We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Biggest investment, Putters vs Drivers

SuperStroke
Germerican

Germerican

AngryYankee
Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Messages
3,090
Reaction score
1
Location
Brentwood, NY
Handicap
23.8 USGA
With today's technology pushing the limits on what clubs can do with sliding weights, space doors, gravity cores and inserts, what do you think, or what do you invest more time and money in?

Today's drivers have sliding weight, the R15 has two, the Great Big Bertha has one on the far rim. Cobra has a space door on their new line, Tour Edge has waves, and Ping has their turbulators. Each driver nowadays has multiple loft options and some have drae or fade options as well. They all claim to have big sweet spots, more distance, more forgiveness, but also more dollars spent.

Putters on the other hand have different alignment aids, red dot sights, removable and exchangeable weights, different types of inserts and different finishes. You can go for a center shaft, off-set shaft, plumbers neck, or end shaft. You have regular length, belly, anchor, and even counter weighted shafts.

What do you, the consumer of these products, spend more time with to get the perfect club? Do you spend more time testing out drivers, loft settings, and shafts? Or you hit the green and try out different putters, inserts, and weighting?
 
Once I find a putter with weight and feel I like, I tend to stick with for awhile. I still haven't found the "magic" driver for me as of yet.
 
I'd like to get a fitting and buy a custom putter so it can be the last putter I need. I feel like drivers and irons need pretty regular upgrades to stay on top of technology advances, but a lump of metal on a stick works just fine on the putting green.
 
I spend more time with drivers trying to find the extra distance and consistency. The different technologies used in drivers makes it easy and fun to mess with.

There are some newer concepts in the putters that make things easier to putt, alignment aids, high moi, materials used. With so many shots used on the green I tend to stick to one putter for awhile
 
The way I see it, I probably hit my putter at least twice as much during a round as I do my driver, and that's if I'm even in the mood to pull the driver that day. I've spent way more time on putters than drivers.
 
Thankfully, I put pretty well with most putters, but my driver sets up the rest of my game scoring wise. When my driver is dialed in, I hit fairways and greens which even with a 2 putt, I am scoring really well. When it is off, I can count on the score going up. Just for me, my vote is driver is my biggest investment
 
Most will say Driver over putters. Mr. Gore was using an original Ping Answer Putter from the 70's this last weekend at the Wyndham. If he were using a driver from the 70's, he likely wouldn't be competing for the win. Putter changes are feel and alignment based, which is presence over Drivers which are making significant leaps in distance and accuracy.
 
Dave Alvarado said:
I'd like to get a fitting and buy a custom putter so it can be the last putter I need.
Click to expand...
I wonder how many people have had that very thought, dropped the dough, and after a really bad day of putting ... went and looked at (and probably bought) another putter.

I'd say the answer is "a lot".
 
I have always spent more time on drivers. Like many, I get caught up in the sexiness of the long ball and spend more time trying to find the right combination to help me. Driver has always been my weak spot so I am constantly looking for the latest/greatest to help me out (the issues are never my swings fault!). Putting on the other hand has always been relatively solid for me and I tend to stick to the same stick once I find the right one.
 
deuce said:
I wonder how many people have had that very thought, dropped the dough, and after a really bad day of putting ... went and looked at (and probably bought) another putter.

I'd say the answer is "a lot".
Click to expand...
Probably so. Still, once you've been fit and you know what you've got is right, it's the Indian not the arrow.
 
I think putters and drivers are equally important investment for me. They are personal items which I feel better suit for my golf game. I keep two identicals or two similars at home, one for play, one for spare.
 
Last edited:
I had the same putter for 6 years and would have ato least 3 drivers a year. I didn't think it made sense to have more than one putter, but now that I've played for a while I've grasped the concept of the fact that you use your putter on every hole and a driver on a dozen at very most.
 
I will stick with a putter much longer than I will with a driver. The putter is a much more personal piece of equipment and I would spend more money on putters, less often.
 
At most I use my driver 5 or 6 times during a round and on average about 40% of my strokes are taken with a putter so getting the proper putter and going through a proper fitting is much more important. That being said, I love to collect both. I currently have about 15 drivers and 23 putters!!
 
I personally spend more time trying new drivers, yet i buy more putters. I have numerous #9 style putters and kind of cycle them through the bag. The driver is one that I constantly hit new ones but never really buy new ones because my swing is so terrible that a new driver doesn't really help me at all.
 
I'm fine with my Putter. This year I got a ping Karsten which was fit to my swing arc and shaft length, so basically any mistakes with the Putter is largely pilot error.

The search for a driver is a little more difficult, because I'm not happy with my distance and consistency yet. This also costs more money than the Putter, and the choices available are much more numerous than the Putter.
 
Driver for me. I now what putter style works best for me.
 
I'm a little confused on how I should answer.

Monetary wise, it's the driver for sure... simply because I buy them more often.

I tend to find a putter I like and stick with it for awhile... I suppose down the road this could mean some custom $500+ putter... but for right now the m6 is not budging from my bag

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 
Well I'm not like Jim Furyk with 400 putters but through the years I've had many... lately I've found the putter that I'll be playing with for the foreseeable future.. so it looks like I'll be spending more time messing with drivers and woods....I'm relatively happy with the drivers I have now so I'm thinking I need to spend some time testing a few rescues....
 
I can't afford to collect drivers like I collect putters, but I really see the root of this being a time investment. I invest a lot more time into practicing with my putter than I do hitting driver. Part of that for me is convenience, but I just feel like from an investment point of view I'm much getting much more out of each minute on the practice green than I do practicing my driver.
 
Honestly, I let cost drive my decisions most of the time and that's probably not a good route to go. Buying ten clubs at $30 a pop, none of which work ... is a bigger waste of money than ponying up $300 for a properly fit club. I really need to reevaluate my approach to filling my bag. I've had some things that have worked out for me (my 5H for example) but there are other decisions I would rather forget ever happened. Most of those are taking up space in my shed.

My only putter fitting was a disaster, and I felt cheated walking out of it. I do intend on making good use of my driver fitting though, and I think both are equally important.
 
I have not been fitted for either, but my initial instinct is that if I was fitted to a putter that suited my eye and stroke, then there would be very little reason to change it - Yes, there have been some changes to putter designs and adjustability (looking at the Cure putters here) but I still think that if you are properly fitted then there is no real reason to change, although I guess you could say that about any club in the bag

As for the driver, again I would feel that if you are properly fitted then why change unless the technology in new clubs provides you a benefit and I guess seeing certain pros on tour using what would now be considered old clubs, proves that you don't necessarily need the latest equipment to be able to play well?

If technology changes in clubs gave me an improvement over my current club, then I would hazard a guess that I would be spending more on drivers than putters
 
I'd say yes. To both. For the best chance to shoot the best scores, one needs to be fitted for both


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I absolutely have more time invested into putting (although my card may make you think otherwise lately...) but the money is split about 50:50 between driver and putter.
 
In the past year and a half I've bought two drivers and seven putters, none of which I was specifically fit for. The putters are usually cheaper, and offer a much better return on resale if they don't work for me. Around me, there are very few places to try new equipment so I rely heavily on finding deals and buying based on what has worked for me in the past. I attempted to do a driver fitting last month at PGA SS, but couldn't hit anything noticeably better than my bio cell according to their monitors. I would love to do a real driver fitting outdoors at some point and see what results I get. #clubclash
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top