I tried this VIP putter fitting experience. Here’s how to get it for free

Six months later, my putting has improved by leaps and bounds, just from a putter fitting that opened my eyes to what types of putters I should actually be using.

And that is possible gain the same VIP putter fitting experience I now had it for free at Bettinardi Golf.

Throughout the holiday season, Fairway Jockey is running a promotion where you can win a free, all-expenses-paid trip to Bettinardi’s Studio B fitting facility in Oak Brook, Illinois, outside of Chicago, where you’ll receive a custom elite putter fitting, your own handmade putter, and a behind-the-scenes tour.

Between November 3 and December 29, you’ll receive one automatic entry into the giveaway, which will draw a total of four winners every two weeks. That means there are still a few chances to win this premier putter fitting experience. The four winners will be notified by telephone or email and will receive the trip, including flights and accommodation. Travel coordination will begin the first week of January, after the promotional period has officially ended.

You can read more about my experience below, but I thought this would be a good time to revisit my putter adjustment and how it helped me.

Since that fitting that landed me in a Bettinardi BB-28SB, a face-balanced blade putter that I thought would never fit properly, putting has gone from potentially being one of the weakest parts of my game to a strength. I was afraid of a miss on the left side and now I feel like I’m releasing the putter head freely and knowing it will start on the intended line.

As you’ll read below, Tom Sopic, Studio B’s head caretaker, pushed me to my limits on hitting putts and discovered that the high-toe-flow putter I was using caused me to put more hook spin on the ball than forward roll, which was the cause of my left miss.

Since then I feel like I’m making one or two – or more – 10+ putts per round, and I’ve made it to the final of my club championship. This summer was by far my best on the greens and can only lead to bigger things in the coming years once I get the rest of my game in order.

Keep reading below for my experiences and enter Fairway Jockey’s Bettinardi VIP Fitting Giveaway today!

I got fit for a putter at Bettinardi’s Studio B. The result shocked me

Editor’s note: This story was originally published on June 3.

As I’ve chronicled my own golf journey through equipment, I’ve begun to realize that I’ve fallen into some of the bad habits we preach against here at GOLF.

Take my well.

It wasn’t until I was fit for a putter at Bettinardi’s Studio B that I became aware of the putter stroke and the putter I should be using.

Today I’m in a putter style that I could never have imagined, but I felt and saw immediate results with how easy it was to roll the ball end-over-end on the intended line.

For those who are hesitant to get fit for a putter, this article is for you.

Some background information about my putters

All my life I have used a Ping Anser style blade putter, the type of putter that came in my first American children’s golf set. The first Scotty Cameron my dad cut for me was a 2005 Studio Style Newport 2.5 with a GSS insert.

That putter has a flowing neck and a lot of toe hang, which I always thought suited my stroke because I always thought of the putting stroke as an arc and opening the face back was the easiest way to square it back up.

In 2010, the first golf club I ever bought myself was a 1999 Scotty Cameron Teryllium II Newport 2 for $150 on eBay, and I had it refinished. This putter has a plumber’s neck, but I went with feel and didn’t know anything about putter fittings at the time.

I continued to use that putter for 13 years before a newer Teryllium version came out, this time as a wide body blade with a short bevel neck with high toe and flow. I still thought my stroke was best suited to lots of toe flow, so I packed one and never thought twice about it.

I have become suitable for this putter, but… after I had already bought it. I got fit for the putter, instead of finding a putter that suited me.

But as these things often go, I was wrong!

My Bettinardi putter fitting

I was excited to go to Bettinardi’s Studio B in Oak Brook, Illinois, just outside of Chicago; it would be my first putter fitting where we would be starting from scratch, and I went into it with a completely open mind.

From the moment we started rolling putts, I realized something was about to change.

“Does this green have a bit of a left break?” I asked innocently, thinking I was hitting good putts.

“It’s actually more of one right break, if anything,” said Tom Sopic, head concierge of Studio B and my installer for the day.

With the help of a high-tech camera system in the fitting room and Quintic putting analysis, Sopic discovered a huge revelation about my putting stroke.

He didn’t even have to see the video to confirm it.

“Watching you hit a few putts in your warm-up, I could tell it was more of a swing stroke,” he said. “The easiest way we saw it was that when we got to the top of your stroke, the pocket of your putter was right behind the golf ball.”

