Brooks Koepka’s Scotty Cameron T10 Select Newport putter. (Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports)

3. Face-balanced vs. toe hang

Getting a putter with the proper length, lie angle and loft puts you in position to make a good stroke and be more effective on the greens, but a putter with the wrong face balance can work against you during your stroke.

Some players naturally swing their putter back in a relatively straight line, while others create either a subtle or pronounced arc by swinging the club inside the target line on the backswing, squaring it in the impact area and then closing the face on the follow-through. A putter’s balance can work in harmony with that motion or work against it based on the shaft axis and the head’s center of gravity.

If a straight line extending from the shaft into the head bisects the center of gravity, the putter’s face will point straight up when you balance it in your hands and the putter is said to be face-balanced. It will be ideally suited for a straight-back, straight-through putting stroke.

The farther the center of gravity is toward the toe and away from the line of the shaft axis, the more the toe will hang down. Putters with a small amount of toe hang (20 to 40 degrees) tend to work well for golfers who have a slightly arced stroke, while players who make a strong arc perform best with a putter that has at least 45 degrees or more of toe hang.