August 1, 2025 • 35 mins
GS#411 November19, 2013 Kenny Giannini has created putters for Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman, Mark O’Meara and “pretty much everyone”. In this conversation, World class putter designer Kenny Giannini discusses putter components that go into creating a great putter. From this episode, you'll become more informed on each element of a putter, why it works, and what works best for you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Golf Smarter number four hundred eleven, published on November nineteen,
twenty thirteen.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome to golf Smarter Mulligans, your second chance to gain
insight and advice from the best instructors featured on the
Golf Smarter podcast. Great Golf Instruction Never gets old. Our
interview library features hundreds of hours of game improvement conversations
like this that are no longer available in any podcast app.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
My biggest deal is is I never want a three touch.
If I can hit the ball within twenty feet as
the hole and I can play most of them, I'm
going to make three or four. It's all of a sudden,
I'm shooting three under, you know, And that's what I
strive to do. I never want a three touch. And
the consistency with my putter. If you cast the plutter,
if you heat a piece of material up and let
it cool off, it's going to be hotspots in that putter.
(00:51):
There will be places on that face or the wall
will jump off faster than others, and places that are
dead when they win is seated up, you know, those
molecules will run and they'll stay there at when the cools,
they'll stay out there too. We're seeing the putters, it's
the same all the way across that face, so it's
always going to feel the same. That's why I don't
do any putters with inserts, because inserts number one, they
(01:12):
will move number two if the temperature changes by or
ten degrease the fuel or an insert change, so it's
like you're putting it's a different putter. I want this
putter to feel the same if you're playing in one
hundred and twenty degree heat or you're playing at forty degrees.
Is a thirty mile an mile win and having it rain,
and it's going to feel the same every time you
stroke it, and that's going to want build confidence and repeatability.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
How to pick your perfect putter with Kenny Janini. This
is Golf Smarter. Welcome to Golf Smarter for members only. Kenny, Well,
thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Bred I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
This is interesting. I'm recording this late at night. We
never do nighttime recordings, and I'm excited that we're both
kind of sitting back, relaxed. We've had dinner, glass of wine,
and now it's time to talk about putters.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Well, it's sure is. I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Not as excited as I am. So what I wanted
to focus on this conversation is the consumer and what
they need to know if they want to build the
perfect putter for themselves, all the different elements that they
should be looking at, as opposed to walking in a
store where they have this little practice putting green that's
(02:28):
kind of filtered right into a hole and not really knowing,
just like putting a club in your hand, going yeah,
this is the right one for me. Is that the
best way to buy a putter.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
No, that's not the way to buy a putter.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
I didn't think you did that. I thought you'd agree
with that.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
No, you know, you need to be fitted. You know,
somebody needs to be fitted for a putter. You know,
some people have a putting path that goes through the
inside the square to the inside. Some people go straight
back and straight through. Some butters are made for the
toe to release, and some of you know, it's they're
not made to release. And you know, you need to
(03:12):
first find out what kind of a plutty stroke you have,
whether it's straight back and straight through, whether it's on
an arc. Basically, putters that are center shaft that they
balanced type putters. You know, it's hard to get to
toes to release on that and to square up, so
you don't want to have an inside path inside the
square back to the inside. Again, if you have a
(03:35):
putter that's a toe on release on, you know, that's
that's an important thing right there.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
So this is a situation where people go, you know,
I have I have an inside to outpath. They shouldn't
be changing their stroke or listening to teachers saying, you know,
you're doing it all wrong. They should do it what's
most comfortable for them and then pick the putter that
works in that direction.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Well yeah, I mean, I mean there is a lot
of you know, people will watch the tour over the years,
I mean, there are a lot of putting strokes out
there that you wouldn't teach somebody to put like. But again,
if you can repeat it and know where the ball
is going to go, it works, you know. I mean
there's I mean, there's you know, obviously there's an ideal
stroke where you're making everything that bit I'm not I
(04:23):
wouldn't want to change anybody's putting strokes somebody that they
have grooveed. I mean, we can get a putter that'll
fit that stroke.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I mean that's what I believe. M hm.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
So you create putters, you create putters for both styles.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Oh yes, you know. I mean I don't you know,
I know, the putter that I like to cut with
but looks good in my eye. I mean the first
thing when you find a putter has to look good
to you. I mean, it has to look good down there.
I mean, that's why we have so many different styles.
I mean, not everything looks you know, good to the
same to everybody. H So you find something that looks
(05:00):
good to you to your eye down there, and then
you know, you know, we make a putter that we
call it G four and we have that and shafted
with double bind where the total release. We have it
set back with a double bend where it won't release
as much. We have the set back with a straight
shaft in it with no offset on it in center shaft.
(05:22):
You know, it's basically the same putterhead, but it's four
different putters, but it has that look. So we can
fit anybody in that putter if they like that, look
for any stroke that they have.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
And the design of the head is really more about
the what you feel comfortable looking at. It has nothing
to do with performance.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Oh, it has everything to do with performance. I mean,
you know, to be honest with you, I mean, I've
produced putters that I don't really care for myself. They
don't look good to my eye. But again, as I
said before, you know, I don't know everything that there is.
I learn every day and I listen to everybody that
talks about putters. And just because I don't prefer it
(06:05):
it doesn't look good to my eye doesn't mean it
doesn't look good to yours. I know, I'm taking and
make it as the best that I can make it
personally myself, I might not put with it.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Yeah, well that's that's the honest truth. No, And then
that makes more. That makes a lot of sense because
you're trying to sell putters, so you want to appeal
to as many people as possible. Exactly, that makes sense.
You're in business. I mean, that makes total sense. And
so let's talk about getting fitted for a putter. What
(06:39):
does that entail and what should you be looking for?
Because you know, I guess that guys who do club
fittings for your your irons and your your fairway woods,
your drivers may not have the skill to fit you
for putters. Are they different skill sets?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Well, it's going to be pretty much the sense Gill set.
I mean, you need to know a little bit about
putting number one and how the platter works. You know
that you know you have the right size of grip.
You know, the bigger the grip, the less hands that
you can get. You know, personally myself, I'm using a
larger grip right now, and after we get done talking,
(07:18):
I'm and go out in my garage and I'm going
to cut that grip off and go back to a
little one because I'm more comfortable with that. You need
to know the shaft that's in it. You know, shafts
can vary in weight, they can vary in stiffness. I
prefer a step shaft kind of the shaft that we
use is kind of like the old Wilson head speed.
It's got a little whip at the bottom so you
get a lot of fuel. You know, if I put
(07:39):
a stiffer, heavier shafts in there, you're going to have
less feel at the bottom.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
You know, you're getting the head off. Now. I was
going to get to shafts in a little bit, but
I want to get through the fitting process.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
It's all it's all part of fitting. It's all goes
into there, right, you know, the lie on the golf club,
you know, and what kind of a stroke you have.
I mean they should be able to figure out if
you are somebody putt whether they go straight back and
straight through or whether they have an art in their
spleen and their stroke. That's pretty easy to figure out.
