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Justin Thomas inspires Scotty Cameron’s new Futura 5.5M putter

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In July 2016, Justin Thomas visited Scotty Cameron’s Putter Studio looking for a new flatstick. He wanted a compact mallet putter that would work for his arcing putting stroke, which required a custom solution from the Scotty Cameron team.

“We welded a flare neck to a Futura X5 Tour putter and sent him on his way,” Scotty Cameron said. He went on to win three events, reporting back that some of his buddies wanted a putter like his. The wheels started turning from there.”

The “turning wheels” inside Cameron’s head led him to create an all-new putter inspired by Thomas’ request, the Futura 5.5M. The new putter is about 10 percent smaller than the Futura 7M putter that it resembles. Unlike the 7M, however, it has what’s known as toe hang, or “toe flow,” a design that tends to work well for golfers with arcing putting strokes.

Futura 5.5 Playing Position

Scotty Cameron Futura 5.5M at address.

“To achieve [toe flow], I created a leaned over, stainless steel half-neck spud off the topline that accepts a single bend shaft,” Scotty Cameron said. “This is an elegant way to give the player a full shaft of offset and also offer a clean view of the entire leading edge of the topline. The proportion is right. The weight is right. And now we have a mallet with more toe flow for players who like that arcing feel in their stroke, but want more forgiveness.”

Futura 5.5 Back

The Futura 5.5M has a Silver Mist finish.

Like the rest of the Futura putter line, the Futura 5.5M ($379) has a multi-material construction of 6061 aircraft aluminum and 303 stainless steel. Its wrap-around face sole design pushes weight to the perimeter of the putter head for added forgiveness. It’s available in stores August 25 in North America and September 25 worldwide.

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13 Comments

13 Comments

  1. Geoff

    Aug 2, 2017 at 12:19 pm

    Another ‘Inspired By’ that isn’t like the model it’s inspired by. Another joke from Cameron.

  2. Will

    Aug 2, 2017 at 9:03 am

    This is not inspired by justin Thomas any more than it was inspired by anyone else who uses a smaller mallet. They know we want a flow neck version. Not sure why they won’t make one. Im tired of waiting though. I’m getting the new odyssey 7 with a flow neck when they are available.

  3. UnclePhil

    Aug 1, 2017 at 3:20 pm

    Sigh!

  4. BusterG

    Aug 1, 2017 at 2:29 pm

    Available Aug 25 and I will be at my golf store at opening time to grab one of these booyah beauties

  5. JB

    Aug 1, 2017 at 12:38 pm

    JT’s looks way better. This is a cop out.

  6. AndyUK

    Aug 1, 2017 at 10:54 am

    Hmmm…that isn’t a flow neck last time I checked. Looks like he’s gone down the cheap route?

    Massive FAIL!

  7. David

    Aug 1, 2017 at 10:06 am

    Why wont they make JT’s putter or the one Jordan used for one week!? Terrible terrible terrible

    • Rich

      Aug 21, 2017 at 7:20 pm

      Because if they did, there wouldn’t be the “Tour only” putters that he can sell for thousands, just cause it’s got a certain stamp on it. I don’t mind Scotty Cameron putters but bloody hell they take people for a ride with all the bull that goes along with it.

  8. Harry Doyle

    Aug 1, 2017 at 9:50 am

    Swing and a miss

  9. DB

    Aug 1, 2017 at 9:44 am

    This is pretty nice, look forward to trying it. But I prefer the look of the straight shaft and flow-neck.

  10. JD

    Aug 1, 2017 at 9:07 am

    When you go on a blind date and she looks nothing like her profile picture.

  11. Jerry

    Aug 1, 2017 at 8:55 am

    I like Justin Thomas’ putter hosel.

    • LeftyRizer

      Aug 1, 2017 at 12:32 pm

      I agree 100%. Every other manufacturer is putting out a straight shaft flow-neck. That’s what players want. This is just a cheap knock-off….well, at $379 cheap may not be the right word.

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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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