On the video screen, Tom showed me that my putter face remains almost square for most of the stroke, as opposed to opening on the return and closing on the return, like an arc. Because the clubface naturally wants to close on the follow-through, this created a hitch in my putting stroke, where I would usually hit the ball on the heel and pull.

We could also see that my eyes were about 2 to 2.5 golf balls wide in the heel of the putter, which was because my putter was long (36″).

“When people fit into toe hang putters, they often recommend that your eyes fall into the heel, which is what we do,” Sopic said. “But that distance from it, because you’re a shuttle-style putter, is going to create a lot of exaggerated arc that isn’t there naturally.”

All of this caused my golf ball to launch with almost as much side spin as forward roll. The Quintic analysis showed my forward spin at an average of 51 RPM and side spin at 45 RPM. Ideally, Sopic said, you want three times as much forward spin as side spin. It wasn’t consistent either, as my highest side spin up to 75 RPM was hook spin!

The result of my putter fitting

We stuck with a blade style putter because, while I believe a mallet putter is more forgiving, I have never found one that I enjoy looking at. I’ve gone to wider blades to give me more forgiveness and that seems to help.

Our winning putter was three degrees flatter (67˚) than my gamer (since the toe of my putter still came in high), and half an inch shorter (35.5″), which put my eyes right over the heel of the putter. It didn’t really feel that different to me, and that was exactly what Sopic was going for. My spine angle did not change when I addressed the shorter putter.

Bettinardi BB28 Slotback putter

After a successful debut in the latest BB line, RJB took its BB28 back to the workshop for some artful and groundbreaking tweaks, resulting in the newly refined BB28 Slotback. The new and improved wide-body blade is slightly more compact, with shorter heel-to-toe and pocket lengths, while also featuring longer muscles and bumpers. The slotback milled from the flange serves as a natural alignment aid, allowing you to frame the ball perfectly at address. The nearly balanced BB28 Slotback features a single curved shaft that flows seamlessly into the spud neck, creating a three-quarter offset shaft for easy setup and a consistently effortless putting stroke.

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The real shocker for me was the head and neck, which was a Bettinardi BB-28 Slot Back, an almost face-balanced putter with a single bend shaft. I had never used a putter without a hosel before.

Interestingly, the BB-28 has an identical offset (3/4 of a shaft) as my previous gamer, which, despite the absence of a Hosel, looked completely different; however, lining up for a putt felt almost the same. That’s no coincidence, Sopic said, because right-eye dominant players like me, who like to use sight lines on the flange to align their putts, also prefer less offset.

But the results on the Quintic were clear. With six putts, my forward rolls averaged 60 RPM of forward spin and only 12 RPM of side spin, well above the minimum 3:1 ratio.

The great thing about the Studio B experience was that a new putter was built exactly for me to my exact specifications, and I was able to start playing with it that afternoon.

I won’t lie and say there wasn’t an adjustment period, especially considering I’ve been afraid of pulling short putts for almost six months, but by my third round with this putter (and even the back nine that day) it was clear that this putter was a better fit for me than any other I’d owned before.

What this putter fitting really tells us

We could go on and on about how this has really changed the way I think about my putting, or how it’s going to improve my game, but the reality is simple:

You have to be fit for your putter, not Unpleasant your putter! There is a difference.

It also comes down to more than just specifications. Different putter shapes, faces, necks, etc. all do different things. I could bend and cut my old putter to meet the same specs as this new one, but it still wouldn’t work as well because of toe flow.

So my suggestion: get fit and then buy a putter; your scores will thank you later. It will only cost you about $100 to $150 ($100 at Bettinardi’s Studio B), which isn’t actually that much if you’re already spending $400-$500 on a new putter. Think of it as an investment because all the money you will ultimately win on the greens!

A few notes about the giveaway: It is only available to US residents. Ground transportation is not included in the price. The spending threshold is calculated based on the subtotal after any discounts are applied and before taxes and shipping charges are applied. Items or orders that are returned and refunded will not count toward entry. All products from TaylorMade, Ping, Odyssey and Scotty Cameron are excluded from the promotion and do not count towards the purchase thresholds. However, product add-ons such as axles, grips, and ferrules count toward all purchase thresholds.

Ready to earn some entries? Discover Fairway Jockey’s wide range of equipment here – And click here for more information about the Bettinardi giveaway.

Want to find the best putter for your game? Find a club fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

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