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Putter lofts...

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Castor Hades

Castor Hades

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First, this thread is not brand specific, but here's my situation.

I've been pondering about my future SeeMore putter (thanks to THP, Morgan Cup & SeeMore #THPMC).

SeeMore putters seem to have a loft of 2.5° and my current putters, Bettinardi & Never Compromise have 3°.

How much does a 0.5° affect the ball?

People rarely speak about putter lofts, how much do you think about the loft when pondering over a flatstick?

Does anyone have less loft than 2.5° or over 3°?
 
This is how much it affects me... I have about 12 or so putters, and I know the loft on exactly 0 of them.
 
Castor Hades said:
First, this thread is not brand specific, but here's my situation.

I've been pondering about my future SeeMore putter (thanks to THP, Morgan Cup & SeeMore #THPMC).

SeeMore putters seem to have a loft of 2.5° and my current putters, Bettinardi & Never Compromise have 3°.

How much does a 0.5° affect the ball?

People rarely speak about putter lofts, how much do you think about the loft when pondering over a flatstick?

Does anyone have less loft than 2.5° or over 3°?
Click to expand...

I believe Scamerons come standard at 4*. I think the Method comes standard at 2*. Loft is just one more thing that gets fitted for.

To be fair, I don't know of .5* will make you make or miss more putts.
 
War Eagle said:
This is how much it affects me... I have about 12 or so putters, and I know the loft on exactly 0 of them.
Click to expand...

Great answer! :D This is the first time I've thought about the whole thing, and I couldn't figure out if I should care or not :D
 
Mine is three (just checked the Odyssey site). But I want a round face putter. So I guess technically, I would like to have a negative degree putter.
 
blugold said:
I believe Scamerons come standard at 4*. I think the Method comes standard at 2*. Loft is just one more thing that gets fitted for.

To be fair, I don't know of .5* will make you make or miss more putts.
Click to expand...

I suppose I wouldn't miss putts because of the loft, but does a higher loft make the ball bump more on an uneven green, or are we talking so small differences that it actually doesn't matter?
 
Castor Hades said:
Great answer! :D This is the first time I've thought about the whole thing, and I couldn't figure out if I should care or not :D
Click to expand...
I think about lofts all too much throughout my bag, one place I have never concerned myself is the putter. So many other thoughts going on with my putter, but loft isnt one.
 
Seemore's loft is set because based on the SPi method there is no forward press so its set to the optimal loft to get the quickest roll possible.

Most boutique companies will set it at whatever you want, all of mine are actually at 2.5. All about personal preference and as anything else, fitting.
 
Castor Hades said:
I suppose I wouldn't miss putts because of the loft, but does a higher loft make the ball bump more on an uneven green, or are we talking so small differences that it actually doesn't matter?
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The super technical answer here ch, it all depends on playing conditions and stroke. Not enough loft and the ball gets hit into the green and creates a touch of back spin. Too much loft the ball launches up and hops and might jump off of the target line.

I think that if putter face loft is causing you to miss putts, then tour pretty good.
 
IMO, .5 degree of loft makes little difference to the average person. Id love to see a test where the measure the actual loft at impact. Id bet you would find it varies greatly.
Personally, I forward press my putter, so I probably have negative loft at impact.
 
Getting fit at Studio B I could see quite a bit if difference between how the ball came off my putter face and the way it came of P4B's. What is optimum for you will depend as much on the condition of the greens you play as much as your stroke. In the end I think the effects are minimal and I am not very concerned with loft on my flatstick.
 
I have 14 putters; 12 2.5* loft (SeeMores), 1 3* (MX 6), and 1 3.5* (TM Rossa Monte Carlo 7). I have NO clue that I can tell any difference between them and never even thought about the lofts until this thread.
 
Castor Hades said:
I suppose I wouldn't miss putts because of the loft, but does a higher loft make the ball bump more on an uneven green, or are we talking so small differences that it actually doesn't matter?
Click to expand...

Depends on what you do at impact. I had a putter fitting a few years ago where the fitter added 3 degrees of loft to my putter because I was delofting it so much at impact that I was driving the ball into the ground and then it was hopping from there. I don't deloft it as much now, but still had 1 degree of loft added to the last putter I got fit for.
 
Some very good answers in here. I had my Odyssey moved to 4* due to forward press to get the ball rolling true asap. But with a press, I could never get it exactly the same so it was not always consistent.

With having the SeeMore at it's standard loft and no press, it seems to have been getting a true roll quickly. As long as I do the correct stroke...still working on that.
 
I don't think you will be able to notice a difference dude. I don't know what the loft of any of my putters are.
 
Getting fit for loft at Studio B:

 
I used to have access to a Sam PuttLab and saw the difference in measurement. Honestly, to the naked eye, you can't tell the difference in .5*. Maybe if we're talking 2* vs. 4*. Even then you'd have to be really focusing on the ball and not your stroke.
 
Howzat said:
Getting fit for loft at Studio B:
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Had that done with my Odyssey, eye opening isn't it! Thanks for sharing and bet you had a blast going through that!
 
J4U said:
Had that done with my Odyssey, eye opening isn't it! Thanks for sharing and bet you had a blast going through that!
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It was very cool. I can't say enough good things about the experience and the confidence I gained from having a custom fit putter.
 
I have never even considered loft for a putter to be honest, but dumb question now - would where you place the ball in your setup not have an effect on loft as well? I play my putts with the ball in line with my left (front) foot so I would have thought that if I moved it further back in my stance it would change the loft at impact?
 
TheDoctor said:
I have never even considered loft for a putter to be honest, but dumb question now - would where you place the ball in your setup not have an effect on loft as well? I play my putts with the ball in line with my left (front) foot so I would have thought that if I moved it further back in my stance it would change the loft at impact?
Click to expand...

I think it has an effect on the loft. But I suppose the amount of forward lean would have its say in this too. Sort of evening it out.

In line with your front foot...I've got my ball a bit further back.
 
Puttin4Bird getting fit for loft at Studio B:


 
The Scotty Del Mar I used to game had 4° of loft and the Piretti I have now has 2.5° of loft. I can tell a difference in that the Scotty would have a tendency to jump off the face and then roll and the Piretti hasn't had any noticeable jump off the face. It is slight but noticeable to me. Here is an explanation from Mike Johnson, owner of Piretti, about why they make putters with lower loft.

Mike also designed these heads with 2.5 degrees of loft. Putting greens are getting better and faster because golf course superintendents are cutting the putting green grasses shorter than ever before because their putting green mowers now allow them to do so. Because of that there is not as a great a depression that the golf ball sits in on the putting green which means we can now use less loft on the putter to get the ball rolling faster.

So you can take that explanation and apply it to lower lofted putters will tend to roll better on smoother faster greens and higher lofted putters will tend to work better on slower greens. But that is not taking into consideration your stroke and how you make contact. I hope that helps.
 
Castor Hades said:
In line with your front foot...I've got my ball a bit further back.
Click to expand...

Once I get myself sorted I am going to experiment with moving the ball around and see how comfortable it feels as I am wondering if I have to make some kind of compensation with my swing with the ball being that far forward. I have played that way for a long time but I want to try and find a putter fitter somewhere local where I can look at different options
 
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