Heel-Toe Weighted Blade Putters – Syndication Server

Can a $450 putter be a good value?

Putters that cost $450 or more might be a wise investment in your golf game.

Golf is costly, but over the years I have shared many ways to save money and make wise purchasing decisions on gear. Get shoes with replaceable spikes to prolong traction, buy tees in bulk online and invest in good rain gear that will last for years instead of two or three cheap pieces that leak every time you try playing through a shower.

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So, what I’m about to write might come as a shock, but I think it’s true: An ultra-premium putter, which easily can cost $450 or more, might be one of the best values for your game.

I get it: Paying a driver-like price for a putter is insane to many golfers. There are many high-quality putters that cost less than $200 and feature helpful technologies.

Getting custom fit and purchasing a putter such as the just-released Scotty Cameron Super Select Newport 2, a Toulon Design Memphis or a Ping PLD Milled Oslo 4 – all of which have a retail price of $449 – requires a significant outlay of cash. But consider these things before you completely dismiss the idea of owning one of these clubs.

1. The shapes are timeless.
If you put any of the aforementioned putters down behind the ball and like it, you will always like it. Shapes like these never go out of style.

2. The technologies are timeless.
When it comes to drivers, technologies change all the time. Faces are made thinner and faster, crowns become lighter and advancements in manufacturing lead to new ways to hit the ball farther every year.

In contrast, putter technologies change slowly. Many of the most high-end putters are still milled from a single block of stainless steel, and in many cases materials such as aluminum and tungsten are strategically added to improve performance. Some of these putters have special face inserts or unique weighting systems to help you roll the ball more effectively. But as with their looks, the technologies you typically find in ultra-premium putters are time-tested.

3. Over time, they’re cheaper than drivers per shot.
Let’s do a little math. If you buy a new driver such as a Callaway Paradym, Cobra AeroJet or TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus+, you will pay $550 or more. If you are an avid golfer and play 30 rounds in a season, and you hit your driver off the tee on every par 4 and par 5 (14 drives per round), you will hit driver 420 times in a season. That works out to $1.31 per shot. If you skip a few generations of drivers and play the same club for five years, that’s 2,100 shots at $0.26 per shot.

If you buy a $450 putter and need 30 putts per round, in your first 30-round season you will pay 50 cents per putt for those 900 putts. A properly fit, ultra-premium putter can easily be played for five years or longer, so if you play 30 rounds a year for five years and take 30 putts per round (4,500 putts), your cost per putt goes down to $0.10 per shot.

So, per shot, an ultra-premium putter is cheaper than today’s modern drivers.

4. They maintain resale value.
Everyone should be careful when buying used equipment online to avoid counterfeit gear. If you are looking for bargains and check the prices of used putters such as the Bettinardi Queen B Series putters, you won’t find any for less than $150 to $200, and many are still fetching $300 or more. The supplies are limited, the demand is high and the value of ultra-premium putters can remain strong for years. So if you decide to part ways with a high-end putter, you can expect to obtain a nice trade-in credit at your local store or sell it outright for a good price.

Being a good value does not mean something is inexpensive. Paying $450 or more for any golf club represents a real investment in your game, so be sure to get custom fit. Below are several ultra-premium putters that nearly any golfer would love to use.

Ping 2021 putters

Using multi-material constructions and high-tech polymer inserts, Ping’s new 2021 putters can enhance performance on the greens.

Gear: Ping 2021 putters
Price: $270-$380 each
Specs: Stainless steel, aluminum and tungsten heads with dual-durometer polymer insert

In recent years Ping has become known for making some of the most stable and forgiving drivers in golf, but the company was founded on putters. Karsten Solheim’s designs, dating back to 1959, have always tried to help players obtain more consistency on the greens and enhance their sense of touch. Now, with the release of the 2021 family of putters, Ping continues those efforts with multi-material constructions and a new face insert.

There are nine 2021 putters, ranging from three versions of the iconic Anser to mid-sized mallets to larger mallets. All of them have a few things in common.

Each putter has a new Pebax elastomer insert that has two levels of firmness. Pebax is a polymer that Ping has used in select putters before, such as the Sigma 2 family. It is light, feels soft at impact and does an excellent job of returning energy to the ball. In the 2021 putters, Ping used two Pebax layers, with the outermost layer being soft for better performance on short putts and the back layer being firmer for a more solid feel on long putts. This soft insert complements the Heppler putters that Ping released last season, which have a smooth stainless steel face designed to feel firm and crisp.

Ping 2021 putters — The 2021 putters have a dual-durometer Pebex insert. (Ping)

The materials used to make each putter vary based on the head’s size, but all of them were made to deliver more stability and forgiveness.

The Anser, Anser 2 and Anser 4 are smaller blades made from stainless steel with tungsten weights in the heel and toe to increase the moment of inertia without making the heads larger. They are the most forgiving Anser putters Ping has ever made.

The Kushin 4, GS 72 and Tyne 4 are midsize mallets with a steel weight in the heel and tungsten in the toe to move the center of gravity into the ideal spot. The Fetch and Oslo H mallets have stainless steel bodies with aluminum soleplates. The use of aluminum shifts more of the overall weight to the perimeter, making the mallets more stable without becoming overly large.

The new CA 70, which is slightly larger, has an aluminum body and a heavier, stainless steel soleplate to drop the center of gravity, while the Harwood, which has an aluminum body and 93-gram tungsten weights in each corner of the head, has the highest moment of inertia of any putter in the lineup.

Each 2021 putter has a dark PVD finish, white alignment features and comes standard with a black-chrome shaft. They also come standard with 3 degrees of loft except the armlock version of the Harwood, which has 6 degrees, and the lofts can be adjusted by a custom fitter.