And you just go from there. You know, we give him,
(08:09):
you know, I would fit somebody. I would give him
different putters to try and you know, see what works
best with their with their pudding stroke.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
And when you say works best, what exactly does that mean.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
That they make the most parts? You know, I want
to I like to sit somebody with a putter and
watch them, you know, uh, you know, as an example,
I'm not going to use this gentleman's name that I
fit somebody last week, or the putter and stood there
and watched to make fifteen out of fifteen for twelve
feet whoa and he was a static.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Oh yeah, from fifteen feet that's a big deal.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
From twelve feet twelve.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
It's still from twelve feet. I mean, what even on
the tour, they're only making about fifty percent of the
putts inside of ten.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Well, I mean, I can't say that that this is
going to happen on the golf course every time and
he goes out. But I know that I fit into
perfection and this putter fits him, and he who loves it.
I bet he just absolutely loves it. You know, we
were on an absolutely pure, pure beyond belief putting surface
to do this on. I mean, it's a little tougher
(09:22):
to do it if you're not on a good green
or something that's not level where you can see everything
that the one that I did this ang was absolutely perfect.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
So you're saying that most club fitters understand how to
fit for putters as well, That's not something that I'm
going to say that.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
I'm going to say that they have a pretty good
idea for butter. Yes, okay, you know what I mean,
they should be able to if you know, I mean,
they can fit it. I'm not sure how much they
understand the difference in the in the putters and how
they're made and what they do. I mean, I just
don't know. I don't you know. If you gave me
a specific person, I could give you an answer. But
(10:00):
every fitter in the world.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
No, yeah, right, Well, I mean, because I recently had
a fitting for my my uh fairwy Woods Hybrids that
kind of thing, not my not my irons. But you
know we're talking about, you know, the the ball speed,
the club head speed, all these things that really aren't
relevant to putters. But the fitter was pretty well versed
(10:25):
in all the different products that were out on the market.
But I don't know.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
I mean, if I could take I could take one putter,
one of my putters, and I could put different shafts
in it, different grifts on it, and change you know,
things that I can do just with grifts and shafts,
and I could take ten of these putters and you'd
have ten putters that felt different, reacted different to the
ball coming.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Off of them.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
I mean, I mean, it's very it's important, very important
to get the fitting exactly, you know. I mean, the
lie is so important, the liar, you know, I don't
know where you want to go now. I mean, the
lie is is very very important, the lie in the
putter when it sits on the ground.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
So now I need for you to clarify exactly what
that means. The lie of the putter.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Well, if you if you know, you can grab a
putter in store and set it down on the ground
with you know, every individual was different to hold their
hands in a different spot. Some are shorter, some are
taller their hands, you know. And so if the toe
of the putter sits up in the air, the putter
is too upright. It needs to be bent down to
where that putter, you know, sols you can hold your
(11:39):
ones where you want to hold them, and that putter
is sold correctly. And if it was too flat, it
would be up on a toe.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Mm hm.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
So you have to be able to bend this putter
you wanted to go smoothly through.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
So then let's move on. And then too uh, Now
that you found the fitter that you like, he's doing
a fitting on you. Now you have to put the
different elements together to create the pitter, the putter that
works best for you. And where should should you start
on talking about the different components.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Well, again, most most pro shops or you know, retail outlets,
you know, they're not able to do what I'm able
to do. I mean I have the heads, I have
the chefs, I have the grips, you know, I mean
I could fit anybody into anything. I mean, I could,
you know. I mean, I'm a little bit different than
your average guy. But you're going to take a putter.
(12:40):
If the average person amateur walks into a discount store
or whatever and finds the putter that they like and
feels good to them and they keep square, I mean
they should. You know, they need to have the grip
put on it that they that they want, and they
need to have that club vent. I mean, those are
the two things that the club fit are. The store
like that's going to be able to do. He's going
(13:03):
to be able to bend it. He's going to be
able to put the right grip on, did you like?
Speaker 1 (13:12):
I recently I'm going to go up to the grips
for this moment, but I recently put one of the
fat grips on my putter and I was amazed at
the difference. Or it's huge, it really is.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
I mean it really changes things that you know, it's
going to change the fuel at the golf club. You know,
as an example, if you take a thirty five inch
putter and put a seven excuse me, a seventeen inch
grip on there, you know you're counterbalancing the cutter. You're
adding more weight to the butt end of the putter.
You're going to lose swing lay points, your total overall
(13:48):
weight on the putter is going to go up. But
the putter's going to feel completely different with that grip
on there, And you could cut it off and put
a regular grip on there, and it's going to be
a completely different putter and feeling again.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
To wait a minute, you said seventeen inch gript, you
mean the length of the grip.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
We're doing a lot of putters that the guys that
are switching over from the belly putters where we're doing
like maybe a thirty six or thirty seven inch putter
that they're going back to putting regularly with. But we
put that seventeen inch gript counterbalance, so it's kind of
(14:28):
kind of feel a lot like a belly putter when
they're putting with it.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Oh, that's really interesting. That extends the length of the putter.
It's not just necessarily like I generally, it.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Doesn't extend the length of the putter whatsoever. The grip
just comes down for you have more weight than that
butt end of the putter.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
The counterbalances so it's not just the thickness. It's just
not the girth of the putter. It's also the length
of it, I mean the grip.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Yeah. Yeah, Basically we're putting on the same grip that
they have on a belly putter on a short putter.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Mm hmmmm. And there's been this all this excitement lately
about you know, especially with Mickelson and a bunch of
guys winning on the tour, which changes the view of
everybody when somebody wins on the tour. But these these
fat grips, fat grip putters have become very very popular, right,
and you're getting a lot of demand for that.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Uh, you know, we hit a little bit of demand
for it, you know on my custom putters, you know,
I mean we do not we have our own grip.
We use pure grips at Arizona, and which I think
is a fantastic grip.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Why we got hooked.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
I just love the way it feels and I love
the way it looks. It just feels great in your hands.
Mm hmmm. So we put that on all of our
stock putters that go out. I mean, if somebody custom
mort or something and wants, you know, a superstroke grip
or a win grip or something like that on there.
We have, we'll put it on.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
We try to give everybody just what they want.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Well, of course, of course first time out. And is
that the basis of your business is customized putting putters
or do you have I mean I've talked to Tim
and he's saying that, you know, PGA superstores are now
going to start carrying your putters. Is this true?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Oh? Yes, I have the grand opening out here in
Palm Desert this last week and it was we did
very well out there.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Congratulations, that's great.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Well we had they had a re ordered Monday after
the two days after they opened they needed to order
more product.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
And that is just you know, that's our standard cutter,
and you know, and that's the bulk of our business,
you know, is the retail in our standard putter, which
are I don't know. I think there's thirteen different models
now a fourteen.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
And that could all be found at Kenny Giannini putters
dot com.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yes, mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
But you do custom custom made putters for people as well.
You mentioned in the last conversation that you've made for
some of the biggest names in golf history.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Well, you know I do, and you know I do
a lot of those putters. Those are you know, those
are my one of putters are definitely a different price point,
and it takes a little while to get one, you know.
