EQUIPMENT

Line 'em up
and knock 'em down:

New putters aid alignment

By Kiel Christianson,
Senior Writer

BOSTON, Mass. (June 28, 2004) - Long gone are the days when you could slap a flat chunk of brass on the end of a short shaft and sell it as a putter. The 21st Century putter is replete with user-friendly features like heal-toe weighting, face-balancing, polymer face inserts, increased MOI, and multiple alignment aids.

And we're not going to touch the whole long-putter debate - not even with a 54-inch shaft.

The recent boom in mallet-style putters is directly attributable not only to their extra mass, which promotes a smooth, pendulum stroke. Perhaps more importantly in the new breed of putters is the way club designers use the larger putter heads as alignment aids. In days of yore, a simple white dash in the middle of the topline to show where the sweetspot was sufficed. But no more.

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Here is a trio of new putters, all of which feature alignment assistance, along with a variety of other bells and whistles that, if nothing else, look really cool on the links.

Zen Oracle Tour

The Zen Oracle Tour has the distinction of being the only United States Golf Association conforming putter that is also a training aid. The face-balanced mallet's main feature is a ball-sized "aperture" or hole immediately behind the face. This aperture is the key to the training function. Put a ball inside it and take a normal putting stroke. The ball stays inside longer than it stays on the face, so when the ball is released (either forward or backward, depending on the goal of your practice) any faults in the swing path are magnified. An outside-in stroke, for example, will miss badly left. The aperture can be used to check the path of your take-away as well.

The Zen Oracle Tour comes with a training video and drill flashcards (both starring Phil Mickelson's instructor Rick Smith). In addition to the training feature, the putter incorporates other alignment aids, including a material finish contrast framing the aperture behind the ball, and a line extending from the face through the aperture to the back of the mallet-head.

The putter comes in standard, belly, and long models (MSRP $160-$199), all with elastomer polyurethane face insert and silky Winn grips. The golfers we asked to try our 35-inch standard Zen Oracle Tour were all impressed with the looks and training aspect. The heavy 350-gram weight was more than a few could get used to in a short testing session, however.

STX Envision

By the end of the four-day PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando this past February, STX had sold so many of the new Envision putters that it had surpassed its own six-month projected sales. STX Putters knew the Envision was a special product even before the show began. "Over the last year or two we've seen a lot of new putter designs in the market, all with the idea of moving weight low and to the rear of the putters," said Jeff Matheson, STX global sales manager. "The Envision is the first putter in this new category, designed to achieve the same results without looking big and awkward," he added.

The Envision is the first in the company's line of Impressionist Series, designed by Robert Engman. Engman at one time chaired the sculpture department at Yale and was also the Dean of the Art School at Penn. In other words, the Envision is a real work of art, which is refreshing in this day of branding-iron-meets-UFO contraptions.

The Envision is face-balanced with a slight heal bias to eliminate pushes. The straight, center-mounted shaft joins the putter head just behind the face, and above two small holes positioned directly behind the sweetspot. One thing that sets the Envision apart from its competition is the sleekness of the mallet head: the weight is concentrated straight back from where the ball is struck.

The Envision (MSRP $175) comes with one of two face inserts: a softer black one for faster greens, or a harder red one for slower greens. One thing we noticed was that the stylish design provided no surface area with which to tamp down ball marks. However, the lack of a broad sole, typical of mallets, meant less accidental scuffing of the turf on the backswing. The precise angle of the grip places the hands properly ahead of the ball, but the forward pressers among our testers ended up delofting the clubface too much and affecting the roll.

La Jolla GA Series

La Jolla Golf, long-known as a producer of clubs for ladies and juniors, has begun to develop a sophisticated and flashy line of mainstream clubs. The GA Putter series is the company's first significant flatstick engineering innovation. GA stands for Geometrical Alignment, and the GA series of putters features a sort of bi-level alignment system.

On the topline of the putter face is one quarter of a black circle and its center line. On the back of the clubhead - in the case of our GA400-1 model, a broad, weighty flange - is the rest of the circle and line. When the clubface is perfectly perpendicular to the ball, and the loft and lie-angle are ideal (i.e., when the hands and eyes are positioned correctly), the pieces of the circle and line meet up and appear from above as one. Very clever.

Our testers were impressed by this alignment system - they knew exactly where they were aimed. A few people, however, became obsessed with keeping the circle in one piece and were distracted, watching the putter head rather than the ball. Nevertheless, the bright red grip, retro styling, and aforementioned alignment system make the GA (MSRP $109) attractive on several levels. In addition, each GA Series putter comes with a free Bickler putting trainer.

For more information:

Zen Oracle Tour: zenoracle.com or call (888) 326-0974
STX Envision: stxgolf.com
La Jolla GA Series: ljcgolf.com

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.