Mallet Putters – Page 3 – Syndication Server

TaylorMade Spider FCG putter

TaylorMade’s newest Spider putter is designed for players who prefer a heel-toe weighted blade but want mallet-style forgiveness.

Gear: TaylorMade Spider FCG putter
Price: $350 with KBS CT Tour stepless shaft and Super Stroke X Traxion Pistol 1.0 PT grip
Specs: Compact mallet with copper and tungsten weights and grooved copper face insert. Available in 33 inches, 34 inches and 35 inches, right-handed and left-handed.
Available: Sept. 4

TaylorMade’s Spider putters have been a hit for the past several seasons. Jason Day started the movement in 2015 when he asked the company to modify a compact mallet putter initially designed for the Japanese market. That first putter, an Itsy Bitsy Spider, was black and Day loved it, but he switched to the red Spider Tour version TaylorMade created for him at the end of that season. After the Australian became the first to average better than 1.0 in strokes gained putting for a PGA Tour season in 2016, numerous pros and elite golfers started using Spider Tour putters.

In early 2019, Rory McIlroy switched to a Spider X, and soon after, Jon Rahm added an off-white Spider X Chalk to his bag. Those putters have about 30-degrees of toe hang, making them ideally suited for golfers who have slightly arched strokes, but some golfers who have always played a heel-toe-weighted blade just can’t get past the mallet-style look of Spiders. For those players, TaylorMade is now releasing the Spider FCG.

TaylorMade Spider FCG putter — The Spider FCG putter’s heel and toe weights bring the center of gravity foward. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

FCG stands for forward center of gravity. Unlike previously released Spider putters, which featured a center of gravity that is well behind the hitting area for increased stability, the Spider FCG’s center of gravity is much more forward. This was achieved by designing 70 percent of the head’s overall weight (247 grams) to be in the front, as opposed to only 43 percent of the Spider X’s weight being in the front.

To keep the club small in size while shifting that much weight, TaylorMade gave the Spider FCG a pair of copper and tungsten weights in the heel and toe areas. They weigh a combined 101 grams, and their positioning greatly enhances the club’s stability on off-center strikes.

While the crown and back portions of the putter have been made lighter, TaylorMade designed them with a new alignment system, the T-Sightline True Path. It allows golfers who are used to a blade to align the putter using either the lighter-colored portion of the topline or the long white area that extends straight back from the ball.

The grooved Pure Roll insert is also made with copper, and TaylorMade said it is the firmest feeling insert in the company’s lineup. It is designed to match with the solid feel of a blade.

The Spider FCG will be available with three hosel configurations – a small slant, an L neck and a single bend – to complement different putting strokes.

TaylorMade Spider S putters

The updated Spider putter has more forgiveness and stability thanks to strategically-placed tungsten weights.

Gear: TaylorMade Spider S putters
Price: $349.99 each with KBS Stepless Stability shaft and Super Stroke Pistol GTR 1.0 grip
Specs: Aluminum-bodied putters with tungsten weights and grooved face insert.
Available: Feb. 14

The original TaylorMade Spider debuted in 2008, and a better name for it might have been Tarantula because it was massive. Its size and extreme perimeter weighting made it stable on off-center hits. Still, many players couldn’t get past its looks.

Refinements and tinkering continued for years, but when Jason Day started using a black, custom-made Spider Mini, lightning struck. The Australian won the PGA Championship with it and the following season became the first golfer to finish a PGA Tour season with a strokes gained putting average over 1. His 1.13 average meant Day gained more than a full-shot advantage over the field each round based on the quality of his putting.

Eventually, Day switched into a red Spider Tour, which was a retail version of the putter he’d been using. Then Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and plenty of other pros started tinkering with Spider putters. In 2019, TaylorMade released a more refined version, the Spider X, which McIlroy and Rahm quickly put in their bags.

The newest version is the Spider S, and TaylorMade said that while it may look more refined, the Spider S is the most stable Spider putter yet.

