You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a strange decision. It’s the FedEx St Jude Championship, the first week of the playoffs. Play well now and there’s a big potential pay-off later. The Ryder Cup isn’t in the too distant future, either. This may not be the busiest stretch of the season, but it’s one with some of the highest stakes.

So why has their been a flurry of high-profile putter changes this week? World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and World No. 3 Rory McIlroy are among the two most notable.

Scheffler spent a large portion of his putting session before his Tuesday practice round testing two TaylorMade Spider X putters against his Scottie Cameron Newport.

McIlroy, for his part, arrived at TPC Southwind on Tuesday without the TaylorMade Spider X putter he had been using, and instead with a Scottie Cameron Phantom X 5.5.

New flat stick for Rory this week ? pic.twitter.com/dB9OQpg4Fc

— LKD (@LukeKerrDineen) August 8, 2023

US Ryder Cup hopeful Sam Burns made a putter switch, too. Burns moved into an Odyssey Jailbird from his 7s head.

So, why the switching, and why now? There are a few reasons.

1. Looking for a last-minute spark

The first reason is the most obvious. Players don’t make a putter switch if they’re feeling great about their putting. Scheffler and McIlroy rank 140th and 86th in SG: Putting this season, respectively.
With most of the season behind them, now is a chance for a last roll of the dice, to see if mixing things up can generate some momentum.
“I’ve seen guys put a new putter into play for the first time the day of the tournament, and putt lights out,” one caddie said. “Sometimes it’s just about trying out a new look.”
Burns ranks sixth in SG: Putting this season, and the new putter he’s put into play is for exactly that reason. A new look to mix things ups. McIlroy is after the same thing this week.
“I just wanted a different look, just wanted to freshen it up,” he said. “Honestly, it was zero testing process. It was going into the garage, see what I had and just pull a couple out and go have a few putts. That was it.”

2. They’ve been working on it in the background

The putter McIlroy decided to put into play this week was from a batch he had built before his first putter switch of the season in the spring.
That’s because often, players have been brewing on making a putter switch long before they actually do. They work on some putters in the background that they know they’ll probably put into play eventually.
As Scheffler explains: “The guys at TaylorMade have done a lot of work for me with the putter,” he says. “I’ve always liked the visual of that Spider putter, but I really just did not like the feel. I’ve always struggled with putters that have a lot of weight in the back side of it, and this one is a bit different than a lot of the Spiders that they’ve made. The weight is more in the front, so it has the feel of a blade putter that I like but it also has a lot of that visual on the top where it’s easier for me to line up.”

Scottie testing a new putter, too. pic.twitter.com/K0x2YNxJE0

— LKD (@LukeKerrDineen) August 8, 2023

While the exact moment Rory or Scottie decided to switch was slightly impulsive, it’s been something on their radar for a while.

3. There’s time to remedy the change

Best case scenario? One of the new wands sparks some magic, and they use it to run through the playoffs then win the Ryder Cup in Rome. But of course, the Ryder Cup is still almost two months away, and the playoffs run over four weeks. In other words, if their new putters don’t work, there’s plenty of time to bench it and start again, with minimal consequences.
“I’ve got my Spider with me this week if that putter isn’t doing what I want it to do over the first couple days. I may go back,” McIlroy says. “I sort of treat it like a 12-round tournament. You’ve got 12 rounds to play.”

The post Big name players are making FedEx Cup playoff putter switches — here’s why appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

“This insert has been one of the more requested from both tour and everyday players alike,” said Scotty Cameron. “Plus Brooks Koepka has won all his majors with a Teryllium-insert putter. So it just seemed natural that we revisit it.”

Available August 16 (price: $599), the series features two familiar blade models with the Teryllium T22 Newport and Teryllium T22 Newport 2. An intriguing addition is the Teryllium T22 Fastback 1.5—the first of that model to be designed with a Teryllium insert.

“We’ve seen an increase of mallet putters and a lot of people are set on using a mallet,” Cameron told Golf Digest. “Also, the neck on the Fastback 1.5 is a popular neck style. It has a little slant neck to it, which provides a bit of toe flow to the stroke, like the Newport and Newport 2 blades, but with a wider body and a longer line for alignment. Also, the wider body gives people peace of mind that it’s more stable, much like a utility wood is more comforting for many golfers over a utility iron. So we wanted to offer that option to those players.”

All of the models are precision milled from 303 stainless steel, and have a “tactical matte black” finish that brings out Cameron’s hallmark “domino pattern” in the back cavity. Among the other updates are a new Teryllium inlay construction utilizing an improved elastomer vibration dampening membrane, as well as removable sole weights and increased head weights that allow the putters to be more in line with putter weights of today, rather than the lighter heads that tended to be used back in 1997. As homage to the first putters, “TeI3” is stamped on the face, noting the use of Teryllium as well as three other materials: stainless steel, copper and the silicone membrane in the original.

