Title

Manipulating the Mass Distribution of a Golf Putter

Author(s)

Paul J. Hessler Jr.Follow

Major

Nursing

Advisor

Swift, Judith

Advisor Department

Communication Studies

Date

5-2015

Keywords

Golf; Putter

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Abstract

Putting may appear to be the easiest but is actually the most technically challenging part of the game of golf. The ideal putting stroke will remain parallel to its desired trajectory both in the reverse and forward direction when the putter head is within six inches of the ball. Deviation from this concept will cause a cut or sidespin on the ball that will affect the path the ball will travel.

Club design plays a large part in how well a player will be able to achieve a straight back and straight through club head path near impact; specifically the mass distribution of the putter. There are two common mass distributions. The first is a 50/50 distribution from heel to toe with the midpoint being where the putter shaft would intersect with the face of the putter. This is known as a face balanced putter. The second type of putter will have a larger mass on the outer portion in relation to where the putter’s shaft would intersect with the face of the putter. This mass distribution is known as a toe-hanging putter and it creates a more straight back and straight through swing path. The putter that I created for this project has the optimal weight distribution to channel the desired straight back and straight through swing path.