"Conforms with USGA Rules"
Decision 2012-650
"2014 Golf’s Most Wanted Blade:
Beyond the Numbers"
On Day 1, we introduced the 2014 blade competitors, and Day 2 saw the crowning of the TaylorMade Ghost Tour Daytona 12 as the 2014 Golf’s Most Wanted Blade. ((31-putters entered))
The TaylorMade Ghost Tour Daytona 12 earned its title based upon its accuracy total, as scored by our field of ten testers. When we totaled up the miss distances for all testers, from all distances, the Daytona 12 was the clear overall winner.
Today we are going to dig a little deeper into how the blades scored from the individual distances, and also into the number of putts that were actually made by the testers. By doing this, we should be able to see how the Daytona 12 was able to capture its victory and also where some of the other putters also excelled, or came up a bit short.
Let’s take a bit of a closer look at the thirty-one (31) individual putters in the competition and see if we can’s shed a bit more light on why they placed where they did.
((Skipping other putters and straight to the P&SI-EGOS review by MGS's Dave:))
While the P&SI-EGOS put up solid accuracy numbers, especially from up close, there is more to the story of this one. The name of the company as well as the name of the putter are abbreviations that when decoded, give you a little more information about what the putter is all about.
P&SI: Putting & Surveying Instrument
EGOS: Expert Greenreading Operating System
The P&SI-EGOS putter is really a combination of putter design and green reading. The traditional Anser design of the P&SI-EGOS has been modified by removing most of the material from the top of the heel and mounting a hosel that allows the putter to hang completely vertical when held below the grip with two fingers.
Why is hanging vertical important? Well that gets into the second part of the putter: green reading. True vertical hang allows the golfer to make accurate measurements of slope and read using the P&SI-EGOS plumb-bobbing process. Many golfers try to read this way, but according to the folk at P&SI-EGOS putters, they are not successful because the other putters are not balanced.
What did the testers think? Well, one loved the putter and actually took it home to try it on his home course. Last I heard, he was doing well with it. ((This tester’s comment below)). Others were a bit put off by the neck position. If you look back at the address photo from the “Meet the Contestants” post, you will see that the neck and shaft sit well behind the face at address. Visually, it was tough for them to get used to.
We really don’t have any data on the green reading ability of the P&SI-EGOS, as all of our putts for testing are dead straight (i.e. flat greens). Perhaps down the road we can compare some reads from different systems and see how they compare.
16th P&SI-EGOS:
17 comments… read them below or add one }
Andy W June 18, 2014 at 1:10 pm
Dave,
Great analysis on all putters including my dog-in-the-hunt, the P&SI-EGOS. The shaft located “inset” versus the traditional “offset” may take getting use to for some golfers, but not all. And certainly the testers taking ONLY 15-putts in earnest with each putter is not enough to get comfortable for some. But holing putts from the P&SI-EGOS’s “Guarantee” of an expert greenread that one never had a chance to make before due to misreads, well, that will make the putter “feel & fit” just right, real fast!
My contention is the P&SI-EGOS has nothing to do with plumb-bobbing, which nobody can explain what that is in terms of reading a green. I did say NOBODY! There is no Math behind plumb-bobbing, so why be compared or associated with voodoo?
The P&SI-EGOS not only shows you “How it Works” (greenreads), but “Why it Works,” and the Math is there to scrutinize for all who own one.
The MOST INTERESTING Putter in the WORLD!
Prelude: the P&SI-EGOS came in 16th of 31 blade putters in the 2014 MyGolfSpy Blade Putter roll-off. MGS used 10-testers who rolled almost 500 putts each. Cut & pasted below includes MGS's Dave Wolfe's review, Andy W (me) comment, and then the diatribe from SactoMike, one of the testers. Keep in mind even today, I could not pick Mike out of a line-up. All of below and more at:
SactoMIke June 18, 2014 at 4:22 pm
Hi guys,
Dave, thanks for doing this. It takes a huge investment in time for you to put all together, with contacting all the companies, hanging out at the putting green with 10 testers, (I was one of them) then compiling the data and writing the reports. It’s a lot of work and it’s appreciated.
