Blade vs Mallet - Alternate Shots w/ Callaway Golf
Adam Hartzell
Yup, I'm a lefty.
I could never get used to a blade. Every putter I have used has been a full- or mid-mallet except for my brief experiment with an FGP. I just have a comfort level with a mallet that I don't seem to find in a blade.
sleuth
Active member
That would be cool if you can find and share that. In my SAM experience, all my strikes were about a dimes size on the putter face. Which could translate to about 1/2". Then the argument is that margin of error really effecting your putting line and increasing your misses? Just in my own observation and experience it's a no.
My SAM data is based on 10 straight putts from 15', and I drained 9/10.
Wicked Cool Bearded Man
4thegolf+4thefriends
Good point with looking down at as much technology as you can afford. I think there is something to be said for that.
Acuna
Member
My mallet is ugly, but I sure do hit it well. Performance is everything. That said, I can see myself going to a blade if I needed a fresh perspective on the green.
ryebread
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Put me in the camp that doesn't think MOI has anything to do with putting. MOI is resistance to twisting on mishits. Does the putter head really twist on something slightly off center given how slow the club head speed is? I tend to think not. The only time I've ever had a putter head twist was due to a complete miss-strike which was caused by ground interaction. MOI in the putter design wouldn't have changed that.
I do think that high MOI putters can have value visually and from a balance perspective. If all the other parts of the putter help someone with alignment or if they help create a balance profile that is right for the person (i.e. face balanced, or a specific amount of toe hang), then they clearly add value.
For me, putting is about what someone feels comfortable standing over. I don't care if that putter is some 50 year old putter from Putt Putt with a worn out grip. If you think you can make it, with a putter, chances are you will.
I do think that high MOI putters can have value visually and from a balance perspective. If all the other parts of the putter help someone with alignment or if they help create a balance profile that is right for the person (i.e. face balanced, or a specific amount of toe hang), then they clearly add value.
For me, putting is about what someone feels comfortable standing over. I don't care if that putter is some 50 year old putter from Putt Putt with a worn out grip. If you think you can make it, with a putter, chances are you will.
SharkHat
Aquatic Headwear Fanatic
MOI resistance to twisting is not limited to mishits. That resistance to twisting can also help stabilize the putter for those who have a tendency let the face get a few degrees away from square.
ryebread
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sleuth: That is pretty impressive and part of why you are a 4.4 handicap I'd think. Even on a dead flat, putt putt styled green, I can't make 9 out of 10 from 15.
I think it was Pelz that recently had an article in one of the golf magazines about hitting the putter in the center of the face. As JB mentioned, the average handicapper was all over the face (like an inch miss). The tour pro had a dime sized dispersion. Even the scratch amateur still had a surprising amount of variation.
Having said that, I don't think that a high MOI design makes the ball roll that differently on a miss. An experiment I've done is to take a couple of identical balls, new out of the packaging and do a putting stroke with them next to one another (but not touching). I've found on most face balanced designs, there's very little difference in overall distance or directional dispersion. On putters with lots of toe hang though, I have seen some variation but mostly in distance and not in direction.
What I take from that experience is that distance can get off, but direction really isn't going to. It seems that balance to me is more important than resistance to twisting.
Just out of curiosity. If a high MOI putter gets your putting stroke smoothed out when it gets out of whack, why don't you game one as your normal putter? Would it not keep your putting stroke more consistent?
ryebread
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shark: Is it MOI, or is it the overall balance profile? I'm not trying to be difficult, but I do wonder.
Let's take something like a Seemore FGP or M1 (twirl balanced) where the weighting is such that the face wants to square up. I wouldn't consider either of those designs to be high MOI. Is that due to the MOI property of the putter or is it just the balance of the putter itself?
I've also seen high MOI putters built for arc strokes. I think Ping has one for this year. One has to think that the high MOI design doesn't limit face closure or that couldn't possibly work.
Philly Golf Guy
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I'm very feel based when it comes to putting. Having used mallets in the past, they felt great from 10 feet in, but it was very tough for me to lag putt with them because their mass simply threw me off on how hard I should putt. I like blades better because they don't feel as constraining as a mallet. I just switched to a putter that might be considered semi mallet and that's a good compromise between stability and feel.
My Dad uses a wooden putter and makes everything with that thing. He's putting champ at his club, or one of the finalists, every year. He just likes the way the ball comes off the face and that's been enough for him.
So, feel is most important IMO. If that's a blade, mallet, etc. for you, then go for it and don't look back.
My Dad uses a wooden putter and makes everything with that thing. He's putting champ at his club, or one of the finalists, every year. He just likes the way the ball comes off the face and that's been enough for him.
So, feel is most important IMO. If that's a blade, mallet, etc. for you, then go for it and don't look back.
Im blade but I agree that its all in what you like. For the past couple months Ive gone mallet but find that it just doesnt have the feel that I like, so Im back to a blade.
I keep hearing all about the MOI and superior weighting of a mallet but for me, with a mallet its harder for me to have the feel to get the speed right and I end up missing putts because I either leave it short or hit it through the break and way past the hole.
I keep hearing all about the MOI and superior weighting of a mallet but for me, with a mallet its harder for me to have the feel to get the speed right and I end up missing putts because I either leave it short or hit it through the break and way past the hole.
Lance0363
New member
Adam Hartzell
Yup, I'm a lefty.
I lack the distance control with that putter. I'm way better at controlling the speed with the blade than with mallet. The mallet just gets directional confidence back.
Solid fence sitting right there hehe.
There is no right answer to this question. It's all up to the golfer.
There is no right answer to this question. It's all up to the golfer.
Kinda funny, I'm generally a SBST putter for whom big, face-balanced mallets are pretty much designed, but I recently switched from an Odyssey #7 with three alignment lines, insert to promote roll, big, high MOI mallet, to a center-shafted, milled Rife blade with one alignment line, and took 5 putts off my game, on much faster greens than I usually play.
So count me as a blade convert...for now.
So count me as a blade convert...for now.