Equipment
WRX Spotlight Review: Cleveland Huntington Beach SOFT putters
Product: Cleveland Huntington Beach SOFT Putters
Pitch: When you think of a $130 putter, you typically think of cheap inserts and “gimmicky” shapes or paint. Not so with the new Cleveland Golf Huntington Beach SOFT putters. The HB SOFT line has traditional-looking blades and popular mallets that should suit the eye of most golfers. All models have a matte silver finish to reduce glare and simple, yet effective alignment markings.
Our take on the Cleveland Huntington Beach SOFT putters
The HB SOFT line is now made of 304 Stainless Steel, for better feel, said to be about 50 percent softer than 17-4 Stainless.
The big story on the HB SOFT line is the new face milling that helps with mishit putts. The precision milled putter face has Speed Optimized Face Tech that attempts to increase the ball speed on putts that aren’t hit dead center. This CNC milled diamond pattern increases friction for more consistency and better roll out on toe/heel struck shots, according to Cleveland.
For this review, I took out the Cleveland Huntington Beach SOFT 11 model and gave it a good run. Being an Odyssey #7 user for years, the HB SOFT 11 was very easy on the eyes and I like the way it framed the ball on the green.
The head has a single sight line, but the “wings” on the side act like additional alignment marks to make sure you are square to the target. There are also two additional lines on the flange that you could paint fill and make it a triple line setup if that is your thing. The finish looks great and glare shouldn’t be a concern, even on the brightest days.
The head is cast, and then Cleveland mills the SOFT diamond pattern onto the face, but the milling looks great. You can really see and feel the different depths and textures across the face of the putter. The center of the putter has the deepest mill and it gets shallower and more smooth the further out you go.
The HB SOFT 11 has a short neck that gives it more toe hang than I was expecting, sitting around 7 o’clock. That is the new thing though (mallets with toe hang similar to blade putters).
On the green, the HB SOFT line really shines. As I said before, the 11 head really frames the ball and is easy to align to the cup. I always felt confident that I was lined up correctly, never having to second guess that.
HB SOFT putters have a really good, lively feel to them. The ball pops off the face really quickly with fairly minimal skidding and hop. The feel is soft with a hint of spring to it, but distance control is very good and repeatable.
Putts off the toe were still very soft and had very minimal distance loss, I was a little shocked how well they rolled out. For me the heel miss had less roll out, but also had a bit more vibration to it. I was purposely hitting balls off the toe/heel and those shots stayed on the target line really well, typically only missing the cup by inches.
The only complaint I really have is minor: I don’t love the oversize grip. For me it is too round and needs a little flatter top to it, but a very easy fix.
Overall, the Cleveland Huntington Beach SOFT putters really perform great and won’t break the bank. They will easily hang with putters costing three times as much. I even saw a couple friends out there who tried it, and everyone said they were impressed with the putter. You will be hard-pressed to find a better deal on a new putter.
- RELATED: Cleveland launches Huntington Beach SOFT putters
- RELATED: More photos of Cleveland Huntington Beach SOFT putters in the forums.
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Equipment
Rickie Fowler’s new putter: Standard-length Odyssey Jailbird 380 in custom orange
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 Jailbird craze hasn’t really slowed down in 2024, either. According to Odyssey rep Joe Toulon, there are about 18-20 Jailbird putter users on the PGA TOUR.
Most recently, Akshay Bhatia won the 2024 Valero Texas Open using a broomstick-style Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter and Webb Simpson is switching into a replica of that putter at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.
Now, Fowler, who essentially started the whole Jailbird craze, is making a significant change to his putter setup.
Fowler, who has had a couple weeks off since the 2024 RBC Heritage, started experimenting with a new, custom-orange Jailbird 380 head that’s equipped with a standard 35-inch putter build, rather than his previous 38-inch counter-balanced setup.
According to Fowler, while he still likes the look and forgiveness of his Jailbird putter head, he’s looking to re-incorporate more feel into his hands during the putting stroke.
He told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship that the 38-inch counterbalanced setup “served its purpose” by helping him to neutralize his hands during the stroke, but now it’s time to try the standard-length putter with a standard-size SuperStroke Pistol Tour grip to help with his feel and speed control.
Although Fowler was also spotted testing standard-length mallets from L.A.B. Golf and Axis1 on Tuesday, he confirmed that the custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 is the putter he’ll use this week at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.
Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.
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Whats in the Bag
Akshay Bhatia WITB 2024 (May)
- Akshay Bhatia what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. Bhatia is deciding between drivers. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Callaway Rogue ST Max LS (9 degrees @7.2, 2 grams lead tape heel, 4 grams toe)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X (44 7/8 inches, tipped 1 inch)
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max D (9 degrees @7)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X
3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max (15 degrees @13.9)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X (43 inches, tipped 1.5)
Hybrid: Callaway Apex UW Prototype (19 degrees @17.8)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 10 X
Irons: Callaway X Forged UT (21 degrees) Buy here, Callaway Apex TCB Raw (5-PW)
Shafts: KBS $-Taper 125 S+
Wedges: Callaway Jaws Raw (50-10S @49, 54-10S, 60-08C @61)
Shafts: KBS Hi-Rev 2.0 135 X
Putter: Odyssey Versa Jailbird 380
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Split
Grips: Iomic
Ball: Callaway Chrome Tour
More photos of Akshay Bhatia’s WITB in the forums.
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Whats in the Bag
Emiliano Grillo WITB 2024 (May)
- Emiliano Grillo what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (9 degrees @10)
Shaft: Project X Denali Blue 60 TX
3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (15 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Blue RDX 70 TX
5-wood: Cobra LTDx Prototype (18.5 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Blue RDX 70 TX
Irons: Callaway Apex TCB (4-9)
Shafts: Project X 6.5
Wedges: Callaway MD3 Milled (46-08S), Callaway Jaws Raw (50-10S, 54-10S, 60-08T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Flatso 1.0
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
Check out more in-hand photos of Emiliano Grillo’s clubs here.
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JP
Feb 12, 2019 at 9:28 pm
Final Score:
.
Cleveland – 1 / Cameron – 0
Tiger Noods
Feb 12, 2019 at 5:04 pm
Nice “True Roll” tech. Theft from the Solheims continues…
Tom
Feb 12, 2019 at 4:31 pm
If you have a soft putter, you need the blue pill!
Tom
Feb 12, 2019 at 2:52 pm
Having a soft putter isn’t going to make you very popular with the ladies….
Iutodd
Feb 12, 2019 at 1:14 pm
Looking forward to trying this one. I have all Srixon/Cleveland in my irons and wedges so I might as well make it official with the putter.