Putters – Syndication Server

Bettinardi Antidote Series putters

The boutique putter maker offers its first “zero torque” options.

Gear: Bettinardi Antidote Series putters
Price: $430 each
Specs: Milled 303 stainless steel head with 6061 aluminum
Available: Nov. 29

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

What You Should Know: The Antidote putters are Bettinardi’s first “zero torque” putters and are designed to keep the face square to your stroke’s path and help golfers get putts started on their intended target line more easily.

The Deep Dive: You would be hard-pressed to find a golf equipment maker more associated with traditional clubs and designs than Bettinardi, the boutique putter maker based in Tinley Park, Illinois. For decades, the milled blades and mallets the company released have looked like they should be sold in jewelry stores, but putters like the BB Series and the Queen B series were made to be used and enjoyed. With the release of the two new Antidote putters, the SB1 blade and the SB2 mallet, Bettinardi joins a growing number of putter makers that now offer zero-torque putters.

Bettinardi Antidote putters — The Bettinardi Antidote S1 putters have toe-up balance. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Bettinardi refers to the balance and weighting of the Antidote putters as Simply Balanced. It works by inserting the shaft directly into the putter at the center of gravity (CG). This results in two things. First, instead of the putter being either face balanced or having toe hang, the toe of the Antidote putters goes up when you balance the club. The second, and more important feature, is the face is not weighted or balanced in a way that encourages it to either open or close as you make your stroke.

If you don’t manipulate your hands or wrists, the face of the putter should stay square to the path of your putting stroke, regardless of whether it is straight, has a slight arc, or makes a significant arc. For golfers who struggle to start putts on their intended line or who have trouble squaring the face consistently at impact, this zero-torque design could be helpful.

Both Antidote putters are center-shafted, and the shaft goes into the heads behind the face, creating reverse offset, or onset, which for some golfers can appear odd when they look down in the address position. A benefit of the onset design is golfers can see the ball very clearly when they set up to make a putt because there is no part of the shaft or hosel to obstruct the view.

To shift weight and create the balance needed to produce a zero-torque design, Bettinardi used silver-toned 303 stainless steel in the front, heel and toe areas of the Antidote putters, but the blue portions of the heads are diamond-blasted finished 6061 aluminum. The aluminum weighs significantly less than the steel, so more weight could be shifted toward the face.

The grooves in the hitting area are designed to soften the feel of impact.

SB1 – This blade weighs 360 grams and comes standard with three degrees of loft and a 70-degree lie angle. Bettinardi designed it with a dark blue alignment line on the topline and another on the back flange to make aiming the face easier. A 400-gram counterbalanced version designed to help golfers quiet their hands and wrists during the stroke is also available.

SB2 – This square-shaped mallet weighs 360 grams and also comes standard with three degrees of loft and a 70-degree lie angle. It has a short blue alignment line on the topline and a pair of blue lines that extend back from the topline. The SB2 is also available in a 400-gram counterbalanced version.

Here are several close-up images of the Bettinardi Antidote putters:

Jordan Spieth, struggling on the greens, tests two Scotty Cameron putters at Travelers Championship

Jordan Spieth is testing new putters at the 2024 Travelers Championship.

CROMWELL, Conn — If Tiger Woods is willing to bench Excaliber, his Scotty Cameron Newport GSS putter that helped him win 14 of his 15 majors, no putter should ever feel completely safe in a pro’s bag. That includes Jordan Spieth’s Scotty Cameron 009 blade.

A day after Spieth needed 30 putts to shoot an even-par 70 at TPC River Highlands (when the field scoring average at the Travelers Championship was 68.6), there were two prototype Scotty Cameron putters, a heel-toe weighted blade and a mallet, leaning against his blue golf bag alongside the practice green.

The sole of the copper-toned blade putter was stamped “Scotty Cameron Xperimental Jordan Spieth Special” and “For Tour Use Only.” Like Spieth’s gamer, it had a single white alignment line on the top line, along with four small screws on the back that appeared to be holding a face insert in place.

Jordan Spieth's Scotty Cameron putters — Jordan Spieth’s prototype blade and mallet putters on the practice green at TPC River Highlands Friday. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

The most unique thing about the putter is it is fitted with a graphite shaft that is labeled “Scotty Cameron Xperimental Prototype.” As of now, Scotty Cameron has yet to release a graphite shafted putter at retail, even though graphite putter shafts have gained popularity over the last few seasons.

