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Re: Time for a new putter - which one?

• fmagnets 3,640 Posts

  Wed, Feb 20 2013 1:55 AM

  Both these Max putters are the same, except for the increments. I would recommend the Max Master if you are going to move to a green speed calculation. The increments are more 'decimally' on this putter, which makes the mental arithmetic much easier. If I recall correctly, your current putter has a 20 and a 50ft scale, both of which the Master has, so these will be familiar.

  If you use the putter pal or a taped on distance scale, it's not going to make any difference, so you may as well get the cheaper one - again, the Master. 

• Chinajohn 1,190 Posts

  Wed, Feb 20 2013 2:14 AM

  Alanti, fmagnets, thanks for the advice. Yes I think I'm going to have to go with the math model and so I'll wait for the master, my average will likely go up when I change anyway so that'll be a good time to switch putting methods.

• jsweetcr 1,209 Posts

  Wed, Feb 20 2013 5:47 AM

  Hey Alanti. You are right and I already have started doing the maths since I bought the Max Master.  As fmagnets said the Master with its 10, 20 , 30, 40, 60, 80, 100, 200, 300 increments is more decimal related. If you are doing maths and percentages it is incredibly easy to do that part in your head.  If you have a 65 putt and after all your factors it works out to be 55 feet, you can just skip using the 60 or 80 foot scale and go to 100 scale and go to 55% on the scale, which if you have the putter pal or the caddy or a piece of paper you printed, will work great cuz most have percentage marks. I think the 80 level has increments in degrees of 15.  Like 15, 30 , 45, 60. Something like that.  My gut would say that putter would work better with the avatar method of putting, where master would be better for calculation method.

  Another thing I have found so far with the Master, and this is only really on VF greens and maybe the tourney, is that on the 10 foot scale for the better part of the scale you don't actually have to do any math. The 10 foot scale needs to be hit a little harder than your calculations might say, so Ive found that if the screen says you have a 5.5 ft putt, you have to just put it at 55%,  or a tad more, of the 10 foot scale to get it to the hole, excluding any any severe up and downhill and it holds pretty true up to about 8 or 9 feet and gets less so as you move into the 20 ft scale.  The 30 foot scale is almost identical to the starter i was using for months so it is easy to use that scale for me.

  Now, I have been playing some match plays with fmagnets on champ greens and none of what i said holds true for those.  Do your maths and just play on them and feel them out. Its been an interesting few matchs on those greens. Thanks for all the tips fmagnets.

  Good luck all, keep em in the short grass

• alanti 10,564 Posts

  Wed, Feb 20 2013 11:51 AM

  Very good post JS - I use the Nike Method which is also "soft" for putts under 10 feet and requires a little more than my calculation. The downside of the Nike is the scale is 10. 20. 50. 100, 150, 399 but as a ding putter I personally like to go to the next increment. For example a 10 foot putt on tourny greens I will move to the 20 increment although the 10 is all I need - for me this seems to give me a better chance of hitting the ding - the downside is confusing the calculation or forgetting to change the default increment - routine for every shot helps.

  The only downside I see with Max putters is the price - for half a dot of balance it is another 750cr compared to the Nike.

  Hopefully with the Masters not too far off we MAY HOPEFULLY get another free club rental weekend and you could try them out to see what works for you, Downside is we may not get one lol and would have meant you waited for nothing lol. 

• Chinajohn 1,190 Posts

  Wed, Feb 20 2013 7:16 PM

  Ever since I first read the putting tips post when I first started taking this game a little seriously I've always added a little distance to my putts "to get it into the hole". My 'standard' extra is 2ft up and 2ft down, but I've amended this over the months so it now varies depending on course (and sometimes each hole :( ). e.g. Kiawah is now the only +2 up and down and Olympic is only +1 uphill and +/- 0 downhill.

• jsweetcr 1,209 Posts

  Sat, Feb 23 2013 3:58 PM

  I think at the end of the day with any of the higher end putters, the nike, the max, ghost spiders, is they offer confidence and more security.

  When i had my starter putter the only putts that were almost 100% a lock to go in were under 2 or 3 feet.  With the Max its like putts inside of 8 feet, as long as there are not crazy severe breaks or playing in RGs. Putts from 8-15 feet I feel pretty confident with and I really don't start to get unsure about the ability to sink a put until it gets outside 10 or 25 feet

  I am now sinking 15ft 17 ft 22 ft putts with a lot more regularity. These are putts that I would hardly have ever made with the starter putter. In fact probably never made. Maybe 1 in 100 or 200. I don't know look at my stats and it will show how often i made those putts.

  Whcih putter you buy comes down to preference.  The max Master worked for me because it had increments every 10ft.  Having that more decimal based or percentage based increment works perfect for my brain. I can use percentages and decimals to calculate distances and I don't need to know how many times my avatar moves his putter back and what that means etc etc. Maybe for others they prefer this. Maybe the Nike has some other inate qualities that I don't know about, but as I use the max master more I am finding that I am loving it and know it will only get better as I get more comfortable with the distances and the lines.

  I can understand why when the putter was recommended that it was said it would be likely that i would never need another. I am sure there are other putters like that and I think that is a great quality.  With as much other stuff we have to buy as we gradually move up the levels and tiers and with having to keep a steady inventory of balls if you want to TRULY be competitive in the RGS and tourneys, I think having a club that you can buy once when you feel ready, and learn over time and once you got it dialed in you don't have to worry about it again, is a welcome commodity

  I hope this thread continues and more people give more feedback about their putters and their experiences as by starting this thread it has helped my game immensely and I hope others can get that too.

• Chinajohn 1,190 Posts

  Sat, Feb 23 2013 6:33 PM

  Yeah, got to agree, I got the Max Master and switched to the math model of putting and it's great. The putter is really precise but forgiving and the math model allows me to nail the distance. My putting average has improved dramatically, which is a good job because the extra distance at this new tier linked to my poor driver is making life 'interesting'. 

  I now need to find enough patience to wait for the R11S driver / 3W (over 10 levels :( ).

• 21as21111 170 Posts

  Sun, Feb 24 2013 4:08 PM

  good work. story about the putters is always up-to-date.

  last week, i tried to be familiar with my new friend, Nike001 L77+ putter. first play at slow green showed me a much difference between my old L7+ putter (with 2x faster meter then starters) and this Nike putter, with slow meter. after few days, at very fast green, i can put much better at dist over 10, 20 ft - and under 10 i still have a lot of misses, any  bigger slope, and i am not sure what could be happen. big difference with ding meter line and speed, needs more to practice, time to forgot my 'feel' with old putter. it gets better every day, but slowly. interestingly, i was surprised to better results on the tourney green (not my favorite)