Connect with us

Equipment

The putters used by the top 10 in strokes gained: putting

Published

on

What do the PGA Tour’s best putters use to hole out in the fewest amount of strokes on Tour? Now that the 2017-2018 PGA Tour season is behind us, we can do a thorough examination.

First, here’s a tally of what the top 10 in strokes gained: putting on Tour are using by manufacturer.

  • Bobby Grace: 1
  • Odyssey/Toulon: 4
  • Ping: 1
  • Scotty Cameron: 2
  • TaylorMade: 2

But this is GolfWRX, so of course you want to know more. Below is a breakdown of the SG:P leaders’ putters and grips.

10. Phil Mickelson

Putter: Odyssey Versa #9
Grip: SuperStroke Slim 3.0
Strokes gained: putting: .580

9. Patrick Rodgers

Putter: Toulon San Diego
Grip: SuperStroke Flatso 1.0
Strokes gained: putting: .596

8. Peter Malnati

Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport Fastback Select Prototype
Grip: Scotty Cameron Full Cord
Strokes gained: putting: .619

7. Johnson Wagner

Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport Mid Slant
Grip: Dancing Cameron Full Cord
Strokes gained: putting: .623

6. Webb Simpson

Putter: Odyssey Tank Cruiser V-Line
Grip: Odyssey Arm Lock
Strokes gained: putting: .672

5. Alex Noren

Putter: Odyssey O-Works #1W
Grip: Odyssey Jumbo Pistol
Strokes gained: putting: .682

4. Beau Hossler

Putter: Taylormade TP Ardmore 2
Grip: Taylormade Daddy Long Legs
Strokes gained: putting: .685

3. Daniel Summerhays

Putter: Ping Custom-Milled B60 Prototype
Grip: SuperStroke Ultra Slim 1.0 Pistol
Strokes gained: putting: .736

2. Greg Chalmers

Putter: Bobby Grace MacGregor V-Foil
Grip: Royal Pistol
Strokes gained: putting: .790

1. Jason Day

Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour Red
Grip: TaylorMade Spider Tour Red Grip (Winn Medalist)
Strokes gained: putting: .849

Your Reaction?
  • 269
  • LEGIT42
  • WOW9
  • LOL8
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP10
  • OB2
  • SHANK32

GolfWRX Editor-in-Chief

26 Comments

26 Comments

  1. Brandon Miller

    Nov 13, 2018 at 12:14 pm

    A great list of what the top 10 putters in strokes gained use. But the major difference lies in the person putting the ball versus the equipment that the putter is using.

  2. Benny

    Nov 3, 2018 at 7:34 pm

    Sure its a personal but you still have to know how to roll the rock. My only mention is these are mostly all mallets/mid mallets.

  3. Howard Clark

    Oct 22, 2018 at 9:23 am

    Women are better putters. Need their info.

  4. gunmetal

    Oct 22, 2018 at 2:00 am

    Just a general observation that about half of these guys struggled to keep their card. Good thing they could putt I suppose.

  5. Dave Bryce

    Oct 21, 2018 at 10:15 am

    Andy North won two US Opens with a putter he purchased out of the bargain barrel;it is personal preference more then any other club in the bag!

    • joro

      Oct 21, 2018 at 11:13 am

      When Gene Littler won the Open in I think 62 he got it from Al Abrego, the Pro at a Pitch and Putt course call Presidio Park in San Diego. It was an old Putter my Father in Law had traded for another Putter. Gene loved it and the rest is history.

  6. Joro

    Oct 20, 2018 at 3:34 pm

    Some can and some can’t and it ain’t the Putter, It’s the Putee. And to be a good Putter you have to be putting for something other than Double Bogey, listening Phil? It is a bunch of Baloney!!!! I Putt just great with my 16 yr. old RIFE and not very good with my 350.Dollar Scotty. I also have an old C Groove that is better, so don’t fall for marketing when you should fall for what works, not what is in your bag to impress.

