Heavy Putter's Lite-Weight Series: An effective oxymoron

Heavy Putter's new Lite-Weight D3 may be lighter, but it incorporates all the design features and philosophy of the original Heavy Putter. (Courtesy of Boccieri Golf)


Many years ago, the Heavy Putter lumbered into the market with the simple yet brilliant strategy of helping yip-prone golfers take the small muscles in the wrists and hands out of the putting stroke. The aptly named putter was several times heavier than any putter in existence, including the crucial addition of counter-weighting in the grip-end to maintain proper swing-weight.

A few years ago, Heavy Putter changed its name to Heavy Putter by Boccieri Golf, after Stephen Boccieri, inventor of the Heavy Putter. The designs have become increasingly innovative – and, interestingly, increasingly lighter.

Last year saw the introduction of the Heavy Putter Mid-Weight Series, which noticeably ratcheted down the heft of the original models.

This year, the company introduced the Lite-Weight Heavy Putter series. The name might be oxymoronic, but the results are extremely consistent.
How the Heavy Putter Lite-Weight D3 plays

We tested out one of the six new Lite-Weight models ($120), the D3 mallet, to see how it stacks up against not only other mallets, but also compared to previous heavier models.

The first thing you notice is the impeccable attention to quality: CNC milled face, perfect face-balancing (not just semi-face balanced, like some other recently reviewed putters), ideal balance between head and grip, mid-sized grip that lays naturally in the hands, and the sleek, black matte finish that seems to focus your eyes on the ball.

And of course, you notice the weight: 600 grams. Now, this is considerably lighter than past models, but it's still clearly heavier than any other putters on the market. Unlike the original Heavy Putter, though, or even the Mid-Weight, the D3 doesn't make you worry that you're simply going to pound the ball off the other side of the green. It feels like you can make a decent stroke while still controlling the mass of the club.

This is a huge plus for those of us who grew timid wielding the original Heavy Putter, which weighed about twice what the Lite-Weight models weigh. With that original monster, I actually had trouble getting the ball to the hole—I just couldn't make myself swing hard enough because I was scared of crushing a putt 10 feet past the cup. (And when I really stroked it, I did do that sometimes.)

All of these concerns vanished with the D3. The elevated center of gravity provided by the unique three-hump mallet head produces almost immediate forward roll, and the head-grip weighting promotes an incredibly smooth stroke.

Yet the Lite-Weight series is still heavy enough to keep the small muscles dormant in all but the most irretrievably "handsy" putters. And this goal is also aided by the somewhat over-sized grip.
The verdict on the Heavy Putter Lite-Weight D3

In short, the Lite-Weight series is the best line of putters that Heavy Putter has ever produced. They are true to the design concept of the original line, but are far more flexible and appealing to a wider variety of golfers.

No longer is the Heavy Putter geared toward helping poorer putters get better. The new Lite-Weights are rock-solid putters that can help all golfers -- no matter their skill levels -- sink more putts.