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Premium Putter Scale Comparison

• GoldCard 298 Posts

  Sun, Feb 27 2011 11:21 AM

  ThreeSpot:

  You know Jim, after further consideration, I guess I should have explicitly stated what this chart is (and is not).

  It is a scale comparison, and a scale comparison only. It is based on what can be quantified about the scales - and admittedly, that is not much. I intended it to be a way to objectively compare scales. Green speed is not included as a comparison criterion because it can't be objectively quantified - it is estimated and therefore subjective.

  I was prompted to do this after buying the Ghost and being somewhat disappointed at what I consider less useful "first avatar movement distances" than the Redwood. Specifically, that the 25 foot scale has only 2.5 movements rather than 5, and that the difference between the first avatar movement footage on the 50 and 100 foot scales is smaller, and IMO therefore less useful, than that between the 45 and 90 foot scales on the Redwood.

  This chart is not a "How to Use" guide or a comparison of "How to Adjust for Green Speed" for these putters. It is simply something that might be useful to someone considering a purchase.

  Is it correct? Yes.

  Is it useful? You get to decide. I think you are saying not so much since there is nothing about practical application of what is presented. I'm all in favor of someone putting together in one place estimated adjusted footages for the putters on the various greeen speeds - it's just outside the scope of the very simple, objective chart I put together.

  And I say: Well done 3Spot:)

  This should definitely help some players.

  If there are adjustments required by the individual for specific situations ie. various green speeds/courses etc then that is for them to decide.

  You have given at least something to begin with which is positive:)

  Searching the forums will give players many formulas for making adjustments for green speeds but they are other posts.

• ThreeSpot 476 Posts

  Sun, Feb 27 2011 11:47 AM

  YankeeJim:

  I see you don't have the Ghost equipped now. Have you used it a lot or do you just prefer the Redwood?

  I only purchased the Ghost on 2/22 and I've already switched back to the Redwood, so maybe I didn't give it a fair shake. This might sound weird, and it's probably all in my head, but the ball just seemed super smooth coming off the face of the Ghost. I don't know that it was more accurate, but man, it felt sweet. My first putt with it I sank a 29 footer on BP #1 and I thought that's it, this is my new putter. But I found I really disliked the small diference between the first avatar movement footages on the 100 and 150 foot scales, so I switched back to the Redwood, my comfort zone. I may give it another shot someday.

• borntobesting 9,706 Posts

  Sun, Feb 27 2011 12:44 PM

  YankeeJim:

  Those Ghost numbers are good but they are for the Standard green speeds. Same goes for the Redwood.

  You really don't need to change the numbers on the avatar movements. If you decide on a formula to figure out how hard the putt should be hit and stick with it then the numbers remain the same. For instance a 15 foot flat putt on tourney speed greens would need to be hit like a 10 foot putt and then you use your chosen scale to hit a 10 foot putt and at least for me it works out fairly well. My distance control is pretty spot on. It is just the line that I seem to have trouble with at times and hitting the ding like i need to.

• TracyMax 2,361 Posts

  Sun, Feb 27 2011 12:47 PM

  ThreeSpot:

  So I have no adjustment on the 15 and 30 scales, a +10% adjustment on the 45 and a +25% adjustment on the others. Probably could be improved, but works OK for me.

  WOW! you guys give me a headache trying to follow all that. Perhaps if we make it TOO complicated it's no longer a "game" or "fun". Just a thought!

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Sun, Feb 27 2011 12:53 PM

  ThreeSpot:

  This might sound weird, and it's probably all in my head, but the ball just seemed super smooth coming off the face of the Ghost

  Without question, it does. In fact, because of this, I'm finding it easier and easier to read breaks because of it. It's almost as if you can "feel" your way home. I will say it took a while to get this feel but the more you use it the better it gets. 

  On those 2 scales you don't care for, I treat them as 15ish and 20ish, depending on the green speed. In the beginning when Slow was all there was I got used to adding 2 feet to the distance and putting to that. Since then it's always been a +/- 2 foot thing when figuring the strength.

  @btb-I guess I do it this way but use the before and after of each move as the correction. For instance, the difference in speeds between Legend Tournament and TM Tournament would be "after" for TM and "before" for Legend. It really helps getting the feel down.

• ThreeSpot 476 Posts

  Sun, Feb 27 2011 12:54 PM

  TracyMax:

  ThreeSpot:

  So I have no adjustment on the 15 and 30 scales, a +10% adjustment on the 45 and a +25% adjustment on the others. Probably could be improved, but works OK for me.

  WOW! you guys give me a headache trying to follow all that. Perhaps if we make it TOO complicated it's no longer a "game" or "fun". Just a thought!

  Do it your way and have fun Trace, absolutely! Tinkerin' and figgerin', well now, that's part of the fun for me. :)

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Sun, Feb 27 2011 12:57 PM

  LOL. Me, too. It really gets easy to be consistent if you have an exact place to start figuring from.  :-)

• DuffyWaldorf 286 Posts

  Sun, Feb 27 2011 1:23 PM

  It would be nice if Avatar Movements of a putter info was on the club in the Pro Shop.  Details like that would be nice to know b4 buying.  Thanks for the post.

  Happy Golfing

  Joe

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Sun, Feb 27 2011 2:36 PM

  Good idea, Joe, but you'd be surprised at how few players use this. Nivlac figured out the method back when Slow was all there was and since then it has evolved into what it is  today thanks to guys like btb and ThreeSpot. A lot of players have different ways of doing it now. Heh-whatever works is all that counts.  :-)

• cactuschick 35 Posts

  Tue, Mar 1 2011 9:34 PM

  is this guide the same for both female/male avatars?