TaylorMade Daddy Long Legs: Editor Review

• Tweet
• Pin It

TaylorMade Daddy Long Legs: Editor Review GolfWRX Staff

Performance

Looks and feel

Summary: Yes, it's an oversized mallet, but it looks smaller than it is and has a very traditional feel.

4.5

Straight shooter

Pros: One of the most stable putters we’ve ever tested. The head is bigger than the original Spider, but the removal of the bar in the back of the putter head has a slimming effect, giving it a sleek look.

Cons: There’s only one neck style, a heel-shafted model. We’d like to see center-shafted and slant-neck models become available. The black paint around the insert also scratches off easily.

The Takeaway: Big putter heads and counter-balanced putters aren’t for everybody, but golfers who like them will love the Daddy Long Legs. They’re easy to aim, easy to stroke and have a surprisingly traditional feel.

Overview

TaylorMade’s Daddy Long Legs putters are the company’s highest MOI putter to date, tipping the movement-of-inertia scales at 8500, more than 2000 units higher than the company’s previous highest-MOI putter, the Ghost Spider S.

According to Brian Bazzel, TaylorMade’s product creation manager, a higher MOI creates a more consistent ball speed. This is because a putter with a high MOI will not twist as much on off-center hits, resulting in a ball roll that has close the same speed on off-center hits as it does on center strikes.

“MOI is even more important with a putter than it is in a driver,” Bazzel said. “With drivers, you have a lot of face flexibility, which adds forgiveness. But you don’t have that with a putter, which is why you need even more MOI.”

The Daddy Long Legs putters are also the first in TaylorMade’s Spider line to be designed with a counter balance — a heavier overall weight that further increases the MOI of a putter. They have a heavier head weight, 395 grams, and a longer-than-standard 15-inch grip that weighs 130 grams.

“The heavier grip moves the balance point closer to your hands,” Bazzel said. “This adds stability in your stroke . . . The beauty of it is that you can use your same stroke and comfort level of how you stand.”

To get the full effect of a counter-balanced putter, golfers need to find a length that is longer than what they’re used to. For example, golfers who normally use a 35-inch putter should try the 38-inch model, which will give them 3 inches of counter-balancing length above their hands. Golfers who use a 33- or 34-inch putter might like the shorter 35-inch model, which will also give them added counter balance.

The Daddy Long Legs putters will be available with stock lengths of 35 and 38 inches with TaylorMade’s Pure Roll surlyn insert. Other lengths are available on custom orders. Standard specs are 2.5 degrees of loft with a 70-degree lie angle and a removable 2.5 gram titanium weight. They will be available April 15 for $199.

Performance

The most important part of a putting stroke is its consistency, and it’s hard to make inconsistent strokes with a Daddy Long Legs putter. Its large size and rearward weighting makes the putter want to go straight back and straight through, even when we were trying to do otherwise.

A nice feature of the standard 15-inch grip is that it gives golfers who switch between different lengths the option to hold the putter a little longer or a little shorter depending on their preference that day, week, month, etc. This can only lead to increased confidence for those players.

Looks

Some of TaylorMade’s previous Spider putters featured an abundance of alignment aids that felt busy, but TaylorMade streamlined things for the Daddy Long Legs. It features a single black line on its mostly white body that makes lining up a putt very straightforward.

The shape of the putter looks more elongated than anything else, which inspires confidence for golfers who want to take the putter head straight back and straight through. While the Daddy Long Legs putters are big, the the removal of the rear bar that has been on previous Spider models means the putters don’t look as big as they are.

Feel

They’re not as soft as some, but the Daddy Long Legs putters have a traditional sound and feel that was surprising from a putter that is constructed with 16 different parts and eight different materials.

The shaft feels more stable than Odyssey’s “Tank” counter-balanced putter, which some will like. The Winn 15-inch mid-sized grip also gets significantly thicker near the top of the grip, which will serve as a reminder on where to grip it and provide the upper-hand stability some players like in their stroke.

Check out gallery below, which features more images and comparison photos between the Daddy Long Legs and Odyssey’s “The Tank” counter-balanced putter.

