The days of the simple Bullseye putter have long since passed us by. If you walk into a golf store today to take a look at putters, you are not sure if you are checking out tools for golf or some futuristic medical device. Some of the changes can really help out the golfer if they take the time to work with them. According to testing, grooved faces can help get the ball rolling and in our tests we really liked the technology. Interchangeable weights for putters can really give someone a certain feel that previously they were not able to achieve. Of course let us not forget that about the fact that you can get a putter in just about any size or shape that you would like. They even have one that is shaped like a space ship at a national golf retailer.
When it comes to golf so many players must have the latest technology when it comes to drivers and irons, but with putters they get one and they keep it. Then when the time comes that they are missing too many putts they assume that it is the old saying “It is the archer not the arrow”. Every other part of the golf game can be “fixed” with equipment yet most golfers do not feel the putting can be. The Roenick Golf team is convinced that your putting problems can be fixed with an equipment change and were nice enough to tell us how. Most people feel as though once they read the green and are ready to putt that the only issue is speed. However according to most short game experts, the biggest problem with putting for amateur golfers is misalignment. According to one local short game teacher, “it has become a complete epidemic for mid to high handicappers”. Enter the Roenick Crossbow Putter.
The Crossbow Putter XB-10 is a mallet-style putter precision milled from 6061 aircraft grade aluminum. It looks like something with a little bit of an industrial feel. At first glance, the looks just did not do a whole lot for me, but everybody has different taste. The putter comes in two models, center shafted and heel shafted. We were able to test out both models and both were well received by the equipment testers. Each putter comes with a headcover, but it also comes with another bag that came clipped to the shaft. In this bag were all the tools necessary to completely alter the putter to better fit your game.
Once the bag is taken off the shaft and opened up, you realize exactly what it is that Roenick Crossbow putter is capable of. Along with multiple weights for different people, Roenick Golf has provided two different wrenches to manipulate two different areas of the club. The interchangeable heel-toe weight system provides custom feel and flexibility to adapt to various shaft lengths as well as being more fine tuned for the individual. The Crossbow also features patent pending Adjustable Alignment Technology (AAT) uniquely designed to correct visual misalignment. This is what is supposed to separate this from the other putters so we gave decided to hold a small putting clinic and see what everybody thought about it.
As we mentioned above, the Crossbow comes with multiple weight options as well as two wrenches. One of those is to adjust the different weights in the putter. We found this very easy to do and took only a couple of seconds. I preferred the lighter weights or no weights inside my putter while most preferred the heavier set. It really gives you a completely different feel when changing weights and is something I am glad that many companies have adopted including Roenick Golf. We were able to have three different putters set up with three different weights so that people could really get an idea of exactly what weighting they liked the most.
Today’s popular putter alignment technologies are designed to help golfers get their eyes over the ball, address their intended target line, and influence putting stroke. Unfortunately, they all assume that a golfer can properly align to his intended target line and what we learned from speaking to local experts is that most cannot. With the smaller of the two wrenches one can adjust the arrow to the left and right and help compensate for such issues. AAT in theory corrects visual misalignment. Its design allows a golfer to address his intended target line while the clubface compensates for average visual misalignment. Does it work? It absolutely works. We took 10 golfers and had them putt with it lined up to center. Then we moved the arrow based on their first 10 balls. Despite it looking odd at setup to most at the beginning, the proof was in the results as all the golfers were putting the ball closer to the hole with the alignment adjusted.
Personally I felt as though the alignment aid worked significantly better for those trying the heel shafted putter. The center shafted version seemed to throw people off when the arrow was moved left or right. However once you got the hang of it, the results were fantastic. The putter itself has a wonderful feel about it coming off of the face and even without the customization, we found ourselves liking it quite a bit. One issue I had was with the “ball scooper”. They carved out the side so that in theory you could scoop up the golf ball. Maybe some can, but none of us could. In fact we almost killed each other trying to do it successfully more than once or twice.
If you can get past the industrial looks, the putter really does exactly what it aims to do. Fix people’s misalignment in putting. Generally we liked the Roenick Crossbow. In fact the local club we were doing the testing at liked the putter so much that they are going to be carrying it in their pro shop because the head teaching professional there fell in love with the feel of it. As with any putter, it is not for everyone, however if you are struggling with alignment this is one piece of equipment that should be checked out. With a MSRP of $150 we feel it is pretty much exactly where it should be price wise. You can read all about the Crossbow at Roenick Golf.
Till Next Time
Josh B.
