Insert Putters, Why Putters Have An Insert On The Face (Video) - by Pete Styles
Insert Putters, Why Putters Have An Insert On The Face (Video) - by Pete Styles

One of the features that you’ll often see when you’re browsing the aisle in the local golf store is the fact that putters aren’t always made of one consistent solid material like an iron or a driver might be, but quite often the putter will actually have an insert putters on the face and that’s perfectly legal and permissible within the rules of golf. Now the reason for these inserts can be numerous, but more often than not, it’s actually to provide more feel and quite often a softer feel and a better role with the golf ball.

So we get the normal sort of steel putter is a steel headed putter, but sometimes when the steel hits the golf ball it can feel a bit hard, a bit tingling, and a bit ratty. So a lot of manufacturers that experimented over the recent years, we put in the insert in and you see the black insert here on a silvery putter. So the insert there is a softer compound, a softer material that’s bonded to the club face. That also has a sweet spot within the sensor of it. So when I hit my ball from the center of that sweet spot on the inserted face, it can feel a little bit softer. If that one manufacturer actually uses the same material that they cover their golf balls in, so you’ve got a golf ball with one cover on it, and you’ve got the putter that’s hitting it with the same cover on it, the feel and is quite stable, quite soft as you hit it. Now particularly if you are playing on first greens, so slit greens in sort of hot countries downhill putts, when you are hitting the ball, you want that soft feel, you want the ball to hit the club face nice and softly, gives you more feel for better roll. So if you are quite aggressive with your putts and you quite often feel that your hitting putts that are going too hard too fast and are running for a five maybe six well past the hole, if you put a softer insert in a putter, you’ll generally feel the ball will come out slightly slower, and won’t roll quite so far. The flip side of that however, is if you’re quite a gentle putter, quite a defensive putter, quite delicate and you don’t often get the putt rolling to the hole first enough and is always finishing short, I would suggest using a putter without an insert or certainly a firm insert if you have one, but if it doesn’t have an insert at all I think you’ll be a bit more positive, I think you’ll actually get a few more putts up to the hole. So insert putters are quite good but not for everybody. If you’re defensive, get a putter without an insert and possibly have your putter, but if you’re too aggressive and you’re playing first green, consider inserting in the putter face will give you more control and more feel. 2014-10-07

One of the features that you’ll often see when you’re browsing the aisle in the local golf store is the fact that putters aren’t always made of one consistent solid material like an iron or a driver might be, but quite often the putter will actually have an insert putters on the face and that’s perfectly legal and permissible within the rules of golf. Now the reason for these inserts can be numerous, but more often than not, it’s actually to provide more feel and quite often a softer feel and a better role with the golf ball.

So we get the normal sort of steel putter is a steel headed putter, but sometimes when the steel hits the golf ball it can feel a bit hard, a bit tingling, and a bit ratty. So a lot of manufacturers that experimented over the recent years, we put in the insert in and you see the black insert here on a silvery putter. So the insert there is a softer compound, a softer material that’s bonded to the club face. That also has a sweet spot within the sensor of it. So when I hit my ball from the center of that sweet spot on the inserted face, it can feel a little bit softer. If that one manufacturer actually uses the same material that they cover their golf balls in, so you’ve got a golf ball with one cover on it, and you’ve got the putter that’s hitting it with the same cover on it, the feel and is quite stable, quite soft as you hit it.

Now particularly if you are playing on first greens, so slit greens in sort of hot countries downhill putts, when you are hitting the ball, you want that soft feel, you want the ball to hit the club face nice and softly, gives you more feel for better roll. So if you are quite aggressive with your putts and you quite often feel that your hitting putts that are going too hard too fast and are running for a five maybe six well past the hole, if you put a softer insert in a putter, you’ll generally feel the ball will come out slightly slower, and won’t roll quite so far.

The flip side of that however, is if you’re quite a gentle putter, quite a defensive putter, quite delicate and you don’t often get the putt rolling to the hole first enough and is always finishing short, I would suggest using a putter without an insert or certainly a firm insert if you have one, but if it doesn’t have an insert at all I think you’ll be a bit more positive, I think you’ll actually get a few more putts up to the hole.

So insert putters are quite good but not for everybody. If you’re defensive, get a putter without an insert and possibly have your putter, but if you’re too aggressive and you’re playing first green, consider inserting in the putter face will give you more control and more feel.