Activities Sports & Athletics Toe-Balanced Putter: What It Is and Which Golfers Should Favor One Share PINTEREST Email Print Lori Adamski Peek / Getty Images Sports & Athletics Golf Basics History Gear Golf Courses Famous Golfers Golf Tournaments Baseball Basketball Bicycling Billiards Bodybuilding Bowling Boxing Car Racing Cheerleading Cricket Extreme Sports Football Gymnastics Ice Hockey Martial Arts Professional Wrestling Skateboarding Skating Paintball Soccer Swimming & Diving Table Tennis Tennis Track & Field Volleyball Other Activities Learn More By Brent Kelley Brent Kelley is an award-winning sports journalist and golf expert with over 30 years in print and online journalism. our editorial process Brent Kelley Updated May 10, 2018 A "toe-balanced putter" is one whose toe - when the putter is balanced along its shaft (so that it rests parallel to the ground) - angles downward or points toward the ground. Putters that display this feature will be favored by golfers - and best-suited to golfers - with a specific type of putting stroke (more on that to come). A toe-balanced putter is also called a toe-down putter or toe-weighted putter. Just how much the toe of a toe-balanced putter points downward when the shaft is balanced parallel to the ground is referred to as "toe hang" (or sometimes "toe droop"). Determining a Putter's Clubhead Balance To determine if a putter is toe-balanced, balance the shaft of the putter on your index finger so that the putter rests in a position parallel to the ground. Now, look at the clubface: Is the clubface angled toward the ground, the toe hanging downward? If so, the putter is toe-balanced. If, however, the face of the putter is also parallel to the ground, then the putter is called face-balanced. Why Toe-Balanced Putters Fit Certain Golfers Putters that are toe-balanced have clubhead properties (for example, the shaft's entry point and the center-of-gravity location) such that they open more on the backstroke and close more on the through-stroke in the putting motion. Therefore, toe-balanced putters are preferred by golfers who use an inside-to-inside putting stroke, also called an arcing stroke or a swinging gate stroke. Just how pronounced the "toe-balancing" of a putter is - how much toe hang it displays - helps determine which putter best fits your stroke: If you have a more pronounced arcing putting stroke, you'll want a putter with more toe hang;If you have more of a subtle arc in your putting stroke, you'll want less toe hang; Face-balanced putters, on the other hand, are best-suited to golfers who use a straight-back-and-through putting stroke. If you know the type of putting stroke you have, you can ask when shopping for a new putter about the putter head's balance position. Better yet, go for a putter fitting: The clubfitter will make sure the balance properties of the putter match your stroke.