Elite Sports Products Marquis Putter Review

Pros

• Heavy head keeps putter on line and reduces yips.
• Alignment arrows and other visual cues are large and easy to read.
• Nicely balanced.

Cons

• Sound feedback not as solid as looks of the putter.

To be honest, I'd never heard of Elite Sports Products or the Marquis putter before receiving my flatstick from the company, so I had no idea what to expect. Then when I opened the box, the look was, well, out-of-the-box.

That's the first thing that strikes you about the Marquis putter from Elite Sports Products: The unique design and look. The face appears as a blade-style putter, yet behind the face is an enormous "wing" that features alignment arrows as well as two large weights in the form of silvery discs.

So while the clubface viewed on its own resembles that of a blade, the full design is a mallet. Perhaps one might think of it as a hybrid design.

As all golfers tend to do, I put the putter in front of me and took some strokes on the carpet. Something that caught my attention was the weight of the head. Many common putters have headweights between 300-325 grams. The Marquis weighs in with a headweight of 442 grams. One can definitely feel the putter head.

Here are some other design features of the Marquis:

• It is a toe-balanced putter, making a pendulum stroke ideal for the club;
• It has a a 5-axis CNC-machined stainless steel head;
• The "True Grip" surface of the clubface resembles very fine sandpaper, which keeps the ball on a truer line;
• The Marquis has a very high MOI, a result of most of that headweight being rearward and heel and toe, providing extra stability.

Another feature I found interesting was the visual design on the rear "wing" of the Marquis. The design looks like three arrows pointing towards your target (hopefully). Cleverly, they "accelerate," or get closer and pointier as they approach the face of the putter. The arrows are a keen visual reminder to follow-through on putts.

OK, so how did I like the performance of the Marquis on real putting greens? I liked the heavy weight of the head. It helped keep my stroke straight back and straight through - very important for shorter putts.

But one feature of the putter just didn't do it for me. Upon center contact with the face, the putter produces what could be described as a "tink" sound. It does let the golfer know they've made solid contact with the center for the face, but I had a tough time digesting the signature sound. I let several members of my club try the Marquis and some of them really liked the sound, so it's probably just me. Reaction to putters can be very personal.

Lots of features in an innovative package - that's the Marquis. If you're looking for a putter that marches to the beat of a different drummer in terms of looks, alignment, feel and sound, then you'll like the Marquis.