The adjustable weights, in particular, are a critical aspect of achieving the proper feel for many players. Cameron noted that the original TeI3 did not include adjustable weights and only came in a 35-inch length. “When some people would cut the shaft length to what they desired, it threw the swing weight off and made the shaft too stiff. But we’re beyond that now. We want players to be able to feel fully comfortable with what they have.”

In addition to the weights, consumers also will see stepless steel shafts and a custom Limited Release Teryllium headcover and shaft band, along with a new black Pistolini Plus grip (with a thicker, less tapered low hand) that boasts a copper paintfill designed especially for the T22.

“T22 gave us the opportunity to take everything we’ve learned over the past two decades and refine the entire look, feel and performance,” Cameron said. “Like a modern day muscle car, everything looks original at first glance, but each component is brand new.”

Even if the inspiration is more than two decades old.

The post Scotty Cameron brings back the Teryllium putter some 22 years after Tiger’s Masters win put it front and centre appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

In studies that Odyssey did, they found that lack of success on the greens was often due to inconsistent strokes. “The consistency of putting strokes needs to be addressed. We think and have found that maybe it’s in the way we’ve been building putters,” says Sean Toulon, GM of Odyssey.

“The head has become so heavy and controlling, its usurped the golfer’s ability to control the stroke” Toulon continues. “That’s where most of this inconsistency can be traced back towards.”

The graphite/steel combo shaft is 40 grams lighter than Odyssey’s standard. The result is a shaft that is stiffer than standard and has a lower torque. Less torque means you’re more likely to return a square face to the ball. The saved weight has been redistributed to the head (10 grams) and the end of the grip. The weights in the sole and grip can be changed.

There are six-mallet and four blade options in the Stroke Lab line. They’ll be available for purchase February 8th. Each putter has Odyssey’s White Hot micro hinge inserts. The inserts have small steel ‘microhinges’ set in a soft elastomer. The hinges flex slightly at impact to promote topspin, and the elastomer provides a soft feel.

[divider] [/divider]

Odyssey Toulon Design Putters

In this year’s Toulon putters, the Deep Diamond Milling extends across the entire face, instead of just being concentrated in the centre. This helps the putter become more forgiving. Each Toulon putter is available in Stroke Lab or a standard steel shaft. The new Toulon putters will be available March 1st.

[divider] [/divider]

Odyssey EXO Putters

The milled aluminium ‘exo-cage’, which is lightweight, is surrounded by 17-4 stainless steel, which is much heavier. So, the aluminium brings down the overall weight of the putter and moves weight to the perimeter. This raises the MOI, which means the putter is more stable on off-centre hits. More stable means those mis-hits roll out closer to the same distance as centre hits.

EXO putters have Odyssey’s White Hot insert, which now include micro hinge technology to promote forward roll. Like the Toulon putters, all EXO putters are available in Stroke Lab shafts. There are two different mallets in the line, toe hangs options and face balanced options. Toe hang means the face can rotate more during the stroke, while face balanced putters rotate less to work better with more of a pendulum putting stroke.

The new EXO putters will be available on March 29th. Three new head shapes will be featured.

Ed’s Note: Middle East pricing and availability has not yet been released.

The post Odyssey announces new shaft technology and updates to Toulon and EXO putter lines appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Generating forward roll as soon as possible has been a primary goal of putter makers for years, with manufacturers employing several different methods in an attempt to achieve that. Odyssey today unveiled another tool aimed at that very goal, using what it calls “microhinge technology” in its new line of O-Works putters.

The technology is as it sounds—small “hinges” on the face of the putter that flex and then rebound at impact, propelling the ball toward the hole with a forward roll the company says is twice that of its Fusion RX insert. To achieve this the company used a stainless steel plate backed by a soft elastomer inner layer. The plate is then populated with microhinges. The entire production process takes 23 steps. The line includes four blades (#1, #1W, #2 and #9 models, all with the company’s Versa-T alignment system) and four mallets (#7, 2-Ball, V-Line Fang and R-Line). Counterbalanced Tank options are also available in the #1 blade and #7 mallet.

“Forward spin is critical for all golfers, but most everyday players don’t produce that forward roll soon enough,” says Austie Rollinson, chief designer for Odyssey. “The microhinges help provide something they’ve been having trouble achieving.”

The putters—all available with various SuperStroke grip options—sell for RRP of US$230.

The post Odyssey unveils its <br> O-Works putter line appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.