Right now I'm back ordered about I don't know, three months. Wow,
I only I only do. I only do between ten
(17:39):
and fifteen of them a month. That's it.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Mhmm.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
You know. I mean they take a long time to make,
and we do a lot of special things to them
and make them different. When somebody orders something like that,
it's the one of you know, it's the only one
like it.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, and it takes a long time to make it right.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Well, I just try to make everything right.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
When you're custom making a putter, how do you At
what point do you go got it?
Speaker 3 (18:05):
This is it?
Speaker 1 (18:06):
This is exactly what he wants.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Wow, I mean I think I have it, you know,
from the beginning. You know, I'm going to get an
idea what he wants. You know, I understand when he's saying,
you know, what kind of neck he wants on there?
You know, I might take you know, our number four
putter and and uh get that basic head designed to
put a completely different neck on it. You know, I
might put six degrees of loft on it instead of
(18:33):
three and a half like we have on our standard putters.
You know, he might be somebody that presses their hands
way forward to needs that loft.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Oh so if somebody pushes their hands forward like that,
then they need more loft to the putter.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Sure, because if they set their hands forward like that,
they're taking off whatever loft is on the putter.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
And what is the what's the optimum loft for.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Three and a half to three and a half to
four degrees, it's the optimum loft. With the way that
the greens are these days. You know, we used to
put four, you know, and when I you know, and
you know twenty five or thirty years ago, when we
sent butters to Japan, we had to put four and
a half or five on there because the greens are
so fuzzy. You know, you need that ball to pop
up and roll, you know, to kind of you know,
(19:17):
now the greens are getting so good you can go
with less locked qu My butters all have three my
standard production putter, they all have three and a half
degrees are lots on it.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
So you don't want the ball to get airborne at all,
off the off the face of the pudd No, I want.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
That ball to just roll like to where it's supposed.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
To go in the hole, in the whole bottom of
the hole, in the bottom of the cup. And should
the butt when the ball leaves the putter ahead, should
there be some slide to it or should it be
rolling immediately?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Well, you try to guess there's always going to be
a little bit of skid to it, but you wanted
to you want to get that roll as quickly as possible,
so it'll always be a little skied to it, mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
And on the on the putter heads, and I love
just having this conversation with you breaking down all the
components to it. On the putter heads. Do you have
a preference whether you go blade or mallet or you know,
obviously personally, but also do you think one is better
than the other? Or is again do we get back
to just the look and the feel of it from
(20:28):
from interesting individual?
Speaker 3 (20:29):
I mean, I know what works for me. I mean,
you know I have my swing is inside back to
square to the inside. I don't I'm not a straight back,
straight through guy. So I mean, I know what I like.
I mean, I put it with the same putter for
twenty three years. I have a different one in my
bag now. I just you know, I took the other
(20:50):
one out. I put it for with twenty three years,
and I took it out for a year, and then
I put it back into another four and now it's
out of there and I'm putting with something different. You know,
I know what works for me and and and I again,
just because it works for me doesn't mean it's going
to work for somebody else. Sure, That's why we have
so many different models that you know, everybody people have
(21:11):
an idea of what they want, what they want to
look at. You know. Personally myself, I don't care for
a mallet. I'd never put with a mallet ever. It's
just too bulky and too. It's just different for me.
It just doesn't hit my swing, my stroke. And I
make a lot of them. The guys that have them
love them.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Yeah, I'm a I'm a mallet kind of guy too.
I like the line that gives me something to you know,
go perpendicular or actually when I'm addressing and I can
be parallel to that line.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Alls. I mean myself, I look at the ball, and
I look at the top edge of the player. That's it.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I don't I don't need to look at the rest.
I want to concentrate on on the ball, that's what
I want to hit.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I was gonna say, let's move up from the putter ahead,
now back up to the shaft and not just the
center shaft or heel shaft. But then you talked about
a double bend in a straight shaft. What are the
differences there and what are the advantages of one over
the other.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Well, a straight shaft, you know, it has no bend
in it. It's just going to be straight going right
into the head in that shaft. I do in our
Chubby R Number four putter with its center shaft where
it's first perfectly face balanced, and then I do it
set back a little bit to where that toe hangs
at about two o'clock two or three o'clock, so that
(22:44):
toe will release a little bit on that club. And
I do the same in my mallet. Those are the
ones we put the straight shaft hand. And then I
also will take those shafts and put a little offset
in it, which is going to get your hands a
little bit ahead a little bit ahead or with the
straight shaft, it's right over the center of the top
line is where your hands are. You know, if you
have a forward press, you don't want to use a
(23:06):
butter like that unless you have a lot of loft
on it.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
And the center shaft, the straight shaft is the one
for center shafted heads.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Center shaft and then set back a little bit, set
back about so a little about a half an inch
three come out of three come that's three eighths of
an inch back of center. So it releases a little bit.
And you know, I mean we should sell a bunch
of those.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
And tell me about the double bend. What does that mean?
And again what's the advantage of a double bend in
the shaft.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Well, the double bend in the shaft is when it
comes up and without a neck on it, it's going
directly into the head and that shaft will come up
and it'll have a bend on it. We'll just put
a little offset in it without having a neck on
the putter hands a little bit more forward of the wall.
It's just a different look. It's what looks good to
(24:05):
different people for it.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Yeah, yeah, and are there I know that there's a
lot of variation not only in quality but also in
price on shafts. When you're let's just say, building a driver,
are there a lot of options on because you don't
need a lot of bend on your shaft for your putter,
(24:26):
So are there a lot of options on which shaft
you should be looking towards for other than just the
double bend or a straight.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Well, the material we use you, you know, I mean
we put the first steel on all my all of
my putters. I put I don't put any graph light
in where a graph flight, you're losing a lot of
weight and a lot of the putters can balance differently,
you know, I prefer the steel shaft. We use two
different shafts. We use one that that has no steps
(24:57):
in it. It's a little heavier, it's a little stiffer.
And then the one I prefer is the one that
put the step downs in it, which is basically a
take off of the old Wilson head speed shaft. You know,
it has a little width at the bottom, you have
a little feel. I prefer that. You know, putting is
a feel. You have to have that feel. You need
(25:18):
to know where the head is. All the time, and
I believe this and that's what I do with my
product that I make.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Mm hm.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Those are the two shafts that I use. I use
the KBS shaft that they make is what I put in.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
And why those shafts, Why do you like those the best?
Speaker 3 (25:42):
I just do. I mean, they give me the best feel.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
And it's really it really comes down to how it
feels to you exactly. You don't do focus groups, you
don't have a lot of people try them out and
you watch them. It's all about how you feel.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Well. No, but I do have a lot of fun.