TaylorMade Spider S putter — The blue aluminum body is enhanced by the addition of a tungsten bar in the back and more tungsten in the heel and toe areas. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

The key to making the smaller head play like a big putter is the multi-material construction. The body is made from 6061 aluminum, which is very light. That allowed TaylorMade designers to shift much of the head’s overall weight into a tungsten bar in the back of the head. There are also 48 grams of tungsten split between two weights behind the leading edge in the heel and toe area.

Concentrating so much weight in those areas increases the moment of inertia and helps the Spider S resist twisting on off-center hits. It also helps the ball roll out nearly as far on putts hit toward the heel and toe, for enhanced distance control.

To further enhance performance, TaylorMade updated the grooved True Roll face insert. The grooves still point downward at a 45-degree angle to help the insert grab the ball and encourage it to start rolling instead of skidding after impact, but the insert itself is slightly thicker. It gives the Spider S a softer feel and sound.

The Spider S putter is face-balanced, so it is ideally suited for golfers who have a straight-back, straight-through putting stroke, and it is available in both navy and chalk white. Both color options feature a three-stripe alignment system on the top to help golfers aim the face more easily.

Tour Edge Exotics Wingman putters

Combining steel, carbon fiber and interchangeable weights, the Wingman mallet putters boost forgiveness and stability.

Gear: Tour Edge Exotics Wingman putters
Price: $199.99 with black KBS CT Tour putter shaft and Lamkin Sink Fit Straight Jumbo grip
Specs: High-MOI putter with carbon-fiber soleplate, grooved face insert and interchangeable weights
Available: April 1

The new Exotics Wingman putters are the most technologically advanced flat sticks Tour Edge has ever released, combining multiple materials with a unique shape to create clubs that offer an extremely high moment of inertia in a compact mallet.

While the body of each Wingman is made from stainless steel, the putters have a large carbon-fiber soleplate on the bottom. The carbon fiber is significantly lighter than the steel it replaces, which creates discretionary weight and shifts more of the head’s overall weight to the perimeter, which enhances stability.

Tour Edge Wingman 01 putter — The carbon-fiber sole plate in the Exotics Wingman putters shifts weight from the center of the head to the perimeter. (Tour Edge)

Tour Edge further boosted the stability and MOI by adding a pair of interchangeable 3-gram weight screws to the winged areas in the back of the sole. For golfers who prefer a heavier putter or fitters who want to adjust the swing weight based on the club’s length, 8- and 15-gram weights also are available.

To encourage the ball to roll instead of skid after it is hit, Tour Edge gave the Wingman putters a grooved Surlyn face insert. The soft material enhances sound and feel to help golfers develop better distance control.

Tour Edge opted to make the black KBS CT Tour putter shaft standard to compliment the dark PVD finish of the Wingman and make its alignment lines stand out.

The Wingman-01 has 30 degrees of toe hang, making it ideally suited for golfers who have a slightly arced putting stroke, while the Wingman-02 is face-balanced for players with a straight-back, straight-through stroke. Both putters have a thick white line on the top that is split by a thin black stripe, with the same pattern appearing low in the putter’s tail section.

Tour Edge Exotics Wingman 03 — Tour Edge Exotics Wingman-03 (Tour Edge)

The Wingman-03 is a face-balanced, center-shafted mallet that features a single, thin white line on the top to help golfers aim the face. Like other center-shafted putters, it is best suited for straight-back, straight-through strokes.

Ping Heppler putters

Ping’s Heppler putters are designed using aluminum and steel for golfers who like a crisp, firm feel at impact.

Gear: Ping Heppler putters
Price: $245-$270 each
Specs: Mallets with cast-aluminum and stainless steel heads; blade-style putters in all steel. Adjustable-length shafts.
Available: Jan. 20

While there has been a significant trend over the past few years to softer-feeling golf balls, many players prefer a firm, solid-feeling putter. To them, a crisp strike feels better and allows them to develop a better sense of touch. With the new Heppler family of putters, which contains nine head shapes, Ping is using a new manufacturing technique to deliver a firmer feel and more forgiveness at the same time.

