BGT Stability Tour thoughts

ckay

Feel free to add your thoughts as well.

I did the unthinkable and tinkered with my putter that has brought a lot of made putts and put some spring back in my step as the rest of my game is not very good at the moment.

Initial thoughts on the shaft itself:
Shaft quality is great with consistent shaft wall thickness
Graphics are well done, and you do not see one bit of it once installed
Fit wasn’t as snug as I would have liked over the hosel and I may redo it with beads

Prior to change:
Spider X Flowneck 33.5”
Superstroke Pistol GTR 1.0
D2 SW
547.5g total weight

Post change:
Spider X Flowneck 33.75”
Superstroke Pistol GTR Tour
D9 SW
509g

Grip profile change was made as I felt the non-tapered version of the Pistol GTR was a little fat, but after spending some time with the Tour I kind of miss it as it did quiet down my lower hand. Time will tell on whether it gets pulled or not.

I’ve hit a bunch of putts on my PuttOut yesterday and my initial impressions are as follows:

Stiff!
More click at impact
Intentional putts off of the toe and heel hold the intended line and maintain enough speed to get to the hole from 6’
No verdict on overall feel yet
The two piece shaft design is not noticeable at address

First round is tomorrow, and I am pretty stoked. I’ll know tomorrow if I am going back to 33.5” and/or the standard GTR non taper. Hopefully I have a verdict on the overall feel of the shaft as I putt with it from longer distances and with breaking putts as a flat putting mat isn’t an ideal test.

dphatt

I started with the original shaft as the tour was not available. When the tour came out they originally did not offer a .390 tip so I never bothered to get it. They finally made the .390 and I bought it because I liked the slimmer profile. Something with the tour one just didn’t feel right to me so I took it out and went back to the original. I think the heavier swing weight of the original made it feel better to me. The one thing I did not like about the original BGT is that it does expand the grip a bit.

ckay

Some thoughts after today’s round. Hands like stone. 5:47AM tee time and no sleep as the baby has been battling a fever and doesn’t want to sleep. Couple that with greens that were changing speeds throughout the entire morning, statistically wasn’t a great day or putting.

Long putts you will notice a difference in shaft feel. The Stability is rigid. Overall the club is 20g lighter and you do feel that weight loss. However it is only a matter of time before you get accustomed to it.

I don’t think I misshit any putts but if I did, the MOI of the putter head and the lack of twist in the hands helped keep the roll true and keep speed.

Today was a day of poor line selection and pace. I am so far satisfied with my experiences on the shaft. Time will tell if it is worth the cost. At this moment, I don’t have an opinion on it.

seth910

ckay just switched to a SC SB putter with BGT Stability Tour, and so far I'm really enjoying it. I'm working through the feel and alignment, coming from a Spider X and the bespoke putter's with different alignment setups. But so far so good and really enjoying it.

andyk856

I just put the tour on in my newport. I love it so far, I did have to change out my 20g weights for 25g weights ground down to about 22. it feels really good now.

bigjohntripod

This is for the regular version, just some scattered thoughts...

I can tell now, it’s more stable than my stock shaft (JD Spider double bend). I am making more putts with considerably less practice. That will not be a trend, I will get to practicing sooner than later.

My build was a bit different though. DP can explain if needed but, he didn’t have the stock shaft to build onto. I sent the legend the head, CT KBS putter shaft, and grip. So... I assume that my Spider plays differently that a Spider with a stock shaft/BGT. Maybe it’s mo stiff? I know the KBS was stiffer than the stock. I don’t know. I’m a feel guy and it feels gooooood.

Jokes

Has anyone compared one of these to the LAGP putter shaft?

ckay

Final notes on the Stability Tour for me. I’ve been through 4 different setups and a lot of PuttOut sessions and putting green sessions. Not many actual rounds as I’ve only gotten out for 4 rounds this season and only two were played with a BGT.

Spider X Flow Stability Tour
Phantom X 8 Stability Tour
TP Soto Flow Stability Tour Black
Phantom X 5.5 Stability Tour Black

The shaft is definitely stable but I found that I was sacrificing feel as a trade off. I shrugged it off for almost a year. I also found that I was having speed control issues from any range but thought it was a mental block from the mandatory flagstick in situation we’ve become accustomed to in the last year.

A couple weeks back, I took out my TeI3 on its original YSC on a whim and it reminded me of the feel I was used to. The feel you expect. Speed control was also improved from all ranges and I felt very confident in putting an aggressive stroke inside 10 feet without fear of it ricocheting off of the stick. But then again I was playing a muni with slower greens.

Last week I took my Olson on a KBS shaft out to a private club and the greens were rolling pretty fast. Same deal, it was that old feeling I expect from a putter and it didn’t feel foreign like the BGT still felt to me even after countless sessions over the course of almost a year. Speed control was pretty good as well, and again, I felt that I could get pretty aggressive on certain putts to eliminate subtle breaks from the putt. I just never felt comfortable doing that with a BGT.

So I guess that concludes my time with the BGT. I think I gave them a fair shake with 4 different combos of all types of heads. Although the new Polar was pretty tempting I think it is time to move on back to a steelie or to an LAGP. I would like to try an LAGP if I can get it for a reasonable price but we will see.

It sounds like I’m dumping on them but I’m not intentionally. These are my findings after a year of trying to find the right set up, and going back to steel just validated the fact that to me, it just felt foreign and I couldn’t get comfortable with it.