Should You Switch to a Counterbalanced Putter?

Switching to a counterbalanced putter could cure your tempo and stability issues. Many manufacturers offer their putters in standard length and longer counterbalanced configurations. Counterbalancing will be a solution for some—but not for all.

If you are reading this, you likely have putting issues. Something is just not right on the greens. You are missing the reads, struggling with speed, aiming at anything but the hole and are finding putting to be petulant, not pleasant.

Poor putting can really sink a good round. Imagine you finally get to play the Old Course at St Andrews and you card 40 putts for your round. You enjoyed the walk and snapped a sassy photo on the Swilcan Bridge but you just can’t stop thinking about how four fewer putts would have dropped your score below 80.

What should you do? Take a putting lesson? That’s a good start. Learn a green reading system? Aimpoint will help you improve your feel for slope. Practice more? Obviously.

Since all of those options take too much time, let’s jump to option four: buying a new counterbalanced putter!

Quite a few pros who were struggling on the greens dramatically improved their putting when they moved to counterbalanced putters. Maybe that is the answer for you as well.

Why Should You Consider a Counterbalanced Putter?

Can making the move to a counterbalanced putter actually improve your putting?

First of all, switching putters will not fix everything. Yes, I know that is a blasphemous statement. Buying a new club should always make everything better.

If you are considering buying a counterbalanced putter, first think about the areas of your putting game that are giving you problems.

If swinging your current putter feels like landing a lunker trout, moving to a counterbalanced putter should bring stability to your stroke. The heavier than usual head and shaft will promote more of a smooth stroke.

If you are struggling with distance and tempo, then a counterbalanced putter may help improve those aspects as well. Both of these metrics are really just stability measurements with different names.

Erratic tempo comes from a lack of stability. Inconsistent distances are caused by inconsistencies in swing path, tempo, face rotation and so on.

If the added weight of the counterbalanced putter improves stability and thus removes inconsistencies, your putting should improve.

What a Counterbalanced Putter Can’t Fix

I’m going to say the sad truth out loud: Some of us need lessons to become better putters. If you can’t read greens, your putting will suffer. Making the putter counterbalanced will not help you see that the putt is downhill and breaking left.

You may be suffering from alignment issues that have nothing to do with the weight of the putter but, rather, its optics. Certain putter shapes and alignment schemes will help some people aim correctly but may prevent others from aiming correctly.

Figuring out how your eye dominance influences how you aim the putter could be the key to making more putts.

I mentioned practice. I love to practice putting. I spend hours doing so. Realistically, I’m probably 2:1 with my putting versus full-swing practice time. If you practice more with your current putter, you should putt better … unless that putter is not a good fit for you. If that’s the case, then you are thankfully back to the buying a new putter plan.

A Tale of Two Jailbirds

Rather than just give you theoreticals, I have some first-hand experiences to share with you. I recently spent some time with two Odyssey putters, the standard length Ai-ONE Jailbird Mini and the longer counterbalanced Ai-ONE Jailbird Cruiser.

While they look very similar, their builds make them play very differently. Here are my observations.

Counterbalancing brings stability but reduces feel

As expected, the Odyssey Ai-ONE Cruiser Jailbird felt way more stable than the Odyssey Ai-ONE Jailbird Mini. Though the putters look almost identical at address, once you put them in motion, any similarities quickly diminish.

The Odyssey Ai-ONE Jailbird Mini plays like a normal mallet. I’d argue that there is not much about it that is actually “mini.” Its profile behind the ball is akin to other mallets of its size. When swung, it feels like a mallet (shocking), providing some feedback in terms of strike location and quality.

Both versions of the Jailbird include the Versa alignment scheme of alternating black and white perpendicular lines.

The Odyssey Ai-ONE Cruiser Jailbird sits a bit larger behind the ball but not awkwardly so. Once you put the Cruiser version in motion, you’ll immediately feel the difference in weight and stability. This Jailbird takes a bit more effort to move and resists manipulations once in motion.

