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Rules Governing Putters
“A putter is a club with a loft not exceeding 10 degrees designed primarily for use on the putting green”
- 2016 Rules of Golf
A putter is a utility club, as is a sand wedge, a driver and a trouble club (a fairway-type wood such as a Baffler or Ginty, or a Chipper), which are designed for a specific purpose and do not need to match or bear any relationship to – properties such as swing weight, overall weight, shaft flex, length, etc. – the rest of the set.
Because the rules are more lenient for a putter, allowing it to have certain features not otherwise afforded to iron and wood clubs, the limitation of no more than 10 degrees of loft has been adopted for it. This requirement makes it difficult to use it efficiently other than on or just off the putting green.
While the putter is designed for use on the putting green, there is no rule in the book that requires you use a specific club for any particular purpose. Thus, you can putt with any club in your bag, just as you can play a shot from anywhere on the golf course with a putter. It’s just not advisable to do so.
That said, the Rules of Golf consider a putter to be a club, and thus the same rules apply to putters as other clubs with some exceptions:
- A putter, as with all clubs, must be traditional and customary in form and make. - A putter must be plain in shape, but holes are allowed from the top to the bottom or elsewhere but not through the face. - A putter must not be easily adjustable. - The putter may not have a loft of more than 10 degrees. - Putters, as with other clubs, must have a lie angle more than 10 degrees from the vertical. - The shaft must not bend forward (toward the target line) more than 20 degrees or backward more than 10 degrees. - There is no upper limitation on the length of a putter but it must be longer than 18 inches. - The shaft can be fixed to any part on the head. - The neck or socket cannot be longer than five inches in length above the sole as measured along the axis of the bend. - The grip may have flat sides but should not be molded for any part of the hands. - A putter may have two grips, but if so, they must be circular in cross section and separated by more than 1½ inches. - The grip must extend to the end of the shaft. - The axis of the grip need not coincide with the axis of the shaft. - A putter may have two striking faces, but they must have the same characteristics and be opposite each other. - The distance from the heel to the toe must not be greater than 7 inches. - The distance from the top of the head to the sole may not be more than 2½ inches. - There is no limit on the COR for putters. - The face must be hard and rigid and may have grooves, etc., without limitation except that these marking are not designed to unduly influence the movement of the ball. - The distance from heel to toe must be greater than the distance from face to back. - The distance from the heel to the toe of the face must be greater than or equal to two-thirds of the distance from the face to the back of the head.
With the above in mind and used as a guide, if there is any doubt as to the conformity of a putter, it is strongly suggested that you contact the R&A or USGA to get some advice.
