One of my friends at a local pro shop took one look at the AccuLock ACE and called it a garden hoe. The 39-inch long putter with the oversized, curved mallet isn’t pretty in the traditional sense. But then again, it wasn’t designed to win an equipment junkie’s version of a pageant. The club was developed to match the biomechanics of the human body and in doing so, prevent and reduce back problems typically associated with traditional putting. The angle of the shaft and it’s extra-long length allows the grip to rest against the leading forearm similar to how PGA Tour Pro Matt Kuchar uses his Bettinardi Arm Lock putter. In both cases, the goal is to stabilize the hands, arms and shoulders, and to encourage the golfer to use their core muscles to facilitate the stroke.

Strolling over to the putting green, my friend and I took turns with the AccuLock ACE. Although he was quick to disparage its looks, he made five consecutive six-footers just messing around with it and jokingly offered to buy it from me. I didn’t have nearly the success he did with the putter from short-range, but I found my groove hitting putts from longer than 30 feet - an area I typically struggle with. The forward-press design and optimal face angle gets the ball rolling with a lot of topspin, requiring minimal effort to hit a putt of considerable length. If anything, I had to dial back the length of my stroke to keep from blasting the ball past the hole.

The innovative design lets the AccuLock ACE putter remain squarely on the target line.

Using the AccuLock ACE putter certainly requires an adjustment. If you’re not used to the unconventional length, or securing the grip to your forearm, you will feel some initial frustration. Also, golfers who take the putter back on an arc may find that the straight-back, straight-through approach doesn’t work for their natural stroke. Still, if there’s one thing I can say for certain, the AccuLock ACE gets easier to use the more you practice with it.

The putter made it’s official debut at the 2015 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando. Rhode Island-based BioMech is headed up by the husband and wife team of Frank Fornari and Gwen Bauer, both of whom are scientists in the biotechnology field. The idea for the putter was born when Fornari and tennis pro Lavonne Davis were commiserating about their shared frustrations with putting. Davis and Fornari began tinkering with putter shaft angles which eventually led to six years of research and development before the final realization of the AccuLock ACE.

An optimal face angle at impact results in proper ball launch and roll.

The unconventional putter began receiving attention on the PGA Tour as early as last year. Four-time PGA Tour winner Heath Slocum was approached by BioMech in the off- season to help him eliminate errors from his putting stroke. Slocum put the new putter into play at the Sony Open in Hawaii. A second player, Bo Van Pelt, who had used a Bettinardi Kuchar Model at one point, wielded an AccuLock ACE at the Waste Management Phoenix Open less than a month later.

The key features of the putter include:

• Maximal forearm contact which stabilizes hands, wrists, arms and shoulders.
• Unobstructed view of the golf ball and putter face.
• Shaft angles allow the putter to perform as an orthotic facilitating consistent set up.
• Upright lie angle minimizes arc inherent in pendulum putting.
• Optimal face angle at impact resulting in a better roll.

BioMech offers the AccuLock ACE in four shaft lengths: 39, 41, 43 and 47 (uncut) inches and is outfitted with a baby-blue elongated 17- inch grip made by Winn. Golfers willing to try out the putter can order it in five distinct colors. With the anchored putting ban looming at the end of this year, counter-balanced models along with arm-lock putters like the AccuLock ACE are expected to become more popular among touring professionals and amateurs alike. But why wait till 2016? If you’re struggling around the greens, you owe it to yourself to seek a solution, and the quirky-looking AccuLock ACE might just be the fix.