Thanks to the recent success of players like Matt Kuchar and Brian Gay on the PGA Tour, Bettinardi putters have been receiving a lot of well-deserved attention.
I spoke recently with Sam Bettinardi and got to test out the new BB37 Series putter, one of the world’s first “hybrid” putters.
In case you didn’t know, Bettinardi putters are made in the good ol’ U.S. of A. (Chicagoland, represent!) and are precision-milled to offer some of the best putters you will ever experience. With their new BB37 Series, Bettinardi pushes the envelope on innovation with a clubhead design that – in my opinion – is absolute perfection.
I prefer to use a mallet-style putter. That’s just how I roll. However, mallets can be slightly on the heavier side and sometimes accentuate bad putting stoke habits. To combat this problem, the BB37 putter molds the lighter qualities of a blade putter with the weighted control offered by a mallet head. The semi-half-moon head design allows for increased perimeter weighting on the heel and toe, resulting in a more forgiving sweet spot on off-center hits.
In addition, the ramp-style neck results in a nice amount of offset at address, allowing the neck and putter shaft to “dissolve” into the hybrid blade. Finally, the BB37 wouldn’t be complete without Bettinardi’s trademark Hyper Honeycomb face, making this club one of the most attractive I have ever seen.
How does the club feel? Simply put: amazing. While slightly “harder” than I typically like putter faces to feel at impact, the muffled sound feedback provides a “soft” sensation that fans of a rubber face will recognize and love. The ball rolls pure and true off the face, holding the intended line on what seemed like auto-pilot. I literally had to try to miss putts after a few minutes. It is that accurate.
Bettinardi painstakingly takes the time to fit each putter to your custom specifications by design. You can purchase a Bettinardi putter without a custom fitting, but you would be doing yourself a disservice. It is evident why so many professional players are relying on Bettinardi for high performance and an immense attention to detail.
I have long been a fan of Bettinardi putters dating back to my days as a caddy. After hitting a few putts with the new BB37 Series, I can safely say that I will keep a Bettinardi putter in my bag from this point forward.