Ping Heppler putters

Ping’s Heppler putters are designed using aluminum and steel for golfers who like a crisp, firm feel at impact.

Gear: Ping Heppler putters
Price: $245-$270 each
Specs: Mallets with cast-aluminum and stainless steel heads; blade-style putters in all steel. Adjustable-length shafts.
Available: Jan. 20

While there has been a significant trend over the past few years to softer-feeling golf balls, many players prefer a firm, solid-feeling putter. To them, a crisp strike feels better and allows them to develop a better sense of touch. With the new Heppler family of putters, which contains nine head shapes, Ping is using a new manufacturing technique to deliver a firmer feel and more forgiveness at the same time.

Ping has designed grooved faces in all of its recent putters, such as the Sigma 2, Vault 2.0 and Sigma G families, and some putters also have backings and inserts to soften feel. The Heppler blades, mid-mallets and high-MOI mallet putters – named for Rick Heppler, an employee who joined the company in 1966 as it started and was with Ping for nearly 50 years – are different.

The putters have a smooth face that produces crisp contact and were designed using a multimaterial construction that is new for Ping.

Seven of the nine Heppler putters can be classified as either mid-size mallets or high-MOI mallets, and each has a chassis dye cast from ADC12 aluminum. Ping said the material is 10 percent softer than the 6061 aluminum used in other putters. The pressure-casting process allowed Ping to get more details into the heads during the casting process instead of machining and milling after the heads are created.

Other areas of the heads are made from cast stainless steel, a material that is much heavier than aluminum. In the mallets, the steel was given a copper tone that contrasts with the black-finished aluminum.

The combination of aluminum and steel allowed Ping to concentrate weight more precisely for increased perimeter weighting and forgiveness without making the heads significantly larger.

For example, the Heppler Tyne 3 putter is the higher-MOI version of the Tyne that Ping has produced, even though it is not bigger than previous models and does not have a ball-speed-normalizing face insert.

Ping Heppler TomCat 14 putter — The black portion of the Tomcat 14 is made from aluminum while the copper-toned piece is steel. (Ping)

The Tomcat 14 putter has the highest moment of inertia in the Heppler lineup, with half its weight coming from aluminum and half coming from steel. The rails are a ball’s width apart and covered in white dots that were inspired by the lights that flank an aircraft runway.

The remaining two of the nine putters in the Keppler family are blades and made using only steel. The Anser 2, which is ideally balanced for golfers who have a slightly arced putting stroke, is the latest edition of the classic putter that put Ping on the map, while the ZB3 is for players with a strong arc. The copper-colored topline helps the blades match the rest of the family and acts as an alignment aid.

Each Heppler putter comes standard with a black chrome shaft that is adjustable. Using a tool that inserts into the grip, the putters can be made as short as 32 inches or as long as 36 inches, making it easier for players and fitters to create a Heppler putter that is the ideal length for any player.

Scotty Cameron Special Select putters

Using feedback from PGA Tour players, Scotty Cameron’s newest putters feature thinner toplines, lower profiles and milled faces.

Gear: Scotty Cameron Special Select putters
Price: $399 each
Specs: Milled 303 stainless steel heads with 6061 aluminum, stainless steel and tungsten.
Available: Jan. 24

Scotty Cameron’s official title at Titleist is not head of design or category manager. It’s master putter maker. For years he has focused on trying to make putters with which the game’s elite golfers fall in love, and many have. Some of the game’s best players collect Cameron putters, often those being prototype and customized clubs that aren’t available at retail.

With his latest update to the Select family of putters, Cameron is making the putters sold at retail simpler, cleaner and more like clubs used by the pros.

Each of the seven head models starts as a solid block of 303 stainless steel before a computer-guided milling tool shaves off ribbons of material until the final shape is achieved. In the Newport, Newport 2 and Newport 2.5 blades, the sole was given a soft, tri-sole design, with the toe and heel rising slightly so the center portion can easily rest flat on the ground at address.

Scotty Cameron Special Select Newport putter — Special Select blades have thinner toplines and slightly shorter blade lengths, so Cameron achieved the ideal swing weight by adding tungsten weight screw in the sole. (Titleist)

The blades also feature thinner toplines and slightly lower face heights, with more material being milled off the back flange areas. That may not seem like a big deal, but Cameron did it to make the retail putters have the same look at address preferred by many pros.

As a result, the overall weight of the heads decreased. In order to maintain the same swing weight, Cameron decided to use tungsten in the heel and toe sole weights of the blade putters. Heavier weights are added to shorter putters, while longer putters get lighter weights.

Scotty Cameron Special Select Flowback 5 putter — The Special Select Flowback 5 mallet has steel removed from the bottom and an aluminum sole plate added to cover the opening. (Titleist)

The four mid-size mallets have extra material in the sole milled out. Removing steel from the center of the sole, then covering the hole with 6061 aircraft-grade aluminum, shifts more of the head’s weight to the heel and toe areas, which creates more stability without increasing the head size.

While the Fastback 1.5 and Squareback 2 are shapes Cameron has offered in the past, the Flowback 5 and Flowback 5.5 are new. They are semi-circular mallets based on the previously released GoLo putters

Scotty Cameron Special Select Del Mar putter (Titleist)

Cameron has brought back a compact mallet, the Del Mar, with the Special Select line. As with the blades, it has a solid sole.

Unlike the previous Select putters, none of the Special Select putters have an insert or vibration-dampening membrane. Again, this is a nod to the kind of insert-free putters that pros often ask Cameron to make.

Each Special Select putter has a glare-resistant, raw stainless steel finish with a single black alignment line.