Ping has designed grooved faces in all of its recent putters, such as the Sigma 2, Vault 2.0 and Sigma G families, and some putters also have backings and inserts to soften feel. The Heppler blades, mid-mallets and high-MOI mallet putters – named for Rick Heppler, an employee who joined the company in 1966 as it started and was with Ping for nearly 50 years – are different.

The putters have a smooth face that produces crisp contact and were designed using a multimaterial construction that is new for Ping.

Seven of the nine Heppler putters can be classified as either mid-size mallets or high-MOI mallets, and each has a chassis dye cast from ADC12 aluminum. Ping said the material is 10 percent softer than the 6061 aluminum used in other putters. The pressure-casting process allowed Ping to get more details into the heads during the casting process instead of machining and milling after the heads are created.

Other areas of the heads are made from cast stainless steel, a material that is much heavier than aluminum. In the mallets, the steel was given a copper tone that contrasts with the black-finished aluminum.

The combination of aluminum and steel allowed Ping to concentrate weight more precisely for increased perimeter weighting and forgiveness without making the heads significantly larger.

For example, the Heppler Tyne 3 putter is the higher-MOI version of the Tyne that Ping has produced, even though it is not bigger than previous models and does not have a ball-speed-normalizing face insert.

Ping Heppler TomCat 14 putter — The black portion of the Tomcat 14 is made from aluminum while the copper-toned piece is steel. (Ping)

The Tomcat 14 putter has the highest moment of inertia in the Heppler lineup, with half its weight coming from aluminum and half coming from steel. The rails are a ball’s width apart and covered in white dots that were inspired by the lights that flank an aircraft runway.

The remaining two of the nine putters in the Keppler family are blades and made using only steel. The Anser 2, which is ideally balanced for golfers who have a slightly arced putting stroke, is the latest edition of the classic putter that put Ping on the map, while the ZB3 is for players with a strong arc. The copper-colored topline helps the blades match the rest of the family and acts as an alignment aid.

Each Heppler putter comes standard with a black chrome shaft that is adjustable. Using a tool that inserts into the grip, the putters can be made as short as 32 inches or as long as 36 inches, making it easier for players and fitters to create a Heppler putter that is the ideal length for any player.

Odyssey Triple Track putters

Odyssey combines the Triple Track alignment system, Stroke Lab shaft and microhinge face in its newest putter family.

Gear: Odyssey Triple Track putters
Price: $249.99 each
Specs: Seven models with microhinge face inserts and shafts that combine graphite and steel.
Available: Jan. 30

Last February, Phil Mickelson won for the fifth time at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am using a golf ball featuring two blue stripes that bracketed a thicker red line. The ball was a Callaway Chrome Soft X with Triple Track, a unique visual aid designed to help golfers align their putts more easily.

For 2020, Triple Track is also a part of Odyssey’s newest putter family.

Odyssey Triple Track Marxman putter (Odyssey Golf)

Each of the seven Odyssey Triple Track putters has the same blue and red configuration on the top. The pattern shows misalignment easily, which can help golfers square the clubface to their intended line and start putts on target more accurately. Combined with the Triple Track alignment lines on the Chrome Soft X with Triple Track and the Callaway ERC Soft balls that were released last season, it creates an alignment system that blends from the putter’s crown directly into the ball.

The Odyssey Triple Track putters also have a pair of Odyssey’s newest technologies designed to improve consistency, the Stroke Lab shaft and the Microhinge Star insert.

The Stroke Lab shaft’s upper and mid sections are graphite, while the tip section is steel. Using graphite in the top and middle areas of the shaft made it stiff but also saved weight, so Odyssey designers made the heads heavier. They could also putt more weight at the top of the handle. Odyssey’s research showed this configuration helped golfers develop a more rhythmic, consistent putting stroke.

The Microhinge Star insert combines metal pieces with a firmer-feeling plastic piece. The sound is more like a click, which many players prefer. Odyssey said the Microhinge Star insert does a better job of matching sound with distances and energy applied to the ball.

