My first Tom Slighter Experience

displayname · January 4, 2016

Last month I contacted Tom Slighter to discuss some work I wanted done on my gamer. I know most others that contact him are doing major overhauls in finish, hosels, milling, stamps, etc. I wanted to share my experience and the outcome of the final product.

I first got in touch with Tom with one major project in mind - adding weight. I was fit for my putter a little over a year ago, and the biggest change we made was adding powder down the shaft to increase the head weight. Some other tweaks were made, but they were tweaks at the most. This set up was a great functional fit for me, but I also felt the feel was just off. Things seemed very boardy and ridged, and it's hard to explain, but having that much weight in the tip of the shaft made things feel unbalanced.

When I contacted Tom, we discussed adding weight to the head instead of inside the shaft, and I initially wanted some stamp work done. I also decided while I was moving things around I would take a gamble and experiment with a Nippon putter shaft. I'd only read positive reviews, so I figured this would be a good time for it.

After a few emails with Tom, we elected that the stampings I wanted would be risky given the shape of the putter. Just not easy to get a good hold on the rounded and thin flange. To me, this is where Tom's customer service really stood out most. He explained what would not be done, what could be done, and what could possibly be done, but only at risk. After these discussions, I opted to just scrap the stamping all together. I felt that there was no need to risk the look of the putter when I was already very happy with that.

Once Tom had my putter in hand, it only took him a business day or two to complete the headweighting work. I was really impressed with this because I was expecting a much longer wait, especially coming into the holidays. After that is was just a matter of waiting on the shaft to arrive from Tour Spec. The precision was outstanding. The stamped headweight was 340g, and I requested we get that up to 365. Tom's email back confirmed a new headweight of 366g, which I was more then pleased with.

The putter got back to me this weekend, and I was able to get it out on the grass Sunday. I have to say I'm glad I decided to do this project. Although the look of the putter is not altered, and the specs are VERY close to what I'd previously sent him, the feel has changed dramatically, for the better. With the new weights, the putter feels slightly more forgiving and everything just feels more fluid. I'm sure a portion of that is credited to the shaft change, but I feel balance has really been restored to the build. It only took about 5 strokes to get a feel for the additional shaft weight, and from then on, everything just felt right.

I have to add that Tom's work and craftsmanship is outstanding. Everything looks like it was designed to be where it is, and he's helped me create a true one of a kind piece. I don't know when I'll need more work done, but when I do I will turn to Tom first. It was a great experience, and I highly recommend it for anyone who has a vision to make an "almost perfect" putter into a dream come true.

TPDawnPatrol · January 4, 2016

Looks nice, maybe you should have had Tom draw a line through the 340g and write 366g :swoon:

OLD_BONES · January 4, 2016

I can never say enough nice things about Tom!

Lord Helmet · January 4, 2016

Tom is excellent. Flat out excellent.

Vicious13 · January 4, 2016

Tom is amazing. Not enough praise to be said. Congrats a a sweet putter

aue21 · January 4, 2016

Could you pm me a price range on this ? It looks awesome and I have one in mind. Thx

displayname · January 4, 2016

Looks nice, maybe you should have had Tom draw a line through the 340g and write 366g :swoon:

Stamping the new weight on the sole was one of original ideas we discussed. Tom was worried that based on the shape, there would be noticeable marks on the top line from the stamping process. Based on that feedback, all the stamping was dropped from the project.

If I did a full refinish, I would absolutely consider getting it done.