I have a circle of friends that are that are
you know, ninety nine percent of them are former tour
players that I might send you know, we'll go and
play golf and I'll say, hey, well you think about
this or something, and I'll get a little feedback back
like I told you before. But I believe me. I
do not believe that. I know. I'm not the king
of putters. You know, I do the best that I
(26:20):
can do, and I don't believe that I know the
answer to every question. That's why I listen to everything
that people say to me. Whether I said I've learned
some things from thirty handicaps about platters, you know, an
idea they might have and say, well, you know, I'm
looking at this, or you know, I listen and then
I try to, you know, take that file it away
in my little brain and pull it out when I
(26:42):
need it. And I let guys try my putters before
we put them on the market. Oh yeah, I'm a
small group of friends who get the prototypes and get
to play with those and go then I if I
need to, you know, all listen to what they have
to say about it. Luckily that I don't really ever
have any negatives about them, so I'm a happy guy.
(27:04):
Very few I've had, or very few of them I've
had to redo. I kind of them on one hand
in thirty five years.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Really yeah, that's and the wouldn't fill up the hand.
You can still hold a couple of balls in your hand. Well,
you may not be the king of putters, but you're
probably the prince, the prince of putters.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
I'm just I'm just Kenny. That's it. I'm the same
as everybody else, and I treat everybody the same, and
I'm not I don't have a gigantic ego or I
listened to everything. Everybody has to say everything.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
One of the things that you mentioned when we were talking,
you know, off microphone, was the finish of a putter,
and you feel that that's really important and I'm not
even sure I know exactly what that means.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Well, the finish on the putter is you know, it's
kind of like why you know, finished on the putter
is going to give you the feel you know, you're
covering that steel up to protect it from rusty. Now,
you know, I don't know if I should say this,
but personally, on my own butters, I've paid nothing on them.
I let them rust and turned that brown Nashville brown,
(28:15):
really without anything on them. That's what I do on
my own, so mine because I like to feel and
nothing on there. I just like to feel there the
raw steel, and I like to look at it.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
So when they start rusting, do you it's like, okay,
I'm done with this, when I can move on.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
No, no, no, I like it to look like that.
I want it to look like it's one hundred years old.
I'm not one of the guys, is you know. Like
I told you before, I'm not in the blink. I
don't want it shining in my eyes. I don't. I
want it to perform. And you know, like the putter
i'm putting with now is a prototype that we're going
to introduce next year, and I love it and I
(28:55):
did only made two of them, and I made one
and I put no finish on it all and another
one that has our black PVD finish on it. And
you know, for some reason, they feel about they feel
about the same. There's no real difference between them that
I just prefer the other one that's rusting naturally and
the other one. I had played with one of my
(29:16):
friends the other day to form a tool player, and
he just happened to I had the black one in
my bag putting with it that day and he just
happened to say, I got to have this. I'm taking it.
So he has it now and I'm just playing with
the natural one. That's what I prefer. It's kind of
like bon Vogi when he does his wedges for the tour,
you know, the raw finished they sweat a rust.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Yeah, but on a wedge.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
That's what that's what I That's what I do with mine.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Yeah, But a wedge is is a little different because
now you're digging into the saying, you know you're digging
into the grass. You got to get the mud up there.
You gotta get it wet. It's it's getting a lot
of different performance on a wedge then you're getting in
a butter. It's going through a lot more torture me.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
But when I do that, this plutter is polished the
same as one that would begin to finish on it.
And I mean if I did one with no finish
on it and didn't platinum putter with a finish on it,
you would probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference
between the two. Then that that platinum one will always
stay like that. The one I'm playing with it's going
to rust, it's going to turn brown.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
And what are the options on finishes or for r
putters are there any well?
Speaker 3 (30:28):
The natural plutters like I play with, that's only on
my custom want us. We don't do that production. And
then our finish in production is we have our satin
nickel finish which we call platinum, and then our black
PVD that is I just changed that finish and we're
going to a satin black which will be no glare
(30:51):
or shining the sun of putter whatsoever. We're just running
the first bunch of those right now. M So those
are the two finishes that we offer.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
I'm going to put you in an uncomfortable position for
a moment, Kenny. I know you're not going to like
this question, but I'm gonna I'm gonna throw it out
here anyway. Why should people own a Kenny Giannini putter?
Speaker 3 (31:21):
Well, I mean, I think I believe it's the finest
putter made on the market. It has the engineering to it.
It has slot face, the soft slot face, which will
be discussed before. I'm it's going to keep the blade
square that I believe that anyone out there. I think
it looks great. And you know, I mean it's kind
(31:44):
of old school. I mean there's no gimmicks, there's no
you know, bells and whistles that goes along with it.
It's just major perform better than anything else in the market.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Look, I'm going to toss out an answer. You tell
me an answer to that question. You tell me if
you would agree with this statement. When I ask why
should somebody own a Kenny Ganini putter, the answer I
think should be because you're going to sink more putts.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
Well, I mean, if you I believe. I agree with that. Yeah,
you'll sink more puts.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
There you go, then you will. So it doesn't matter
what it looks like or what you know, it's like,
what what the elements are, as long as the results
are there and you hear the happy sound of the
ball going in the cup. Isn't that what it's all about?
Speaker 3 (32:31):
That is what it's all about, you know. Personally myself,
you know, my biggest deal is is I never want
a three cuts. I'm gonna make. If I can hit
the ball within twenty feet as a hole and I
can play most of them, I'm going to make three
or four all of a sudden, I'm shooting three under,
you know. And that's what I strive to do. I
(32:52):
never want a three cut. And the consistency with my putters,
there's noe by knowing the plutter. If you can the
plutter or forth. If you heat a piece of material
up and let it cool off, it's there's going to
be hot spots in that putter. There'll be places on
that face where the wall will jump off faster than others,
(33:13):
and places that are dead. When it's sheet it up,
you know, those molecules will run and they'll stay there,
and then they'll when it cools, they'll stay out there too.
You know, when machining the putters, it's the same all
the way across that face, so it's always going to
feel the same. That's why I don't do any putters
with inserts sound because inserts number one they will move
(33:38):
number two. If the temperature changes five or ten degrees,
the fuel of that insert will change, so it's like
you're putting, it's a different putter. I want this splutter
to feel the same. If you're playing in one hundred
and twenty degree heater, you're playing in forty degrees. Is
thirty mile a mile win? And having it raining, It's
going to feel the same every time you stroke it,
(33:58):
and that's what I want, built confidence and repeatability.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Well you ain't the king of bling, but you're the
prince of putters.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Oh, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Thank you very much, Kenny. I really appreciate you. You've
given the education but also sharing your knowledge with us.
I've learned a tremendous amount and I cannot wait to
give a Kenny Giannini putter a try because I just
have a sense that I may be going from thirty
three thirty four putts around down to twenty eight twenty nine,
(34:34):
and that is my goal.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Well that's you know, that's the only club in your
bank that you're going to be able to do that with.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Yeah, yeah, so so important.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
When you get one and try and then who you'll
be able to say, hey, this really works, all.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Right, Kenny. Well again, it's Kennygianini putters dot com and
Ganini is g I N N I N I and
the information is there on our blog posts and please
check them out because really, stop spending money on drivers
and all these other things, because that's not the way
(35:13):
to go. And if you missed that conversation, definitely check
out the last episode. Kenny, thanks so much for your
time and I look forward to speaking with you again.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
SOO well, Fred, thank you very much for having me.