The mallet putter is prototype Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5, again with a copper-toned finish and a short, single white alignment line extending back from the topline instead of the two black lines that come on the putter you will see in stores. While the retail version of the Phantom 9.5 has a short “Jet” neck that creates some toe hang, Spieth’s putter features a plumber’s neck hosel that has been hand-welded onto the head.

The letters “JS” have been stamped into the toe of the mallet and filled in red, as has the circle T logo on the face. While the retail version of the Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5 features a dual milling pattern on the face to soften the feel and enhance the sound created at impact, Spieth’s putter has a smooth face.

The shaft on the mallet putter was dark and step-less, but it was not visibly labeled, so Golfweek can not confirm whether it was graphite or dark-toned steel.

On Friday afternoon, before his 1:50 tee time with Wyndham Clark, Spieth rolled a few putts at the start of this warm-up session with the mallet putter but quickly started using his old 009 putter and never changed back. At several points during his putting warm-up, Spieth had his caddie, Michael Greller, take his smartphone and shoot a video of his putting stroke, which the three-time major winner then studied before rolling more putts.

He did not hit any putts with the Jordan Spieth Special blade putter fitted with the graphite shaft, and when he walked toward the practice area carrying a wedge and two bags of balls, Greller smiled and pointed at the old putter, indicating that the old putter was going to be in the bag for at least another day.

Spieth has been struggling on the greens for nearly three years, as the chart above shows, but with the Travelers Championship being a no-cut event, this would be an ideal place to try something new.

Below are several close-up images of Speith’s prototype putters.

Masters: Tony Finau awarded a patent for a Ping prototype putter

Finau was presented with a patent certificate in Ping’s PGA Tour van on Wednesday.

When he is faced with a delicate chip from the collar or an awkward shot from a few inches off the green, Tony Finau has been known to turn his putter, a Ping PLD Anser 2D, counter-clockwise in his hands and strike the ball with the toe-end of his putter, popping the ball onto the putting surface.

In fact, he loves the feeling shots like that create so much that he worked with designers and engineers at Ping to build a prototype putter that replicates the sensations of that shot and was just named as one of three people on a utility patent awarded to Ping (U.S. #11,911,670 B2) for a compact putter head. Tony Serrano, Ping’s principal putter design engineer, and John A. Solheim, the company’s president, are also on the patent.

Finau was presented with a patent certificate in Ping’s PGA Tour van on Wednesday outside the gates of Augusta National Golf Club.

“When Tony turns his putter over and hits a putt with the toe, all the mass is directly behind the ball,” Serrano said. “So he came to us and said, ‘How can we make a putter that has some of these feelings and attributes and sounds that I get when I turn this putter over?’”

That led Serrano and his team to develop a few prototypes that would give Finau what he wanted while also conforming to the USGA’s Rules of Golf and equipment standards.

Tony Finau’s compact prototype putter is shaped like a cube and replicates the feeling of hitting a putt with the toe-end of a putter. (Ping)

The putter that Finau liked and worked with Ping to develop is cube-like in shape, with a small area in the back hollowed out to create some perimeter weighting. There is also a T-shaped alignment system on the top and a plumber’s neck hosel.

“He looks at the top rail of the putter when he turns it. It’s long and right down the center and helps him align the putter with the ball,” Serrano said. The small T accomplishes the same thing and helps Finau focus on a tiny area and make solid contact more easily.

The small hosel was designed and positioned close to the grooved hitting area so that when Finau putts, his stroke has to pull the center of gravity and the putter’s weight, like a traditional putter, instead of pushing the head’s weight as Finau would do with a flipped-over putter.

“Tony said that he plays with this putter all the time,” when he is home in Utah, Serrano said. Finau has yet to use the un-named putter in a PGA Tour event, but he plans to keep using it as a training aid going forward, and Ping plans to study the tiny putter more closely to see whether attributes of it could be designed into future PLD and retail putters.

[fanpower_carousel id=”178″]

Tony Finau adds a second driver for 2024 Masters at Augusta National

Finau realized that unless very unusual conditions arise, he was not going to hit his 3-wood off the ground.

Phil Mickelson won his second green jacket at the 2006 Masters while carrying two drivers in his bag, and it appears that big-hitting Tony Finau is planning to try to capture his first major this week at Augusta National using the same strategy.

