How To Measure Putter Length

Golfers often purchase golf clubs, putters included, straight off the shelves of their local sporting goods store, their local retail outlets, online, or from a fellow golfer.

But these purchases are made with no thought as to if that particular putter is even a proper fit to them or their game.

There is no one off-the-rack set of clubs designed to fit every single golfer or even the majority of golfers. If you took the putter measurements of some professional golfers, you would find that all have different sizes including lie angle, length, offset, design and weight.

Now, let's look at the best ways to measure putter length:

Putter Length

How you set up to your putt is directly affected by the length of your putter. If you are like the majority of recreational golfers, you are playing with a putter that is either too short or too long for your natural stroke.

Putters That Are Too Long

Using a putter that's too long for you will set the ball too far away from your body. This affects how your eyes are positioned over the ball, having your eyes not over the target line, but inside of it.

This will also cause your arms and hands to be much closer than you want to your body, not allowing your arms to hang naturally. This causes you to manipulate your hands and arms through the stroke to compensate for the length.

Putters That Are Too Short

Putters that are too short for you produce the opposite result. The ball is set too close to your body, causing your eyes to be well outside of your target line. It will also cause you to have to extend your arms out further from your body, creating the need to have to reach out to the ball during the stroke.

Finding Your Ideal Putter Length

To find your ideal putter length, you can use a straightforward method right in your own home:

Without a putter in your hands, set up to address over a ball as if you were going to putt. Let your arms hang naturally in front of you as you reach out and grip an imaginary putter in the most comfortable and natural feeling manner; this will set your hands in their most natural position without being influenced by gripping an actual putter.

Now without moving your hands or arms from this position, have a friend or spouse place your putter back in your hands. Notice where your hands are on the club compared to where you gripped it previously - you will probably be a bit surprised at where your hands end up on the putter.

This is the correct length you should be playing with. Now, with a piece of tape, mark one half-inch above the hand closest to your body on the putter grip. If your grip is far lower than before, it is your best playing size.

I hope this helps you. Thanks for reading! Now that you know the right putter length for you, consider thinking about using rangefinders to help dial in your long game.