Product Review: Mantis Putter

Mantis Golf wants the ball to be the hero when it comes to making putts. Problem is, many putters on the market today boast elaborate shapes, are made from reflective metal or come in white finishes - making it hard for golfers to keep their eye on the ball.

What to do? Enter the green putter.

As beginning golfers, many of us heard the same thing from our instructors, “head down, eye on the ball.” As we’ve progressed and improved, the same two points remain critically important. Take your eye off the ball for a moment and solid contact is almost assuredly lost.

The theory behind a putter whose head matches the putting surface is simple. When given the option of looking at a white ball or green putter head, the mind will certainly focus on the ball.

From a practical standpoint, American Golfer took the Mantis out for our Hundred-Putt test. As the name implies, it’s 100 putts from all across the green. Our putts ranged from three feet to 30 feet and included uphill, downhill, left/right breakers and even an occasional straight putt.

What we found
* It was more of a challenge switching to a white driver than it was to transition to the green putter.
* The mallet putter is growing on me. While I’ve generally favored the traditional blade design, the mallet provides a nice weight (350g) and encourages a pendulum stroke.
* The green-and-white custom Winn Grip sticks with the unique look, but provides a very comfortable feel.
* The ball has a nice release (and sound) coming off the polyurethane face insert.
* The Mantis putter is perimeter weighted, which helped keep the face square through impact.

Made from 431 Stainless Steel, the Mantis putter comes in 33/34/35 inches and uncut/gripped 36 inches.

More than the green color, perhaps our favorite thing about the Mantis putter was the perimeter weighting. Many lesser mallets we’ve tested almost encourage the face to close, causing putts to miss left or the golfer to over-compensate by keeping the face open throughout the stroke. Either way ... missed putts.

While we don’t publish the number of putts made - mostly because user error taints comparisons - it’s safe to say the Mantis ranks right up there with the most-effective putters we’ve tested. While I can’t say I do or do not take my eye off the ball with other putters, I can say that it’s very easy to focus on the ball when using the Mantis.

We’ve said it before, but golf often follows the “drive for show, putt for dough” mantra. Perhaps you should put a Mantis putter in your bag. Green is the color of money, after all.

For more information, visit www.mantisgolfco.com.

Contact: AmericanGolferBlog@gmail.com