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Putter choice is usually made on looks, which is not the worst approach given how much confidence matters. But there's one technical factor that genuinely determines whether a putter suits you, and almost nobody checks it.
Your stroke arcs, or it doesn't
Watch your putting stroke from above. It either travels straight back and straight through, or it moves on a gentle arc — inside on the backswing, back to square, and inside again.
Neither is right or wrong. But it should decide which putter you buy, because of something called toe hang.
Toe hang and face balance
Balance a putter across your finger under the shaft. What happens next tells you what the club is designed for:
- Face points at the sky — face-balanced. Resists rotation. Built for a straight-back-straight-through stroke.
- Toe hangs toward the ground — toe hang. Wants to rotate open and closed. Built for an arcing stroke.
Match the putter to the stroke you already have, rather than trying to build a stroke around a putter you liked the look of. A strong arc with a face-balanced putter means you're fighting the club through impact on every putt.
Blades
The traditional shape — an Anser-style heel-toe weighted head, or a genuine flat blade.
Usually has toe hang, so it suits arcing strokes. Less forgiving on off-centre hits because there's less perimeter weighting, but the feedback is immediate and precise — you know exactly where you struck it, which is genuinely useful for a good putter.
Best for: arcing strokes, better putters, anyone who wants feel over forgiveness.
Mallets
Larger heads with weight distributed further back. Higher moment of inertia, meaning the head resists twisting when you miss the centre.
Often face-balanced (though plenty of modern mallets are made with toe hang), so they generally suit straighter strokes. The bigger head also gives more space for alignment aids, which is a real advantage for players who struggle to aim.
Best for: straighter strokes, higher handicaps, anyone who misses the centre of the face regularly.
Mid-mallets and everything in between
The category has blurred completely. You can now get a compact mallet with strong toe hang or a blade-shaped head with mallet-like forgiveness. Don't shop by shape — check the balance.
Length, lie and loft
Length: at address your eyes should be over or just inside the ball, arms hanging naturally. If you have to reach or crouch, it's wrong.
Lie angle: the sole should sit flat. Toe up or heel up at address means the face is effectively aimed off line before you've moved.
Loft: most putters have 3 or 4 degrees, which exists to lift the ball out of its own small depression on the green. Players with a lot of forward press need more loft, not less.
How to choose
- Step one
- Work out if your stroke arcs. Film it from above on a phone
- Arcing stroke
- Toe hang. Usually a blade or a toe-hang mallet
- Straight stroke
- Face-balanced. Usually a mallet
- Miss the centre a lot
- Mallet, for the forgiveness
- Struggle to aim
- Mallet with a strong alignment aid
- Check
- Length. Most putters are too long
The honest caveat
Putting is the most psychological part of golf, and confidence in the thing you're holding is worth real strokes. If a putter matches your stroke perfectly on paper and you don't like looking at it, you will putt badly with it.
Get the balance and the length right, then pick the one you like the look of from the shortlist (the used racks are where a shortlist gets affordable, and putters barely wear). That's the correct order — but the last step isn't the frivolous one people assume.