According to Kenton Oates, a PGA Tour rep for Ping, Finau is planning to use two Ping G430 LST drivers during the 2024 Masters because, after developing his course strategy, he realized that unless very unusual conditions arise, he was not going to hit his 3-wood off the ground. Perhaps if the anticipated rain on Thursday significantly softened the turf on the par-5 eighth hole, or if the wind blew into Finau on the second shot on that hole, maybe a 3-wood would be in order, but aside from that, he was not going to need the club.

With that in mind, Ping built Finau a second G430 LST driver, built to his 3-wood specifications. Finau’s standard driver is a 9-degree G430 LST, but it has an actual loft of 7.75 degrees and is fitted with a 45.25-inch Mitsubishi Diamana GT 70TX shaft. The stated loft of the 3-wood-replacement-driver is 10.5 degrees, but with the adjustable hosel set to the small minus position, Kenton Oates, a PGA Tour rep for Ping estimates the head has about 8.9 degrees of loft. Ping gave the short driver to him last week in Texas. Finau brought the shorter driver to Augusta with the rest of his gear this week.

MASTERS: Live updates | Thursday tee times | TV, streaming

“It’s probably going to give him a carry distance of about 290 yards and then roll out to about 300,” Oates said. “It’s still going to go really far. Tony was getting ball speeds with his gamer driver in the high 180s and ball speeds with the little one in the low 180s on the range this week.”

According to Oates, the increased loft and shorter shaft allow Finau to shut the face more aggressively and produce the draw-style flight. That shot shape could be very handy on the newly lengthened second hole, as well as the seventh, 10th, 13th, 14th and 17th holes, which all encourage a right-to-left shot.

Past the Masters, Oates explained, Finau and other pros may start to consider carrying two drivers more frequently because if they don’t need to play a 3-wood off the turf to reach par 5s, elite golfers could find having a draw driver and a fade driver to be an advantage worth exploring.

TaylorMade TP Black putters

TaylorMade TP Black putters have a dark finish, grooved face and classic look in the address position.

Gear: TaylorMade TP Black putters
Price: $199.99 each with KBS 120 Chrome Stepped shaft and Lamkin Sink Fit Skinny grip
Specs: Milled 303 stainless steel heads with grooved Surlyn insert

Who It’s For: Golfers who love classic-shaped putters and want help creating a more consistent roll.

The Skinny: These are dark-finished versions of traditional TaylorMade TP putters, with a Pure Roll insert designed to reduce skidding and encourage the ball to start rolling sooner.

[anyclip-media thumbnail=”https://cdn5.anyclip.com/x0MTH4kB8HvIzmRNiN4-/1688443540938_248x140_thumbnail.jpg” playlistId=”undefined” content=”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”][/anyclip-media]

The Deep Dive: When it comes to putters, TaylorMade struck gold with the Spider, and the Carlsbad, California, brand has turned out several different versions of the stable mallets over the last decade. However, TaylorMade’s TP line of putters has remained available for players who are not ready or willing to leave classic-shaped putters behind. In 2021, TaylorMade released the TP Hydroblast line, which featured a softened chrome finish, and in 2023 the TaylorMade rolled out the TP Reserve putters. Now, for 2024, it is bringing out the TP Black Collection.

If you are looking for the hottest new designs or the latest technological features, look somewhere else because the TP Black family features three heel-toe weighted blades, a compact mallet and two mid-size mallets that will all look familiar.

Each has been milled using 303 stainless steel for a softer feel, and all of the putters have black Pure Roll insert with grooves that point downward at a 45-degree angle. According to TaylorMade, the downward-facing grooves grab the back of the ball at impact and encourage it to start rolling instead of skidding and bouncing on the green, resulting in more consistency and better distance control.

The anodization process that adds the black finish helps the anti-glare look last longer, while the single white alignment on each head stands out easily and should help players aim the face more effectively.

Below are several images of the new TaylorMade TP Black putters.

Cobra Vintage putters (2024)

Cobra Vintage putters have a softer feel and classic looks.

Gear: Cobra Vintage putters
Price: $249 each with KBS CT Tour 120 shaft and SuperStroke Zenergy Pistol 1.0 grip
Specs: 304 stainless steel heads with variable-loft, Pebax insert and adjustable sole weights.
Available: February 23, but available NOW via pre-sale

Who it’s For: Golfers who want help creating a consistent roll from a traditional putter with a soft feel.

The Skinny: Cobra’s second-generation Vintage putters retain their classic shapes, but a new insert helps them deliver a softer feel at impact.

