Cheap vs Expensive Putter Test: How Much Difference Does Price Really Make?
Can a $50 putter from Amazon compete with one of the most premium models on the market?
How much difference does price make when it comes to putters? That was what we hoped to find out with this test.
We purchased the cheapest putter we could find on Amazon - the Mile High Life - with an RRP of $50, and put it up against one of the biggest players in the putter space, Bettinardi, and specifically the BB-6.0 model, to find out if you are paying for performance on the greens or whether you're simply paying for the brand.
To reach our conclusion, we pitted each model head-to-head from short range as well as on longer, lag putts to test distance control before delving into the launch monitor data via the GC QuadMax.
So, should you be saving your money and going for a cheap putter? Read on to see what we discovered...
First impressions
On first impressions it was fairly obvious as to the difference in quality. The cheap Amazon putter didn't even come with a headcover and was just packaged in some bubble wrap.
It is very simple in its design but down behind the ball we didn't mind how it sat. After testing all of the best putters this year, we thought the Bettinardi was one of the larger heads but the Mile High model makes it look tiny.
We found the cheap putter to have a confidence-inspiring shape and it reminded us of the old Odyssey Sabertooth with its rounded fang design. There are lots of alignment lines that make it very easy to center the ball and aim.
From a looks perspective, the Bettinardi is unsurprisingly far better. The metallic blue finish looks absolutely superb and we'd say the BB 26 series is easily among the best-looking putter ranges to be released this year. It comes with premium components including a high quality grip and luxurious headcover.
The Bettinardi's sight-line runs all the way to the edge of the face which we really liked, while the Mile High's frustratingly stopped just short of the face.
The BB 6.0 looks far superior and much more premium, while the matte-black finish on the Mile High looks cheap and like it could begin to chip away quite easily.
You can tell the Bettinardi has a far better face design, too.
It's beautifully crafted and the milling is high quality, compared to the Mile High which gave us the impression that its grooves have almost been put in for the sake of it.
Close-range hole-out test
Our first performance test saw us roughly pace out three-feet on all sides of the hole and place tees down in six positions for what is often referred to as a 'Hurricane drill.' We went for a hole that was slightly on a slope to ensure we had different types of putts from each tee.
We hit three putts from each tee, so 18 putts in total, and started with the cheap Mile High model.
Our tester, equipment editor Sam De'Ath, managed an impressive 17 out of 18 with the cheap putter to set a tough target for the Bettinardi to beat. Sam did manage to beat it with an impressive 18/18, making a total of 35 out of 36 putts. Not bad and not much to separate them!
We definitely preferred the more premium look of the Bettinardi and didn't love the feel of the Mile High Life.
Still, 17 out of 18 was an impressive tally for the cheap option - but could it keep up from long range?
Long range lag putt test
For our lag putt test, we paced out around 35ft and set up a box two-feet around the hole as a target zone to finish the putts.
We hit 12 balls with both the Bettinardi and Mile High Life to get an understanding for how each putter feels and sounds, as well as to gauge the quality of the roll to get inside that 'gimme' zone.
Sam went with the Bettinardi first and managed a solid nine out of 12 (75%) inside the target zone. The Mile High Life was then up next, where we noticed it felt very head-heavy. It only clocked five inside the target (just under 42%).
"I think what I've seen here at the end is exactly what I was scared of with this putter," Sam said of the Mile High Life model.
"The fact that I think they've put grooves on it to maybe help with some moisture management, but other than that, they don't really know what they're doing with the face. Hence why it's so cheap and it's easy to produce and that's why it's $50."
Launch Monitor Data
Our final test was to get launch monitor data from both models, in particular the skid-rate (Time To Full Roll) and ball speed to try and gain a better understanding as to why the Mile High Life was harder to control from distance.
Ideally when testing a putter you want the skid-rate to be as low as possible, meaning that the ball is rolling true quicker. In regards to ball speed, we were hoping for consistency and were intrigued to see if the Mile High Life produced a faster ball speed, as it definitely felt like it.
Sam rolled six putts with each putter, and the data surprised us a little.
While the ball speed of the Bettinardi was slightly slower than the Mile High Life, the cheaper putter actually got the ball rolling quicker.
The 'Time To Full Roll' numbers were quicker with the Mile High Life, so the grooves we weren't initially convinced by actually produced a really good and consistent roll.
However, in conclusion, the Bettinardi did perform better when it came to holing out - we didn't miss a single putt.
We only missed one with the Mile High Life from that short three-foot range, but it was really apparent and noticeable in the lag putting test that the Bettinardi was superior and enabled us to get the ball closer and then hole those three-footers on the course to keep our score going.
So, which would our tester, Sam, choose?
"I would probably fall somewhere in between if I'm honest," he said.
"There are obviously putters that fall in the price point anywhere between this $50 range and the $500 range and I think you could probably gain pretty good performance on this putter [the Bettinardi].
"Maybe not quite as good as this putter, but around the $250, $300 mark, I think you can find some exceptional performance and not really be pushed up to that real premium market.
"I think between these two, I would have to go for the Bettinardi. The premium components make it for me. I really like the shaft. The grip feels so much nicer in my hands and would give me a bit of confidence with the shape of the head down behind the ball.
"Not to say the Mile High Life is bad at all. I mean, for $50, this actually performed really well. The Time To Full Roll with the launch monitor really did surprise me.
"I really hated how it sounded. That tinginess was not something I liked. I didn't like how the grip felt in my hands.
"And I while I can see how it could be a confidence-inspiring head down behind the ball, it's not something that I particularly liked. But it's interesting to know that there is performance to be found on the likes of Amazon for $50 when on the green."
Would you use a $50 putter? Let us know in the comments section below.
