The Putter Worth Its Weight in Strokes

Cure Putters’ RX Series can bring almost instant relief for anyone struggling on the green.

Tony Dear

Ron Brown, Professor Emeritus of Physics at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, explains Moment of Inertia (MoI) to those of us without Ph.Ds. by comparing how easy it is to get first a golf ball, then a bowling ball, to spin on a tabletop.

“It’s obviously much harder to get the bowling ball to spin about its vertical axis,” says Prof. Brown, giving two reasons why—one, the bowling ball is much heavier; and two, MoI also depends on how that mass is distributed relative to the axis about which the rotation occurs. 

“The farther any given mass is located relative to the rotation axis,” Prof. Brown adds, “the larger the rotational inertia about that axis. So the bowling ball is not only more massive, but that mass is also much farther from the axis of rotation than it is for the golf ball.” The bowling ball therefore has a much greater rotational inertia, or MoI.

Karsten Solheim was the first manufacturer to begin optimizing MoI in golf clubs. In his original putter, which he invented in 1959, the founder of Ping pushed mass out to the toe and heel of the clubhead effectively increasing the size of the sweetspot and making it significantly more stable than existing putters on off-center hits.

Since all putts should ideally begin their journey on a straight path perpendicular to the putter face, reducing the amount the clubhead twists when the ball is struck off-center is clearly a sound objective, says Prof. Brown. Although other factors (putter loft, face material, characteristics of the ball, the surface of the green, etc.) come into play, reducing the tendency of the putter to rotate about its center when the ball is struck should therefore increase the percentage of putts that are directed along the intended line. 

The original Ping Anser had an MoI of about 3,500g/cm², the Titleist Bullseye and Wilson 8802 – both classic blades – about 2,500. In the 1970s, aerospace engineer Duke Duclos modeled his design on the Anser but inserted lead weights on either end of an aluminum face to create a club with an MoI of roughly 6,300g/cm². The Slotline Inertial found tremendous success in the ‘80s, with well over a million putters sold.

When the Slotline Inertial eventually lost favor, high MoI putters didn’t vanish completely, but they had definitely lost the momentum they’d had. In an article he penned on MoI, Ron Brown identified a number of “current mallet-type putters with moments of inertia as high as 4,000-5,000 g/cm²” – significantly less than the Slotline.

In recent years, however, MoI has made a bit of a comeback with models such as the Odyssey White Hot Sabretooth, the Ping iWi Craz-E, the Yes!Golf Sandy, the Spherical Blade Crescent and the TaylorMade Rossa Monza Spider all enjoying their moment in the limelight.

The high MoI putter creating the biggest buzz right now though may well be the Cure RX2, which comes out of the box with an MoI of 10,500g/cm². With the additional aluminum and stainless steels weights provided, however, you can push the RX2’s MoI up to a staggering 16,500g/cm²—nearly five times greater than that of the original Ping Anser.

Adding all the weights, increases the weight of the putter from 371g to 512g, and four more 35g weights can be purchased separately in the Extended Weight Kit ($39.95) to increase the weight to 582g and the MoI all the way up to 19,000g/cm².

All Cure RX Series putters are CNC milled from a solid block of T-6160 Aircraft Grade Aluminum, and made and assembled in the USA. Impressive MoI isn’t their only selling point. Thanks to its ingenious design, the lie angle of the shaft can easily be moved from 62° to 80°, or you can even replace the shaft altogether—opting for straight instead of offset, or vice versa.

And, says Jim McCarthy, CEO of the Flagler Beach, FL-based company that formed two years ago, the proprietary alignment feature increases both accuracy and consistency by reducing the effects of a dominant eye. Called the Dean Beman Triangulation Alignment System, it was named for the former PGA Tour commissioner, four-time PGA Tour winner and two-time US Amateur champion who was so impressed when he first saw the putter he wanted to be involved in its development.

This year, Cure putters’ stability, adjustability, and customization have proven a very popular combination with Champions Tour players who don’t require the huge endorsement contracts of their PGA Tour brethren when choosing a putter. Seven over-50s players had a Cure model in play at the recent 3M Championship including Larry Nelson, Gene Sauers and Rod Spittle.

“In the 12 years I’ve been out on the Tour, I’ve never seen a new putter receive this much acceptance in such a short time,” says Jim Barfield, former Chairman and CEO of Rife Putters and now the Vice President of Tour Operations for Cure. “It usually takes a very long time for Tour players to make the switch to a new putter. But many trying a Cure model for the first time are putting it into play the same day. That’s unheard of.”

CEO McCarthy says that, in independent testing, Champions Tour players are improving by an average of .5 to one stroke per round, while mid- to high-handicappers have seen a four- to eight-stroke improvement. Eight strokes!

Choosing the Cure RX2 might be a pretty solid choice next time you’re in the market for a putter. Actually, all golfers should probably take note.

The Cure RX2 costs $269.95, and is available in five colors. There are six models in Cure Putters’ RX Series (RX1, RX1 Tour, RX2, RX2 Tour, RX3, RXi) , retailing from $199 – $299. cureputters.com

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