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Cobra Vintage putters” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/LXq57M”]

[anyclip-media thumbnail=”https://cdn5.anyclip.com/DXTFx40BPzRpr9ZOQbc6/1708453887157_248x140_thumbnail.jpg” playlistId=”undefined” content=”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”][/anyclip-media]

The Deep Dive: The just-released Cobra 3D Printed family of putters is about as space-age putters get, but Cobra has new offerings in 2024 for players who want a classic-looking flat stick, the Vintage line.

Cobra’s Vintage line first appeared in 2021, and from a shaping standpoint, the 2024 offerings are very similar. The Sport-40 and Sport-60 are traditional heel-to-weighted blades that would look right at home in the bag of a PGA Tour player, while the Nova, with its wing-style extensions in the heel and toe, Stingray mallet and the semi-circular Cuba mallet will look familiar to most golfers too.

The most significant upgrade Cobra gave the Vintage putters is a new variable-loft Pebax insert. The hitting area is divided into four regions, with the top having 4 degrees of loft. Each segment of the face goes down in loft by 1 degree until you reach the bottom of the face, which has just 1 degree of loft. The design is meant to present the same loft to the ball on every stroke, even if your hands press forward slightly at impact or you swing up into the ball.

The technology comes from Cobra’s partner, L.A. Golf, and Cobra designers have used it in the past, but the addition of a lightweight thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) in the insert helps impact feel softer, especially compared to the firmer-feeling face of the 3-D Printed putters.

The body of each Vintage putter is metal injection molded (MIM) using 305 stainless steel, and each head has an adjustable weight in the heel and toe areas. Golfers will not be able to remove the weights, but fitters can swap the weights – which range from 5 grams to 25 grams – to change the swing weight of the putter based on its length and a golfer’s preferences.

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Cobra Vintage putters” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/LXq57M”]

Below are several looks at the Cobra Vintage putters.

Best new golf putters you can buy in 2024

Check out Golfweek’s list of the best putters available to purchase in 2024.

The big trend in drivers this season is adding stability and boosting the moment of inertia (MOI) so tee shots that you mis-hit fly straighter and farther. The big trend in putters in 2024 is similar — more forgiveness and stability.

Twenty years ago on the PGA Tour, most players used heel-to-toe weighted blades like the classic Ping Anser, Scotty Cameron Newport and Odyssey #1. Then, in the mid-2000s, the Odyssey 2-Ball putters exploded and mallets found their way into more and more bags on tour and in local clubs. Fast forward to the mid-2010s, and TaylorMade’s Spider Tour putter, a mid-size mallet with a high MOI but some toe-hang for golfers who have an arced stroke, takes the putting world by storm. Odyssey’s #7 and Scotty Cameron’s Futura X 5, with stability-boosting extensions in the heel and toe became more popular over the last decade too.

Plenty of golfers still love the look and feel of classic blades, but mallets, often made with multiple materials, are here to stay because they allow designers to shift weight into performance-enhancing areas and create bolder alignment features.

The best putter for you is waiting at your local shop, and after going through a putter fitting that includes discovering your idea putter length, lie angle, loft and balance, you will know exactly what it is. The putters listed below can give you a starting point to learn more about clubs you might want to try.

Note: Putters are often released on two-year product cycles, which means updates are released every two years. For that reason, you will see several 2023 offerings alongside new 2024 putters.

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.

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.

[mm-video type=video id=01h4f8yefxmcsmr4sa8f playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01h4f8yefxmcsmr4sa8f/01h4f8yefxmcsmr4sa8f-7087f57c352f308406d9c96755c8da89.jpg]

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.

Best affordable putters for 2023

Shave strokes off your score while keeping some extra cash in your wallet with our list of best affordable putters.

Your putter is the only club you use on every hole — unless you hole a chip or approach shot, and in that case, good for you. But because it’s used so much, the retail prices of premium flat sticks can be outrageously high. And since no one wants to pay an arm and a leg for a putter, many amateur golfers hold onto old putters for way too long.

Technology gets better over the years and modern putters are better designed to help the average golfer make more putts. If you’re still using a putter from 10, 20, or 30 years ago, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage.

So, we thought it’d be a good idea to put together a list of some of the best affordable putters we could find from brands like Ping, TaylorMade, Odyssey and more.

Every putter on this list is less than $200.

Plus, check out some of our other equipment lists: Best golf gloves for 2023, best affordable wedges for 2023 and best affordable drivers for 2023.