Harrington's torpedo putter shaft
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Padraig Harrington has been testing a new brass-weighted Torpedo shaft to his putter, which proved hugely successful in his capture of the Irish Open title at Adare Manor and could soon be available for club golfers.
A collaboration between Harrington, Torpedo Golf and bio-mechanics specialist Dr Paul Hurrion at the Quintic Consultancy, the unusual shaft, which has a lozenge-shaped brass mass screwed to the shaft just below the grip, made its debut in the PGA Tour 2007 Wachovia Championship, where Harrington took the first round lead with just 24 putts.
The material is positioned so that it alters the putter's centre of gravity to increase the sweet spot on the putter face, but differs from conventional wisdom by freeing the face from adjustment. Described by the inventor Tim Winey as a 'floating fulcrum', it virtually tricks the golfer's muscular system into improving the swing path while delivering better distance control.
The feel of the weight encourages the hands to be much more passive during the stroke, says Harrington. The sensation is having to swing the grip, allowing the putter to 'do the work' while reducing over-active hands during the putting stroke - a tendency when under pressure.
“The torpedo was born out of years of bio-mechanics research and coaching into the putting stroke, " says Dr Hurrion. "Trying to keep the face square at impact is vital for successful putting.”
“The key to Torpedo is the rhythm that it helps create during the stroke. We work very hard on this with the players, along with pace control, ball roll and quality of strike. This applies to short, medium and long putts, it helps eliminate wrist action during the putt,” Says Dr Hurrion who believes it will redefine putting.