I really enjoyed it, and thank you
Golf Smarter number four hundred eleven, published on November nineteen,
twenty thirteen.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome to golf Smarter Mulligans, your second chance to gain
insight and advice from the best instructors featured on the
Golf Smarter podcast. Great Golf Instruction Never gets old. Our
interview library features hundreds of hours of game improvement conversations
like this that are no longer available in any podcast app.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
My biggest deal is is I never want a three touch.
If I can hit the ball within twenty feet as
the hole and I can play most of them, I'm
going to make three or four. It's all of a sudden,
I'm shooting three under, you know, And that's what I
strive to do. I never want a three touch. And
the consistency with my putter. If you cast the plutter,
if you heat a piece of material up and let
it cool off, it's going to be hotspots in that putter.
(00:51):
There will be places on that face or the wall
will jump off faster than others, and places that are
dead when they win is seated up, you know, those
molecules will run and they'll stay there at when the cools,
they'll stay out there too. We're seeing the putters, it's
the same all the way across that face, so it's
always going to feel the same. That's why I don't
do any putters with inserts, because inserts number one, they
(01:12):
will move number two if the temperature changes by or
ten degrease the fuel or an insert change, so it's
like you're putting it's a different putter. I want this
putter to feel the same if you're playing in one
hundred and twenty degree heat or you're playing at forty degrees.
Is a thirty mile an mile win and having it rain,
and it's going to feel the same every time you
stroke it, and that's going to want build confidence and repeatability.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
How to pick your perfect putter with Kenny Janini. This
is Golf Smarter. Welcome to Golf Smarter for members only. Kenny, Well,
thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Bred I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
This is interesting. I'm recording this late at night. We
never do nighttime recordings, and I'm excited that we're both
kind of sitting back, relaxed. We've had dinner, glass of wine,
and now it's time to talk about putters.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Well, it's sure is. I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Not as excited as I am. So what I wanted
to focus on this conversation is the consumer and what
they need to know if they want to build the
perfect putter for themselves, all the different elements that they
should be looking at, as opposed to walking in a
store where they have this little practice putting green that's
(02:28):
kind of filtered right into a hole and not really knowing,
just like putting a club in your hand, going yeah,
this is the right one for me. Is that the
best way to buy a putter.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
No, that's not the way to buy a putter.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
I didn't think you did that. I thought you'd agree
with that.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
No, you know, you need to be fitted. You know,
somebody needs to be fitted for a putter. You know,
some people have a putting path that goes through the
inside the square to the inside. Some people go straight
back and straight through. Some butters are made for the
toe to release, and some of you know, it's they're
not made to release. And you know, you need to
(03:12):
first find out what kind of a plutty stroke you have,
whether it's straight back and straight through, whether it's on
an arc. Basically, putters that are center shaft that they
balanced type putters. You know, it's hard to get to
toes to release on that and to square up, so
you don't want to have an inside path inside the
square back to the inside. Again, if you have a
(03:35):
putter that's a toe on release on, you know, that's
that's an important thing right there.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
So this is a situation where people go, you know,
I have I have an inside to outpath. They shouldn't
be changing their stroke or listening to teachers saying, you know,
you're doing it all wrong. They should do it what's
most comfortable for them and then pick the putter that
works in that direction.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Well yeah, I mean, I mean there is a lot
of you know, people will watch the tour over the years,
I mean, there are a lot of putting strokes out
there that you wouldn't teach somebody to put like. But again,
if you can repeat it and know where the ball
is going to go, it works, you know. I mean
there's I mean, there's you know, obviously there's an ideal
stroke where you're making everything that bit I'm not I
(04:23):
wouldn't want to change anybody's putting strokes somebody that they
have grooveed. I mean, we can get a putter that'll
fit that stroke.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I mean that's what I believe. M hm.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
So you create putters, you create putters for both styles.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Oh yes, you know. I mean I don't you know,
I know, the putter that I like to cut with
but looks good in my eye. I mean the first
thing when you find a putter has to look good
to you. I mean, it has to look good down there.
I mean, that's why we have so many different styles.
I mean, not everything looks you know, good to the
same to everybody. H So you find something that looks
(05:00):
good to you to your eye down there, and then
you know, you know, we make a putter that we
call it G four and we have that and shafted
with double bind where the total release. We have it
set back with a double bend where it won't release
as much. We have the set back with a straight
shaft in it with no offset on it in center shaft.
(05:22):
You know, it's basically the same putterhead, but it's four
different putters, but it has that look. So we can
fit anybody in that putter if they like that, look
for any stroke that they have.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
And the design of the head is really more about
the what you feel comfortable looking at. It has nothing
to do with performance.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Oh, it has everything to do with performance. I mean,
you know, to be honest with you, I mean, I've
produced putters that I don't really care for myself. They
don't look good to my eye. But again, as I
said before, you know, I don't know everything that there is.
I learn every day and I listen to everybody that
talks about putters. And just because I don't prefer it
(06:05):
it doesn't look good to my eye doesn't mean it
doesn't look good to yours. I know, I'm taking and
make it as the best that I can make it
personally myself, I might not put with it.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Yeah, well that's that's the honest truth. No, And then
that makes more. That makes a lot of sense because
you're trying to sell putters, so you want to appeal
to as many people as possible. Exactly, that makes sense.
You're in business. I mean, that makes total sense. And
so let's talk about getting fitted for a putter. What
(06:39):
does that entail and what should you be looking for?
Because you know, I guess that guys who do club
fittings for your your irons and your your fairway woods,
your drivers may not have the skill to fit you
for putters. Are they different skill sets?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Well, it's going to be pretty much the sense Gill set.
I mean, you need to know a little bit about
putting number one and how the platter works. You know
that you know you have the right size of grip.
You know, the bigger the grip, the less hands that
you can get. You know, personally myself, I'm using a
larger grip right now, and after we get done talking,
(07:18):
I'm and go out in my garage and I'm going
to cut that grip off and go back to a
little one because I'm more comfortable with that. You need
to know the shaft that's in it. You know, shafts
can vary in weight, they can vary in stiffness. I
prefer a step shaft kind of the shaft that we
use is kind of like the old Wilson head speed.
It's got a little whip at the bottom so you
get a lot of fuel. You know, if I put
(07:39):
a stiffer, heavier shafts in there, you're going to have
less feel at the bottom.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
You know, you're getting the head off. Now. I was
going to get to shafts in a little bit, but
I want to get through the fitting process.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
It's all it's all part of fitting. It's all goes
into there, right, you know, the lie on the golf club,
you know, and what kind of a stroke you have.
I mean they should be able to figure out if
you are somebody putt whether they go straight back and
straight through or whether they have an art in their
spleen and their stroke. That's pretty easy to figure out.
