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Scotty Cameron releasing Inspired by Justin Thomas Phantom X5.5 putter

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4 years ago

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Part of what makes Scotty Cameron putters so endearing to golfers is their relationship to the best players in the world and the trust those players place in Cameron putters. To honor one of those trusted relationships, Scotty Cameron is releasing an all-new “Inspired by” Justin Thomas Phantom X5.5 Putter.

The “Inspired by” series dates back to famous Scotty Cameron users like David Duval and Davis Love III, and Justin Thomas’ X5.5 is no exception when it comes to detail and design work. In fact, this newest putter could easily be considered the most ambitious putter ever created for the “Inspired by” series since it features a hand-welded neck—something only ever reserved for Scotty Cameron Circle T putters.

The Justin Thomas X5.5 is designed to the specification specifications of Thomas’s trusted gamer, which he has used to capture 12 of his 13 PGA Tour titles–including the 2017 PGA Championship–and most recently, the 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. We also can’t forget the bomb he made during the Workday Charity Open.

The combination of the high-MOI wingback Phantom X paired with a welded small slant neck promotes an arced putting stroke more commonly associated with blade designs. This blending of styles continues to grow in popularity as plyers with arched stroked look for greater stability.

Scotty Cameron on the new “Inspired by” Phantom X5.5

“Justin Thomas is one of those unique players who only comes around once or twice in a generation. He first visited the Scotty Cameron Putter Studio as a young amateur when he played a Newport 2. JT loved that traditional putter look. But even after getting his first tour win with the blade, he started to consider a change.

“He poked around our putter bag on the Titleist Tour Van and was initially drawn to the Futura X5 – the compact mallet shape really suited his eye. After some back-and-forth discussions, I welded him a small slant neck as a prototype setup and here we are. Twelve PGA Tour wins later and still counting with the same putter – including a major championship, two World Golf Championships and a FedExCup Championship. Players are always asking me for a welded-neck putter like JT’s. It’s a special setup that deserves this kind of treatment.” – Scotty Cameron

Technology and aesthetics

  • A hand-welded small slant neck adorns each and every putter—like Justin’s original prototype—to provide greater toe hang and increased flow for the mallet-style head.
  • A signature designed “Circle JT” emblem engraved on the face along with Thomas’ signature designed milled into the aluminum sole plate.
  • Solid milled stainless steel construction (milled in the United States) to complement the legendary performance and playability with a consistent sound and soft feel.

Justin Thomas on his “Inspired by” Phanton X5.5

“This was an extremely cool project for me to work on with Scotty. When I first saw the 5.5, I immediately noticed how nicely it sits down on the green. The neck just makes it sit so square. In the beginning, I was only thinking it would give me something different to look at for a couple weeks – yet here I am – four-something years later and still gaming it. So, I guess it’s worked out pretty well.”

Price, specs, and availability

The new Scotty Cameron Inspired by Justin Thomas Phantom X5.5 putters will be available beginning Sep. 22 at select Titleist authorized golf shops worldwide and will be limited to only 2020 pieces. The retail price is $850.

To Match the specs of Justin’s personal putter, it is built to 34.5″ inches with 10-gram customizable stainless steel heel and toe weights. The putter is built with a new Pistolero Plus grip in cement gray and comes with a custom embroidered, Inspired by Justin Thomas headcover and a Scotty Cameron Fine Milled Putters Seven-Point Crown shaft band.

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Ryan Barath is a club-fitter & master club builder with more than 17 years of experience working with golfers of all skill levels, including PGA Tour players. He is the former Build Shop Manager & Social Media Coordinator for Modern Golf. He now works independently from his home shop and is a member of advisory panels to a select number of golf equipment manufacturers. You can find Ryan on Twitter and Instagram where he's always willing to chat golf, and share his passion for club building, course architecture and wedge grinding.

19 Comments

19 Comments

  1. Pingback: Scotty Cameron updates Phantom X series putters for 2021 – GolfWRX

  2. Curt

    Sep 9, 2020 at 6:07 pm

    Would that be a legal club if it had a bigger face and called it a driver?

