If I take a 34 inch putter and cut 2 inches off, how would I get the same feel back as before. I am thinking that I must backweight it by as much as I took off or am I incorrect? What would and what wouldn't this change? I have asked this same question on some golf forums and everyone has told me to add weight to the head. One club buillder said to add 8 grams to the head and another told me 24 grams. I tried it and the 8g actually felt a little better, but still not the same feeling as before. Any help greatly appreciated.

When you swing a putter it follows the laws of motion. right ?!

When you lop off 2 inches from the lighter butt end of the putter it will want to swing easier. To better appreciate this just imagine if you cut off say 20 inches from the putter (and putt kneeling!), the putter will putt easier because it's MOI has been changed.

To make the putter feel like before you might try to change the MOI (Moment of Inertia) of the putter.

MOI = the total mass of the putter X the distance to the balance point (approx.) ^squared.

Since you have shortened the balance point by shortening the putter, you will have to compensate by increasing the weight (mass) of the putter. You can do this by increasing the weight of the putter but not the shaft through say backweighting it at the top. You want to pull the balance point away from your hands so that the MOI is restored.

Personally, I think you should just adapt your feel over time to the 2 inch shorter putter and forget about reweighting it, because it's easier to do that than messing around with the putter head.

In practice, you may never be able to get back the same 'feel' with a shortened putter, because your feel involves more than the MOI, which raises the question why would you want to shorten your putter by 2 inches anyway?

In our research studies(Currently starting Study #11) on putters here at Campbell University...Changing the length of a putter from 35" to 32" can change up to 30-32 cycles pending the shaft characterstics...that's approximately 3 flexes...You would need 1.5 ounces of lead tape added to the Head to recover 15 of those cycles...and change to a junior flex shaft to acquire a similar feel....Otherwise cutting down your magic wand changes your "Touch for Speed".....

The easiest way to make your putter feel the same after cutting off two inches is adding the appropriate amount of weight back to the club, say 15 grams, somewhere inside the shaft, probably just below the right hand. This will create the same feel of the putter before cutting. These new shaft weights from Tour Lock are used for cloning clubs to one another.

JJ

Try this post for Putter Swingweighting.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist

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