SIK Golf Putter Fitting
Two golfers go through the comprehensive putter fitting process with SIK Golf to find their perfect match and hole more putts
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 How many of you watching right now have been custom fitted for your putter?
00:04 I bet it's very, very few of you.
00:07 And while we all tend to rightly focus on our irons and drivers when we invest in new clubs,
00:11 we often neglect the club we use the most on course, which is the putter.
00:15 Getting fitted for a putter should be done as meticulously as your irons,
00:19 if you're really intending on lowering your handicap and playing better golf.
00:23 To show you the process of a putter fitting and to give you an idea about why they're so beneficial,
00:28 we've teamed up with Sick Golf to educate you on the ins and outs of a good,
00:32 and importantly, wide-ranging putter fitting.
00:35 We'll also take a dive into the technology behind the latest range of Sick putters,
00:39 which represents some of the most advanced technologies currently on the market.
00:42 We've brought along with us two Golf Monthly readers who have never been fitted for a putter before
00:47 and are also very curious about the process.
00:50 They've also told me they're really looking to improve their putting
00:53 and are willing to try any new techniques or equipment to help chip away at their handicap.
00:58 The technology used by our fitter, Oli Leet, today at his putting hub here in Somerset
01:02 will be able to give both of our readers a real education into what their putting stroke is actually doing.
01:08 Whilst using Sick's extensive range of fitting options,
01:10 they should both be able to find the exact putter to help them out on the greens.
01:14 So with all that in mind, let's go and meet our readers at the wonderful Tickenham Golf Centre,
01:18 find out a bit about their golf and see how they get on during their fitting.
01:22 [Music]
01:52 [Music]
01:58 The putter I have been using prior to the fitting is a Scotty Cameron Dual Balance putter,
02:03 which I went to probably about four or five years ago just to give, in my mind, more stability when I was putting
02:10 because frankly I was a pretty streaky putter.
02:13 So I was trying to find something that would suit me but was a little bit more consistent.
02:18 I'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,
02:23 which is remarkable really when you consider how many times you use it.
02:26 I found the experience fascinating. Frankly, I had no idea of the amount of information that could be captured
02:32 from just hitting sort of 10-foot putts.
02:34 It actually made a lot of good sense for things because things that I instinctively or intuitively felt were happening,
02:40 in some cases were, but in other cases were completely different.
02:44 So the whole process, as well as chopping and changing different options and this kind of thing and seeing the impact of them,
02:50 I just found it fascinating.
02:52 Sure, if I'd had to characterize my poor putts coming into the putter fitting, I would have said I tended to push shorter putts
02:58 but also hit off-centre with some of the longer putts. I felt they were coming out the heel.
03:04 As it turns out, through looking at the statistics, that wasn't the case.
03:07 In fact, I was hitting them high out the face rather than out the heel.
03:11 I'd never seen a SICK putter before. I did look before this fitting, I did actually have a quick look at what they were about,
03:19 but didn't necessarily recognize that they would be radically different.
03:23 When I started hitting some putts, I found that the actual quality of the strike of the putt,
03:28 even though it was telling me they were off the top of the head, was actually an awful lot better.
03:33 It felt a much purer strike, even though the loft was getting it rolling quicker than my current putter.
03:40 So frankly, it wasn't anything I had to change. That just came with the technology with the SICK putter.
03:46 So that became very comfortable very quickly.
03:49 It was great from the perspective of having all the different combinations that I felt I could try some different things.
03:55 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,
04:00 I'd have never even picked them off the shelf.
04:02 So although I've ended up settling for something that's not a million miles away from what I originally had,
04:08 it was great to an extent to discount some of the other shapes, not because they were bad,
04:13 but just because either they suited my eye less or I just found the putting experience with them not quite as good.
04:19 So Mike was putting well when he first came in. He's been taking some tuition and been doing really well with it.
04:25 So what we identified with Mike was there was a few things we could improve.
04:29 So his face change from where he was aiming to where the face was at impact was a little inconsistent, down at 50%.
04:35 Another thing was his launch. So interestingly with Mike, he was hitting it high on the face, but he was adding loft as well.
04:42 So really losing a lot of energy through poor roll.
04:46 We give him the equivalent putter in the sick head and the launch just changed massively on the slow motion.
04:52 We could see before, you know, it was really taking off and we got it down, you know,
04:56 with the technology in the face to get that ball rolling really, really quick.
05:01 And it was super real game changer.
05:04 So to get a good roll, like the optimum launch for a putt, you would get the first 10% in the air,
05:09 the next 10% it'll be sort of bouncing and then it reaches true roll at 20%.
05:14 So Mike's was still bouncing outside of that 20% and when we changed the sick technology,
05:19 straight away within sort of 15, 20% that ball was on a pure roll.
05:23 So the next thing we identified was the type of hosel that was suited for him.
05:28 So we tried in the face balance, which is what he had, not a lot of change in the consistency of the face change.
05:35 As soon as we went to the plumber's neck, it really made a huge difference of delivering that club face back to square more often,
05:41 which is key what we were looking for.
