Putters: The shape of things to come...

The face of the putter is for ever changing and just when you thought you'd seen everything, along comes the S-Blade.

We've seen milled faces, insert faces and grooved faces (horizontal and curved) but the new Spherical Blade putters are what 'it says on the tin' - they're curved, to strike the ball on the ultimate point and keep it rolling toward the hole.

Even the best-struck putt can wander off line as it jumps, skids or bobbles off the putter face which is invariably slightly lofted or vertical at impact.

Speed, distance and direction will tend to be at risk with conventional putters but Ivor Thom's original design has been developed, say the makers of a new range of S-Blade putters, to take the luck out of your stroke 'and build in judgement and control.'

S-Blade claims the ball rolls 'perfectly off the face of the putter immediately' from the point of impact and 'stays true to line - every single time.'

While the putters look conventional, their faces are crucially, gently spherical in shape with the north-south convex curve precisely measured to ensure the point of impact on the ball is always just above its equator to induce a slight top spin and get the ball hugging the putting surface.

S-Blade says an additional east-west convex curve widens the sweet spot and minimises the effect of that last-second manual twitch we can all suffer from - even by a great putter like Miguel Angel Jimenez, as we saw at Wentworth at the weekend.

As well as the original Admiral model, other S-Blade models include the Emperor (blade shape), Arrowhead, Crescent (mallet), centre-shafted Greenstreak and Silver and Bronze Swallowtail mallets. All available with shafts from 30 to 36 inches and priced at £129.

For further information contact www.sphericalblade.com.