One Does Not Simply Choose a Push Putting Putter
Pursuing the Perfect Push Putting Putter
That's right, I've been on a journey pursuing the perfect push putting putter for putting the putting putter where the putting putter belongs. See what I did there? Say that 10 times fast.
Enough with the memes, what's the story?
The struggle is real...
Putting was always something I struggled with. I began with an Innova Aviar, just like most people probably did, because it's what came in the Innova Starter Set. I then briefly switched to the Kastaplast Reko after participating in one of the Kastaplast Bingo Blast events and finally landed on the Discraft Challenger for a while after winning one as a CTP prize. I had thought the Challenger was the right putter for me so I had even bought a stack of 10 of them to practice with only to sell them off later on and switch to the Innova Colt when I had decided to switch to throwing all Innova discs (those were dark times).
Even with going through all those putters, I still struggled to consistently make putts. It wasn't until I finally decided to switch my stance and putting style that I started to do better.
Putting Stances
I used to exclusively stagger stance spin putt with the Innova Colt. Spin putting was working great for me at the time! It gave me lots of putting power, less problems when putting with wind and more chances at making Circle 2 putts. As a matter of fact, I drained so many 69 foot (nice) putts that it's now a running gag within my disc golf friend group whenever I make a long putt that it was probably a 69-footer.
However, the problem with spin putting was that, when I missed, I missed FAR and it was always left or right of the basket. I tried to rectify that issue by switching to a putter with less glide. And by less glide, I mean a putter that doesn't want to glide at all.
I decided to give the Innova Pig a shot for putting (before they renamed it to a mid-range), so I wouldn't blow past the basket as much. I found that my staggered stance spin putt wasn't working as well anymore so I decided to try a straddle stance with push putting instead. I found that doing this provided me with more accuracy and worked better for the pig and for putting in general. I was no longer blowing past the basket as much because with a push putt, the motion is more of an "up and down" rather than "in and out".
Fast forward to today, and I almost exclusively straddle stance push putt unless I'm pinched off where a spin putt would work better or is the only option.
Finding a Push Putting Putter
So what putter are you using now?
Well to answer that question, it starts with a continuation of the journey I was talking about above. Yes, I've been on a journey trying to find the perfect putting putter for me. I'm on a journey to find something that feels comfortable in the hand with the way I like to hold my putters and something that doesn't get caught on my pinky when I release.
I was having relatively good success putting with the Pig, but the problem is that the Pig lacks glide and requires a lot more effort to get to the basket. This was both a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing because it taught me to commit more to my putts, but it was a curse because all the disc wants to do (even at a low speed) is hyzer out and get to the ground. So I would often find myself not quite making it to the basket on some longer putts or having to severely adjust my aiming point because of how much effort it takes to get the disc to the basket and how much it wants to fade at the end of its flight.
So I went on a journey to find a putter that had a similar wing design to the pig but was hopefully much less overstable. What I really enjoyed about the pig was that it was low-profile compared to a lot of putters on the market which are much deeper. The low profile helped me not get my pinky stuck on the rim when I was "popping" the disc out of my hand. The problem with trying to find something like the Pig in design that is less overstable, is that there really isn't anything out there that meets that criteria.
So I had to look at other options. I first tried the Gateway Disc Sports Houdini, but that ended up having a better use as a utility throwing putter because it is also glideless and very overstable. So onto the next one.
I went to my favorite disc golf retailer (G3T) to physically touch and feel a bunch of putters in person and eventually I landed on the Westside Discs Crown. What I liked about the Crown was how it filled my hand well and where I rested my finger on the lower rim profile of the disc was very comfortable. It also was a polar opposite of the Pig both in the Glide and Fade department.
G3T has a practice basket right outside of their store and I put the Crowns to the test immediately after I purchased them. I was making putt after putt without issue compared to the Pigs and I was enamored.
Cool story, so did you stick with the Crown?
Well, kind of. I had been using the Crown for a while with good success. One unfortunate thing is that for whatever reason, Westside Discs are hard to come by so buying a stack to try putting with was proving difficult. So I decided to try out the Dynamic Discs Judge which is essentially identical in shape to the Crown but is a bit more rounded. I ended up not having a lot of success with the Judge because it was slower than the crown so I wasn't quite getting it to the basket as easily. So I went back to the Crown.
After going back, I noticed that the more I used the Crown with a push putting style, the more I actually developed an issue putting with it.