And you just go from there. You know, we give him,
(08:09):
you know, I would fit somebody. I would give him
different putters to try and you know, see what works
best with their with their pudding stroke.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
And when you say works best, what exactly does that mean.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
That they make the most parts? You know, I want
to I like to sit somebody with a putter and
watch them, you know, uh, you know, as an example,
I'm not going to use this gentleman's name that I
fit somebody last week, or the putter and stood there
and watched to make fifteen out of fifteen for twelve
feet whoa and he was a static.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Oh yeah, from fifteen feet that's a big deal.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
From twelve feet twelve.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
It's still from twelve feet. I mean, what even on
the tour, they're only making about fifty percent of the
putts inside of ten.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Well, I mean, I can't say that that this is
going to happen on the golf course every time and
he goes out. But I know that I fit into
perfection and this putter fits him, and he who loves it.
I bet he just absolutely loves it. You know, we
were on an absolutely pure, pure beyond belief putting surface
to do this on. I mean, it's a little tougher
(09:22):
to do it if you're not on a good green
or something that's not level where you can see everything
that the one that I did this ang was absolutely perfect.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
So you're saying that most club fitters understand how to
fit for putters as well, That's not something that I'm
going to say that.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
I'm going to say that they have a pretty good
idea for butter. Yes, okay, you know what I mean,
they should be able to if you know, I mean,
they can fit it. I'm not sure how much they
understand the difference in the in the putters and how
they're made and what they do. I mean, I just
don't know. I don't you know. If you gave me
a specific person, I could give you an answer. But
(10:00):
every fitter in the world.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
No, yeah, right, Well, I mean, because I recently had
a fitting for my my uh fairwy Woods Hybrids that
kind of thing, not my not my irons. But you
know we're talking about, you know, the the ball speed,
the club head speed, all these things that really aren't
relevant to putters. But the fitter was pretty well versed
(10:25):
in all the different products that were out on the market.
But I don't know.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
I mean, if I could take I could take one putter,
one of my putters, and I could put different shafts
in it, different grifts on it, and change you know,
things that I can do just with grifts and shafts,
and I could take ten of these putters and you'd
have ten putters that felt different, reacted different to the
ball coming.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Off of them.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
I mean, I mean, it's very it's important, very important
to get the fitting exactly, you know. I mean, the
lie is so important, the liar, you know, I don't
know where you want to go now. I mean, the
lie is is very very important, the lie in the
putter when it sits on the ground.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
So now I need for you to clarify exactly what
that means. The lie of the putter.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Well, if you if you know, you can grab a
putter in store and set it down on the ground
with you know, every individual was different to hold their
hands in a different spot. Some are shorter, some are
taller their hands, you know. And so if the toe
of the putter sits up in the air, the putter
is too upright. It needs to be bent down to
where that putter, you know, sols you can hold your
(11:39):
ones where you want to hold them, and that putter
is sold correctly. And if it was too flat, it
would be up on a toe.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Mm hm.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
So you have to be able to bend this putter
you wanted to go smoothly through.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
So then let's move on. And then too uh, Now
that you found the fitter that you like, he's doing
a fitting on you. Now you have to put the
different elements together to create the pitter, the putter that
works best for you. And where should should you start
on talking about the different components.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Well, again, most most pro shops or you know, retail outlets,
you know, they're not able to do what I'm able
to do. I mean I have the heads, I have
the chefs, I have the grips, you know, I mean
I could fit anybody into anything. I mean, I could,
you know. I mean, I'm a little bit different than
your average guy. But you're going to take a putter.
(12:40):
If the average person amateur walks into a discount store
or whatever and finds the putter that they like and
feels good to them and they keep square, I mean
they should. You know, they need to have the grip
put on it that they that they want, and they
need to have that club vent. I mean, those are
the two things that the club fit are. The store
like that's going to be able to do. He's going
(13:03):
to be able to bend it. He's going to be
able to put the right grip on, did you like?
Speaker 1 (13:12):
I recently I'm going to go up to the grips
for this moment, but I recently put one of the
fat grips on my putter and I was amazed at
the difference. Or it's huge, it really is.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
I mean it really changes things that you know, it's
going to change the fuel at the golf club. You know,
as an example, if you take a thirty five inch
putter and put a seven excuse me, a seventeen inch
grip on there, you know you're counterbalancing the cutter. You're
adding more weight to the butt end of the putter.
You're going to lose swing lay points, your total overall
(13:48):
weight on the putter is going to go up. But
the putter's going to feel completely different with that grip
on there, And you could cut it off and put
a regular grip on there, and it's going to be
a completely different putter and feeling again.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
To wait a minute, you said seventeen inch gript, you
mean the length of the grip.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
We're doing a lot of putters that the guys that
are switching over from the belly putters where we're doing
like maybe a thirty six or thirty seven inch putter
that they're going back to putting regularly with. But we
put that seventeen inch gript counterbalance, so it's kind of
(14:28):
kind of feel a lot like a belly putter when
they're putting with it.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Oh, that's really interesting. That extends the length of the putter.
It's not just necessarily like I generally, it.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Doesn't extend the length of the putter whatsoever. The grip
just comes down for you have more weight than that
butt end of the putter.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
The counterbalances so it's not just the thickness. It's just
not the girth of the putter. It's also the length
of it, I mean the grip.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Yeah. Yeah, Basically we're putting on the same grip that
they have on a belly putter on a short putter.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Mm hmmmm. And there's been this all this excitement lately
about you know, especially with Mickelson and a bunch of
guys winning on the tour, which changes the view of
everybody when somebody wins on the tour. But these these
fat grips, fat grip putters have become very very popular, right,
and you're getting a lot of demand for that.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Uh, you know, we hit a little bit of demand
for it, you know on my custom putters, you know,
I mean we do not we have our own grip.
We use pure grips at Arizona, and which I think
is a fantastic grip.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Why we got hooked.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
I just love the way it feels and I love
the way it looks. It just feels great in your hands.
Mm hmmm. So we put that on all of our
stock putters that go out. I mean, if somebody custom
mort or something and wants, you know, a superstroke grip
or a win grip or something like that on there.
We have, we'll put it on.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
We try to give everybody just what they want.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Well, of course, of course first time out. And is
that the basis of your business is customized putting putters
or do you have I mean I've talked to Tim
and he's saying that, you know, PGA superstores are now
going to start carrying your putters. Is this true?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Oh? Yes, I have the grand opening out here in
Palm Desert this last week and it was we did
very well out there.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Congratulations, that's great.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Well we had they had a re ordered Monday after
the two days after they opened they needed to order
more product.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
And that is just you know, that's our standard cutter,
and you know, and that's the bulk of our business,
you know, is the retail in our standard putter, which
are I don't know. I think there's thirteen different models
now a fourteen.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
And that could all be found at Kenny Giannini putters
dot com.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yes, mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
But you do custom custom made putters for people as well.
You mentioned in the last conversation that you've made for
some of the biggest names in golf history.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Well, you know I do, and you know I do
a lot of those putters. Those are you know, those
are my one of putters are definitely a different price point,
and it takes a little while to get one, you know.
