PGA Tour player Craig Stadler was once asked in a press conference why he had decided to change his putter.
His response: “ Why am I using a new putter? Because the last one didn’t float too well.”
You putt well, and your putter is the best golf club in your bag; you putt poorly, and all sorts of horrible fates can await the offending putter.
Similar to the driver, a prolonged period of poor putting can lead us to search for something new. As we search, we can’t help but be drawn to the latest putter trends.
Trends emerge in putter design that starts on the professional tours and filter down into the amateur game, which leads us to a point where the thought process goes something along the lines of “I saw Rory McIlroy hole a bunch of putts with that putter, so it’s bound to work for me as well.”
We’re experiencing this phenomenon in the game just now.
J.J. Spaun’s dramatic victory in the U.S. Open was capped by sinking a monster 64-foot putt on the 72nd green to capture his first major championship.
The putter he used was a L.A.B. Golf DF3 model. The DF3 spearheads the latest hot trend in putter design, the zero torque putter.
If you’re considering changing your putter and come across the term 'zero-torque putters,' but are unsure what that means, don’t worry; we’re here to help.
We’ll take a deep dive into the world of zero-torque putters. Along the way, we’ll help you understand:
- What Is Zero-Torque And Why Does It Matter?
- Understanding The Technology Behind Zero Torque Putters
- Who Benefits From Using A Zero Torque Putter?
What Is Zero-Torque And Why Does It Matter?
Let’s start by taking a brief tour of the choices of putters that have been available to us before the birth of zero torque putters.
Traditionally, we have had a choice between three distinctive putter models:
- Blade
- Mallet
- High MOI
The blade has been the most traditional model. The genesis model is the Ping Anser, which was launched in 1966. Weight was stripped out of the rear of the putter behind the hitting area and placed in the heel and toe to create more stability.
The Ping Anser and Anser 2 models spawned a generation of similar designs, with the most successful golfer using the blade design in recent times being Tiger Woods with his Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS, which has helped claim 14 of his 15 major titles.
The blade design putter favours a player who has a slight arc to their putting stroke, where the putter face can open slightly in the backswing and square up again through impact.
Like bladed irons, blade putters suit golfers with consistent putting strokes who find the middle of the putter face.
Mallet putters are suitable for golfers who like to take the putter straight back and return the putter head square at impact. The mallet design offers more perimeter weighting to increase forgiveness on off-centre hits.
Having more material behind the ball can also create better alignment aids to help golfers set the ball on the right line more effectively. Models such as Odyssey’s classic 2-Ball putter are a great example of a mallet putter.
High MOI putters such as TaylorMade’s Spider putter add to the mallet concept, but take it a step further by pushing the weight even further to the extremities and away from the putter face to create an even more stable putter.
Zero torque putters have created something different. Zero torque putters eliminate any opening or closing of the putter face during the putting stroke, which can be evident to greater or lesser degrees in the three designs we’ve mentioned.
What does that mean in reality?
More putts can be holed because it’s easier to start the ball on the intended line. Better pace control on longer putts, which will help eliminate scorecard-wrecking three putts.
Holing more putts and being more consistent sounds like a winning formula for any golfer, so what’s the engineering story behind the zero torque putter that can make these claims a reality?
Understanding The Technology Behind Zero-Torque Putters
Torque is a measurement of how much something rotates or twists from a central starting position.
Transferring that explanation into a golfing scenario, your golf ball will set off on its intended target line if the ball has been aimed correctly and the putter face is returned perfectly square at impact.
How important is a square putter face at impact to the overall success of our putt? L.A.B. Golf quotes on their website that research indicates that the putter face angle dictates 83% of a ball’s starting line at impact.
In plain English, the chances of holing more putts or being consistent with pace control on longer putts are greatly hampered if we can’t return a square putter face to the ball each time.
This theory forms the basis of why zero-torque putters are becoming phenomenally successful.
So, how do you remove torque from a putter?
