What is putter toe hang? And why is it important?

Last updated: 30 September 2020

An image showing a face balanced, slight toe hang and significant toe hang putter.

Putter toe hang can be the defining factor in whether a putter suits your stroke or hinders it. Here’s how to decide whether face-balanced, slight or heavy toe hang models best suit you.

Getting the right putter model to suit your individual stroke is absolutely crucial if you’re to optimise your putting potential. Make the wrong decision and there’s a real possibility you’ll end up with a putter that’s weighted to fight your natural stroke, which leads to inconsistency on the green.

That’s exactly why Ping goes to such lengths (with its fitting programme and iPing app) to make sure you get it right. So if you’ve ever loved a putter’s shape, but found you’ve never really putted well with it, there’s a good chance the set-up wasn’t right for your stroke.

Get the decision right, though, and you’ll stride onto every green with a putter that naturally complements your putting action.

TESTED: Best 2020 Putter

Every Ping putter is optimised for one of these three stroke types…

FACE-BALANCED PUTTERS

Balance the putter’s shaft on an index finger and the face naturally wants to point up towards the sky. This style of weight set-up is better for golfers with straighter strokes.

Face Balanced Putter

Ping says: If you take the putter back and through on a relatively straight path with a closing angle of 3.5° or less, then you’ll putt most consistently with a face-balanced model. Ping identify straight stroke putters with a blue (straight) shaft label.

Ping models in this category

Heppler: Piper C, Piper Armlock, Fetch, Ketsch, Tomcat 14

Sigma 2: Fetch, Kushin C, Tyne, Valor

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‘If you’ve ever loved a putter head shape but found you’ve never really putted well with it, there’s a good chance the set-up wasn’t right for your stroke’.

MID-HANG PUTTERS

The putter’s toe will fall midway between horizontal and the ground when you balance it on your index finger. This style of set-up is better for slight arc strokes.

Moderate toe hang putter

Ping says: From our tests the majority of golfers fall into the slight arc category. Look for a closing angle between 3.5°-7.5° on the iPing 2.0 app to see if your stroke fits this putter set-up. Ping identify slight arc putter models with a green (slight arc) shaft label.

Ping models in this category

Heppler: Tomcat 14, Tyne 3, Anser 2, Piper Armlock, Ketsch

Sigma 2: Anser, Arna, Tyne, Valor, Wolverine H

REVEALED: Best 2020 Putter Grip

TOE-DOWN PUTTERS

Balanced on an index finger, the toe of a toe-down model will naturally point more downwards towards the ground. This set-up is a better fit for stronger arc strokes.

Toe down putter

Ping says: If your putter travels further inside on the back and through swing, you have a strong arc. If you see a closing rate of 7.5° or above on the iPing app you’ll see greater consistency with a toe-down model. We identify all strong arc putters with a red (strong arc) shaft label.

Ping models in this category

Heppler: Floki, ZB 3

Sigma 2: Tyne 4, ZB 2