Right now I'm back ordered about I don't know, three months. Wow,
I only I only do. I only do between ten
(17:39):
and fifteen of them a month. That's it.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Mhmm.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
You know. I mean they take a long time to make,
and we do a lot of special things to them
and make them different. When somebody orders something like that,
it's the one of you know, it's the only one
like it.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, and it takes a long time to make it right.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Well, I just try to make everything right.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
When you're custom making a putter, how do you At
what point do you go got it?
Speaker 3 (18:05):
This is it?
Speaker 1 (18:06):
This is exactly what he wants.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Wow, I mean I think I have it, you know,
from the beginning. You know, I'm going to get an
idea what he wants. You know, I understand when he's saying,
you know, what kind of neck he wants on there?
You know, I might take you know, our number four
putter and and uh get that basic head designed to
put a completely different neck on it. You know, I
might put six degrees of loft on it instead of
(18:33):
three and a half like we have on our standard putters.
You know, he might be somebody that presses their hands
way forward to needs that loft.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Oh so if somebody pushes their hands forward like that,
then they need more loft to the putter.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Sure, because if they set their hands forward like that,
they're taking off whatever loft is on the putter.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
And what is the what's the optimum loft for.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Three and a half to three and a half to
four degrees, it's the optimum loft. With the way that
the greens are these days. You know, we used to
put four, you know, and when I you know, and
you know twenty five or thirty years ago, when we
sent butters to Japan, we had to put four and
a half or five on there because the greens are
so fuzzy. You know, you need that ball to pop
up and roll, you know, to kind of you know,
(19:17):
now the greens are getting so good you can go
with less locked qu My butters all have three my
standard production putter, they all have three and a half
degrees are lots on it.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
So you don't want the ball to get airborne at all,
off the off the face of the pudd No, I want.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
That ball to just roll like to where it's supposed.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
To go in the hole, in the whole bottom of
the hole, in the bottom of the cup. And should
the butt when the ball leaves the putter ahead, should
there be some slide to it or should it be
rolling immediately?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Well, you try to guess there's always going to be
a little bit of skid to it, but you wanted
to you want to get that roll as quickly as possible,
so it'll always be a little skied to it, mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
And on the on the putter heads, and I love
just having this conversation with you breaking down all the
components to it. On the putter heads. Do you have
a preference whether you go blade or mallet or you know,
obviously personally, but also do you think one is better
than the other? Or is again do we get back
to just the look and the feel of it from
(20:28):
from interesting individual?
Speaker 3 (20:29):
I mean, I know what works for me. I mean,
you know I have my swing is inside back to
square to the inside. I don't I'm not a straight back,
straight through guy. So I mean, I know what I like.
I mean, I put it with the same putter for
twenty three years. I have a different one in my
bag now. I just you know, I took the other
(20:50):
one out. I put it for with twenty three years,
and I took it out for a year, and then
I put it back into another four and now it's
out of there and I'm putting with something different. You know,
I know what works for me and and and I again,
just because it works for me doesn't mean it's going
to work for somebody else. Sure, That's why we have
so many different models that you know, everybody people have
(21:11):
an idea of what they want, what they want to
look at. You know. Personally myself, I don't care for
a mallet. I'd never put with a mallet ever. It's
just too bulky and too. It's just different for me.
It just doesn't hit my swing, my stroke. And I
make a lot of them. The guys that have them
love them.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Yeah, I'm a I'm a mallet kind of guy too.
I like the line that gives me something to you know,
go perpendicular or actually when I'm addressing and I can
be parallel to that line.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Alls. I mean myself, I look at the ball, and
I look at the top edge of the player. That's it.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I don't I don't need to look at the rest.
I want to concentrate on on the ball, that's what
I want to hit.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I was gonna say, let's move up from the putter ahead,
now back up to the shaft and not just the
center shaft or heel shaft. But then you talked about
a double bend in a straight shaft. What are the
differences there and what are the advantages of one over
the other.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Well, a straight shaft, you know, it has no bend
in it. It's just going to be straight going right
into the head in that shaft. I do in our
Chubby R Number four putter with its center shaft where
it's first perfectly face balanced, and then I do it
set back a little bit to where that toe hangs
at about two o'clock two or three o'clock, so that
(22:44):
toe will release a little bit on that club. And
I do the same in my mallet. Those are the
ones we put the straight shaft hand. And then I
also will take those shafts and put a little offset
in it, which is going to get your hands a
little bit ahead a little bit ahead or with the
straight shaft, it's right over the center of the top
line is where your hands are. You know, if you
have a forward press, you don't want to use a
(23:06):
butter like that unless you have a lot of loft
on it.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
And the center shaft, the straight shaft is the one
for center shafted heads.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Center shaft and then set back a little bit, set
back about so a little about a half an inch
three come out of three come that's three eighths of
an inch back of center. So it releases a little bit.
And you know, I mean we should sell a bunch
of those.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
And tell me about the double bend. What does that mean?
And again what's the advantage of a double bend in
the shaft.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Well, the double bend in the shaft is when it
comes up and without a neck on it, it's going
directly into the head and that shaft will come up
and it'll have a bend on it. We'll just put
a little offset in it without having a neck on
the putter hands a little bit more forward of the wall.
It's just a different look. It's what looks good to
(24:05):
different people for it.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Yeah, yeah, and are there I know that there's a
lot of variation not only in quality but also in
price on shafts. When you're let's just say, building a driver,
are there a lot of options on because you don't
need a lot of bend on your shaft for your putter,
(24:26):
So are there a lot of options on which shaft
you should be looking towards for other than just the
double bend or a straight.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Well, the material we use you, you know, I mean
we put the first steel on all my all of
my putters. I put I don't put any graph light
in where a graph flight, you're losing a lot of
weight and a lot of the putters can balance differently,
you know, I prefer the steel shaft. We use two
different shafts. We use one that that has no steps
(24:57):
in it. It's a little heavier, it's a little stiffer.
And then the one I prefer is the one that
put the step downs in it, which is basically a
take off of the old Wilson head speed shaft. You know,
it has a little width at the bottom, you have
a little feel. I prefer that. You know, putting is
a feel. You have to have that feel. You need
(25:18):
to know where the head is. All the time, and
I believe this and that's what I do with my
product that I make.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Mm hm.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Those are the two shafts that I use. I use
the KBS shaft that they make is what I put in.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
And why those shafts, Why do you like those the best?
Speaker 3 (25:42):
I just do. I mean, they give me the best feel.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
And it's really it really comes down to how it
feels to you exactly. You don't do focus groups, you
don't have a lot of people try them out and
you watch them. It's all about how you feel.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Well. No, but I do have a lot of fun.
I have a circle of friends that are that are
you know, ninety nine percent of them are former tour
players that I might send you know, we'll go and
play golf and I'll say, hey, well you think about
this or something, and I'll get a little feedback back
like I told you before. But I believe me. I
do not believe that. I know. I'm not the king
of putters. You know, I do the best that I
(26:20):
can do, and I don't believe that I know the
answer to every question. That's why I listen to everything
that people say to me. Whether I said I've learned
some things from thirty handicaps about platters, you know, an
idea they might have and say, well, you know, I'm
looking at this, or you know, I listen and then
I try to, you know, take that file it away
in my little brain and pull it out when I
(26:42):
need it. And I let guys try my putters before
we put them on the market. Oh yeah, I'm a
small group of friends who get the prototypes and get
to play with those and go then I if I
need to, you know, all listen to what they have
to say about it. Luckily that I don't really ever
have any negatives about them, so I'm a happy guy.
