Blades vs. Mallets

It’s the middle of May, yet Groundhog Day found its way onto my calendar once again. It usually happens when MyGolfSpy publishes a so-called study with their shoddily compiled research.

This one is about an age old topic - blades vs. mallets.

As with most of their studies (see my zero torque article and line or no line articles), this one is nothing more than misleading and incomplete results presented as fact.

My only stake in this is that players find a putter that helps them most and that their decision is rooted in something tangible and fact-based.

MyGolfSpy offers a limited scope that focuses solely on make percentages when deciding if one putter build or style is better than another. And this most recent article is of course no different.

That data point is simply insufficient to decide if one style is better than another. MyGolfSpy has demonstrated an unwillingness to conduct research that actually means something.

This incuriosity post after post is nothing short of infuriating. For those of us that care about the game, those who play it, and helping them get better, let’s dive into this debacle.

The Huge Problems

Player Skills

We don’t know the skill of the players hitting the putts in this study. Because the expected make percentage changes so drastically within even reasonable brackets like pro versus scratch, much less scratch versus a 20 handicap, lumping them together may cause significant disparity.

If they’ve taken the time to compile all of these putts, why not sort this into smaller groups to demonstrate the differences between handicap brackets? Further, if that was part of the player information collected for each test, just share it.

Unless of course those results don’t match the message that mallet putters are better for everyone…

The Putts Themselves

I won’t rewrite what was already published in my Zero Torque article, so I’ll keep this brief. We don’t know the slope, slope direction, or green speed of these putts. The type of putt directly contributes to the likelihood of it being holed and therefore impacts the make percentage.

Now multiply that variance across the skill levels and handicap ranges, and you have an even bigger problem.

The Putter Used

We’re not even told what percentage of players currently game a mallet prior to conducting this test. What if everyone in the test already uses a mallet and then randomly switches to a blade? I’d expect their make percentage to drop too because it is a huge departure in style and performance.

We don’t even receive confirmation that the proper length putter was issued. Or what type of blade putter. Plumber’s neck? Slant neck? Flare neck?

We’d just like to know…

How We Hit The Putts

If this test was conducted where a player used a blade, saw X number of putts in the test, and then saw the same putts immediately after with a mallet, that player derived information from a first look. The “free preview” absolutely impacts the outcome of these results and ability to make the second putt.

Ball Speed and Dispersion

Yes, we do see a very grainy dispersion graphic in the post. We don’t know if this includes misses and makes or just misses. Here’s why this is vital for a reader to be able to distinguish.

Slamming one in from 12 feet that would’ve gone 5 feet by versus touching the high edge and going 1 foot by are quite different. Yes, one checks the box for Team Make Percentage. However, that should neither be the normal holing speed nor would we consider the gentle lip out a bad putt.

Instead, collect and publish the ball speed at the hole and whether the putt was holed or missed. That would allow us to categorize how the putt was holed, which directly correlates to an expected 3-putt percentage.

If you want to hear continued thoughts, join my Patreon page for additional assessment of the MyGolfSpy post.

Wrap Up

Please know that this is not a plea to give blades a chance or even note that one is better than the other. Each one of these topics provides relevant and meaningful insight that allows a reader to better understand what is being shared.

If anyone from MyGolfSpy is reading this, I am not disputing the results of your data. I am asking for additional clarity so as not to insult the intelligence of the reader.

If you want to call this a quick overview, that’s fine — but note that for the reader. Let us know that there is a more complete version of the post.

Better information produces better players. That’s the bar. Meet it.

Next Week: The last time MyGolfSpy ran this study, they reached the opposite conclusion.