50 Words or Less
The Sacks Parente Series 91 “The Duke” putter combines a clean, iconic look with a host of modern technologies. Wonderful feel and flow. Very forgiving.
Introduction
When I first saw “The Duke” embroidered on the Sacks Parente putter head cover, I thought “I don’t recall ever hearing that John Wayne played golf.” Which turned out to be true. When I learned tour veteran Ken Duke was integral in the design of the Series 91 putter, the name made sense. While the official name is Series 91 “The Duke” I’ll be simply referring to the putter as The Duke henceforth. What’s with the Series 91 nomenclature you ask? Keep reading until the end.
Looks
Since I mentioned the headcover above, I’ll start there. It’s ok. I like the precision of the embroidery, and the magnet is strong, but the fit leaves a bit too much of the putter exposed. The good news is most blade type covers will fit The Duke. Interestingly, The Duke is listed under blade putters on the Sacks Parente website. While I consider The Duke a mid-mallet, when you look at Sacks Parente mallet putters like the Drac [full review HERE], I understand their demarcation line.
Overall, the putter has a clean, high-end look. The sole has twin cutouts with intriguing geometric patterns on the inserts. Fine milling covers the entire face, interrupted only by “SACKS PARENTE” in bright white. That same white color also appears as “SPG” in the cavity behind the face and the aim line down the center of the trailing flange.
From the address position, The Duke exhibits a wonderfully balanced aesthetic. From the thickness of the topline, to the dimensions of the body segments, all the elements present a harmonious design to my eye. And I appreciate the contrast of milled lines and polished metal.
Sound & Feel
The face milling on The Duke is a tight pattern that’s not too deep, producing a soft-plus feel with a tour caliber urethane golf ball. The soft-plus delineation refers to the face feeling a tad firmer than the deeper milled SWAG Savage One [full review HERE] or Bettinardi Queen B #14 [full review HERE] putters that I’ve tested this year.
Similarly, the sound fell between a “tick” and a “tock.” The best word to describe both feel and sound of The Duke was ‘pleasant’ and one of the best combinations I’ve encountered. What I really enjoyed was the pure sensation when I struck a putt dead center. Tactile feedback was clearly and gently communicated. Contact towards the toe had a brighter tone.
Performance
The first aspect to cover is the flow – it’s wonderful. The Duke features Sacks Parente’s patented Ultra Low Balance Point (ULBP) technology, which locates the balance point near the end of the shaft and clearly highlights it. That design aspect had The Duke putter head flowing along a smooth arc in what I noted as “natural.”
The Sacks Parente website doesn’t specify the toe-hang, but I estimate it at about 4 o’clock. What they do state is that they have located 50 grams of tungsten in both the heel and toe – which you can see in the photos. By having more than 75% of the head weight at the extremities, The Duke boasts an impressive MOI of “almost 5000.” What I observed was tremendous forgiveness on off-center hits.
The Duke also features a weight forward CoG to reduce skidding. I don’t have a method to validate that claim, but it makes sense, and putts exhibited very quick roll off the face. Also noteworthy was how nice the roll was off the toe – I even rattled off five straight 5 footers that way. All the performance features seemed to coalesce, allowing the toe to release and the ball to track straight to the hole.
Conclusion
This was my first engagement with a Sacks Parente putter and I must say I was impressed with the Series 91 “The Duke.” For a relatively compact, mid-mallet design, The Duke provided excellent forgiveness. The only negative I encountered was with the head wanting to close if I grounded the heel first. Depending on your setup, this could be an issue. Fortunately, Sacks Parente offers a 30 day performance guarantee.
The Series 91 name doesn’t have a great backstory, but is a nod to the year Odyssey unveiled the now iconic shaped Rosie. Thanks for your attention all the way to the end – PIG readers are the best.