To stop the face from twisting during your stroke, the key is to make sure the putter’s centre of gravity is in line with the shaft. That’s why most zero-torque putters have the shaft positioned right in the middle of the head. This keeps everything balanced, and that means fewer putts going offline.
Think of a shopping trolley; if one wheel is misaligned, it pulls to one side. A zero-torque putter is like fixing the wheel so everything rolls straight.
While centre-shafted putters are by no means a new invention, the argument is that we couldn’t previously position the centre of gravity effectively around the hosel.
Not all zero-torque putters are centre-shafted. Some manufacturers will take traditional hosel designs like the classic plumber’s neck seen on blade models like the Ping Anser and Anser Two models and reverse it, like on the EvnRoll Zero Z5S Model.
Who Benefits From Using A Zero-Torque Putter?
Putting is a very subjective area for golfers of every level.
The obvious way this manifests itself is in how a putter looks, and for zero-torque putters, we have to address the elephant in the room.
The looks of zero-torque putters will polarise. The first place to start is with the centre shaft, which, if you haven’t used one before, can take some getting used to.
Zero-torque putters are bolstered with high-MOI technology, which further helps reduce the twisting of the face throughout the putting stroke. With the emphasis on stability, some zero-torque putters do take on some pretty interesting shapes and sizes, which, again, may not be to every golfer’s liking.
It’s difficult to pinpoint an exact group of players that you could say would benefit from zero-torque putters.
Some elite-level players struggle to convert the chances they create for themselves on the course, and there are high-handicap golfers who struggle with consistency in pace control and alignment.
If you are a higher-handicap golfer, you’re likely to leave yourself lots of long putts on the course because, statistically, you don’t hit your approach shots close to the hole.
On longer putts, the putter face tends to twist more as you adjust for swing length, often resulting in poor pace control and dreaded three-putts.
A zero-torque putter can help make distance putting easier because of its design to reduce twisting of the putter face during the stroke, improving speed control.
If you play lots of tournament golf, you’re likely to face many short putts that can be tricky because of the pace of the greens or the amount of break you might still face.
Zero-torque putters can provide more stability on those shorter, trickier putts, giving you more confidence in holing them more frequently.
When you look at zero-torque models like the TaylorMade Spider 5K ZT, in addition to zero-torque technology, coupled with existing technology that has made the Spider series so popular over many years.
The Spider’s high-MOI design is incorporated to help improve consistency on off-centre hits, along with TaylorMade’s Pure Roll insert to improve the overall feel of the putter and True Path alignment aid.
The added dimensions of the Spider 5K ZT see the sole reworked to complement the hosel design and help the putter head glide across the putting surface effectively.
We see something similar in PXG’s Allan putter model. PXG has incorporated existing technology seen elsewhere in its putter range, such as the third generation of PXG’s refined pyramid face pattern, to help the ball roll more effectively.
PXG’s precision weighting technology helps dial in the perfect head weight, with the chassis of the putter constructed from 303 stainless steel, which is filled with S-COR polymer technology to help dampen vibrations and improve overall feel.
Zero-torque putters look to be more than just a fad that some tour players have picked up on.
L.A.B. Golf was the first company to pioneer the science they have used as the fulcrum for their putter designs. Concentrate the centre of gravity around the hosel to reduce the putter face’s tendency to twist open and closed (torque) during the putting stroke.
Many other manufacturers, such as TaylorMade and PXG, are joining the battle to create zero-torque models, while other companies, such as Odyssey, are also joining the fray.
Do zero-torque putters work for every golfer?
The answer comes down to custom-fitting. Analysing your putting stroke is like analysing your full swing. We need to understand the specifics of your putting stroke to determine whether or not a zero-torque putter could help your game.
If the analogy about driving for show and putting for dough is accurate, taking time to be properly fitted for your next putter will be a wise investment of time and money.
If you don’t want to end up like Craig Stadler and launch your putter into the nearest water hazard, contact our PGA professional support team on the Nine by Nine Golf website, and we can help find the perfect model for your game.
Finally, keep an eye on the Nine By Nine Golf website for more zero-torque putters coming to the website soon.