    Reply Report comment

  3. Mike

    Sep 9, 2020 at 8:26 am

    I’m guessing that neck is machined with the putter head like the slant neck putters in the select line… they obviously have that machining capability. Then there is a bead of weld added as a secondary process to give it that look. Still pretty cool, but a bit deceiving. Total guess on my part, but I’d make a wager… you can see the machining marks in the neck.

    Reply Report comment

    • Matt Smith

      Sep 9, 2020 at 11:29 am

      Fully agree. No way they are hand welding 2,020 of these. It’s the fastback neck with some added material melted to make it look welded

      Reply Report comment

  4. Tom Newsted

    Sep 9, 2020 at 7:01 am

    I was interested until I saw the price tag. I agree with some of the previous comments that they will sell and will be on ebay for $1500 but it wont be me. You could probably buy an X5.5 and then go through the Scotty custom shop and still pay less.

    Reply Report comment

  5. Gearbox

    Sep 8, 2020 at 7:19 pm

    Cry all you want guys. This will be $1500 on eBay and they will get it. Scotty is a genius…

    Reply Report comment

    • Paulo

      Sep 8, 2020 at 11:01 pm

      Intelligence is relative. He’s only a genius if idiots spend it.

      Reply Report comment

  6. Paul Runyan

    Sep 8, 2020 at 6:39 pm

    Who Cares….

    Reply Report comment

  7. Acemandrake

    Sep 8, 2020 at 1:36 pm

    $850 for a putter? The economy must be doing well. This no recession price.

    Reply Report comment

  8. Paulo

    Sep 8, 2020 at 12:35 pm

    Honestly I can’t think of a company I have less desire to spend my hard earned cash on than Cameron. Exclusive releases with stupidly inflated price tags only available for the select few is something I can’t condone . Pro’s getting putters for free don’t make Cameron the company it is, the people spending the dollars do.

    Reply Report comment

  9. DB

    Sep 8, 2020 at 11:20 am

    This putter looks incredible and it’s nice to finally see Scotty giving people what they want. For me though, I don’t want a putter with someone else’s name and initials all over the putter and the headcover. I mean I like Justin, he seems cool, but that’s just weird to me.

    Reply Report comment

  10. Gearge

    Sep 8, 2020 at 10:37 am

    I really like my Scotty Phantom X 5.5, not sure how much different this would play (not that I would buy it).

    I don’t use OEM headcovers on my clubs, especially a Scotty. This cover just screams “steal me” and probably also “I’m a poser”. At least they are going back to the grey base color on the cover before adding the JT signature stuff. Rather than the ugly yellow Phantom X ones that I woouldn’t have oin it even if I didn’t want to adsvertise I had a Scotty.

    Reply Report comment

  11. Mark M

    Sep 8, 2020 at 9:39 am

    I’d like to know what’s special about a welded neck. How is it different from the “standard” way they are attached to the body?

    Reply Report comment

    • Conor D

      Sep 8, 2020 at 10:32 pm

      The welded flow neck gives the putter a toe hang, in the way JT’s Newport blade did before he switched to the Futura X5. I have a standard X5 34 inch with the single bend shaft which makes it face balanced, which is my preference.

      Reply Report comment

      • scott

        Sep 10, 2020 at 2:31 am

        your answer has nothing to do with Mark’s question. The welded look is for “looks only” .. welding has nothing to do with toe hang…

        Reply Report comment

        • Tim Armington

          Sep 10, 2020 at 7:29 am

          Sorry guy, but that is hand welded neck it doe affect toe hang.

          Reply Report comment

  12. Chris

    Sep 8, 2020 at 9:39 am

    I like the putter, but I don’t want a putter that has a player’s name and initials all over it. That’s kind of cheesy to me. I’ll never understand people wearing clothes with a unique players branding on it and this falls in line with. To each their own though.

