- 16/04/2025
Two golfers go through the comprehensive putter fitting process with SIK Golf to find their perfect match and hole more putts
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00How many of you watching right now have been custom fitted for your putter?
00:04I bet it's very, very few of you.
00:07And while we all tend to rightly focus on our irons and drivers when we invest in new clubs,
00:11we often neglect the club we use the most on course, which is the putter.
00:15Getting fitted for a putter should be done as meticulously as your irons
00:19if you're really intending on lowering your handicap and playing better golf.
00:23To show you the process of a putter fitting and to give you an idea about why they're so beneficial,
00:28we've teamed up with Sick Golf to educate you on the ins and outs of a good
00:32and importantly, wide-ranging putter fitting.
00:35We'll also take a dive into the technology behind the latest range of Sick Putters,
00:39which represents some of the most advanced technologies currently on the market.
00:42We've brought along with us two golf monthly readers who have never been fitted for a putter before
00:47and are also very curious about the process.
00:49They've also told me they're really looking to improve their putting
00:52and are willing to try any new techniques or equipment to help chip away at their handicap.
00:57The technology used by our fitter, Oli Leet, today at his putting hub here in Somerset
01:02will be able to give both of our readers a real education into what their putting stroke is actually doing.
01:08Whilst using Sick's extensive range of fitting options,
01:10they should both be able to find the exact putter to help them out on the greens.
01:14So with all that in mind, let's go and meet our readers at the wonderful Tickenham Golf Centre,
01:18find out a bit about their golf and see how they get on during their fitting.
01:22So, I'll see you next time.
01:22Let's go and see you next time.
01:24Let's go and see you next time.
01:54The putter I have been using prior to the fitting is a Scotty Cameron dual balance putter, which I went to probably about four or five years ago just to give, in my mind, more stability when I was putting because frankly I was a pretty streaky putter.
02:12So I was trying to find something that would suit me but was a little bit more consistent.
02:17I've never been fitted for a putter before. In fact, it's the only club in the bag that I've never been fitted for, which is remarkable really when you consider how many times you use it.
02:26I found the experience fascinating. Frankly, I had no idea of the amount of information that could be captured from just hitting sort of 10-foot putts.
02:34It actually made a lot of good sense for things because things that I instinctively or intuitively felt were happening, in some cases were, but in other cases were completely different.
02:43So the whole process, as well as chopping and changing different options and this kind of thing and seeing the impact of them, I just found it fascinating.
02:51Sure, if I'd had to characterize my poor putts coming into the putter fitting, I would have said I tended to push shorter putts but also hit off-center with some of the longer putts.
03:02I felt they were coming out of the heel. As it turns out, through looking at the statistics, that wasn't the case. In fact, I was hitting them high out the face rather than out the heel.
03:10I'd never seen a sick putter before. I did look before this fitting. I did actually have a quick look at about what they were about but didn't necessarily recognize that they would be radically different.
03:22When I started hitting some putts, I found that the actual quality of the strike of the putt, even though it was telling me they were off the top of the head, was actually an awful lot better.
03:32It felt a much purer strike, even though the loft was getting it rolling quicker than my current putter.
03:40So frankly, it wasn't anything I had to change. That just came with the technology with insect putter. So that became very comfortable very quickly.
03:48It was great from the perspective of having all the different combinations that I felt I could try some different things, even some that I would not, if I'd have been in a normal sort of purchase to go into a shop and try a few things, I'd have never even picked them off the shelf.
04:02So although I've ended up settling for something that's not a million miles away from what I originally had, it was great to an extent to discount some of the other shapes, not because they were bad, but just because either they suited my eye less or I just found the putting experience with them not quite as good.
04:18So Mike was putting well when he first came in. He's been taking some tuition and been doing really well with it.
04:25So what we identified with Mike was there was a few things we could improve. So his face change from where he was aiming to where the face was at impact was a little inconsistent down at 50%.
04:35Another thing was his launch. So interestingly with Mike, he was hitting it high on the face, but he was adding loft as well. So they're really losing a lot of energy through poor roll.
04:45We give him the equivalent putter in the sick head and the launch just changed massively on the slow motion. We could see before, you know, it was really taking off and we got it down, you know, with the technology in the face to get that ball rolling really, really quick.
05:01And it was super real game changer. So to get a good roll, like the optimum launch for a putt, you would get the first 10% in the air, the next 10% it'll be sort of bouncing and then it reaches true roll at 20%.
05:13So Mike's was still bouncing outside of that 20%. And when we changed the sick technology, straight away within sort of 15, 20%, that ball was on a pure roll.
05:23So the next thing we identified was the type of hosel that was suited for him. So we tried in the face balance, which is what he had, not a lot of change in the consistency of the face change.
05:35Soon as we went to the plumber's neck, it really made a huge difference of delivering that club face back to square more often, which is key what we were looking for.
05:43From memory, it went from 50% to 77%. And then we messed around with heads and sight lines and we got that consistency up into the 90s, which is a real game changer really to know he's hitting it where it's aiming 90% of the time rather than 50% of the time.
