PutterZone – Best Putter Reviews
A new putter company says that personal fitting is the path to putting happiness—and that it is ready to lead the way.
Indeed, Alabama-based Goode Putters is practicing what it preaches by offering its putters with a full suite of custom-fitting options at the point of purchase.
But do Goode putters ($199 to $249) truly deliver the goods? Following is PutterZone.com’s Goode putter review.
The Storyline
Goode Putters was founded by the Goode family, with Greg Goode and his father Malcolm heading up the operation. They unveiled their first putters at the PGA Merchandise Show in Florida earlier this year.
Wielding more than 15 years in the metal machining business, Greg and Malcolm are also avid golfers, a passion that inspired them to turn their professional attention to putters. But rather than simply craft putters, the Goodes created a personal fitting system that allows golfers to mix and match putter features to their personal preference. Available customization includes:
-Lengths from 29.25 to 36 inches, offered in increments of a quarter inch.
-Lie angles between 68 and 72 degrees
-Three hosel options: full offset, half offset and no offset (pictured below)
-Three head styles favoring three stroke types: straight, slight arc and wide arc
-Two head compositions: milled stainless steel and milled carbon steel
-Three grip colors spanning two sizes, regular and mid-size
To assist with personal fitting, the company’s web site features a “Dominant Eye Offset” chart for determining hosel style, as well as a chart that applies length and lie to your height and setup style.
Each of the three head styles has its own balance and toe hang properties, enabling them to favor different stroke types. The Series 1 head (335 grams) is designed for a straight-back-straight-through stroke. The Series 2 head (340 grams) favors a wide arcing stroke, while the Series 3 (345 grams, pictured above) head appeals to a shallower arc.
About the only things that aren’t customizable on Goode putters are swingweight and loft. But even the loft of the putters—or lack thereof—has a story. Indeed, all Goode putters have zero degrees of loft, bucking the standard of two to four degrees. According to the company, the zero-loft face imparts a more immediate true roll.
The cost of a custom Goode putter is $199 for a carbon steel version and $249 for a stainless steel version. The heads and shaft units (hosel, shaft and grip) are also sold separately, enabling the golfer to swap heads or offsets. The heads are removable via a screw in the sole.
The View from PutterZone.com
Many, if not most, recreational golfers haven’t given a lot of thought to putter fitting, instead trusting that what they’ve pulled from the retail rack is sufficient enough. My friend Will is one such golfer, so I invited him to join me in ordering a Goode putter.
There were a couple of things that stood out about Will’s existing putter. For starters, the 33-inch length was too short for his relatively upright setup, forcing him to straighten and lock his arms at address, and thus creating tension in his stroke. Also, while Will subscribes to a straight-back-straight-through putting stroke, his putter was a heel-shafted Zing-style model, which favors a wide arcing stroke.
Within minutes on the Goode web site, Will had remedied the situation, opting for a 34-inch length, and choosing the face-balanced Series 1 head, which favors a straight-back-straight-through stroke. He also opted for the no-offset hosel and the 71 degree lie angle, both of which were determined through Goode’s online fitting process. He chose the stainless steel head over the black carbon steel head, as his eye preferred the stainless finish.
And just like that, within 10 minutes, my friend had built a putter to fit—rather than fight—his physique and mechanics. How cool is that?
My experience was similar, although I chose the Series 3 head to fit a shallow arcing stroke and the half-offset hosel per Goode’s eye-dominance recommendations, resisting my personal urge toward full offset. I also chose the carbon steel head.
The carbon steel versions at $199 offer the most bang for the buck, particularly as they don’t feel substantially different than the pricier stainless steel versions, based on my comparisons with both. The look of the putters is quiet and reserved, with ornamentation being limited a simple Goode logo in the cavity. I would have liked to see something—anything—stamped into the sole of the putter to make it look a bit less raw.
The Goode putter’s zero-loft face initially required a bit of acclimation. Loft is one of those things you don’t really notice until it’s gone. Peering down at the Goode putter at address is like looking down a razor’s edge, an effect amplified by the sharp cornering of the topline.
I reside in a dry climate with hard greens, conditions that favor lower lofts, so as long as I didn’t put a forward press on my stroke, the ball rolled nicely. Golfers with a forward press—the act of leaning the shaft toward the target and essentially de-lofting the club—may find themselves pinching the ball upon contact.
The Goode Series 3 putter performed beautifully for me across several sessions, offering crisp feedback and a clean roll. The sweet spot isn’t huge, so this is a putter that will keep you honest. The zero-loft face fosters a disciplined setup, particularly on the low- and no-offset models, as it clearly exposes variations in shaft angle. Once I locked into the putter’s visual cues, I began sinking longer and longer putts.
I believe that the Goode putters will be a boon for golfers who are willing to work to be consistent with their putting. In addition to offering the foundational benefits of personal fitting, these putters, by nature, foster disciplined mechanics.
The Bottom Line
The Goode family isn’t just making great putters—they are performing a public service by demystifying the core aspects of putter fitting and making it easy for golfers to embark on the process. Goode putters offer reliable performance in a distinctive package, with the $199 carbon steel heads offering the most bang for the buck. Goode putters will particularly appeal to golfers who are inquisitive about fitting and committed to raising their game.
