A toe-balanced putter might also be called a toe-down putter or toe-weighted putter.
To determine if a putter is toe-balanced, balance the shaft of the putter on your index finger. Now look at the clubface: Is the clubface angled toward the ground, the toe hanging downward? If so, the putter is toe-balanced. (If the face of the putter is parallel to the ground, then the putter is called face-balanced.)
Putters that are toe-balanced have clubhead properties (such as the shaft's entry point and the center-of-gravity location) such that they open more on the backstroke and close more on the through-stroke in the putting motion.
Toe-balanced putters are preferred by golfers who use an inside-to-inside putting stroke, also called an arcing stroke or a swinging gate stroke.
Golfers who use a straight-back-and-through putting stroke will be better suited by a face-balanced putter.
How much the toe of a toe-balanced putter points downward when the shaft is balanced on one's finger is referred to as "toe hang" (or sometimes "toe droop").
Return to Golf Glossary index

