Putter Technology

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• Main Menu
• Putter Design Evolution
• Moment of Inertia and Center of Gravity
• Sole Design and Lie Angle
• Putter Balance and Weight
• Putter Grip
• Putter Shape and Face Treatment
• Putter Shaft Location and Offset
• Putter Styles
• Rules Governing Putters
• Impact: Ball Launch
• Face Angle at Impact
• Face Loft and Horizontal Head Path
• Forward Press Effect On Impact
• ASSESSMENT

Sole Design and Lie Angle

Sole Design:

Sole design is something that has been ignored in many of today’s putters. The default design today for putter soles is flat, especially in the larger mallet - style putters. A flat sole, however, can impair the putting stroke in a number of circumstances. Because a putter’s lie angle is fixed, a flat sole is unforgiving.

For instance, a small error in the swing plane and/or green undulation, combined with insufficient vertical lifting of the head during the swing, will result in the toe or heel of the club contacting the green surface before impact. This will send the ball in a direction far off target.

A radius from toe to heel on the sole, on the other hand, will allow for undulations and slight imperfections in posture and setup.

Not having a flat sole creates its own challenges. If a mallet putter's sole is not flat from the face to a point slightly back of the point directly below the head’s c.g ., then the putter will not sit correctly at address. The result will be a tendency of the club’s c.g. to fall toward a low spot and in the process twisting the head off line at address when it is soled. To be sure that the putter sits correctly the centerline of the sole from the face to the back is horizontal (flat) for a distance beyond a point directly below the c.g.

Players often say that a particular putter sits open or closed at address, even though it has a flat sole from face to back. This in many cases is the fault of the user. If the putter is sitting behind a ball that is correctly positioned between the feet, but the hand position is forward, then the face will open up. Obviously if the hands are behind the neutral position, the face will tend to close.

Putter Lie Angle:

The lie angle for a putter is not as important with regard to the ball ’s direction (left to right) as it is for lofted clubs and especially the wedges. This is because the loft on a putter is only 4 degrees. However, the lie angle is important when it comes to setup. One does not want the putter to be toe-up or heel-up at address.

As we have already covered in the Fundamentals of Putting, the suggested posture at address is; slightly bent legs, feet about 12 to 15 inches apart (shoulder width is a good starting point) and a comfortable relaxed forward bend. In this position when the player grips the correct length putter with arms hanging loose, relatively straight and vertically down with the clubhead directly below the eyes (about 8 inches from the toes) the lie angle will be very close to 72 degrees for most golfers. This may vary a couple of degrees, but on average this lie angle is best suited to almost every golfer using a conventional stroke. An unconventional style or for long putters, a different lie may be required but this will only encourage the golfer to remain with a style of putting which will not produce a consistent stroke unless the golfers works hard to perfect this style and minimize the sources of error.