  7. Tiger Noods

    Oct 19, 2018 at 8:20 pm

    A real case of causation doesn’t equal correlation.

  8. Tom54

    Oct 19, 2018 at 7:46 pm

    Forget the make of putters or the grip they use,how about Webb Simpson making the list at all having to go away from the long putter. That is quite an accomplishment I do believe. To you,Adam Scott keep trying. It can be done.

  9. shawn

    Oct 19, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    Well that proves it… Odyssey/Toulon putters are the best !!!!!

  10. sailfishchris

    Oct 19, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    Great! I have a lot of putters to sell. I don’t have any on the list! LOL!

  11. Jerry Updike

    Oct 19, 2018 at 12:20 pm

    So, basically, find what works for you and go with it.

  12. big jones

    Oct 19, 2018 at 11:54 am

    Bobby Grace is loving this.

    • John

      Oct 25, 2018 at 9:22 pm

      The grace v-foil is the best MOI putter of all time.
      Bravo Bobby, bravo, you dean of American putter makers.

  13. Tonda Davis

    Oct 19, 2018 at 11:33 am

    Where are the LPGA winners?

    • Chase Goppy

      Oct 19, 2018 at 12:56 pm

      Who cares?

    • MikeD

      Oct 19, 2018 at 1:56 pm

      Great queston. The top putters on the LPGA tour may be better than the men. Their choice of equipment would be very interesting.

  14. Brad

    Oct 19, 2018 at 10:53 am

    It would be helpful to also list what grip style (lead-hand low, claw, arm-lock, etc.) they use as well

  15. Carl F Streeter

    Oct 19, 2018 at 10:27 am

    Reeseo putter, invented by the late Sandy Reeso, is as good as they get. Hard to find but worth the effort.

  16. moses

    Oct 19, 2018 at 10:02 am

    I love this place. Blame the equiipment. 🙂

  17. Clint

    Oct 19, 2018 at 9:51 am

    welp, here I am now buying an Odyssey Arm Lock putter

  18. dat

    Oct 19, 2018 at 8:38 am

    different strokes for different folks

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Whats in the Bag

Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)

Published

on

Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX

5-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX

Irons: Wilson Staff Utility (2), Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: Mitsubishi MMT 100 TX (2), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-9)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F @51, 56-14F), SM7 (60-10S)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48-56), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (60)

Putter: Scotty Cameron T-5 Proto
Grip: Scotty Cameron Black Baby T

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4

More photos of Kevin Tway’s WITB in the forums.

Your Reaction?
  • 1
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

Continue Reading

Equipment

Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

Published

on

Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.

The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?

Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.

When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.

To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.

Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.

“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.

“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”

Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.

Your Reaction?
  • 2
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL1
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK1

Continue Reading

Equipment

Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird

Published

on

With seven career wins on the PGA Tour, including a U.S. Open victory, Webb Simpson is a certified veteran on the course. But he’s also a certified veteran in the equipment world, too. He’s a gearhead who truly knows his stuff, and he’s even worked closely with Titleist on making his own custom 682.WS irons.

On Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship, I caught up with Simpson to hear about his experience with Titleist’s new prototype 2-wood, how Titleist’s 680 Forged irons from 2003 ended up back in his bag, and why he’s switching into an Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser broomstick putter this week for the first time.

Click here to read our full story about Simpson’s putter switch on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report, or continue reading below for my full Q&A with Simpson at Quail Hollow Club on Wednesday.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

GolfWRX: It seems like you’ve been a little all over the place with your irons in the past six months or so, and now going back to the 680’s. Is that just a comfort thing? What’s been going on with the irons?

Webb Simpson: Titleist has been so great at working with me, and R&D, on trying to get an iron that kind of modernizes the 680. And so the 682.WS took the T100 grooves, but kinda took the look and the bulk and the build of the 680’s into one club. They’re beautiful, and awesome looking. I just never hit them that well for a consistent period of time. It was probably me, but then I went to T100’s and loved them. I loved the spin, the trajectory, the yardage, but again, I never went on good runs. Going through the ground, I couldn’t feel the club as well as with the blade. So last week, I’m like, ‘Alright. I’m gonna go back more for…comfort, and see if I can get on a nice little run of ball striking.’

