If you are new to putting and are exploring the different types of putters, or you are just curious about putter styles, you may have come across the mallet putter. The mallet putter is quite popular amongst many golfers in comparison to other putter types, and offers many benefits. To give you a better idea of what the club is and what it offers, I did some research to give you an in-depth guide to everything you need to know about mallet putters.
What are mallet putters? Mallet putters are a style of putter that have quite a large club head. They are typically oval or square in shape and are much wider than other types of putters. Mallet putters are typically more forgiving than other types of putters as their weight is distributed throughout the club head rather than at the face of the club.
Are Mallet Putters More Forgiving?
In general, mallet putters are much more forgiving than other clubs like a blade putter. The weight in a mallet putter is distributed more evenly throughout the entire clubhead, which means that when you hit the ball off-center (which can happen pretty frequently especially for beginners), the ball won’t stray as far off of the putt line.
Typically, if a ball is hit off-center, the putter will turn slightly, which will propel the ball off its desired path. However, a mallet putter has higher MOI (moment of inertia), which means an off-center putt will not turn the club as much, thus making it a much more forgiving and accurate putter for most golfers.
Will A Mallet Putter Help With Short Putts?
Yes, mallet putters do in fact help with shorter putts. A study done by pluggedingolf found that around 75% of their subjects improved on their shorter putts when they were using a heavier putter. As a result, a heavy putter, like the mallet putter, will improve your shorter putts.
Pros and Cons of Mallet Putters
There are many benefits and some drawbacks to using a mallet putter, so I outlined them here to give you a better idea of if they could help you with your game.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| The distribution of weight throughout the clubhead makes the putter much more forgiving: - Less putts will stray off of your line of putt - More consistent and accurate putts - Easier for distance control | It’s weight distribution makes it a bit difficult to use on faster greens. |
| Mallet putters are better for alignment as they are wider, which gives them more room to include an alignment line on top of the head. | They are not great for those who have an arc-style putt. |
Do Pros Use Mallet Putters?
Absolutely! There are actually many pros that use mallet putters on the PGA tour. In fact from 2018 to 2020, the amount of pro players that used mallet putters on tour rose from 44% to roughly 60%.
Here is a short list of some professional players that use mallet putters:
- J.T. Poston
- Louis Oosthuizen
- Denny McCarthy
- Andrew Putnam
- Webb Simpson
- Wyndham Clark
Something interesting that I mentioned above is that there is a big movement towards mallet putters. It could be that many professionals are moving towards the option that provides a more forgiving putt, but it could also have to do with the fact that many mallet putters are evolving.
More specifically, mallet putters are not moving beyond their typical ‘face balanced’ design. There are toe hang mallet putters that are more widely available nowadays which increases its appeal to golfers that may have different swing styles that previously did not work well with a mallet putter.
