What’s the deal with toe hang?
Learning about Toe Hang.
When I decided to experiment with making golf clubs it was because I loved the look of retro flow-neck putters and wanted something as beautiful as the Cameron "Circa 62" or the Piretti "Workshop" models. I had never had a professional putter fitting or learned about crafting custom putters to work with your putting stroke. The Taylor Made mallet I was swinging at the time was center-shafted and rather heavy compared to the target weight of my new design. I had no concept of how a heel-shafted putter would introduce the concept of toe hang into my round, and how the putter would swing so much differently than what I was used to.
The connection between toe hang, and the performance the putter provides, comes down to the swing arc of each individual player. Players who swing their putters with a pronounced arc motion in their stroke, sometimes called a "swinging gate" stroke, swing the club with an inside-to-inside motion around their bodies. Other players have a less pronounced arc or even a straight-back-and-through stroke with no arc at all. Each of these body mechanics can be addressed and optimized during the construction of the putter and the placement of the neck and shaft.
Building a Putter to Work With Your Stroke
There are a million-and-one videos and articles on the internet to help players determine their stroke profiles. Once a player learns or decides, how they best swing the putter to play at their best, a custom putter design can be created to work with the player's preferred stroke profile. In short, if you have a more pronounced swing arc, I would point you toward a club designed with a heavier toe hang. If you have a less pronounced arc or even a straight-line stroke, less toe hang would typically work better for your game.
By learning about a player's stroke preferences, I can better customize the putter for optimal play. Heel-shafted putters typically will have the most expected toe hang of all Legacy custom putter designs, while face-balanced putter designs are most appropriate for players with a straight-back-and-through style. There are a variety of methods of adjusting toe-hang including moving the neck and shaft more toward the center or even bending elaborate goose-neck shapes into the neck of the putter to shift the putter's toe flow arc.
If you've found a stroke that works for you, and are considering a custom-milled CNC Putter to take your game further, contact me to discuss what we can make to amplify your putting game.
