Bench Work › Bench 06
Aim Is A Measurement, Not A Feeling
Most putters in most bags are aimed somewhere other than where their owner believes. That is a geometry problem with a bench solution, and it takes about twenty minutes to find.
Bench 0660 minutes · $110
- Aim check distance8 ft
- Length steps offered0.25 in
- Lie adjustment resolution0.5°
- Head mass range on hand320–400 g
- Fee credited against a buildfull
Eye Line
Where Your Eyes Sit Decides What You See
Set your eyes inside the ball and the target line appears to run right of where it actually goes. Set them outside and the opposite happens. Neither position is wrong in itself, but a putter built without accounting for it will aim somewhere its owner did not intend.
Eye position is a product of height, posture, arm length, and the putter's own length and lie — and the last two are the ones we can change. A quarter inch of length shifts eye position over the ball more than most golfers expect, and half a degree of lie changes the apparent alignment of the top line.
We measure this with a laser fixed to the head at eight feet and a mirror behind the ball. Golfers who have never seen it are usually surprised by two things: how far off the aim is, and how quickly it corrects once length and lie are set properly.
What the aim check finds
- Golfers aiming right of target at 8 ft~44%
- Golfers aiming left of target at 8 ft~31%
- Within half a cup of true~25%
- Corrected by length and lie alone~60%
- Needing a different head shape~40%
Figures from bench cards recorded here, not from a published study. They are a description of our own clientele.
Head Mass
Matched To The Greens You Actually Putt On
Head mass and green speed are related in a way almost nobody accounts for when buying a putter off a rack in a shop with a carpet strip on the floor.
Slower greens, heavier head
Municipal and older private greens around Dane County often run in the eight to nine range through midsummer. A heavier head keeps the stroke length sensible instead of forcing a hit.
Quick greens, lighter head
On faster surfaces a heavy head encourages a short, decelerating stroke. Taking mass out restores a stroke with some rhythm to it.
Both, across a season
Most golfers here meet both conditions. We fit the head to where you play most and adjust grip weight seasonally, which is a ten-minute bench job rather than a second putter.
Hosel And Arc
Matching The Head To The Stroke You Have
Toe hang is not a personality trait. It describes how much the head wants to rotate through the stroke, and it should follow the arc you already produce rather than attempt to install a new one.
We record stroke arc on a track before any head is handed over. A strongly arced stroke fights a face-balanced head and a straight stroke fights a full toe-hang blade, and in both cases the golfer ends up making a compensation they will have to repeat forever.
Where a golfer is actively working on their stroke with a coach, we say so on the card and fit to the current arc rather than the intended one, with a note that the head may want revisiting once the change settles.
- Straight stroke — face balanced0–15°
- Slight arc — quarter to half hang15–35°
- Strong arc — full toe hang35–60°
- Arc recorded on track before fittingalways
Grips
The Cheapest Change On This Bench
Putter grips run from about forty grams to well over one hundred and forty, and swapping between the extremes changes the balance of the club more than a different head often would.
A heavier grip moves the balance point up the shaft and quietens the hands, which suits golfers whose miss is a nervous flick. A lighter one restores feel for anyone who has lost track of where the head is. Either change takes fifteen minutes at the bench and costs the price of a grip.
We try this before recommending any new putter, because a surprising number of sessions end with the golfer keeping the head they arrived with.
On the card
- Finished length0.25 in
- Lie after bending0.5°
- Loft at address0.5°
- Head mass on the scale1 g
- Grip model and installed weightlogged
- Aim reading before and afterattached
Sixty Minutes On Bench 06
Bring the putter you use and, if you have one in the garage you keep going back to, bring that too. The comparison is often the whole answer.
(608) 555-0173