Most teachers and technicians agree that one of the most important elements of putting is delivering the putter face square to the intended line at impact. Not so coincidentally, that’s one of the aspects recreational golfers have the most trouble.
Performance Golf believes it has the solution to the problem with its SQ Putter — the mallet-style SQ-5 and blade SQ-1 — which is designed to help golfers square up the face much more consistently than they can with most conventional putters.
The two basic putting strokes are: (1) where the putter face opens and closes and (2) straight back and straight through. Since putting is on an inclined plane, the stroke is on an arc. Some putters have “toe hang,” which means they are weighted so that when you balance the putter on your finger, the toe of the putter will hang down on an angle.
Other putters are face-balanced, which means that when you balance the putter, the face points straight up. Lately, the trend is “zero torque” putters, which when balanced, the face points to the left on a right-handed putter.
Toe hang putters promote an open-and-closed stroke while most face-balanced putters promote a square-to-square stroke. Makers of zero torque putters claim that the face will constantly remain square to the path of the stroke, no matter the arc.
Performance Golf took a different path for the SQ Putters. They are face-balanced but face-down face-balanced. “It takes a very specific weight configuration to do that, but it's interesting what happens when you go to face down; the putter face wants to not move with the swing arc, but stay squarer to the target line,” says Chris McGinley, a golf industry veteran and Head of Product for Performance Golf.
Even traditional face-balanced putters will open slightly to the arc and the golfer has to close the face to get it to return square, what professional golfers and putter makers call “toe flow.” Some of the game’s best putters have tried to fight toe flow by what’s called “heel drag,” which is to pull the heel of the putter so that the toe doesn’t open. Steve Stricker and Jordan Spieth are two prominent players who use the method.
One way to get heel drag is to hold your hands higher at address and it’s built in on the SQ. “We just went to 72 degrees, right to the most upright limit of a conventional putter,” McGinley says. “Because the more upright you are, the more swing arc it takes out. You can't putt purely straight back, straight through, because the USGA requires a minimum of 10 degrees of lie angle. But the more you putt with an upright lie, it’s closer to straight back, straight through.”
The SQ’s shaft configuration is another essential element in the face-down face-balanced design. “You either put the center of gravity a little further forward, or you mount the shaft a little further back,” McGinley says. “We're doing both. It’s one of the things that creates what used to be called ‘onset.’”
As a result, the golfer sees the entire face at address, whereas in conventional putters, the heel of the putter can be blocked from view by the shaft. McGinley says the unusual configuration makes it easier to line up the putter at address.
The SQ features its patented Lifeline Grip, a dual pistol grip in which there is a pistol side of the grip that points to the face and one on the opposite side that points away from the face. And the grip is rounder and wider than a conventional grip and flat on top. Both putters are available in lengths of 33½ and 34½ inches.
“No matter which hand you have on top, whether your left hand at the top or left hand low, you've always got a pistol in your palm to help you get the putter secure and connected to your hands so that you manipulate your hands less during the stroke,” McGinley says.
For more, see go to PerformanceGolf.com.
