BGT Stability Putter Shaft Review

BGT Stability Putter Shaft Review

BGT Stability Putter Shaft
Grade: A+
Teacher’s Comments: Makes a bigger difference than I would have thought.

Putter Fitting At Miles of Golf
Grade: A+
Teacher’s Comments: Professional and affordable.

I would venture to say that even the more casual sort of golfer is familiar with the idea of swapping out stock shafts on drivers for premium models. The idea of reshafting irons also may have some resonance.

But reshafting putters? I have to admit: I’d never thought about it until I was contacted by the PR people for Breakthrough Golf Technology.

On the face of it, a putter shaft is a pretty simple concept. It is a steel tube attached to a putter head, generally thickest at the grip, narrowing to the head. With one of the old Bulls Eye putters it works perfectly fine.

Breakthrough Golf Technology founder Barney Adams — the legendary Adams Golf maestro — argues that the modern larger, heavier heads create more oscillating and twisting during the stroke. As putting in golf is a game of millimeters, even the slightest turn can result in a missed shot.

The Breakthrough Golf Technology (BGT) Stability Putter Shaft marries a steel tip to a graphite shaft with aluminum inserts and connectors. The graphite shaft has an ultra stiff flex and weighs 125 grams.

Barney Adams describes the BGT shaft:

“At 37 inches long, 125 grams and bearing an ultra-stiff flex, it’s designed to improve any golfer’s game,” says Adams, who serves as owner and founder of Breakthrough Golf. “It delivers the face more square at impact, for improved accuracy and solid feel. Plus it has a lower launch for a predictable roll and better distance control. I’ve never seen a product that can improve someone’s putting so quickly. My team found the weakest point of a steel putter shaft. They used computer analysis to place a flex-resistant insert at this weak point on the Stability design. It not only greatly increases stiffness but also adds the benefit of improved feel. Golfers will feel and see the difference from their first stroke with it.”

BGT claims that the shaft design is 25% more stiff than the alternative steel tubes and reduces torque by 50%.

How the Stability Shaft Works from BGT on Vimeo.

Four components of the Stability shaft work in concert, to greatly improve putting performance. This Advanced Materials Integration consists of:

• A 7075 aluminum connector that helps to reinforce. This versatility allows attachment to any tip diameter of any putter, regardless of the bend profile.
• Stainless steel tips with extremely consistent wall thicknesses are coated with a smoke PVD finish to add further protection from corrosion and rusting.
• Eight layers of high modulus carbon fiber that are specifically layered, wrapped and widened, with a no‐taper design to greatly reduce torque.
• A lightweight, 22‐gram aluminum insert that was developed and precisely located to reinforce flexural rigidity.

My experience with the BGT Stability Shaft began with a putter fitting at my local golf shop — Miles of Golf. There, fitter Ken Johns spent the better part of an hour with me testing my putting stroke, the face angle and a host of variables I don’t even pretend to understand. Then, armed with the data, he whisked my putter away to be reshafted.

Another aside: Even if you don’t get a BGT Shaft, I think getting a putter fitting is worth your while. After all, half of the shots you hit on the course will be with a putter. Better players don’t hesitate to get fitting for a driver — a club that likely sees action fourteen or fewer times a round. So why not a putter? At the very least, you might improve with a loft or face angle adjustment. For what it’s worth, Johns also discovered that the Cameron head was a little loose on the original shaft. I hadn’t noticed when I was using the putter, but when he was able to twist it in his hand, it was quite evident. That might be something worth checking on your own putter.

Once I put the newly reshafted putter into play, I noticed an immediate difference. The BGT Stability Shaft has rekindled my love for my old Scotty Cameron Newport putter. With the original shaft, it felt light and unstable — the reason I went to the Boccieri Heavy Putter a few years ago. The BGT Stability Shaft feels somehow more substantial and steady. The swingweight has definitely changed.

Ken Johns at Miles of Golf told me during the fitting that BGT Stability Shaft was going to feel heavier. I was ok with that because I believe that a heavier feeling putter encourages the use of larger and more stable muscles. With a slightly heavier putter, I rock the shoulders into the stroke rather than flipping at the ball with my wrists.

While I don’t possess all sorts of fancy putter measuring equipment, I can tell you that the BGT Stability Putter Shaft definitely has improved my putting with the Cameron. I am sinking putts from all over the green, and the misses are close ones. I honestly believe that the BGT shaft is reducing the variance

If nothing else, it has restored my confidence in the putter.

Accuracy aside, the thing I really like about the BGT shaft is the feel. With the old shaft and putter combination, every stroke came with a distinct click. The BGT shaft produces a feel that reminds me of a ball hit flush with a forged iron — smooth as butter.

Further, I am able to tell where, exactly, on the face the ball made contact. The graphite shaft offers feedback that I had not felt with a steel shaft. I very quickly discovered that the sweet spot for a three foot putt is slightly more toward the toe than I would have thought.

The bottom line is that the Scotty Cameron is back in the bag with its new BGT Stability Putter Shaft. It’s a reliable weapon in my war against par.

The Stability shaft retails for $199. That’s a bit pricey up front, but given that many golfers I know regularly buy new putters it is probably not expensive in the long run. You would only have to buy three relatively inexpensive putters to match the price of a properly fitted putter with a BGT stability shaft. If you ship your putter to BGT, they will do the installation on any new order for free.

Recommended.

The BGT Stability Shaft Review was first published on GolfBlogger.Com on May 9, 2019.