05:43 From memory, it went from 50 to 77% and then we messed around with heads and sight lines
05:49 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,
05:55 90% of the time rather than 50% of the time.
05:58 Current putter that I bag is TaylorMade Spider.
06:01 I've had it for about five years. Generally, it's pretty reliable.
06:04 A few errors, a push and a pull, but that's standard golf for you.
06:07 Today, I got fitted for the show in a face balance.
06:12 In the end, it was kind of robotic with the stats.
06:16 It was more so how many did I make more than I miss.
06:18 Yeah, it's a really good experience and good fun.
06:21 With the fitting today, with the technology used in SICK, it was very interesting.
06:26 My current putter, the Spider, when we put it on the Sam Putt Lab, there was a lot of check to it.
06:32 There was a lot of bouncing. It lifted in the air, bounced a couple of times,
06:35 then spent on which on average, potentially losing a yard or two,
06:38 which on that longer putt could be the sake of missing it three foot short or next to the hole.
06:44 Once I started hitting the SICK putter, it felt very different.
06:48 It was completely contrasting to what I'm using in the Spider.
06:52 Where I felt I was hitting off the face, it just rolled.
06:55 It just straight off the face, no matter if I hit it a bit low, a bit high, it just went off like a rocket.
07:00 For me, it will be a learning curve to my weight now of how to hit the putt and to get it going.
07:06 It's a smooth putter. It come off lovely. It's just really good technology behind the head.
07:12 I'd say if you've never been for a putter fitting and it's something you're considering,
07:16 I'd say do it. At the end of the day, it's where we save the most shots potentially on a course.
07:21 A long game can be brilliant, but it's no point if you're on a two, three, four putt on every green.
07:25 Having the right putter that works for you and you can work on that putting and get used to it,
07:29 you know that's fitted to the optimum performance for yourself.
07:32 As I said previously, I've walked in and just brought one off the shelf, made it work for me.
07:36 Now, got a proper fitting, I realize how different I would have gone if I had that fitting from day one.
07:42 Matt was using a Spider putter and he was putting really well.
07:46 He had a great ability to return the face to where he was aiming.
07:50 We made sure we didn't lose any of that during it.
07:53 What was really inconsistent was his path and the arc.
07:57 I think the path consistency was 14% and the arc was 18%, so really poor.
08:03 Although the delivery of the face was pretty good, matching the arc and the rotation of the stroke was a little bit more difficult.
08:11 I think part of the putter fitting, there's always going to be an element of coaching in there.
08:16 Today with Matt, we were noticeably going outside the line and quite short on the way back and then a big acceleration through.
08:24 We did talk a little bit of technique there to allow him to bring that club inside the line and a bit further,
08:31 which certainly helped him with the start line.
08:33 He had his club face, his hands were back 2.9 degrees, launching the ball at 5.5 degrees.
08:39 From the slow-mo video, we can see that it's hopping and skipping outside of that 20% range.
08:44 We just give him the sick putter, didn't do anything.
08:47 Straight away, within the 15-20%, the ball was rolling well, gaining energy.
08:51 Now we can't stop hitting the ball so far past the hole.
08:54 We went for the show head, which really suited him.
08:57 It was slightly heavier than his tailor-made Spider and it felt heavier as well
09:02 because it was a thinner grip than he had on the 2.0 Super Stroke, which was on his current club.
09:08 Just by having that lighter, thinner grip, giving him a bit more head weight,
09:13 the face balance really helped for his off-centred strikes.
09:16 He just aimed it beautifully and stroke it beautifully.
09:19 It was nice, good to see.
09:21 The sight lines on the putters are really interesting.
09:23 It can change absolutely everything or it could change nothing.
09:27 I think it's a lot of trial and error, but typically, more lines on putters, golfers will aim further left.
09:34 Less lines or lines near the top line will aim further right, as a rule of thumb.
09:39 But I've seen it go both ways.
09:41 Left-eyed dominant tend to prefer the line on top rather than the bottom.
09:45 Again, it's trial and error and through the fitting process, we try them all
09:49 and we find which one gets you aiming like a laser and putting like a laser.
09:54 Well, there you have it. We've had a fantastic day here at the Tickendham Golf Centre,
09:57 learning the ins and outs of everything that goes into a good putter fitting.
10:01 As well as that, we've seen some fascinating technology and innovation in the latest range of sick putters
10:06 that have helped both of our readers, different golfers with very different putting strokes,
10:10 find a solution on the greens.
10:13 It's been fascinating to see how many solutions there were on offer for each of them
10:17 and hopefully, you've seen today the importance of a good putter fitting
10:21 with a wide variety of heads and shafts available to help them with their putting stroke.
10:26 But for now, a massive thanks to Oli Leet at the Oli Leet Putting Hub here in Somerset.
10:30 Thanks for watching this video. We'll see you next time.
10:32 To explore the full range of sick golf putters for yourself, you can visit their website at www.sickgolf.com.
10:39 (Music)