The Unconventional Putter Guide

The unconventional putter guide was prepared to help golfers who want to make those three, four and five foot puts when money is on the line or you are trying to win the club championship or your flight in the club championship, or perhaps it is just breaking 80 for the first time. The art of putting is also being able to get those forty and fifty foot puts to within a foot or so of the hole most of the time. Every year the golf club manufacturers put out their new and best putters designed to make all of us better putters, if only we fork over $100, $200 or even $300. Putting really isn’t that much about putter technology as it is about the four or five inches between the ears of the golfer and the techniques he has developed over the years to know what he can do on the greens under pressure.

Over the past ten years, maybe a bit longer, more and more golfers on the professional tours have been switching to belly and long putters and that has led more and more amateurs to follow suit and give the longer shafted putters a try. The gradual switching from conventional putters to long and belly putters demonstrates to us why the unconventional putter guide is useful in taking a fresh look at your putting.

We believe very firmly that the belly and long putters will continue to become more popular with the pros and amateurs and that the overwhelming majority of amateurs should be testing out or using these putters on a regular basis.

A belly putter is a type of putter much like a conventional putter, except that the shaft is longer and the end of the shaft is anchored by the golfers stomach or belly. Belly putters have longer shafts than conventional putters, but their shafts are not as long as those of the long putter. The longer shaft of the belly putter is anchored against the golfer's belly or stomach, which serves as a fulcrum for the stroke. Belly putters usually range from 41 to 44 inches in length versus 32-36 inches for conventional putters.

As is the case with a conventional putter, the golfer uses both hands (the grip may not be different from the grip used with a conventional putter) in the stroke and has pretty much the same stance as used when using a conventional putter. The key with the belly putter is the connection of the butt end of the shaft to the body which helps keep the wrists quiet during the stroke. At the present time belly putters are legal under all of the rules of golf. Belly putters appear to have the greatest appeal to golfers who use their hands too much in the stroke or who are suffering from the yips.

In contrast to the conventional and belly putters, the long putter is a type of putter that have longer shafts than even the belly putters. While the shafts for belly putters run from 41 to 44 inches, the shaft length for long putters can run from 48 to 52 inches. Since the shaft of the long putter is longer it lets the golfer take a more upright stance. A grip of a golfer using a long putter is almost always a split grip, with one hand holding the end of the club, then bare shaft, then the other hand lower on the shaft. For a right handed golfer his left hand is on the upper grip section, and the right hand is on the lower grip section. The top hand in this grip, the left hand for right handed individuals, can either be totally on the end of the shaft or the thumb of the left hand could rest on the butt end of the shaft to help further stabilize the shaft and club. The golfer's top hand and the butt end of the putter is then anchored against the golfer's sternum or chest, and that anchor serves as a fulcrum for a pendulum stroke, which the golfer initiates using his lower or right hand.