What's the issue?
It all goes back to my comment of wanting a putter where my pinky doesn't get caught when I "pop" the disc out of my hand. I noticed that my pinky frequently got caught when I'm putting with this disc. My style had shifted slightly from a spin/push to more of pure push putt and when that happens, the disc ends up missing the line left or right of the basket or it ends up coming out extremely nose-down and diving straight into the ground. I tried switching up my putting grip a bit to compensate but I still found the same issue occurring.
Flustered, I decided to go back to trying out the Colt with my new putting style and once again I was having great success putting with the Colt, except this time with a straddle stance and push putt!
As I continued to experiment, I realized what the problem was. The problem is that with this style, I have much better success with low-profile putters because the disc leaves my hand before my pinky can get caught. That's why I had success with the Colt and the Pig.
So with my newfound knowledge, I wanted to try out some other options because I wasn't 100% sold on the feel of the Colt. I decided to seek out some other low-profile putter options. So off I go again, trying to find another putter.
Keep a Low Profile 🕵️♂️
The first new option I landed on was the Gateway Disc Sports Chief OS. What I liked about the Chief OS vs the Chief, was that the Chief OS had more of a cutout on the lower rim profile vs the Chief which was even more rounded than the Innova Colt. Things were okay with the Chief OS but the main issue I had with it was that it was on the verge of being "too low-profile" of a disc. The overstability was fine because it was nowhere near that of the Pig but I wasn't making as many putts as I wanted to because my grip wasn't fully confident holding the disc. So I traded it in and went onto the next one.
The next one in line was the Dynamic Discs Deputy. I had originally held this disc back when I bought the Crowns, but I wasn't 100% sold on the feel at the time because it didn't fill my hand as much as the Crown did. Revisiting the disc, it kind of feels like a beadless Innova Colt to me, so it's a bit more comfortable than the Colt is.
The last one on the list is the Gateway Disc Sports Shaman. One of my buddies happened to have two of them, one in the Suregrip Firm plastic and one in the Sure Grip Super Soft plastic. The shaman is definitely the most low profile of all of the discs I've tried, almost to the point of being too low profile like the Chief OS was for me.
The Showdown
Over the course of 3 days, I did 10 rounds of UDisc's Putting Practice with all of my putter options (Colt, Deputy, Shaman, Crown, Judge) to have a showdown of percentages. My hope was this would provide empirical evidence as to which putter works best for me based on how many putts I make at 11, 22 and 33 feet respectively.
Once I completed 10 rounds, I whittled the list down to the final 3 options and did 5 more rounds with each disc to see if I would come up with an outright winner and...
A tie? Really?
Well, almost. All discs were 100% for 11 feet but the Crown and Judge really fell off at 22 and 33 feet. So my final 3 became the Colt, Deputy and Shaman. I put in 5 more rounds of each of those three to further narrow it down.
For the final 3, the shaman barely eked out a W from 22 feet at 80% vs 77.33% for the Colt and Deputy. From 33 feet, the Colt also barely achieved a W at 36% vs 34.67% for the Deputy and Shaman.
So technically speaking it's a tie between the Colt and Shaman for taking two wins each for the 3 available distances. So congrats to the Colt and Shaman!
With that said, The Colt and Deputy being 2.66% behind at 22 feet and the Deputy and Shaman being 1.33% behind at 33 feet is basically considered negligible so in my mind, I essentially have a 3 way tie.
If you'd like to check out the full spreadsheet of stats, here's a link.
So now what?
Well, I think now what it really comes down to for me is the hand feel of the disc. I need to spend some time really touching and feeling the final 3 options and determining which one feels best for my putting style and grip.
With that said, the Shaman is probably out of contention right away because it is just a hair too shallow for my liking. I like Gateway's plastic variety but I have a preference for one of the other slightly less shallow options.
Between the final two then, I would say I have a soft preference for the Colt over the Deputy because although the Deputy "fills my hand" more, it's not quite as comfortable where I rest my index finger on the lower rim profile of the disc. I think it has to do with the micro-bead on the colt vs beadless Deputy.
So as things sit, I'll probably end up picking up 3 more XT Colts or if for some reason I change my mind, 3 more Classic Deputies and then I will finally have a stack of 5 putters that I can practice with.
Either way, thanks for checking out my putting journey and I hope that you can find something helpful from my adventures.
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