(27:04):
Very few I've had, or very few of them I've
had to redo. I kind of them on one hand
in thirty five years.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Really yeah, that's and the wouldn't fill up the hand.
You can still hold a couple of balls in your hand. Well,
you may not be the king of putters, but you're
probably the prince, the prince of putters.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
I'm just I'm just Kenny. That's it. I'm the same
as everybody else, and I treat everybody the same, and
I'm not I don't have a gigantic ego or I
listened to everything. Everybody has to say everything.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
One of the things that you mentioned when we were talking,
you know, off microphone, was the finish of a putter,
and you feel that that's really important and I'm not
even sure I know exactly what that means.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Well, the finish on the putter is you know, it's
kind of like why you know, finished on the putter
is going to give you the feel you know, you're
covering that steel up to protect it from rusty. Now,
you know, I don't know if I should say this,
but personally, on my own butters, I've paid nothing on them.
I let them rust and turned that brown Nashville brown,
(28:15):
really without anything on them. That's what I do on
my own, so mine because I like to feel and
nothing on there. I just like to feel there the
raw steel, and I like to look at it.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
So when they start rusting, do you it's like, okay,
I'm done with this, when I can move on.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
No, no, no, I like it to look like that.
I want it to look like it's one hundred years old.
I'm not one of the guys, is you know. Like
I told you before, I'm not in the blink. I
don't want it shining in my eyes. I don't. I
want it to perform. And you know, like the putter
i'm putting with now is a prototype that we're going
to introduce next year, and I love it and I
(28:55):
did only made two of them, and I made one
and I put no finish on it all and another
one that has our black PVD finish on it. And
you know, for some reason, they feel about they feel
about the same. There's no real difference between them that
I just prefer the other one that's rusting naturally and
the other one. I had played with one of my
(29:16):
friends the other day to form a tool player, and
he just happened to I had the black one in
my bag putting with it that day and he just
happened to say, I got to have this. I'm taking it.
So he has it now and I'm just playing with
the natural one. That's what I prefer. It's kind of
like bon Vogi when he does his wedges for the tour,
you know, the raw finished they sweat a rust.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Yeah, but on a wedge.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
That's what that's what I That's what I do with mine.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Yeah, But a wedge is is a little different because
now you're digging into the saying, you know you're digging
into the grass. You got to get the mud up there.
You gotta get it wet. It's it's getting a lot
of different performance on a wedge then you're getting in
a butter. It's going through a lot more torture me.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
But when I do that, this plutter is polished the
same as one that would begin to finish on it.
And I mean if I did one with no finish
on it and didn't platinum putter with a finish on it,
you would probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference
between the two. Then that that platinum one will always
stay like that. The one I'm playing with it's going
to rust, it's going to turn brown.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
And what are the options on finishes or for r
putters are there any well?
Speaker 3 (30:28):
The natural plutters like I play with, that's only on
my custom want us. We don't do that production. And
then our finish in production is we have our satin
nickel finish which we call platinum, and then our black
PVD that is I just changed that finish and we're
going to a satin black which will be no glare
(30:51):
or shining the sun of putter whatsoever. We're just running
the first bunch of those right now. M So those
are the two finishes that we offer.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
I'm going to put you in an uncomfortable position for
a moment, Kenny. I know you're not going to like
this question, but I'm gonna I'm gonna throw it out
here anyway. Why should people own a Kenny Giannini putter?
Speaker 3 (31:21):
Well, I mean, I think I believe it's the finest
putter made on the market. It has the engineering to it.
It has slot face, the soft slot face, which will
be discussed before. I'm it's going to keep the blade
square that I believe that anyone out there. I think
it looks great. And you know, I mean it's kind
(31:44):
of old school. I mean there's no gimmicks, there's no
you know, bells and whistles that goes along with it.
It's just major perform better than anything else in the market.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Look, I'm going to toss out an answer. You tell
me an answer to that question. You tell me if
you would agree with this statement. When I ask why
should somebody own a Kenny Ganini putter, the answer I
think should be because you're going to sink more putts.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
Well, I mean, if you I believe. I agree with that. Yeah,
you'll sink more puts.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
There you go, then you will. So it doesn't matter
what it looks like or what you know, it's like,
what what the elements are, as long as the results
are there and you hear the happy sound of the
ball going in the cup. Isn't that what it's all about?
Speaker 3 (32:31):
That is what it's all about, you know. Personally myself,
you know, my biggest deal is is I never want
a three cuts. I'm gonna make. If I can hit
the ball within twenty feet as a hole and I
can play most of them, I'm going to make three
or four all of a sudden, I'm shooting three under,
you know. And that's what I strive to do. I
(32:52):
never want a three cut. And the consistency with my putters,
there's noe by knowing the plutter. If you can the
plutter or forth. If you heat a piece of material
up and let it cool off, it's there's going to
be hot spots in that putter. There'll be places on
that face where the wall will jump off faster than others,
(33:13):
and places that are dead. When it's sheet it up,
you know, those molecules will run and they'll stay there,
and then they'll when it cools, they'll stay out there too.
You know, when machining the putters, it's the same all
the way across that face, so it's always going to
feel the same. That's why I don't do any putters
with inserts sound because inserts number one they will move
(33:38):
number two. If the temperature changes five or ten degrees,
the fuel of that insert will change, so it's like
you're putting, it's a different putter. I want this splutter
to feel the same. If you're playing in one hundred
and twenty degree heater, you're playing in forty degrees. Is
thirty mile a mile win? And having it raining, It's
going to feel the same every time you stroke it,
(33:58):
and that's what I want, built confidence and repeatability.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Well you ain't the king of bling, but you're the
prince of putters.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Oh, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Thank you very much, Kenny. I really appreciate you. You've
given the education but also sharing your knowledge with us.
I've learned a tremendous amount and I cannot wait to
give a Kenny Giannini putter a try because I just
have a sense that I may be going from thirty
three thirty four putts around down to twenty eight twenty nine,
(34:34):
and that is my goal.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Well that's you know, that's the only club in your
bank that you're going to be able to do that with.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Yeah, yeah, so so important.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
When you get one and try and then who you'll
be able to say, hey, this really works, all.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Right, Kenny. Well again, it's Kennygianini putters dot com and
Ganini is g I N N I N I and
the information is there on our blog posts and please
check them out because really, stop spending money on drivers
and all these other things, because that's not the way
(35:13):
to go. And if you missed that conversation, definitely check
out the last episode. Kenny, thanks so much for your
time and I look forward to speaking with you again.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
SOO well, Fred, thank you very much for having me.
I really enjoyed it, and thank you
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