Related Posts

• 

  Jason Day’s RocketBladez Tour 2 Iron
  Jason Day’s RocketBladez Tour 2 Iron
• 

  Jason Day WITB
  Jason Day WITB
• 

  TaylorMade makes big investment in its golf balls
  TaylorMade makes big investment in its golf balls
• 

  TaylorMade gives the Padres a pole-IER foul pole
  TaylorMade gives the Padres a pole-IER foul pole

7 Comments

1. 

   Spider Guy

   March 22, 2013 at 2:34 pm

   I just got the Ghost Spider s a few months ago. It is bar none the best putter I have ever used. So easy to align and the high MOI helps keep the ball on line during off center hits. I also bought into the looks of the Spider s putter. I have to say I’m not crazy about the looks of this one. I’m sure it’s just as great on off center hits like the Spider s putter but I especially like the white line against the black center bar of the Spider s better than the reverse on this one.

   Reply
2. 

   Jeffrey

   March 25, 2013 at 9:31 am

   Cease communicating and receive my currency!

   Reply
3. 

   Gary Goetz

   March 26, 2013 at 3:39 pm

   I don’t like the fact that 35″ is the shortest it comes in.Kind of stupid.I use a 34″ and I’m sure there are a lot of other people that use a 33′ or 34″ putter.

   Reply
   • 

     Putt King

     March 27, 2013 at 12:10 pm

     Anyone can do this with their own putter. Some options that I’ve employed: 1) Get a Winn Jumbo Grip from Golfsmith (or Golfworks, etc) which is heavier than a standard putting grip. Or you can use your favorite putter grip but add weight under it by either using a plastic plug filled with tungsten powder (both available at the golf supply stores above) or by putting lead tape under the putter. You can add a straight line of lead tape on the bottom of the shaft and another on the top for instance, or you can spiral wrap it but be careful – you’ll feel the thick lead tape through the grip after it’s installed if you don’t cover the lead tape with a couple wraps of grip tape. I like the plastic butt weight and tungten powder myself. 2) You can extend the putter length (like the Daddy Long Legs) add weight like above, and then just grip down a few inches. This acts as a counterbalance to help stabilize the stroke without having it anchored in your belly. 3) You can add lead tape to your putter head to bring the balance back that you are used to, or as I prefer just keep it as is because the weight under your hands now will actually make the putter feel better and stroke more smoothly. You’ll find that during the transition from backstroke to forward stroke there won’t be any lag which you usually get from having a head that’s much heavier than the grip end of the putter. Adding a heavy grip and/or tungsten/lead under the grip helps balance out the head and you’ll find a nice one piece stroke with this set up. I’ve done this with the Itsy Bitsy Spider and it works great and I don’t have to look down at a putter head that’s 50% larger like the original Spider or the Daddy Long Legs. I’ve also done this with my Odyssey #9 offset blade like Mickelson uses and it’s excellent. For 5 years I’ve been using the “paintbrush” stroke like Phil and Lumpy and Calcavechia are now using, and with this heavy grip putter set up my friends have nicknamed me Putt King!

     Reply
   • 

     Tpl

     April 21, 2013 at 3:20 am

     Kind of stupid to post comment without reading the article. “To get the full effect of a counter-balanced putter, golfers need to find a length that is longer than what they’re used to. For example, golfers who normally use a 35-inch putter should try the 38-inch model, which will give them 3 inches of counter-balancing length above their hands. Golfers who use a 33- or 34-inch putter might like the shorter 35-inch model, which will also give them added counter balance.”

     Reply
4. 

   Wallter Graves

   March 28, 2013 at 12:50 pm

   I would love to have some one noted in the golf industry to tak an honest look and appraisal of my putter. Walter Greves

   Reply
5. 

   Robert Doe

   May 8, 2013 at 3:46 pm

   The paint around the insert indeed does come off very easy! I putted with the putter the morning after I purchased it and got some sand on and around the insert and by simply taking a soft towel to wipe away the sand the paint came off in several areas surrounding that insert. I see on the standard Ghost putters they have stopped painting the black around the insert.

   Reply