Odyssey Triple Track Ten putter (Odyssey Golf)

The Triple Track putters will be available in several shapes, including the classic 2-Ball, the Marxman, the Doube-Wide Blade and high-MOI mallet Ten.

Odyssey Stroke Lab Black putters

Odyssey gave the Stroke Lab Black putters a darker PVD finish and a new, firmer-feeling microhinge insert.

Gear: Odyssey Stroke Lab Black putters
Price: $299.99 each
Specs: Seven models with Microhinge face inserts and shafts that combine graphite and steel.
Available: Jan. 30

Odyssey introduced the Stroke Lab putters in early 2019, and Francesco Molinari and Phil Mickelson promptly won PGA Tour events using them, then Xander Schauffele finished tied for second at the Masters with a Stroke Lab.

For 2020, Odyssey is extending the Stroke Lab putter family with the introduction of Stroke Lab Black putters inspired by feedback from elite golfers and tour players.

Each Stroke Lab Black putter comes standard with a Stroke Lab shaft made with graphite in the upper and middle sections and steel in the tip section. Odyssey said this design helps remove about 40 grams of weight from the middle of the putter, where it does not provide any performance benefits. Engineers split that saved weight between the head and the top portion of the handle, and Odyseey research showed the design resulted in golfers producing a more consistent stroke.

Unlike the original Stroke Lab putters that featured silver tones and darker accents, the Stroke Lab Black putters have a black PVD finish complimented by black paint.

Odyssey Stroke Lab Black putters — Like the other Stroke Lab Black putters, the One has a new Microhinge Star face insert. (Odyssey Golf)

Another subtle change Odyssey made for the Stroke Lab Black putters was the addition of a new face insert. While many golfers liked the White Hot Microhinge insert, some thought it was too soft and muted. After testing several prototype inserts, Odyssey opted for a firmer hitting surface that has Microhinges but no grooves. It’s called the Microhinge Star insert, and it makes a slightly louder, higher-pitched sound, like a click, that many players found pleasing.

At the same time, the Microhinges still bend back at impact, then spring forward to reduce skidding and encourage the ball to start rolling more quickly.

The Stroke Lab Black family is comprised of five mallets, including the Bird of Prey, Ten and the Seven, which features fang-like extensions in the heel and toe area. The R Line Arrow is a rounded, high-MOI mallet, while the Rossie is a rounded mid-size mallet. Odyssey also offers a heel-toe-weighted blade, the One, and the Double Wide, which is an enlarged blade-style putter.

Scotty Cameron adds Phantom X 12.5 to new putter family

A new hosel and neck configuration could make this putter appealing to golfers who have an arched stroke and are looking for stability.

Scotty Cameron released the Phantom X line of putters in January at the PGA Merchandise Show, and today Titleist’s master craftsman for putters announced the release of the first line extension to that family, the Phantom X 12.5.

A full-size mallet with a single alignment line, the Phantom X 12.5 has a center section made from 6061 aircraft-grade aluminum with silver-toned 303 stainless steel sections in the heel and toe areas. The stainless steel is significantly heavier than the aluminum, so more of the head’s overall weight is in the perimeter, which stabilizes the club on off-center hits.

Scotty Cameron Phantom X 12.5 putters — The Phantom X 12.5 has an aluminum center section and stainless steel pieces in the heel and toe. (Titleist)

The putter also has a pair of weights in the sole that can be adjusted either at the Titleist factory or by a custom fitter. Longer putters typically come with lighter weights, and shorter putters come with heavier weights to standardize the swing weight, but golfers can get the weights customized based on their preferences.

The differences between the Phantom X 12.5 and the standard Phantom X 12 is the hosel configuration and the toe hang. The new putter has a low-bend shaft configuration that creates more toe hang, so the putter is better suited for players with an arced putting stroke.

The Phantom X 12.5 reaches stores Dec. 12 and costs $429.