It might be the common wisdom that a face balanced putter is suited for a straight-back straight-through putting stroke, or a toe balanced putter works with an arc stroke, but matching a putter to a stroke is a bit more complicated.
Golfers apply torque at a certain rate to a putter when they make a straight-back straight-through stroke, and not all face balanced putters have an equal amount of torque. Golfers who apply torque to a putter, resulting in an arc stroke of varying degrees, do not match up with every toe balanced putter.
Key to this type of fitting is to match up the amount of torque that the golfer applies to the putter with the torque inherent in a certain putter design, whether it be face balanced or toe balanced.
This match-up can be complicated but even if a good match between player and putter is found, the player must still apply a proper amount of torque to match the torque in their putter under pressure. Without the correct amount of rotation from the golfer, a clubface may be either open or closed at impact, which can lead to a missed putt. Players commonly refer to this as not “releasing” or “over-releasing” their putter.
Golfers who use face balanced and toe balanced putters must increase their grip pressure to counteract torque in the putter, which can lead to a loss of sensitivity in the grip and less ability to judge force applied to a stroke for proper distance control. The amount of grip pressure may be slight, but so might be the difference in stroke torque to putter torque. It can add up to a less than ideal situation.
There are alternatives to using a stroke that twists the putter, and a putter that can twist the stroke.
An end-range putting stroke is one that does not have a twisting effect on the putter. The DynAlign stroke is an soft end range stroke that travels on a stable path with stable clubface alignment. This type of stroke can be used with a face balanced or toe balanced putter to make the stroke less complicated, and give a player a better chance of starting putts on their intended line.
An alternative to face and toe balanced putters is to use a putter that does not add torque to the stroke when put into motion. In addition to remaining neutral and not influencing face alignment, this type of putter has the added benefit of allowing a player to have the lightest grip possible, and the best feel for distance, since the hands do not have to apply more pressure to prevent the club from twisting.
The best combination would be to use an end-range stroke with a no-torque putter, which eliminates torque from both the golfer and the golf club.
To learn more about DynAlign dynamic pre-shot alignment, please visit www.dynaligngolf.com
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