I was just at a golf show yesterday. One of the booths was for a putter (the Curv Putter) that actually has a slightly convex putter head. They claim the slightly rounded head allows for the ball to go straight even if the putterhead is slightly open or closed during the stroke.

Made sense to me at first. Then I started thinking (usually dangerous for me) that if taken to the very extreme - you'd have a round "putterball" type device putter and that hitting a round ball with a totally round putterface is very, very difficult. I would guess because as the head is rounded, you get less putter surface contact with the ball.

So does their theory of a rounded putter head work? Have you had, or heard of anyone using the types of putters?

I was just curious if the "physics" of these claims actually worked - and if they do, how come we don't see more putters like these on the market?

Thanks!

BigE

in a prior post back in late 2003. I should've done a little more research before posting.

I guess I was excited having just returned from a golf show and fooling around with the putter. I'm glad I didn't buy while there.

BigE

Dear BigE,

Viewed two-dimensionally, there are two directions or axes of possible motion to be concerned with -- down the line left-right (X-axis) and near-far from your body or feet (Y-axis). A putter that has a path cutting across the ball does less harm than a putter making impact with the face angle twisted out of square. the curving of these sorts of putter faces (a "bowing" targetward from heel to toe on the face in a convex shape) addresses only the face-angle aspect, which is the more important of the two.

IF your path is not good and straight, but for example a little cutting from out to in, the convex bowing reduces the face angle twist that would otherwise result from this path with a flat-face putter. You CAN move the putter in a cut path with the face staying square to the intended line, but usually if you move the putter in a cut path, the face is also closed. The convex curvature then would present a less-closed surface of the face to the ball at impact, but only so long as the point of impact on the face is from the sweetspot and farther toeish, and NOT between the sweetspot and the heel. Making a cut stroke with a convex faced putter and making contact between the sweetspot and the heel can spell disaster -- a bigger pull than expected from the path error alone.

In general, though, these curved face putters help the average golfer with a loopy stroke path, so long as the correct side of the sweetspot hits the ball.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Theorist and Instructor
Geoff Mangum's PuttingZone
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