8/8/2015: My experience with the SAM Putt Lab, a ultrasound device that measures the putting stroke in 28 dimensions showes that 11% of PGA tour players and 35% of my amateur friends changed the shaft angle putt to putt. The occurred on a uniform putt of 10 feet. The magnitude change was up to 2 degees.
To understand this, a change of 2 degrees in shaft angle results in changing the 3 degree loft of the putter face to 1 degree in one direction and 5 degrees if the change is in the other direction. The roll out of the putt with the same force will be greatly different.
To accommodate for this unavoidable variation I have patented what I call the Forgiving Face Putter. This putter has a 3 degree loft and a 3 inch vertical radius. In addition there is a series of horizontal bars, each one perpendicular to the tangent of the vertical radius.
This is the face of the traditional “anser” putter.
This is the appearance on a center shafter mallet putter head.
OBSERVATIONAL PROOF OF THIS CONCEPT: In the days before the Bridgestone tournament this week in Akron, OH I did some testing of this concept with a former PGA club pro National Champion golfer. He was hitting 20 foot putts with a Forgiving Face putter. We sprayed the face with a impact paint. The hit maybe 30 putts. All the putt roll outs were within one foot length of each other and in or about the hole.
We then looked at the putter face and saw that there were center hits fully covering two adjacent horizontal bars. A single hit of this length would fully impact one bar and tiny touch of the adjacent bar. Therefore if both bars are fully impacted the golfer has used both bars in this putting exercise. This indicated he was changing the shaft angle 2 degrees back and forth, putt to putt, yet the distance roll out was the same in spite of the shaft angle change.
This demonstrated the benefit of the Forgiving Face Putter design.
