At the 2004 Fall PGA Expo in Vegas, there were more new putters on display than any other type of equipment. And these weren’t your grandfather’s (or Phil Mickelson’s) heel-shafted blades, either.

Seriously, it looked like someone had dropped a bunch of putters on an island several million years ago and allowed evolution to run its course. Imagine a platypus as a putter. Bizarre.

I’ve noticed recently that Tom Lehman has switched back to an STX Synch 3 Belly Putter, identical to the one I reviewed a couple of years ago. Since then, he’s three top-tens and one top-20. Conversely, Vijay went back to a standard-length putter, and he still keeps wining.

The lesson here, I guess, is that putters are more art than science. Whether it’s got strongs across it’s face (the Strong Putter), a hole to pick up the ball with out of the cup (Gaim), or more aiming devices than an F-15, makes no difference at all to you, as long as it feels right and sinks more of those 4-foot testers than it misses.

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