Welcome to GOLF.com’s weekly training aid review series, in which GOLF’s Instruction Editor Luke Kerr-Dineen will review new, interesting and helpful training aids from around the golf world. This week: The Perfect Putter
Background
The Perfect Putter started gaining steam around 2014, and every year since has grown in popularity — especially among the game’s elite. It’s one of those devices you see all over the putting greens at PGA Tour events without really knowing what it does. Some guys — especially the scientific types, like Bryson DeChambeau — seem to incorporate it into everything they do on the practice greens.
The Product
The product itself is so unlike other training aids you might be excused for not realizing it’s a training aid at all. In simple terms, it’s a collapsable, metal ramp that vaguely resembles a stimpmeter. You find a putt, then you roll balls down the ramp at whatever speed you’d like until you find the perfect line and speed. At that point, you take the ramp away and practice hitting putts using one of the various add-ons. A gate to roll your ball through, for instance, or a laser to double check your aim and ensure the putterhead is moving correctly.
The Price
The original Perfect Putter, which includes four different gates to practice your putts and a carrying case, sells for $299.00. The newer, Perfect Putter Tour, which can fold into a more compact shape to fit into your bag, sells for $349.00. Additional add-ons are available at varying prices. Among them: A path trainer for $49, an alignment aid for $39 and a laser for $149.
Does it Work?
It’s not a traditional training aid because you don’t actually hit balls with it, but that’s not a bad thing — on the contrary. It almost serves as an experimental tool to help your game. People who struggle reading greens and understanding how the speed of a putt can affect the line would be well served to spend some time with The Perfect Putter. Buying the tool with a few add-ons, in my opinion, is essential though. And it’s well worth it. Once you begin rolling putts after you’ve found the perfect line and speed, it takes all the the second-guessing out of it. If you start missing putts, you’ve got nobody to blame but yourself.
