve told me, but it’s nice to have the data, too.
-Matt
The reason why most golfer arent fit for their putter is because there is not a lot of place who provide this service, at least in canada.
Matt –
Thanks for another great article. Any plans to test Evnroll on the horizon?
mygolfspy went nuts for them. Crazy enough that I’m actually questioning my Edel…
Mitch,
If your Edel is fitted, put the hype out of your head. :)
We’ve contacted them about reviews, but haven’t heard back. As always, if you want to see a product reviewed here, the best thing to do is let the company know about it.
Best,
Matt
Yes, it is fitted! :)
Ha, and you’re right – thanks for being the voice of reason!
Casting this article as debunking “golf myths” is unnecessary & sensationalist. The bottom line when it comes to putting is that a well-fit putter, one that “feels right” because its weight and balance work well with the user’s physique, is going to help a golfer make more consistent strokes, leading to more consistent good impact. Better impact, i.e., impact with the face square to the path of the club, more often, will yield improved putting.
You want to talk about myths? “Sweet spot” in a putter is a myth, variable impact force from grooves of varying depth and/or width is a myth (sorry, EvnRoll.) The geometry and very simple physics which govern the impact of a putter and a golf ball don’t support the fanciful theories that people concoct in order to sell putters.
Gary,
Thanks for your input. We’ll be sure to consult you when naming our next feature series.
-Matt
I really like my Edel -2. It took me a few round to get used to it but my distance control is really good. Lots of short putts to clean up. Heavy putter on fast greens really does work. As an aside. I really like their wedges also. I have a 50 and 54 and wouldn’t trade them for anything. Not even Shiner Bock.
So, what IS the correct toe hang for best results?
Bruce,
The one that fits your stroke.
-Matt
Really interesting that you included toe-up putters in this test, don’t see many of those about, yet they seem to hold their own in these tests.
My main point though is i’m not sure the data really backs up the conclusions here. If a given player has a ideal amount of toe hang in a putter then wouldnt you expect their consistency score to be highest with that level of hang and decrease proportionately the further you go away from that. But take Player 1 for example here they were most consistent with either Toe Up or 90 degrees of hang which are complete opposites. Player 5 would need either a Toe-up or 45 degree hang etc
Also it seems like the best fitting toe hang for one variable here is not necessarily the best fitting toe hang for another. e.g. From an Impact Spot and Impact Spot consistency perspective player 5 performs MUCH better with a Face Balanced putter, but that putter scores worst for Consistency and Path Consistency. Their most consistent putter would be a 90 degree hang putter which is the worst from an impact point of view. Same with Player 3.
Now you can always find outliers but looking at the data i don’t think these are, its hard to find any definitive trends. How did you go from this data to those conclusions?