Best new putters – Page 2 – Syndication Server

L.A.B. DF3 putter

The L.A.B. DF3 putter looks odd but helps players get putts on their intended target line more easily.

Gear: L.A.B. DF3 putter
Price: $449 (stock) and $559 (Custom)
Specs: 6061 aluminum with steel weights. 69-degree lie angle

Who It’s For: Golfers who struggle to square their putter face at impact or start putts on their intended target line.

The Skinny: Using a unique weighting and balance system, the DF3 putter is designed to keep the face square to the arc you create when you set up to putt and help you start your putts on your intended line more easily.

The Deep Dive: Anyone who has ever seen a L.A.B. Golf putter has heard the snickers and jokes like, “Even Stevie Wonder thinks that’s an ugly putter,” and “Hey, what’s with the potato masher on a stick?”

The putter corral at your local pro shop may be filled with offerings that mimic the elegant Ping Anser, the timeless Wilson 8802 blade and the trend-setting TaylorMade Spider, but L.A.B. Golf has never offered anything like those putters. Instead, the Creswell, Oregon-based brand asks golfers to look past the aesthetics and allow the form to follow function.

A few years ago, you may have spotted Adam Scott using a Directed Force mallet putter, a massive mallet with a circular shape in the back that L.A.B. Golf still offers today. The company’s new DF3 putter for 2024 is similarly shaped but smaller. While that might make it more appealing to some golfers, it retains the critical technology that started L.A.B. Golf’s cult following — lie angle balance.

The LAB Golf DF3 putter has eight screw-in weights in the sole to push more mass toward the hitting area. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

The conventional wisdom states that golfers who create a strong arc in their putting stroke will benefit from a putter that has significant toe hang, while golfers who create more of a straight-back, straight-through stroke benefit from putters that are face-balanced.

The L.A.B. Golf DF3 is designed entirely differently. After you sole the putter behind the ball, the DF3’s weighting encourages the face of the putter to remain square to the arc you establish in the address position.

To be clear, this is not face-balanced. This is lie angle balanced (L.A.B. stands for lie angle balance).

To make this effect happen, each DF3 putter, which is made from 6061 aluminum, is center-shafted and has eight weights positioned in specific areas in the front of the sole. The weights vary based on the putter’s length, and they are all measured and installed by hand.

The other unique thing about the DF3 putter is that it comes standard with a Press Pistol 2 Degree grip that holds the shaft asymmetrically. The shaft enters the grip on an angle that tips away from your target and creates a forward-press in your address position. As a result, the hitting area and most of the DF3’s weight are in line with your hands at the address, while the hoop portion of the putter, which has a golf ball-grabbing hole, is set back.

Some may see the DF3 and other lie angle balance putters as a gimmick, but Grayson Murray won the 2024 Sony Open in Hawaii using a L.A.B. Golf Link.1 putter and Lucas Glover won back-to-back PGA Tour events (the 2023 Wyndham Championship and FedEx St. Jude Championship) using a L.A.B. Mezz.1 Max, signaling that elite players are taking notice of what the small brand is doing.

L.A.B. sells black DF3 directly to golfers on its website in 34 and 35-inch lengths, but custom-fitting is highly encouraged and allows golfers to mix and match colors, lengths, shafts and alignment features.

Below are several close-up images of the L.A.B. Golf DF3 putter.

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.

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.

Cleveland HB Soft 2 putters

The Cleveland HB Soft 2 putters have classic looks and a budget-friendly price.

Gear: Cleveland HB Soft 2 putters
Price: $149.99
Specs: Cast stainless steel heads with grooved faces and counterbalanced shaft
Available: January 24, but available via pre-order NOW

Who It’s For: Golfers who want a classic-looking putter with a soft feel at impact and budget-friendly price.

The Skinny: The nine HB Soft 2 putters are designed for players with specific stroke types — straight or arched — and feature speed-normalizing grooves in the face for better distance control.

The Deep Dive: At a time when the golf market is filled with drivers that cost about $600, iron sets that are over $1,000 and putters that will run over $350, Cleveland has updated its HB Soft line of putters and dropped the price $50.

The original HB Soft putters that were released in 2022 were made with classic shapes and retailed for $199, but the nine new HB Soft 2 putters are $149 and still retain the timeless looks. Heel-toe weighted blades, fang-style mallets and compact mid-mallets, they’re all here.

The HB Soft 2 putters are divided into clubs designed for two different stroke types, straight and slight arc. The putters designed for straight-stroke players are face-balanced and come standard with an oversized pistol grip that should help golfers use their hands and wrists less when they putt. Putters made for golfers who have a slight arc in their stroke have some toe hang and come with a standard-size pistol grip.

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All nine HB Soft 2 putters, however, have been given a grooved face that has a tight groove pattern. Cleveland refers to it Speed Optimized Face Technology (SOFT). The pattern is tighter in the center, but in the heel and toe, it is open. As most golfers know, when you mis-hit a putt in the heel or toe, putts lose energy and do not roll out as far as center-struck putts. According to Cleveland, the tight groove pattern in the center slows the ball slightly as it comes off the face, so golfers can expect the ball to roll out to nearly the same distance across a more significant portion of the hitting area.

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Below are several close-up photos of the Cleveland HB Soft 2 putters.

TaylorMade releases Scottie Scheffler’s Spider Tour X Proto

The TaylorMade Spider Tour Proto has a milled face and forward center of gravity location to make it play and feel like a blade.

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During the second half of the PGA Tour season, Scottie Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 ranked player, grew frustrated with his poor putting and, on several occasions, decided to use a prototype TaylorMade putter instead of his old heel-toe weighted blade. From outside the ropes, the putter looked very similar to Rory McIlroy’s Spider Tour X putter, but the club Scheffler used was very different, and now TaylorMade has decided to make that putter, the Spider Tour X Proto, available as a limited-edition model.

The Spider Tour X Proto has the same mid-size mallet shape as the standard Tour X, and it will be available as a 34-inch club with 3 degrees of loft and a 70-degree lie angle, which are fairly standard. The L-Neck hosel creates a balance point that results in just under 30 degrees of toe hang, so golfers who have a slightly-arced putting stroke should find it matches their style well. It even has the white True Path Alignment system on the top, like the other recently-released Spider Tour putters.

What sets the Spider Tour X Proto apart from the standard Spider Tour and Spider Tour X is its face and center of gravity (CG) location.

The new Spider Tour putters all have TaylorMade’s white TPU Pure Roll insert that features a series of grooves that point downward at a 45-degree angle to encourage the ball to roll instead of skid. The Spider Tour X Proto has a milled metal face that is attached to the body by four screws. Looking closely, you can see the milled marks on the face.

The milled face in the Spider Tour X Proto should create a firmer feel than the standard Spider Tour, and make it sound like a solid, one-piece putter instead of a multilateral mallet. With sound and feel being so interrelated in putting, the Spider Tour X Proto should perform more like a milled blade putter than any other previously offered Spider.

And then there is the weighting. The Spider Tour and Spider Tour X have weights in the back of the chassis that pull the CG location back and toward the perimeter of the head, which helps boost the moment of inertia (MOI) and increase forgiveness. The CG location in the Spider Tour X Proto has been shifted forward by 13 millimeters, which encourages the face to rotate more on the downswing and produce a blade-like swing. However, because of its size, the club still has more stability than a blade-style putter.

The Spider Tour X Proto will only be offered in a right-hand version for $500 on taylormadegolf.com. Below are several close-up images of the TaylorMade Spider Tour Proto putter.