Every now and then a golf product comes along that’s a complete waste of everyone’s time. Plastic tees, orange balls, two-way chippers, they should all be blown up and buried. Thankfully, the worst ideas usually don’t last long. Recently, however, I was introduced to a new concept for putters that might just make it to the next century and beyond. It’s called the negative loft putter, or more specifically, the Red Zone Putter.
Born from the football concept of the Red Zone (the area inside the 20-yard line), the Red Zone Putters claim to improve the player’s ability to score inside golf’s Red Zone (the 10-foot radius around the hole). The 2-degree negative loft (most putters have 2-4 degrees of positive loft) gets the ball rolling with overspin immediately. With traditional putters the ball tends to skid more, throwing the ball off line much more easily.
Before I thoroughly investigated what all the hoopla was about with the Red Zone, I took one out to the putting green for a trial. As I was approaching the green, I fully anticipated that I’d be hitting putts that dribbled more than they rolled. But lo and behold, there was a noticeable difference in how the ball rolled. But more than that, this putter, which comes in three models – the half-mallet, the heel-toe weighted classic, and the conventional blade – has an exceptional, fairly heavy feel to it and a sleeker-than-average look (two things I really like in a putter). All models come in a 35” standard True Temper Shaft and a Winn-style wrapped grip. Suggested retail price is $179.95. You can find more info at www.gotosmg.com. Go see for yourself what all the, ahem, “negativity” is about.
Andrew Penner is a 12-year member of the Canadian PGA. He has won five professional golf tournaments in Canada and narrowly, I mean narrowly, missed qualifying for the US Open last year. Well, OK, it was a few shots. Andrew writes for a number of golf magazines in Canada, the US, and Europe. His new book, titled "One Flew Over The Caddyshack," can be ordered at www.falconpress.ca. He can be reached at andpenner@shaw.ca.
