Tag: 2024 putters

Odyssey Ai ONE Cruiser putters

Odyssey’s Ai ONE Cruiser putters have an insert made improve distance control and heavier weight to encourage a better-quality stroke.

Gear: Odyssey Ai ONE Cruiser putters
Price: $349.99 each
Specs: Cast stainless steel heads with adjustable sole weights.
Available: February 8 (pre-order), March 15 (in stores)

Who It’s For: Golfers who struggle with distance control and who want a more solid, stable-feeling putter.

The Skinny: While the Ai ONE insert helps golfers improve their distance control by normalizing ball speed over a larger area, the Cruiser putters’ heavier weight should help players make a smoother, better-quality stroke.

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The Deep Dive: When anchored puttering strokes were outlawed by the USGA and R&A in 2016, some players looked to heavier putters and counterbalanced putters to get some of the stability back in their game. Lighter putters can encourage golfers to get their hands and wrists more involved in the stroke, which can lead to inconsistency. However, heavier putters and clubs that have extra weight added to the top of the handle tend to quiet your hands and encourage players to make a smoother stroke, which can enhance consistency.

In time, the counterbalanced putter surge quieted and faded. The trend towards generally heavier putters continued, with many putters now typically weighing 345 or 350 grams, which is about 20-25 grams heavier than putters made in the early 2000s.

With the release of the new Cruiser family of putters, Odyssey is looking to blend the stability and stroke-enhancing features of longer, counterbalanced putters with a face technology created using artificial intelligence.

At the heart of the new Cruiser putter family is the new Ai ONE, which made its debut this winter in the standard Ai ONE putters. On the outside, the insert looks like a standard White Hot insert with a series of grooves milled into the hitting area. However, on the interfacing side of the urethane insert, artificial intelligence has created a series of thicker and thinner areas that help to normalize ball speed. Traditionally, when you strike a pot in the center, you get the best energy transfer, but when you strike a pot towards the heel or toe, the ball rolls out less far. With the AI ONE insert, center strikes are slowed down slightly while mis-hits roll out a touch further, so your overall distance control is enhanced. A transparent polymer window in each putter allows you to see the rippled backside of the insert.

[afflinkbutton text=”Pre-order Ai ONE Cruise putters” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/OrJZDz”]

Odyssey Ai ONE Double Wide Cruiser
A window on the back of the Double Wide Cruiser allows you to see the variable-thickness Ai ONE insert. (Odyssey)

Each of the five Cruiser models features the Ai ONE insert, and all five putters are significantly heavier than most of today’s standard putters, including the 380-gram Jailbird, which also comes with the black-and-white Versa alignment lines. This is the putter that Wyndham Clark used to win the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last week and a putter that is nearly identical to the one he used to win the 2023 U.S. Open. At 38 inches in length, it comes standard with a 17-inch grip, and players are encouraged to choke down so a few inches of the grip extend above their hands. Doing this creates a counterbalancing effect and should help increase stability.

Odyssey Ai ONE Jailbird Cruiser
Weights in the sole of the Cruiser putters allow fitters to adjust the swing weight. (Odyssey)

There are three versions of the #7 putter in the Cruiser family, including a 42-inch, 380-gram Arm-Lock edition and a 48-inch, 450-gram Broomstick model. The standard #7 Cruiser is 38 inches long with a head that weighs 380 grams. Like the Jailbird, it comes standard with a 17-inch grip, along with a Stroke Lab 140 steel shaft.

[afflinkbutton text=”Pre-order Ai ONE Cruise putters” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/OrJZDz”]

Here are several close-up looks at the Odyssey Ai ONE Cruiser putters.

Never Compromise Reserve putters (2024)

The Never Compromise putter franchise returns with several classic-looking models.

Gear: Never Compromise Reserve putters
Price: $449 each
Specs: Milled 303 stainless steel with adjustable sole weights
Available: February 16

Who It’s For: Golfers who want a premium milled putter that is precisely fitted to match their setup, stroke type and visual preferences.

The Skinny: The Never Compromise putter franchise returns with several classic-looking models to choose from and a commitment to helping golfers find a putter that is personally sized and balanced to help them hole more putts.

The Deep Dive: Most avid golfers have accepted the idea that getting custom fit for woods and irons is the best way to ensure that the clubs in your bag match your swing and help you hit lower scores, but too many players fail to get fit for the club they use the most, their putter. Under the best of circumstances, elite players will hit more than twice as many putts as drivers, so they demand a putter that combines the perfect length, balance and looks, but recreational golfers may need to use their putter 35 to 40 times per round (or more). Yet, they still buy putters off the rack.

Dunlop Sports, the parent company of Cleveland, Srixon and Xxio, is bringing back the Never Compromise putter family in 2024, and in addition to offering meticulously made flat sticks, Never Compromise wants to help more golfers get fit for their putter.

Never Compromise 3 putter
The gray area on the dark-finished Never Compromise 3 putter is the width of a golf ball to help golfers align shots more easily. (Cleveland)

Never Compromise Reserve putters, which will only be sold in select pro shops, will come in a Tour Satin finish and a black with a golf ball-width grey area in the center that will be familiar to golfers who remember players like Vijay Singh winning with Never Compromise in the 2000s. Each of the four different head shapes will look familiar, and all the Never Compromise putters are milled from 303 stainless steel for a soft, premium feel.

But instead of picking up a Never Compromise Reserve putter, hitting a few putts with it on the pro shop carpet and walking to the cash register, golfers will need to go through a fitting process before making their purchase. Once they get into their putting posture and setup, the fitter will have them hold the top of an NC Fitting Tool, which is basically a putter on a sliding stand. It allows the fitter to measure the ideal length and lie angle for each player.

Never Compromise 1 putter
In the sole of all Never Compromise putters, like these #1s, are weights fitters can change to adjust the club’s swing weight. (Cleveland)

Once the ideal length and lie angle are discovered, golfers can pick between three toe-hang blades and two face-balanced offerings based on their swing type (slight arc or straight) before the fitter swaps out adjustable weights in the sole to create the ideal swing weight.

At the end of the process, the player will have a putter that not only is appealing to his or her eyes but also is made to their precise specifications, which should put them in a position to make a better stroke and hole more putts.