OK first things first. I am NOT an equipment geek. I never go for the flavor of the month, the latest gizmo, or a shortcut “guaranteed to shave ten strokes off my game.” I’m a Luddite just like my dad. I remember him one summer at the Concord Hotel decades ago playing the Monster when he got paired with two hot shot long hitters who were bragging about their brand new graphite drivers.
Dad used his little old wooden 3-wood and beat them both handily. It’s not the clubs, it’s the guy swinging them.
That being said, the right equipment – that fits a player’s playing style can be important. Gap wedge or not? Hybrid? How much loft? Putter? Heavy or light? Flange, flat-faced or mallet?
Well meet a club I tried at the PGA show and tested out at Sawgrass that really worked for me – the Puku JME.
I putt from off the green a great deal sometimes from many yards away. If I get a bead on a line, I don’t care if I’m sixty yards away, it’s like I’m at St. Andrews baby and I’m putting to put it real close!
But to do that, I need a heavy putter, one with some weight behind it. I also prefer a flange design for control. My old T-line was great on long putts on the green, but I lacked the distance control and power from well off the green and it was too light on short putts, causing me to block them out right.
Enter the Puku (that’s pronounced “POO-koo” for those of you scoring at home) and some well thought out advice from creator Simon Moore and assistant Nolan Matthias. To get me swinging like a pendulum I moved much closer to the ball and lowered the adjustable grip to its lowest point, 30 inches to best accommodate my 5’7″ frame.
Bang. The short to medium length ones are rolling dead center with authority and the long ones are lagged to tap in distances. The tapered, inverted cone grip also gave me terrific feel.
Best of all, the club is totally conforming to USGA specs…so long as you do not re-adjust the length during your round. It is governed by the same rules as the R-7.
Webster’s defines “contraption” as “a strange looking device, a mechanical contrivance or gadget.” That’s the Puku. Yes, it looks weird. Yes, the moniker sounds like a silly name for your girlfriend’s cat. (You had to hear Eddie Peck of Black Mesa hazing me at Sawgrass! “Here Puku! Itty bitty Puku wooku kitty witty!” “Whassa madder widdle Puku…”)
He stopped that fast after a couple fifteen footers found the bottom. Who cares what it looks like or is called if it works really well?
The Puku brand is not for everyone, but if you like or need a heavy putter, you need to take this for a test drive. Great feel on the short ones, great authority to handle tough distance control putts, it’s a solid club. It’s a center-balanced head with a double milled face with three degrees of loft. The shape of the head comes in three flavors – my rounded bottom with a flange, a shallow rounded back flat-bottom and a shallow square back flat bottom. Call them or write them – and yes, drop my name.
Hey Jay,
Glad you enjoyed the putter. You were hitting it great at the show.
Love your blog and writing style, I am going to add a link on my website.
You can check it out at http://www.nolanmatthias.com and click on blog.
Nolan
Thank you Nolan, it really does work.
Oh, by the way, “Puku” is the Maori word for “belly.”