Nowadays everyone hears about how a new club will help their game; marketers have been saying anything to encourage you to buy their products. Here is a quick run-down on some of the things you should look for when buying a putter.



Putters and your Stroke

Putters can be classified into two different types, face balanced putters and non?face balanced putters. The way to find out if your putter is face balanced or not is to balance the shaft of the putter on your finger. If the face of the putter faces the sky, your putter is face-balanced, if it is non-faced balanced the toe of the club will be pointing towards the ground.

Different putting strokes should use different style of balanced putters. Players who have a putting stroke that is straight back and through should lean towards using a face-balanced putter like the Odyssey Two-Ball. While a player whose stroke follows more of a half-moon path (in to square to in) should lean towards a non-face balanced putter like a Scotty Cameron Newport 2.0.

Each type of face-balance can be found in many different types of putter, however it is more common to find face-balanced putters in more of a mallet shape, while non-face balanced putter tend to be more blade style. Check your putting stroke out and see if you might need to try a different style of putter to improve you game. At last, this time it is the equipment's fault!

Moment of Inertia (MOI)

This is the term applied to a clubhead's resistance to twisting after a ball is struck. For example, a putt hit off the heel will hold its line better if it's hit with a putter with higher MOI. The end result is you make more putts. This is significant for amateur golfers, as they tend to rarely hit the sweet spot with their putters.

To create a club with a high MOI, manufacturers will place a lot of weight on the toe and the heel of the club. So clubs with high MOI tend to be bulky and heavy, that is why they are usually labeled as 'game improvement clubs'.

Another interesting aspect of MOI is the fact that the further back the weights are from the face the higher this number is increased. This is why you get clubs like the Nike Sasquatch driver which is almost as long back-to-front as it is side-to-side, or the Ping Doc putter, which resembles a pizza more so than a golf club. Top golf companies know these facts through extensive testing, and the ultimate result is equipment that can improve your game.

So the next time you go and purchase equipment, I hope you a little more aware of how they can affect your game.