Equipment

Review: Yes! Donna Putter

By Sean ⋅ February 23, 2008 ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

Background
Over the past few weeks I have been having a look at one of the latest putter designs from Yes! Golf, their Donna putter model. The Donna combines a high MOI design with the renowned Yes! C-Groove technology. This combination should provide one of the straightest hitting putters on the market today.

This hybrid putter is composed of two different materials. The face is made of aviation grade aluminum and the body is made of 304 stainless steel. The combination of a light face and heavy back generates a high MOI. The design of the putter is a combination of a mallet and cavity-back blade design. The heel-toe balance makes it a very forgiving putter. The full offset shaft features a double bend and the cavity of the putter head has a single alignment line.

• Face balanced
• 355 gram head weight
• Loft: 2.5 degrees; Lie: 72 degrees std. (2 degrees flat or 2 degrees upright also available)
• High MOI Cavity Back Blade design for extreme forgiveness
• Features a unique double bend shaft
• Titanium Carbon finish
• Anodized grooves
• Available in RH and LH models, shaft lengths 32″ to 37″
• Custom fitted head cover

The naked eye can’t see it, but when a regular putter face impacts a golf ball it results in loft causing skidding, side- and even back-spinning before the ball can begin rolling forward on the green. So the ball is more apt to be affected by any miniscule aberration it encounters. Even when struck on the right line, these effects are the principal causes of missed putts.

Look and Feel

The Donna putter is a hybrid mallet/blade style putter. While it looks more like the Anser style blade putter than a big mallet, it definitely is larger than a typical blade. It basically looks like a normal blade, with a little extension added to the back. It blends in quite well, and I think someone who is accustomed to playing a blade putter would be fine with this look. Someone who is coming from something like a 2-ball putter, may find it a little too compact. Though, as always, this part of the review is always very subjective. One person loves a Spider style putter, while another loves a clean blade. I commend Yes! for putting together a high MOI putter that looks more like a traditional blade. I am sure there are a lot of people out there who will absolutely love the design.

The alignment aid on the putter is very traditional for a blade putter, just a simple line. The ‘top-line’ of the blade itself is a nice satin style color, while the back of the blade is darker, helping to hide the added size. As always, the Yes! putter grip is quite distinctive. The black/white/yellow stripe is easily recognizable on the course. It is a Winn AVS grip, which has a nice tacky soft feel to it.

Feel off the face is quite nice for an insert putter. I have hit plenty of insert and milled faced putters over the years, and this one ranks up there in terms of feel for an insert putter. Even off center hits felt quite nice. You can still tell you did not ‘pure’ the putt, but it still feels quite nice. One interesting aspect is the feel of the C-Grooves. At times you can almost feel the grooves grabbing the ball. When the ball comes off the face and starts rolling (instead of skidding) almost immediately, it is a real nice feeling. You usually only see that with a milled face putter if you have put an absolutely perfect stroke on the ball.

At 355 grams, the Donna feels pretty solid in your hands. I enjoy playing with heavier putters, so this one felt pretty comfortable. If you are playing on slow greens, especially at municipal courses, a heavier putter should help smooth out your stroke and give you good feel for pace on slower greens.

Performance

Obviously one of the biggest performance component of the Yes! putters is the C-Groove face. The fact that the ball rolls almost immediately is a huge advantage when it comes to putting. As the Yes! website mentions, a ball that starts rolling immediately holds its line better than a ball that skids over the initial foot or two. While I can get my ball to roll well quickly on short putts with a milled face putter, the problem comes in with longer range putts. Right now I play with a Heavy Putter B3-M. I am deadly with the putter inside 8 feet, but long range putts I still struggle with skidding. With the Donna in my hands, I really felt the longer range putts rolled very true.

While you hope that you hit the ball on the center of the putter face, we are not always perfect. The Donna’s high MOI really shines on off-center hits. I deliberately tried to putt a little toward the toe and heel of the putter and was pleasantly surprised. Distance loss was minimal at best. I even sunk a few long range putts off the toe with this putter. Who wouldn’t want this kind of forgiveness?

There is an infomercial running on The Golf Channel for the Rife putters. They mention how C-Grooves are a problem on off-center hits, grabbing the ball on an angle, and creating a side spin. I did not see that at all, at least not with this model. Perhaps it was a problem with older models of the Yes putters, I really do not know. But, off-center hits with this putter both kept their distance and still rolled out true very quickly (little to no skid).

Conclusion

Overall, the Donna is a solid putter. Great feel for an insert putter. Remarkable skid reduction and forgiveness on off-center hits. The traditional shape, mixed with some advanced technology will appeal to a large audience. Those of you using a traditional blade, but looking for some help on off-center hits and getting the ball rolling, you will probably immediately feel comfortable with the look of the Donna.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I really do love the Yes Golf website. It is very sharp, up to date, and very easy to read. Great design work guys!

You can pickup the Yes! Donna putter for $299 from In The Hole Golf. I have not seen any on eBay as of yet, but may be worth a look.

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