4/4 - 220 putts
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​Zack Miller stopped by (Longbow putters) to hit a few sets of putts. First up were the lesser torque models. 30 putts with each following the same trend I have been seeing with my own data. Lack of rotation in the back stroke, and increased rotation in the through stroke. Average of 1.05 degrees face left at impact.
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Next, Zack used a 45 degree toe hang mallet with a plumbers neck, followed by a near 180* toe down Sunday model.. pretty much the polar opposite of a "zero torque" putter. While consistency was slightly down as he is a long time larger head broomstick user, 99 accuracy score for both (compared to 60 and 54) due to matching rotation on the way back and through.​
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I then hit 30 and 50 putt sets with the extreme toe down Sunday. 99 and 100 accuracy. Another 50 with the G wagon yielded 78 accuracy.
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Final thoughts: The Sunday would be going in my bag or Zack's 100 times out of 100, zero question. This is no different than going to get fit for irons or a driver. You choose what yields the best statistical results, if best results are your desired outcome.
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Zack's thoughts:
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In just 60 putts, I realized both my stroke and putter setup were off. As someone who’s played at a high level—former D1 golfer and PGA TOUR member—putting has always been the one area I’d get hot and cold with, without a clear understanding of how to fix it. Turns out, I may have been using the wrong style of putter all along.
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Biggest takeaways:
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I was delivering the putter face closed at impact. The adjustment? Allowing more open rotation on the backswing, which allowed the face to naturally return square through impact instead of trying to maintain/manipulate it.
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My current face-balanced putter wasn’t suited to my stroke. A putter with more toe hang better matched my natural motion and gave me the feel to square the face consistently.
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David spotted both issues within 60 putts. I walked away with a putter built specifically for my stroke, and a better understanding of my tendencies that immediately changed the game—more natural face rotation on the backswing. The performance numbers were eye-opening.