FACE ASSISTANCE

Modern-day putter faces are seriously clever. Some impart more top spin and reduce skid, others can speed up off-centre hits and slow down centre impacts, so irrespective of impact location, putts travel a similar distance.

And of course there are faces that claim to be the best sounding or feeling on the market. Matching your putter face to your personal preference is key to putting consistently well. These six should be on your radar...

1. Cobra / SIK Descending Loft Technology

Golfers don’t hit putts consistently from the same height on the face. SIK’S DLT (which is licensed to Cobra) is 4° at the top and 1° at the bottom (with sections in the middle at 3° and 2°), so golfers deliver the correct loft every time. The design means putts are skidding less and rolling sooner.

2. Odyssey Ai-one

Odyssey robot tested their new putters from 15 different spots across the face and discovered these Ai-designed faces hit putts 21% closer to the intended target than any putter tested with a ‘traditional face’.

3. Cleveland SOFT (Speed Optimised Face Technology)

To balance out speed across the face, grooves are grouped tightly in the centre and spread out towards the edges. The idea means more face is in contact with off-centre hits, which transmits enough energy for putts to travel as far as they do with on-centre hits.

4. Taylormade Pure Roll 2

An insert that combines urethane and aggressively-angled aluminium bars (45°) to deliver great feel but also tech that forces a golf ball’s surface into turning end over end more quickly.

5. Ping

Putter faces are now so important, Ping have four different options in their flatstick family. In shallow steel or smooth-milled aluminium, surfaces give a firmer touch (it’s a growing trend right now), where the Pebax (polymer) insert gives consistent ball speed and soft feel.

6. Evnroll Sweetface

Variable-width grooves (wider in the centre, narrower at the edges) maintain good distance control, with the feature also designed to progressively ‘gear’ putts back onto the target line.