Loft @ Address

What is Loft @ Address?

Loft @ Address measures whether your putter face points above or below the ground at address.   If you drew a line out of your club face and it was horizontal, SkyPro would report a loft of 0°.  If you then leaned your shaft back such that the face tilted up, you would get an upwards loft.  Tilting the face down into the ground would yield a downwards loft.

Most putters are made with about 2°-4° of loft already built into the club face.  This means that if you hold your shaft perfectly neutral - not leaning it forward or backwards at all - your Loft @ Address will read somewhere between 2°-4°. 

What should Loft @ Address be?

Much like Shaft Lean, there are two schools of thought for Loft @ Address. Some instructors teach that you should aim for a neutral shaft lean, 0°, which would cause your loft to be the loft built into your club face (usually around 2°-4°). They feel the reason putters are made with a bit of loft is so that the ball gets slightly lifted out of its depression on the green at impact (see Loft @ Impact for more details). However, other instructors, like Michael Breed teach that you should lean the putter forward at address and actually have a negative loft - around 1° to 2° down. In his book, the 3-Degree Putting Solution, he explains that positive loft on the putter often leads to backspin on the ball and causes it to check up before it starts rolling forwards. This leads to inconsistent speed and direction control.

If in doubt, you should experiment with both styles and find a Loft @ Address that works best for you. Then switch to Groove Mode and groove that value.