By Leith Anderson
It takes a lot of self-confidence for a putter designer to think he can create a putter that actually works better. Thousands of dreamers have tested their ingenuity against that challenge for four hundred years. A lot of very successful designers spend their time (and make their fortunes) updating traditional designs. There are very few original ideas in the putter business.
One of the benefits of writing for Golf Today is the opportunity to make the acquaintance of the top designers in the business and get the "inside story." I usually walk past the putter booths because I’ve been playing with the same Odyssey blade for six or seven years. Despite a recent detour into belly country, I keep coming back to my old favorite. But lately, I’ve been wondering if the same technology advances that have made drivers and irons easier to hit were not also occurring in the putter world. That’s what motivated me to slow down at the recent Northern California Golf Show and spend some time discussing putter technology with Mark Morgulis.
Individual PassionMark Morgulis, known to his friends as "Goolie," is a very self-confident putter designer. He honed his skills at Taylor Made where he was the designer of the well-received Rossa line. But Taylor Made is a company that reveres drivers and irons because that’s where the big money is made. Mark left Taylor Made to form his own company because he believed that he could not realize his vision in the corporate environment. It’s easy to agree with his belief that true creativity is rarely achieved by corporate committees.
As a custom golf shop owner, I hear about products that work from our customers. I first became aware of Goolie putters when a top junior tournament player brought one into the shop. He described his putter from a company that nobody knew and said, "I don’t know why it works, but it does."
Mark founded Goolie Golf based on a fundamental design concept. His goal was to create a putter that delivers the face square to the ball, starting the putt on line more consistently than other putters. We all know you make very few putts that don’t get to the hole. Missing left or right is just as fatal. The Goolie was designed to "resist the twist" that causes a putt to start off line. I thought it was fair to ask how he accomplished that objective.
Most designers try to stabilize the putter by adding weight to the heel and toe. That technique is aimed at increasing the "polar moment of inertia" which is the tendency of the blade to twist off line. The grandfather of all polar balanced putters was the Ping Anser, reprised and made famous by Scotty Cameron and others. But Mark was searching for a better idea.
A more recent trend in extreme weight redistribution in putters is to move
the weight to the back. That’s the design concept behind the very popular Bobby
Grace line now marketed by MacGregor. Moving the weight to the back has the
advantage of starting the ball on a nice smooth roll, but does little to keep
the face square.
The unique design concept of the Goolie putter was to move the center of gravity to the precise center of the head. The Goolie is all about balance. Mark’s notion was that if he could promote a smooth takeaway and steady pace through impact he would increase the percentage of on-center hits and consequently produce straighter putts. Placing the center of gravity in the exact center of the head is unique in the putter business.
As an engineer, Mark knew that the ultimate putter design to resist twisting is a putter with a perfectly round head. No twisting, but a very small sweet spot. The "Putter Ball" is a great training aid but not very useful on the course. What is the next "best" shape? That led Mark to a highly symmetrical mallet design. If you’re a believer in traditional putter designs, you’re going to do a double take when you first lay eyes on a Goolie. If Captain Kirk were going to play golf on Mars, he would surely have a Goolie in his bag. The putter comes in colors that you don’t usually see on the golf course. It’s a mallet, but the shape is vaguely like a bullet. It has two raised "pillows" that give the head dimension and serve as alignment aids. Aiming is very natural.
The ultimate test is to take the putter to the course and see how it performs. Mark sent me a couple of Goolies. I put a belly version in my bag and The Dane took the BGS-Ex with a center shaft. The Dane and I have been playing together for the last few weeks at the Palo Alto Muni starting the back nine at 7:30 AM. We make up a crazy practice game and the loser buys breakfast. The Dane frequently misses a couple of putts a round and that makes the omelet taste better because he’s paying for it.
Not this time. The Dane made a four footer to save par on the tenth. He made a ticklish downhill twister on the eleventh for birdie. Lipped out a thirty footer for birdie on twelve. You get the picture. He just bought a Miura Anser derivative a couple of weeks ago and hadn’t quite amortized the $300 "investment" so his aggravation increased with every putt he made. In the end, I bought breakfast. It wasn’t a huge embarrassment; the Dane posted one under.
