Puttin4Bird
Say what again mf'er!
As part of the amazing experience being involved in The Morgan Cup myself and Howzat were able to have the opportunity to go get a fitting done at Studio B near Minneapolis, MN. Studio B was developed by the folks at Bettinardi Golf to fit golfers for their exact putter specifications to improve the way they use their putters to make more putts. This thread will be used to document our journey.
Arriving at Studio B:
The Studio B in Minnesota is setup in the back of a 2nd Swing Golf store, the store has tons of golf equipment and hitting bays and fitting areas but in the very back they have a nice big area setup and devoted to their Studio B fittings.
Starting the fitting:
Howzat was first up and before anything else Brent (fitting professional) wanted to find out A. what kind of stroke Howzat had (straight back/straight thru, strong arc, mild arc) and B. the length of putter he should be using. Howzat's response was that he was a strong arc putter but it turns out that it was the fitting of his current putter that forced him into that stroke and they immediately altered his own putter's lie angle and came up with the suggestion of a shorter putter to allow Howzat to get over the ball more. This also immediately changed his stroke to a very repeatable mild arc path. Here is a video of them getting started:
Here is Brent altering the putter that Howzat brought with him to the fitting (his own Bettinardi Boxcar)
After the proper lie angle and length was established the fun of rolling the 2012 Bettinardi putters began. Based on what they had learned right away Brent was able to recommend some putters that Howzat would likely have success with and he tried every one of them. Here is a video of Howzat first getting started rolling the new Bettinardi's.
So once they have a putter that he liked the feel of they would utilize the laser system along with mirrors attached to the face of the putter to check to see where he was lined up at in relation to the hole both at address and at impact. This information goes on to further identify if the proper fit is there.
Here's a look at all the putters Howzat had it "narrowed" down to.
OK so we finally have a putter picked out, the lie angle is perfect the alignment and stroke are great and now it's time to look at the loft. The loft of the putter is going to have a direct affect on the skid vs. immediate roll out of the ball after the stroke. There is a camera setup to capture this with each stroke so here they are looking over the putter Howzat has determined is the best fit for him (SS10) after making some adjustments to the loft for maximum performance on the type of greens he typically plays. Brent went on to explain that for faster greens it is better to have a setup to minimize the skidding and get the ball rolling right away. That is what Howzat was looking for and this video shows some of the results. As you can see the roll out starts immediately for what should be a perfectly rolled putt.
After Howzat's fitting it was my turn, because I was there watching and soaking all of this information in we were really able to just get some putters out and start with fitting right away. Howzat has some videos of my fitting that he'll get posted up once he has some time, he's catching up from a day away from work so look for something soon. I did grab a video on my way home that was just me catching some of my thoughts from the fitting and as soon as that is done uploading I will get that posted.
I will say that without a doubt had we not been through this fitting BOTH of us would have ordered putters that would not have been setup properly for us. This was a huge eye opening experience for both of us and we are extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to do this. Thank you Bettinardi and THP for this experience! More to come soon.
Arriving at Studio B:
The Studio B in Minnesota is setup in the back of a 2nd Swing Golf store, the store has tons of golf equipment and hitting bays and fitting areas but in the very back they have a nice big area setup and devoted to their Studio B fittings.
Starting the fitting:
Howzat was first up and before anything else Brent (fitting professional) wanted to find out A. what kind of stroke Howzat had (straight back/straight thru, strong arc, mild arc) and B. the length of putter he should be using. Howzat's response was that he was a strong arc putter but it turns out that it was the fitting of his current putter that forced him into that stroke and they immediately altered his own putter's lie angle and came up with the suggestion of a shorter putter to allow Howzat to get over the ball more. This also immediately changed his stroke to a very repeatable mild arc path. Here is a video of them getting started:
Here is Brent altering the putter that Howzat brought with him to the fitting (his own Bettinardi Boxcar)
After the proper lie angle and length was established the fun of rolling the 2012 Bettinardi putters began. Based on what they had learned right away Brent was able to recommend some putters that Howzat would likely have success with and he tried every one of them. Here is a video of Howzat first getting started rolling the new Bettinardi's.
So once they have a putter that he liked the feel of they would utilize the laser system along with mirrors attached to the face of the putter to check to see where he was lined up at in relation to the hole both at address and at impact. This information goes on to further identify if the proper fit is there.
Here's a look at all the putters Howzat had it "narrowed" down to.
OK so we finally have a putter picked out, the lie angle is perfect the alignment and stroke are great and now it's time to look at the loft. The loft of the putter is going to have a direct affect on the skid vs. immediate roll out of the ball after the stroke. There is a camera setup to capture this with each stroke so here they are looking over the putter Howzat has determined is the best fit for him (SS10) after making some adjustments to the loft for maximum performance on the type of greens he typically plays. Brent went on to explain that for faster greens it is better to have a setup to minimize the skidding and get the ball rolling right away. That is what Howzat was looking for and this video shows some of the results. As you can see the roll out starts immediately for what should be a perfectly rolled putt.
After Howzat's fitting it was my turn, because I was there watching and soaking all of this information in we were really able to just get some putters out and start with fitting right away. Howzat has some videos of my fitting that he'll get posted up once he has some time, he's catching up from a day away from work so look for something soon. I did grab a video on my way home that was just me catching some of my thoughts from the fitting and as soon as that is done uploading I will get that posted.
I will say that without a doubt had we not been through this fitting BOTH of us would have ordered putters that would not have been setup properly for us. This was a huge eye opening experience for both of us and we are extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to do this. Thank you Bettinardi and THP for this experience! More to come soon.
