15 Top Custom Putter Designers - By MGS

Hi DRG, I am amazed by the number of putters you had tried, especially the exotic range. So, I am sure your advise on my putting problem will be useful.

I had been using Scotty Studio Select Fastback 33 inches for sometime. I had been a decent putter for 20 years until an over competitive buddy cause me problem. He alway remind me before I hit the short puts that I can miss. This let to a lost of confident and worst the dreaded YIP. My stroke become jerky for short length.
I found a solution by going to the putter route which enable me to execute the simple pendalum motion. I also found that with teh Scotty, when I lifted the head higher from the ground, it causes the ball to push right. There is no such problem with the TM agsi insert putter, it mitigate this problem as the ball roll quickly and true.

I am now looking for a centre shaft TM Spider to custom with long shaft.

What is your comments on my thought?

enwee wrote:

DRGjr72 wrote:

Hi,

I have had an extensive putter collection in the past and have owned/played many of the putters listed. Here is my take:

Piretti: Have only rolled on at a buddies store and it was a good, solid feeling putter. Cannot comment further as I did not take it to the course.

Slighter Golf: Good putter. Able to customize pretty much anything you want. Decent turnaround time for a custom piece.

Gauge Design: Owned several of these over the years (David Whitlam ones) and they were outstanding. The roll was super, feel was great, and they looked very nice.

Sizemore: Unique designs, good feel and roll. Underrated putter. Performed quite well while it was in the bag.

Dog Leg Right (machine): One of the best boutique putter brands out there today. Used the hog line when I was playing professionally and it was a putter that I used off and on for years. Since then they have gone to the Machine line and it is amazing. Owned a 1 of 3 prototype from them a couple years back and the neat thing was the ability to interchange the neck style. Unfortunately for me I was unable (at the time) to get the exact neck shape I wanted for the putter, so it left the bag. The roll was great, feel was great, look was amazing. Plus they are willing to do just about whatever you want.

Tad Moore: Used these early in my career. Had some hand mades and some production models. Both were good in their own right. The hand mades were far better in terms of quality and craftsmanship and feel.

Kevin Burns: Used several Kevin Burns models (at his height of popularity late 90's, early 2000's) and they were good solid putters with decent insert technology. Felt good, looked nice, and rolled the ball well. Have not seen much by way of him lately.

T.P. Mills: Hard to call a brand that has been around as long as them as boutique, but for this segment will just follow suit. Like Tad Moore I have owned many production TP Mills and many handmade versions. They are both decent offerings, but the hand made or tour issue versions are just at another level. They are amazing designs, that have distinct styling, and have superb feel and craftsmanship. I would recommend a TP Mills putter any day of the week.

Clay Long: Used to make personal putters for Jack Nicklaus if I am not mistaken so he has some credibility. They are good feeling and performing putters. Nice designs and sound feel. Good solid option.

Byron Morgan: Decent putters, for some reason never liked the feel of them. Not sure why, but I have owned several prototypes during the 90's and have played with some of the newer ones and I was just never sold on them. Some people swear by them and some of their designs look just like many Scotty Cameron tour issues, I just never could get used to the feel.

Hicks, Curry, Deshchamps, 350 milled: No experience with any of those

Edel golf: Has an interesting fitting tool that is supposed to help you aim the putter more consistently accurate, which is supposed to help you make more putts. Some of the designs are good and the ability to get custom fit and some stamps on your putter is pretty cool. Just need to find a certified place that can fit you properly.

Hope that helps a little. All in all there are many great options on that list. The bottom line is to make sure you get a putter that fits you and your stroke. You will make more putts, period. Having a putter that looks great, but does not fit you or your stroke is useless, unless you are just trying to show your pals that you have a neat putter (which is fine if that is what you want). But for me it is all about getting it in the hole, I don't care what it looks like. Although if I had my druthers I would like a beautiful putter that was custom fit for me that performs.

Whoa, that's almost a complete feed back. Thks

also riding on this revived topic
DRGjr72: any views on THE POSITIVE PUTTER which fellow GRian tigawood (ex-seebayho) recently advertised. I went to their website at http://www.positiveputter.com/ and was truly intrigued by their USP which is basically their patented target line balance system.
Videos at website shows the putter's amazing accuracy even striking 2 balls simultaneously and both went into the hole sequentially. Not sure if its all marketing hype...
Oredi tigawood is a convert ( i may be soon ..haha!) as i feel that these outlier products (didnt make it to MGS's top 15 custom putter list) may have something very very special in them

@ Fast. Sounds like your buddy was trying to get into your head and it worked. His statements about misses started to come true and validated his claim thus, in your head doubt crept in and made its way into your stroke.

As far as the difference in putters, etc. If you had prior success with the Scotty, then most likely it is not the putter. But there are putters that tend to fit people better, whether it is the head style, neck type, length, shaft type, lie, loft, insert type, color, grip size/style, etc. It is amazing the number of variables there are within a putter today. My personal feeling is that you need to find a putter that you like and have confidence with (that usually comes from making putts). Then make sure that it fits you properly and it is good for your type of stroke (straight back straight through or a more gated stroke). Then you should start to see better, more natural strokes, and ones that should produce better results.

@Jeff. I have not putted with the positive putter. But I did visit the link you provided and the science (at least from what they said) appears to be reasonable. But everyone has to have their selling point, so without actually using one or trying one out I would not be able to comment on performance. Somehow they can take that technology and apply to your own putter if you don't like what they offer. That is a neat selling point and good if you have the type of stroke that works best with their technology. As far as the videos, I take those with a grain of salt (they were good though) and I have seen the two balls in the hole before with a high moi, extreme polar weighted putter (so while neat, not the first or only time I have seen that done).

All in all it looks like a decent stick and might be worth looking into if that fits your stroke and like the way it looks at address.

At the end of the day it is all about confidence and having a putter that can help you start the ball on your intended line at the proper speed. If you can find one that does that, keep it and don't change because that is all you will really need to be a good putter.

Thanks DRG. Definitely failed to block his psycho tactic here. This led me to experiment with the long putter and the result is very positive. So, I will stick to the long putter. Cheers.