Hi,
papagrasutu:I'm a miss the ding putter, had no luck with other putters during rental. How about a putter with lowest forgiveness, but highest precision and balance?
I used the WGT Starter Putter for a while until I finally switched to my current putter in January. I also like to do off-ding putting style putting because I like to play fast without spending time reading the reverse view and moving the aim marker. And so, I also was in search of a putter with low forgiveness but high precision. Because I'd seen other players praising the TaylorMade Daytona Putter 2011 (L55+) and it was recommended as possibly a good putter I tested it out during a free rental period back in December 2013. The other putter I also tested was the one I currently have, the PING 2010 Redwood ZB Putter (L72+).
TaylorMade Daytona Putter 2011 (L55+) vs PING 2010 Redwood ZB Putter (L72+)
TaylorMade Daytona Putter 2011 (L55+)
COST: 725 Credits
PRECISION: 4.0
A vast improvement over the WGT Starter 0.5 precision.
FORGIVENESS: 2.0
For some off-ding putters, the less forgiveness, the better. So far this is the lowest rating of forgiveness for a putter with at least 4.0 precision.
BALANCE: 3.0
I am not exactly sure what the balance rating indicates but I think it has something to do with how fast the meter speeds up when using maximum power (or close to it) on any putter scale. I presume that higher rating is better. 3.0 balance is definitely better than the WGT Starter Putter rating of 0.5.
METER SPEED: 4.5
It has a 4.5 meter speed which is slightly faster than the WGT Starter that you currently use which has a 5.0 meter speed. When I tested this putter, the meter speed is very similar to the WGT Starter Putter.
METER INCREMENTS:
The TaylorMade Daytona Putter 2011 (L55+) has exactly the same meter increments as the WGT Starter Putter but with an extra 15ft and 90ft scale.
PING 2010 Redwood ZB Putter (L72+)
The PING 2010 Redwood ZB Putter (L72+) costs 1,385 credits has 0.5 more precision, the same forgiveness, 0.5 more balance, and 1.0 faster meter speed than the Daytona. Just on those specifications alone the PING 2010 Redwood ZB Putter (L72+) was what I leaning toward buying.
I like the 3.5 Meter Speed because I like to play fast and sometimes get bored waiting for the slower meters to reach their destination. 3.5 Meter speed is the same speed as your current driver.
The only red flag was the meter increments. The PING 2010 Redwood ZB Putter (L72+) has 15, 30, 45, 90, 150 and 300ft increments. That 60ft scale that I used so much even on putts within 10ft is gone! I like to use a higher putter scale so that I have to use less of the meter to make putting easier.
This 45ft scale has been the most troublesome thing for me to adjust to. The forgiveness has been difficult to adjust to also. On those big wide sweeping breaks, I have to add a lot more power because I know I will need to miss the ding by a lot more than I used to because of the 2.0 forgiveness. I am still trying to master the dynamics of missing the ding by a large margin and how much power to add to accommodate it.
papagrasutu: I have notes for using my starter putter, and i would have to start all over again unless you had a putter with this feature
Basically, I just add a bit more ding miss for the mental notes I already have with the WGT Starter Putter, it can be tough to do but I think it is slightly better than starting all over.
All that being said, I like the combination of 4.5 precision, 2.0 forgivenss and the faster 3.5 meter speed because I like to play multi-player practice games and I like playing fast and sometimes I try to line up a putt and ding it and the 2.0 fogiveness can come in handy on those occasions. Overall, I like this putter. However, if something more suitable for my style is released, I might buy that one.
JMan
P.S. After doing extensive research, I still don't know what the ZB Stands for. If anyone can find out and let me know, I'd appreciate that. Thanks!