The Dane’s comments were "very stable" and "the softest feel I’ve ever felt in a putter."
The Goolie belly wasn’t quite as magical. I was having a hard time with my setup. The belly putters that I’ve been playing are set up with a flatter lie angle and I wasn’t making solid contact. When I reported my experience to Mark in a follow-up phone call, he surprised me. "I don’t think that the Goolie is real good as a belly putter" was his candid evaluation. Mark’s theory is that since the belly putter is anchored against the body, balance doesn’t matter as much. I took that as an omen and resolved to take the BGS-Ex to the course the next day. (I repossessed it quickly after breakfast.)
I had the Goolie and The Dane was back with his Miura. This was destined to be one of the days when the omelet tasted good. There were no miracles but the Goolie turned in a very solid performance.
I was not too sharp with my irons so I faced a lot of long first putts. The Goolie is very good with distance control. I had no three putts and on one second putt that I had to make. So far, so good.
One of the reasons I’ve experimented with belly putters is that they get the ball on line more reliably for me. I know when a putt leaves the face of the putter if it has a chance to go in. Ask yourself this question: "What percentage of your putts do you know that you missed at the moment of impact?" When I ask my playing partners that question, they frequently say 50% or more. When you think about it, that’s a poor ratio. I’ve had days with a belly putter when almost all of my putts had a chance to go in.
Putting with the Goolie reminded me of the belly putter consistency. After the ball left the face, I found myself watching intently as it tracked to the hole, rather than turning away in disgust. That’s a pretty good indicator that Mark achieved his design objective. I felt that the feel was very soft and I particularly liked the soft "click" that the Goolie gives off on impact. To me, sound has a lot to do with feel.
As you might expect, I’m not quite finished tweaking the Goolie. The BGS-Ex that I was using was a straight center shafted model. I found that I had a slight tendency to leave the face open. When I missed, I missed to the right. I have never really fallen in love with straight center shafted putters. I plan on trying the Goolie with the unique double bend heel shaft. I’m also going to take the belly putter and cut it down to conventional length. I would like to try a little heavier head. Playing the belly model at conventional length will accomplish that. All Goolie putters have a 71° lie angle so that modification should be straightforward. Finally, I’m going to see how the Balance-Certified counterweight system works in a Goolie. For me, counter-weighting a putter helps distance control so this might be an outstanding modification. Once I get all the details worked out, I’ll probably swap the Goolie-Winn grip for a leather. You just can’t beat the feel of a leather grip on your putter.
It takes more than a couple of days to get accustomed to a new putter, but for now, I’m going to have a Goolie in the bag and see if new technology will help improve my putting statistics.
Goolie putters are manufactured in two styles. The BGS¬33 is a compact mallet shape available in a single bend heel shaft or a straight center shaft. The BGS-Ex is 20% larger. Both heads weigh precisely 355 grams and have the same swing weight. The only significant difference in the head designs is the size, which is simply a matter of personal preference. The belly putter head weighs 375 grams. Goolie also offers a long putter.
The Goolie face insert is "virgin" aluminum. Mark purposely chose to avoid anodizing the aluminum insert to promote a softer feel. All Goolie putters are hand assembled at a precision factory in Vista, California. The factory was founded by Kia Ma, famous for putter manufacturing and finishing. Nothing was left to chance in a quest for perfection in putting.
There is one other aspect of Goolie putters that is unique. In a pursuit for a "Tour Presence" a number of professionals have put Goolies in play. Unlike other manufacturers, there is no custom department for Tour players. The Goolie that is played on Tour is straight off the production line. That will be pretty convenient for Ray Floyd, Craig Bowden, and Keith Fergus. If they lose their Goolies, they can pick up a replacement at their local Golf Shop. If you live in the Bay Area, you can demo the complete Goolie line at the Golf Lab in Palo Alto or Haggin Oaks in Sacramento.
Goolie Golf is so confident that their BGS-33 and BGS-Ex putters ($179) will help golfers improve their game, that they offer an unconditional 30-day money back guarantee on the purchase price. Morgulis maintains, "The proof is in the putting. If you don’t love our putter, we want it back." For additional information or to order, call 858-277-5393 or visit www.gooliegolf.com.