Acer CB6 Putter - Custom Assembled

Advertised as a cross between a blade and a mallet, Acer has designed this club to pull the weight to the out on two wings for additional moment of intertia (resistance to twisting).

It caught my eye because at first glance it looks like one of those Starship Enterprise Star Trek putters GolfSmith was selling a few years ago. The principle’s certainly the same.

One of the big thrills each year at the Detroit Auto Show (this week!) is the unveiling of various concept cars: state of the art vehicles that likely will never see the showroom floor but some of whose ideas probably will make it into production models.

Nike’s Method Concept putter, on the other hand, will soon make it to a pro shop near you. “Inspired by the notion of the Concept car,” Nike says, it “blends art with science without sacrificing the game-changing performance that Nike Method technology delivers – a smoother stroke and a truer roll with far less skid.”

It’s certainly original looking. The idea is to to give the impression of a blade, while offering the stability of a mallet. The red, contrasted with the black, certainly seems to give the desired impression.

It’ll be available February 17, and you no doubt will be able to buy it at You can get it at Golfsmith Golf & Tennis

The complete press release follows

Hireko Golf sent me one of their new Hindsight Putters for a test, and it is without a doubt one of the most unusual I’ve encountered. Indeed, at first glance, I thought it it was a left handed model. That’s because the centered shaft leans forward, putting the head behind the shaft. It just looks wrong. Once I set up with it, though,  I saw immediately what Hireko’s designers had done. The club hangs naturally, and is in perfect position for a forward press stroke. Belying its looks, the Hindsight is perfectly balanced.

Here’s what the literature says:

The Dynacraft Hindsight putter was scientifically designed to get the ball rolling forward sooner by using two key features in unison - a forward press and roll face technology. The forward hand press is said to create a fluid, rhythmic stroke, but more importantly to keep the hands moving through the stroke. The Hindsight putter incorporates a 3 degree forward press or just enough to position the hands even with the leading edge.

With roll face technology as incorporated into the Dynacraft Hindsight putter, it normalizes the effective loft at impact to create the proper amount of loft to extract the ball from any indentation and get the ball rolling as quickly as possible for better distance control.

Lastly it is completed with grooves into the roll face as well as face balanced. The Dynacraft Hindsight is a unique putter producing extraordinary results!

In a short putting session on the carpet at GolfBlogger World Headquarters, I found I liked the putter’s performance. My preference has always been for straight-in center shafts, so it sets up well for my eye. The forward angled shaft works for me, too.

I like it.

Grade A
Teachers Comments: the Radi-Eye applies an old principle to a new stick to good results.

One upon a time, when woods were made of persimmon they were carved (or players sanded them) with slightly curved faces to take advantage of the “gear effect.” With a little bulge built into the clubheads, balls that caught the outside edges of the face had a tendency to spin back toward the center. Theoretically, this will make your shots stay closer to the target line. The design in many cases was quite pronounced—much more so than any metal “woods” that still employ the idea today.

What the folk at Radi-Eye have done is to employ this principle in putter design.  The faces of their “flatsticks” are not flat at all, but convex. It looks rather strange, but makes me wonder why it hasn’t been done before. (perhaps it has, but for some reason didn’t catch on.)

In practice, I found the design effective. Once I adjusted my putting stroke (I normally play a straight-in shaft on a mallet style putter) I found I really liked the way it performed. Non-scientific experiments convinced me that off center impacts did indeed pull a little back to center with this stick. Due to the short distances and slower ball speeds, however, the effect will not be as pronounced as with a driver or wood—there just won’t be as much spin. Perhaps not surprisingly, I thought it performed especially well on lag putts.

The inventors of the putter claim that it can compensate for 4.5 degrees of push or pull during a putt. I think that’s probably about right. You won’t notice it, though, if you already have a putting stroke that consistently allows you to hit the sweet spot.

Other than the curvature of the face, the Radi-Eye looks like any other blade putter on the market. In a putter police lineup there wouldn’t be any other distinguishing characteristics. But then, a bulge on a flatstick should be enough. The head is milled form a single piece of 1018 steel, and can be configured as a long or belly putter, thanks to the 360 gram weight. I would, however, like to see them expand the design into other styles, such as a mallet, and straight-in shafts.

I think the Radi-Eye would be worth a look for players who have trouble making contact with the sweet spot on their putters. They’ve got a 30 Day Refund policy (minus shipping), so this could be worth your while.

You can see a video of the putter in action below:

You can get the putter here.

NIKE Method Core Putter

What caught my eye about the Nike Method Core is that it comes with in a straight, center shafted model—my favorite style. Its also got an interesting polymer-aluminum insert. I’ve seen polymer inserts, and I’ve seen metal inserts. This is the first combination insert I can recall. The design goal is the same as virtually every other putter: to reduce skid and get the ball rolling as soon as possible.

Looks like I’ll have to take a trip to my local pro shop to try one out.

NEVER COMPROMISE X-Ray Putter

These unusual looking putters feature a “Suspended Face Technology” that’s supposed to limit the surface area in contact with the ball to improve directional dispersion and providing consistent ball velocity across the face. The dual density insert uses isolated ribs embedded in a softer composite, which provides ultimate dampening yet a responsive feedback. By using the ultra lightweight face material, 25% of the putter s head weight is moved into the extremities of the design, offering great MOI properties. Additionally, the NC X-Ray series incorporates a gray and red alignment feature that helps you achieve a consistent setup and improved alignment.

Fantom White Putter

Grade: B+
Teacher’s Comments: A nice putter at a nice price

It’s early in the season, but I’ve put in extended practice with the Fantom at GolfBlogger World Headquarters and over two nines, and I can say with confidence that the Fantom is a nice putter at a nice price.

Two features stand out. The first is obvious from the photos: it’s got an enameled white finish, which makes the black alignment lines really stand out. Against a green carpet (like the one I have at World HQ), or on the slightly green-yellowish-brown greens of the early spring, the club head really pops. It’s probably all psychological, but I did think the white had a positive effect on alignment and visualization.

Not visible from the photos is the feel of the club: it’s heavier than the usual flat stick. According to PineMeadow, it weighs in at 340 grams—40 more than the “usual.” I prefer a heavier putter, and my regular stick (a Boccieri Heavy Putter) is heavier still—coming in at 475 grams for the head and 900 grams overall. I think that the heavier putters promote a smooth stroke, helping take excessive wrist action out of the equation. Pinemeadow also says—and I agree—that the heavier head gets the ball rolling quickly.

The feel of the ball of the putter is nice. Some written reports on the Pinemeadow website report a distracting metallic click, but as longtime GolfBlogger readers know, I am quite deaf and wouldn’t be able to report on that anyway.

The one thing I disliked about the design is the scoop on the underside (see bottom left photo). If I brushed the grass (carpet) too hard in swinging forward, the back end actually snagged. A slight change to my setup ended that, though.

Overall, I had great success with the Fantom putter, once I adjusted my stance and my swing a bit (my regular putter has a straight-in shaft, and the Fantom is a double bend, requiring a different stroke). I was knocking them down from all over the greens. But for the scoop problem, I’d give the stick an “A.” As it is, it’s a “B+.”