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Stacy Lewis switches to Happy Putter prototype with adjustable alignment

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For many golfers, tinkering with golf clubs is not always connected to shooting a lower score. Sometimes it’s necessary for them to play their best, though, especially on the greens where the mental game is so important. The latest creation of Happy Putter founder Vikash Sanyal is based on that belief, specifically that a new “look” can help golfers focus better on the greens.

“I call it the lazy eye syndrome,” Sanyal said. “A golfer’s eyes get lazy after a while with the same putter. A new look can refocus their eyes on the line [of the putt].”

Stacy Lewis, a 13-time LPGA Tour winner and the No. 4-ranked women’s golfer in the world, isn’t much of a tinkerer with her putter, but a new Happy Putter changed her tune. It uses adjustable alignment aids, which improved her alignment and results in comprehensive testing Sanyal did with Lewis.

It hasn’t been a seamless change — Lewis has been off and on between the Happy Putter prototype and her old putter this year — although it seems she has settled on a Happy Putter Prototype M. Lewis was spotted with a Happy Putter in the bag by Beth Ann Nichols at the ANA Inspiration, and had it in the bag at last week’s Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic. She finished T18 and T27, respectively, and is currently ranked 17th in Putts Per GIR (Green in regulation) on the year averaging 1.77.

Her specs, provided by Sanyal, are listed below:

  • Design: Prototype M
  • Alignment: Shape 2, Line Pattern B
  • Length: 32 inches
  • Weight: “Heavy”
  • Loft: “Low”
  • Lie Angle: “Upright”
  • Offset: “Half”

The new technology from Happy Putter, which Sanyal said is expected to be released to the public in the coming weeks, allows golfers to switch out alignment aids without changing anything else about the putter, such as weight, loft, lie angle, etc. The putter found its way into Lewis’ hands when Sanyal showed Lewis and her swing coach what he was working on at Naples National Golf Club in Florida, where Sanyal put Lewis through his personal testing process. It includes:

  • Using a roll board to find out if the ball is skipping off the face.
  • Lie angle testing to make sure the sole is flat.
  • Trying different alignment aids to discover a visual preference.
  • Performance testing. Lewis hit 6, 12 and 18-foot putts, and well as lag putts from 50 feet in an 18-hole format.

Before they began, Lewis had to pick which of the alignment lines best suited her stroke and preferences. At first she picked a single line, which was similar to her old putter, Sanyal said. She repeatedly lined up left of where she was aiming, however, so they changed to another alignment aid with multiple, alternating-color lines. Sanyal said Lewis didn’t immediately like the look of the alignment aid, but she lined up perfectly to her intended target with it again and again. It outperformed her gamer, and she recorded seriously impressive stats during testing, according to Sanyal’s records.

  • 6 feet: 39/40 (98 percent)
  • 12 feet: 23/40 (58 percent)
  • 18 feet 7/20 (35 percent)

Like the original Happy Putter, which you can read more about here, the new model allows golfers to adjust weights, loft, offset and lie angle, although the new version does not change dexterity.

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He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

9 Comments

9 Comments

  1. tlmck

    May 3, 2016 at 1:51 am

    I might actually try this one if it makes it to market. The two they have now are center shafted which is a non-starter for me. It won’t replace my GoLo 5, but it would be cool to add to the collection.

  2. Mark

    May 2, 2016 at 4:21 am

    Sheer desperation. Get and old Ping Anser, Bullseye or TPM and get practicing.

  3. B Clizzle

    May 1, 2016 at 9:56 am

    The idea of equality ruins the game for me
    They have their place and it’s not outside the home

  4. gmoney

    Apr 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm

    Haha the comment sections have been getting heated recently.

  5. Weekend Duffer

    Apr 30, 2016 at 8:55 am

    I don’t understand why so many of these American players can’t putt. Lincicome, Lewis, Wie, Thompson…all atrocious on the green. Need to give up the gimmick putters and practice the old fashioned way.

    • Leon

      Apr 30, 2016 at 10:59 am

      They just spend more time in the locker room for the makeup than putting on the green

    • Ody

      May 1, 2016 at 10:47 am

      They all just need to give in and use an Odyssey mallet type. Look at Lydia, Inbee. The 2-ball They make everything.

      • B Clizzle

        May 1, 2016 at 4:16 pm

        If you think that lpga players need 2 ball
        Tell Recari she can gets hers over here

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Whats in the Bag

Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)

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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.

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Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

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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.

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

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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.

 

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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

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