Face Balanced Blades / Relative Obscurity

[Dekudude]

Just curious to start a discussion about face balanced blades and the selection offered by major manufacturers.

 

I've been on a bit of a putter testing / buying / selling spree the last couple months and while I really love blades, I realized the way a face balanced putter swings suits my eye/stroke much better. You walk into a PGA Tour Superstore and the mallets are offered in every hosel option you can think of, but check out the blades and you might find one or two face balanced blades, and if you do they're likely double wide, then of course a few options with the new zero torque stuff but that's a whole different thing. Why do you think this is? You'd think they'd have both styles offered in every configuration but most blades are just a plumbers neck, maybe a single bend (still with some toe hang). 

 

I guess blades are just going the way of the dinosaur slowly? Of course I'm sure the answer is sales / demand. Higher MOI mallets and zero torque offerings are of course more forgiving and will perform better but still.. Love putting on the mat with my dad's old Ping Pal 5BZ

 

Do you putt with a face balanced blade? What are your favorite options out there? 

 

 

[CanFred]

I don't putt with one, but I think you are right on demand - besides Newports (which always seem to sell well), I'd imagine mallets far outweigh blade sells in a standard retail outlet like PGASS.  

 

Of current options, the Antidote is a pretty interesting design but still haven't had a chance to hit it.

[tatertot]

You can find some Anser 5's out there.

[MattM97]

Blades aren't going the way of the dinosaur brands are just making what sells the most because they are a business. 

 

Plenty of ways to get a face balanced blade either used on ebay or custom. 

[ScooterMcTavish]

A subject near and dear to my heart, as I had been a face-balanced blade player for many years, switched to a variety of mallets, and only last year switched back to a blade (though currently am trying out a mallet, again).  

 

Agree with Matt, they are certainly out there, but may not be as present at retail right now.  And I think there is a couple of reasons for this.

 

Once someone has a face-balanced blade they like, why bother changing or upgrading?  It isn't exactly like a lot of new "visible" innovation has been going into blades.  Mallets, on the other hand, have been coming in fun shapes, sizes, and colors, with all sorts of visible "tech". 

 

Also believe that most blade players are using putters with toe hang, yet they would benefit from a face-balanced putter.  So when they go to retail, they are amazed at how may putts they sink with the FB mallet.  And now they are a mallet player.   

[sheepdawg]

I was fooling around on the practice green with this yesterday.

[ShortGolfer]

Golfers want to buy what the Pros use.  Tiger Woods won with a toe hang putter so people want that.

They also want something that works for them.  Face balanced mallets work well for that.

 

Manufacturers profit on the churn going back and forth between these two options and have little incentive to change that!

[Maximilian]

Putters go in cycles. Heel shafted small mallets will make a come back 2028, then face balanced blades around 2030. That’s my prediction. 😎

[MattM97]

8 minutes ago, Maximilian said:

Putters go in cycles. Heel shafted small mallets will make a come back 2028, then face balanced blades around 2030. That’s my prediction. 😎

 

Can't wait for the 8 year post bump to see if this prediction comes true. 

[LeoLeo99]

54 minutes ago, ShortGolfer said:

Golfers want to buy what the Pros use.  Tiger Woods won with a toe hang putter so people want that.

They also want something that works for them.  Face balanced mallets work well for that.

 

Manufacturers profit on the churn going back and forth between these two options and have little incentive to change that!

The best golfers in the world are using mallets.  On the other hand, I read that the top golfers are all using custom putters that you can't purchase at your local PGASS.  But us public can buy putters that look the pros.  

[jda]

It will have to come true - when the terrible putters of the world cannot putt with the mallets either, they will need something to switch to.  Nothing new in golf, just the comes and goes of it all.

 

There are people on here who help and teach pros who post sometimes.  They speak about what lots of pros use: lighter putters with minimal/no face milling... not what you see in stores.

[jda]

BTW - here are a handful of face balanced, and likely near zero torque, blades that I have seen at thrift shops in the last few months.  $5 or less.  Look around if you want to see how one feels... no reason to go to PGASS.

 

[Dekudude]

11 hours ago, sheepdawg said:

I was fooling around on the practice green with this yesterday.

Beauty! Love the old ping 5BZ putters

[Urb]

They exist.  

 

Cleveland has their 8.0 blade in a couple different models.

 

Wilson makes one.

 

I thought Cobra had a 3D printed one but now I can't find it.  

 

Oddessy.

 

PXG offers multiple hosels options for each putter.  

 

[tripanfal]

Hi fellow fb blades fans; got these altogether (not all at once) at roughly 30$ averaged out per putter (factoring in some that were pretty junky but I restored - bonus for me but not for everyone I get it). Karsten was cranking out face balanced blades for some time. For tinkering with your variables they are a pretty great value.Took the Anser 5KS out at the Savannah Harbor Course last, love all the alignment opportunities it provides for a blade but still haven’t decided how I feel about offset even though it did pretty well. Guess I’ll take the 5k out tomorrow and see.

[Dekudude]

22 hours ago, Urb said:

They exist.  

 

Cleveland has their 8.0 blade in a couple different models.

 

Wilson makes one.

 

I thought Cobra had a 3D printed one but now I can't find it.  

 

Oddessy.

 

PXG offers multiple hosels options for each putter.  

 

Oh absolutely they exist,

 

My only point in the OP is that if you walk into a retailer like PGATSS, you will struggle to find face balanced options in a blade style, whereas you can find just about every hosel option on a mallet.

[golfschnell]

Pure supposition on my part, but I would think the majority of people that want a blade putter also use a slight to moderate arc in their stroke, so most blade putters are designed with a bit of toe hang. However, the larger blades like the squareback and 1wide have minimal toe hang, so you might try those.

[otto6457]

SeeMore has a large selection of face balanced blade putters.  Center shafted as well as offset shafted/face balanced.

[ProStryker]

The new Scotty Cameron Catalina is almost facebalanced for a blade. It may have like 2* toe hang, but almost balanced.