If you need to calm your stroke, the counterbalanced Jailbird will help. It’s like your usual putter just took a 10-mg gummy.

I did experience a loss of feel/feedback when switching to the Cruiser from the Mini. When you hit the ball with the Jailbird Mini, you can tell if you hit it too hard or too soft. With the Cruiser Jailbird, this feedback is diminished.

Be prepared for girth as well as length

It comes as no surprise that the Cruiser Jailbird is longer than the Jailbird Mini. They have stickers on their grips that tell you their lengths.

What does come as a surprise is just how different they feel in your hands.

The grip on the Jailbird Mini is a comfortable standard-sized grip. Nothing too surprising there. On the other hand, the grip on the Cruiser Jailbird is a whopper.

My “cadet medium”-sized hands were not expecting the increased diameter of the Cruiser Jailbird’s grip. The increased size of the grip contributes to the counterbalancing but also affects how you will grip the putter.

Your hands will be well below the end of the putter when you address the ball. The weight of the grip and shaft above your hands offsets the increased weight of the putter head.

Be conscious of your hand position when you grip the putter. You will want to make sure you have your hands in the same position every time you putt so the weighting will be consistent. It will likely take you a bit of trial and error to find your ideal hand position.

It is also worth noting that the counterbalanced version will take up more space and add weight to your bag. If you are making more putts, you’ll likely not even notice.

Counterbalanced Captures Consistency

I found the Cruiser Jailbird to be the more consistent of the two in terms of dispersion. The Cruiser’s feedback is diminished but there is feedback. You just need some time on the practice green to truly understand what the counterbalanced putter is whispering to you about your stroke.

Your putts with the counterbalanced Cruiser Jailbird should all end up in a tighter circle than with the Jailbird Mini. The final practice goal is to figure out how to make that circle of putts correspond with the hole.

I know—we are back to needing to practice putting more. Sorry about that.

Counterbalancing Could Be Your Solution

Counterbalanced putters are not the be-all, end-all solution to putting woes. If they were, everyone would be using them. We tested in 2014 when counterbalanced putters were in vogue. Our testing found no performance difference between counterbalanced and standard length putter performance.

Although counterbalancing was not the universal answer to the anchoring ban, it did prove to be the ideal design for some golfers.

Ultimately, you will need to spend some time trying counterbalanced putters to see if you are one of the players they help. Why do you miss putts? Do those misses fit into the range of faults addressed by counterbalanced putters?

Don’t buy one blindly and expect it to fix everything.

The counterbalanced putter resurgence is happening because some professional golfers are putting better with them. Perhaps you are someone who will benefit from using one as well. Hopefully, your shop has one in stock that you can demo.

Find out more about the Odyssey Ai-ONE Cruiser Putters at odysseygolf.com

FAQ: Counterbalanced putters

Are counterbalanced putters the answer?

No. Counterbalanced putters are not the answer for all. That said, they will be the answer for some. Some golfers should just practice more with their Ansers …

How do counterbalanced putters work with the anchoring ban?

As long as you don’t ram the butt of the putter into your belly, you should be good. As for how you keep a broom putter “non-anchored”—that’s a whole other conversation.

What if 38 inches is too long for me? Can you counterbalance a shorter putter?

Unless FootJoy comes out with platform golf shoes, 38 inches will be too long for a pool of petite players. Odyssey will let you order a Cruiser at 37 but that’s likely not helping enough. Rest assured that building shorter counterbalanced putters is possible but you will likely need some help from internal shaft weights and extra tape for securing the larger grip to the tapered shaft.

Do other companies make counterbalanced putters?

While Odyssey’s Jailbird is the current belle of the counterbalanced ball, quite a few other companies are offering counterbalanced options. Bettinardi made counterbalanced and armlock versions of their 2024 Inovai putters. Evnroll has a longer MidLok version of the ER11v. TaylorMade has a counterbalanced version of their Spider Tour S mallet. Other options are out there as well.

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