So that’s why I went back.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)

OK, that makes sense. I know you had done some 2-wood testing recently. Is that in the bag right now?

It’s like day-by-day. I used it at Hilton Head every day. Valero, I used it one round. And this week, me and my caddie will do the book every morning, and if it’s a day where we think we need it, we’ll just put it in and take the 3-wood out. I love it because it’s a super simple swap. Like, it doesn’t really change much.

Yeah, can you tell me about that club? I mean, we don’t really know anything about it yet. You know? I haven’t hit it or anything, obviously.

It has grooves like a 3-wood. Spin is perfect. And it’s honestly, like, everything is in the middle of a 3-wood and driver number. Trajectory, spin, carry, all of it. So, a Hilton Head golf course is almost too easy to talk about because, you know, there, so many holes are driver 3-wood.

Valero, our thinking was we had two par-5’s into the wind, and we knew that it would take two great shots to get there in two. So instead of hitting driver-driver, we just put it in. And I used it on those holes.

Hilton was a little easier because it was off-the-tee kind of questions. But Colonial will be a golf course where, you know, there’s a lot of driver or 3-woods. It’s kind of like a backup putter or driver for me now. I’ll bring it to every tournament.

So it’s, like, in your locker right now, probably?

Well, it would be. It’s in my house [because Webb lives near by Quail Hollow Club, and is a member at the course.] It’s in the garage.

Oh, yeah, that’s right. Do you know what holes you might use it out here if it goes in play? 

Potentially 15, depending on the wind. Second shot on 10. Could be 14 off the tee. The chances here are pretty low (that he’ll use the 2-wood). But, like, Greensboro would be an awesome club all day. I’m trying to think of any other golf courses.

There’s plenty that it’ll be a nice weapon to have.

It’s interesting, the wave of 2-woods and mini drivers. Like, it’s just really taken off on Tour, and all the companies have seemed to embrace it.

Yeah. The thing I had to learn, it took me, like, at least a week to learn about it is you gotta tee it up lower than you think. I kept teeing it up too high. You need it low, like barely higher than a 3-wood. And that was where I got optimal spin and carry. If you tee it up too high, you just don’t get as much spin and lose distance, I don’t know if that’s just a mini driver thing.

And you obviously have a Jailbird putter this week. What spurred that on?

Inconsistent putting. I’m stubborn in a lot of ways when it comes to my equipment, but I have to be open minded – I just hadn’t putted consistently well in a while. And I’m like, ‘Man, I feel my ball-striking coming along. Like I feel better; for real, better.’

If I can just get something in my hands that I’m consistent with. Being on Tour, you see it every year, guys get on little runs. I can put together four to five tournaments where I’m all the sudden back in the majors, or in the FedExCup Playoffs. You can turn things around quick out here. I’m like, ‘Man, whatever’s going to get me there, great.’

My caddie, David Cook, caddied for Akshay at the Houston Open and he putted beautifully. Then, I watched Akshay on TV at Valero, and he putted beautifully. And, I’m like, ‘I’m just going to try it.’

I’ve never tried it for more than a putt or two, and I just ordered what Akshay uses. It was pretty awkward at first, but the more I used it, the more I’m like, ‘Man, it’s pretty easy.’ And a buddy of mine who’s a rep out here, John Tyler Griffin, he helped me with some setup stuff. And he said at Hilton Head, he wasn’t putting well, then tried it, and now he makes everything. He was very confident. So I’m like, ‘Alright, I’ll try it.’”

And you’re going with it this week?

Hundred percent.

Alright, I love it. Thank you, I always love talking gear with you. Play well this week. 

Thanks, man.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

Your Reaction?
  • 40
  • LEGIT3
  • WOW1
  • LOL2
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK4

Continue Reading

WITB

Facebook

Trending