05:58Current putter, like bag, is a tailor-made spider. I had for about five years. Generally, it's pretty reliable. A few, you know, errors, a push and a pull, but that's a standard goal for you.
06:07Today, I got fitted for the show and a face balance. In the end, it was kind of robotic, you know, with the stats. It was more so how many did I make, more than I miss.
06:19Yeah, you know, it's a really good experience and good fun.
06:22With the fitting today, with the technology used in SICK, it was very interesting.
06:26Also, my current putter, the Spider, when we put it on the SAM Putt Lab, there was a lot of check to it.
06:32So it was a lot of bouncing. It kind of lifted in the air, bounced a couple of times, then spent on which, on average, potentially losing a yard or two, which on that longer putt could be the sake of missing it, you know, three foot short or next to the hole.
06:44Yeah, so once I started hitting the SICK putter, it felt very different. It was completely contrasting to what I'm using in the Spider.
06:52Where I felt I was hitting off the face, it just rolled. It just straight off the face.
06:56No matter if I hit it a bit low, a bit high, it just went off like a rocket, you know.
07:00So for me, it'll be a learning curve to my weight now of how to hit the putt and to get it going.
07:06But it's a smooth putter. It came off lovely. You know, it's just, you know, really good technology behind the head.
07:12Yeah, I'd say if you've never been for a putter fitting and it's something you're considering, I'd say, you know, do it.
07:17At the end of the day, it's where we save the most shots, potentially, on a course.
07:20You know, a long game can be brilliant, but there's no point if you're on a two, three, four putt on every green, you know.
07:25Having the right putter that works for you and you can work on that putting and get used to it, you know, that's fitted to the optimum performance for yourself.
07:32You know, as I've walked in and just brought one off the shelf, made it work for me.
07:36Now, got a proper fitting, I realized how different I would have gone if I had that fitting from day one.
07:42Matt was using a Spider putter and he was putting really well.
07:46He had a great ability to return the face to where he was aiming.
07:50So we made sure we didn't lose any of that during it.
07:52But what was really inconsistent was his path and the arc.
07:57I think the path consistency was 14% and the arc was 18%.
08:01So really poor.
08:03So although the delivery of the face was pretty good, matching the arc and the sort of rotation of the stroke was a little bit more difficult.
08:10I think like part of the putter fitting, there's always going to be an element of coaching in there.
08:15Today with Matt, you know, we were noticeably going sort of outside the line and quite short on the way back and then a big acceleration through.
08:24So we did talk a little bit of technique there to allow him to bring that club inside the line and a bit further, which certainly helped him with the start line.
08:32He had his club face, his hands were back 2.9 degrees, launching the ball at five and a half degrees.
08:39And from the slow-mo video, we can see that it's hopping and skipping outside of that 20% range.
08:44We just give him the sick putter, didn't do anything.
08:47Straight away within the 15, 20%, the ball was rolling well, gaining energy.
08:51And now we can't stop hitting the ball too far past the hole.
08:54Yeah, we went for the show head, which really suited him.
08:57It was slightly heavier than his tailor-made spider.
09:01And it felt heavier as well because it was a thinner grip than he had on the 2.0 super stroke on his current club.
09:07So just by having that lighter, thinner grip, give him a bit more head weight.
09:12The face balance really helped for his off-centered strikes.
09:15And he just aimed it beautiful and stroke it beautiful.
09:19So it was nice, good to see.
09:20The sight lines on the putters are really interesting.
09:23It can change absolutely everything, or it could change nothing.
09:27I think it's a lot of trial and error, but typically, like more lines on putters, golfers will aim further left.
09:34Less lines or lines near the top line will aim further right, as a rule of thumb.
09:39But I've seen it go both ways.
09:40So left eye dominant tend to prefer the line on top rather than on the bottom.
09:44But again, it's sort of trial and error.
09:46And through the fitting process, we try them all and we find which one gets you aiming like a laser and putting like a laser.
09:53Well, there you have it.
09:54We've had a fantastic day here at the Tickenham Golf Centre, learning the ins and outs of everything that goes into a good putter fitting.
10:01As well as that, we've seen some fascinating technology and innovation in the latest range of sick putters that have helped both of our readers, different golfers with very different putting strokes, find a solution on the greens.
10:13It's been fascinating to see how many solutions there were on offer for each of them, and hopefully you've seen today the importance of a good putter fitting with a wide variety of heads and shafts available to help them with their putting stroke.
10:26But for now, a massive thanks to Olly Leat at the Olly Leat Putting Hub here in Somerset.
10:30Thanks for watching this video.
10:32We'll see you next time.
10:32To explore the full range of sick golf putters for yourself, you can visit their website at www.sickgolf.com.
Recommended
4:54
|
Up next
2:00
13:08
3:43
3:56
12:18
0:15
0:15
24:59
2:48
3:28
10:59
2:27
14:12
15:02
12:12