I totally agree with your comment about the disconnect between looks/feel and performance. The TM putter was the very last putter I tested for you. We had the discussion about whether there was a relationship between the order we tested the putters and the results, with you saying that it didn’t seem to have a relationship. After stroking putts for over an hour my back was sore, I was getting tired, (57yo, out of shape) and was glad there was only one putter left to test.
I didn’t like the looks of the (winner) TaylorMade (TM) putter, it didn’t feel good in my hands, and the feel of the ball coming off the face didn’t feel right either. But my numbers with the putter were astounding. If I remember correctly my total miss distance with 15 putts from all three distances was in the mid 50′s. That’s a total of 55 INCHES of miss in 15 putts. I believe i rolled in all five of the five footers and at least two of the 10 and 20 footers. I didn’t have a putt that would have left a “knee knocker” for a second putt.
Great right? Go buy one and lower my scores. That would be great if every putt I took from now on was flat and from either 5, 10, or 20 feet. And this is where I think the “feel” comes in. If you are standing over a 15′ downhiller, left to right breaker, feeling comfortable and confident with the putter in your hands; this is going to make a difference in my not so humble opinion. The other part of that equation is being able to actually read the break and feel confident with the read. Sooooooooooo, I told you that story to tell you this one.
I’m the guy who took the PS&I-EGOS putter home with me to give it a try under “real-life conditions.” During the test the putter felt very, very good in my hands especially at 20 feet. Easy “3-putt” range for a high handicap golfer like me. Dave had said that the owner of the company, Andy, claimed that the putter could be used to accurately read greens and I wanted to find out, given how good the putter felt. This putter is so balanced that the toe stays where you place it when you balance it across your fingers. Straight up, down, 3 o’clock, 9 o’clock, it doesn’t matter. Since I putt very close to “straight back – straight through” method; the tiny bit of going back inside on longer putts could be a reason why it felt so good in my hands.
Anyway, I have been using Aimpoint express to read my putts and it works, very well in fact. The biggest problem for me is that you read the degree of slope with your feet. Looking at it doesn’t work. How many of us have said after missing a putt badly, “I would have bet money it broke the other way?” With Aimpoint I was having a hard time feeling one, two or three degrees of slope with my feet.
The EGOS putter takes that away. I don’t care if you call it plumb-bobbing or not. I don’t care about the math or if there really is math behind it. (There is and it’s on the site.) I don’t care if it’s voodoo or magic. What I do care about is that it works. Once I roll a few practice putts to “calibrate” and find out what a one, two or three percent read looks like at that days green speed when I take the read I’m ready to go. The third round I played with this putter, I broke 80 for the first time EVER and would have shot under par on the back side if I had trusted the read instead of my eyes. Yep, it was one of those, “no way does it break that direction, Wow, I guess it did” putts. Was it all because of the putter? I did not think so since the rest of my game, especially on the back side was pretty good as well. I routinely keep track of stats like # of putts, distance of putts, fairways chips and sand shots; and when I sat down and looked at the numbers, a couple of things jumped out at me. First, there were a fair number of “one putts” from three or four feet on out. And second, I had zero three putts despite having six putts from 20′ to 50′. I almost never have zero three putts unless everything is from inside 20 feet and that doesn’t happen often. So yes, it had a lot to do with the putter and the green reading system. Thinking back, maybe I should be upset because that single round dropped my handicap from 15.7 to 13.2.
When I started gaming the EGOS putter, my average putts per green hovered right around two with an average of 2-three putts. Since gaming the EGOS, my average putts per green is 1.7 with exactly 2-three putts over the course of 10 rounds. Yep, that’s TWO is 180 holes of golf.
Of course, the rest of my game is as inconsistent as ever and I have shot anywhere between 82 and 90. But once I get to the green, I’m golden. I don’t believe that I could have taken the TM putter out onto the course and had the same results. I was using a Scotty Cameron Fastback because it felt so good in my hands while putting, yet it’s obvious from the data I couldn’t putt as well with it as I do with the P&SI-EGOS.
So in the words of the NRA, you can have my P&SI-EGOS putter back when you pry it out of my cold dead fingers.
Mike S., Arizona
By Dave Wolfe June 18, 2014
By Dave Wolfe June 2014
