5 Golf Clubs That Will Lower Your Score
Meet the counterbalance putter, a club that makes it harder to miss the hole.
The flat stick is likely your most humbling club. These techie new counterbalance putters can change that.
There may be 14 clubs in your golf bag, but there’s only one stick that settles the score: the putter. It alone either slams home the victory or casts you into the gaping maw of failure. (Maw!) Slight of stature yet shouldered with great responsibility, no club giveth and taketh away like the putter. It is the mystical wand of the golf bag. So choose wisely. And whether you’re a scratch player or a workaday hacker, you’re going to want some good technology on your side.
Enter counterbalancing, a growing design trend where extra weight is added to the butt end of an elongated grip. Why? It stabilizes the club head, steadies your hands, and generally mimics the advantages of anchored putting, which will soon be banned.
Point is, it works. And with it, these top-shelf putters will help you achieve golf’s most noble goal: putting the ball in the goddamn hole.
Ping Scottsdale TR Anser 2B Counterbalance $235
The Anser wasn’t broken, but Ping fixed it anyway. In 1966 the first Ping Anser putter appeared and quickly became one of the most successful designs in golf. Fast-forward to whatever year this is, and we have the Scottsdale TR Anser 2B Counterbalance. With a beefy 395 g. head for extra stability and an adjustable length counterbalanced grip, the 2B is like your old Anser, if your old Anser had been hitting the gym. The variable depth groove insert gives the face a cushioned but confident feel – pure gold from 10 feet in.
How do you improve on a classic? Like this.
—
Nerd alert! The TaylorMade Spider Blade has an insanely high moment of inertia (MOI) for a blade-style putter, a whopping 5,200! Wait, what? It means that even you – Mr. Can’t Make a Four-Footer – will have a hard time screwing up with this putter. Because MOI means stability, and stability is what you need. With a 130 g. counterbalanced grip, this putter feels like it’s on rails.
Simple the Spider Blade is not. There are 11 separate parts and eight different materials in the head alone. You’re going to be singing the praises of every one.
Odyssey Tank Cruiser #7$250
Welcome to the Tank Cruiser, probably the most adjustable putter on Planet Earth. In addition to two interchangeable weights in the head, the Cruiser’s counterbalance weight in the grip is also adjustable, the only putter we tested with that option.
Changeable head weighting is cool, but an adjustable counterbalance weight is ice cold. Swap that out and you move the balance point of the club either toward or away from your hands. That’s a big step forward in customization, and hugely affects how the putter feels.
Still skeptical? Maybe you just don’t like sinking putts, smart guy.
Bettinardi BB32 Counterbalance$350
The first thing you notice about the Bettinardi BB32 is the face, milled with a series of overlapping circles on a high-gloss metallic finish. The design term for this is “dead-ass sexy,” but let’s not get too technical.
There’s brains behind those looks, too. The shallow milling produces a distinctively crisp feel, sharp sound, and authoritative strike. This putter has teeth. And yet forgiveness is everywhere – the entire face feels like the sweet spot.
As a bonus, the BB32 comes with instant street cred. None of your buddies will have one…until they hit yours.
Scotty Cameron GoLo 7 Dual Balance$399
In the rarefied world of professional golf, Scotty Cameron is widely considered the undisputed heavyweight champion of putter design. Lucky for us mortals, Scotty builds for the masses, too. The GoLo 7 Dual Balance is outfitted with 50 g. of counterbalance weight in the grip and a 400 g. head. That’s real heft, enough to make your old putter feel like it came from Toys ‘R Us. But the combination of head weighting designed for maximum stability and a deep milled face for softness results in maximum power and control. If this putter were a band, it would be Led Zeppelin.
More on Maxim.com:
New High-Tech Running Shoes Give Sprinters a Boost
Best Waterproof Gadgets for Summer