Dear Frank,
I always enjoy you informative articles. My question concerns putter weight. As a 3 handicapper I putt with a Ping Tessie model (20oz club dead weight). It looks like an Arnold Palmer blade on steriods. I just purchased a new Titelist Studio Select Newport 1.5 putter with 20gram weights in the bottom. I regripped both putters with the new large Winn grip and have done so for years as for me it quiets the hands. It also counter balances the club head as I enjoy fast greens. After the regrip I said the Titleist felt like it is now heaver than the Ping so my equipment man weighted them both and the Titleist was heavier by one oz. Swing weights may be different but can a putter be too heavy to achieve optimum performance? What is the Tour average putter weight?
--Ray
Ray, A standard weight putter 34 inches long is close to 19 ounces. This depends on shaft and grip weight. With a standard Winn grip, stiff steel shaft and the most common head weight of about 12.3 ounces (350 grams) the dead weight of a putter would be about 18.5 ounces.
I think that you have increased the weight of your putter because of the oversized grip. I don’t know what the average weight of the putters on tour are but I would guess this would be between 18 and 19 ounces.
You can reduce the swing weight of the putter by increasing the grip weight but this does not reduce the inertia of the club about the grip axis as the reduction in swing weight implies.
I am not a fan of excessively weighted putters as one is inclined to lose feel. A sledge hammer will putt the ball consistently but you would lose the needed feel that putting requires. We have moved to slightly heavier putters over the last fifty years but the trend is not moving fast and 18.5 is a good overall weight to strive for, then spend time to get used to it.
The larger grip does help some people.
Frank