Gear: Cleveland Huntington Beach SOFT Premier putters
Price: $159.99
Specs: Stainless steel heads with variable-density grooved faces
Available: Aug. 21
There are few things more frustrating for golfers than leaving a 15-foot putt way short, then racing a 12-footer well feet past the hole on the next green. Reliable distance control not only results in more holed putts, it helps avoid card-wrecking 3-putts.
To help golfers improve distance control, Cleveland has developed a new family of putters, the Huntington Beach SOFT Premier putters.
SOFT stands for Speed Optimized Face Technology, so while the gray satin PVD finish will make a white or yellow golf ball’s color pop, the differentiating feature of these putters is their milled faces.
Cleveland packs the milling pattern more tightly in the ideal hitting area and loosens its configuration in the heel and toe areas. The tightly packed grooves reduce the energy transferred to the ball, so the difference in speed between a putt hit perfectly in the center and one hit slightly toward the toe or heel is reduced. The result is a normalization of ball speed across the face, leading to better distance control and consistency.
Taking the concept a step further, Cleveland designed a unique variable-density groove pattern for each of the eight putters in the lineup.
There are three heel-toe-weighted blade style putters in the Huntington Beach SOFT Premier family and five mallets. The blades each come with a Lamkin SINKFIT Skinny Pistol grip designed to enhance an arched stroke, while the mallets come standard with a larger Lamkin SINKFIT Pistol grip that many golfers with a straight-back, straight-through stroke prefer.