Counterpoint: You can putt with a premium-plastic putter

You won’t find a Pro Tour golfer with a premium-plastic putting putter.

To clarify, on both the MPO and FPO sides, there likely will be loads of premium-plastic putters in most bags – and possibly in the same mold used for C1X putting duties. But those discs won’t see any actual inside-the-circle action. They’ll be used strictly for approaches and short drives.

Last year, Taylor wrote about why this is – click here to read the full article.

Put simply, it’s for two reasons:

• More baseline-polymer putters grab the chains better.
• More baseline-polymer putters provide for better grip.

Though not always the case, they tend to be softer – they’ve got more give to ‘em. Naturally, when they come into contact with the chains, instead of slipping through, they catch and drop.

Furthermore, because they’re softer, they ding and gouge with repeated contact against metal. As silly as it sounds, combined with malleability, they provide for a more confident, sure-fire grip.

This is what the pros do …

In a sorry attempt to be like them, I do the same thing.

You probably do, too.

However, the more high-grade, premium-polymer options manufacturers offer, the less convinced I am that this is the ONLY way to pinpoint the ideal plastic for your putting putters.

For example, a K3 Hard Reko is an “acceptable” putting putter within the Kastaplast lineup. Get your mitts on a K1 Soft Reko, though, and tell me it’s incapable of chain-grabbing and great grip.

And if Kastaplast isn’t your jam, perhaps something more mainstream will do the trick. On paper, the Champion Aviar isn’t ideal for putting duties – it’s slick beyond belief, especially in the cold. But you know what’s just as slick and pretty mother-freaking firm in its own right?

The (illustrious) KC Pro Aviar.

Yes, there’s a difference in beatability. But beyond that and the presence of a bead, to act like the KC Pro Aviar is far superior on the putting green is nuts – and I putt with KC Pro Aviars. In fact, for as much as I enjoy bashing on GStar plastic, in Aviar form, it’d deliver as a putting putter.

It’s great against chains. It’s great for grip. It’s great in the cold. And all this with an added benefit you’ve not considered: Because it won’t beat-in quickly, you can throw it off the tee.

[Insert Audible Gasp]

I’m telling you …

This baseline stuff is all in your head.

Listen, I’m not gonna change the way I do things …

I don’t expect you to, either.

But the next time you see a guy putting with a Fuzion Judge during a tournament, cut him some slack. He might not be crazy; he might not be a newbie. Shockingly, he might be using more of that organ situated snugly between both of his ears than you and me – and to his benefit.

Who knows?

He might putt better because of it.

Have anything to add? Take to Twitter to let us know – we’ll actually (for real) get back to you.

Editor’s Suggestions:

• Disc golf: You need a soft approach disc in your bag
• Gripe No. 39: Backups on starting holes at disc golf courses
• Disc golf: Help find a lost disc (don’t just go through the motions)

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