    Reply Report comment

  13. TJ

    Sep 8, 2020 at 9:29 am

    People will cry about the price but this is pretty cool. Lots of people want this putter

    Reply Report comment

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Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2024 PGA Championship

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5 hours ago

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May 14, 2024

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GolfWRX is on site this week at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, for the PGA Championship.

While we see fewer equipment changes and new gear seeding at major championships, we get a look at custom gear and looks into the bags of players we rarely see, which is just as exciting. In the case of the PGA Championship, this means a look at the gear some of the PGA Professionals who qualified for the tournament will be gaming, and LIV players, such as Jon Rahm and Patrick Reed.

Check out links to all our albums from Valhalla below and check back throughout the week as we continue to update.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

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Morning 9: Is it Rory’s time? | Stricker WDs | Why Valhalla is a great major venue

Published

7 hours ago

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May 14, 2024

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By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: [email protected]

Good Tuesday morning, golf fans, as we gear up for the PGA Championship from iconic Valhalla.

1. Is now the time Rory finally ends major drought?

BBC’s Iain Carter…”But given the imperious form he showed in Charlotte last week, perhaps this is the PGA Championship to rekindle the ruthless streak of old. And not just because he is back at Valhalla (the Nordic word for the hall of the fallen).”

  • “It also became clear last week that McIlroy is somewhat persona non grata to the PGA Tour’s Policy Board. His views on a global future for this damagingly split sport do not seem to chime with the American dominated body.”
  • “His offer to return to the board from which he resigned earlier this year was rejected and he has been left as a mere non-voting member of the “transaction committee” dealing with a potential deal with Saudi Arabia.”
  • “McIlroy insists there are “no hard feelings” but there should be.”
  • “No player has worked harder for their sport during this period of unprecedented tumult and the board has rejected someone many people regard as the game’s most articulate and enlightened international voice.”
  • “Now is, surely, the time for McIlroy to feel slighted and respond with his clubs. Play as though he has a chip on his shoulder, but in the knowledge that he is generationally the most consistent golfing force out there.”
Full piece.

2. Scheffler in for PGA Champ after birth of child

Jaclyn Hendricks for PGATour.com…”Scottie Scheffler and wife Meredith’s bundle of joy has arrived.”

  • “The couple welcomed their first child, just weeks after Scheffler claimed his second Masters victory in three years.”
  • “Sports Illustrated’s Bob Harig tweeted Saturday that the baby was born and Scheffler will play in this week’s PGA Championship — the second major of the season.”
  • “There’s been nothing official from Scottie Scheffler, his team or the Tour… But word is he will be at Valhalla for the PGA next week after winning four of his last five tournaments, including the Masters. He is currently on the Tuesday interview schedule for 3:30 p.m. #babyborn,” Harig wrote over the weekend.”
Full piece.

3. “Erik van Rooyen, friends and family live in honor of ‘Trazzy’”

  • That’s the headline of Ryan Lavner’s superb piece on Erik van Rooyen and his departed best friend Jon Trasmar. An excerpt would be an injustice. Go read it!
Full piece.

4. Stricker out of PGA citing fatigue

AP report…”Steve Stricker decided Sunday to withdraw from the PGA Championship at Valhalla, citing the difficulty of playing four times in a span of five weeks.”

  • “Stricker, 57, was eligible by winning the Senior PGA Championship last year. He, John Daly and Phil Mickelson are the only players to have competed at Valhalla each of the previous three times the PGA Championship was held there.”
Full piece.

5. Why Valhalla is a great venue for major championships

Garrett Morrison for The Fried Egg…”But before we start slinging mud (of which there will be plenty in Kentucky this week), let’s pause to think about why Valhalla tends to generate close final-round battles featuring elite players. It’s not magic: the course has long par 3s and 4s, narrow fairways, and smallish greens surrounded by rough and bunkers. This style of design and setup, which practically defines the PGA Championship’s modern brand, gives an outsize advantage to a skill that many star players share: power. Length off the tee and the ability to muscle the ball out of rough to a well-protected green will be near-prerequisites for contending at this week’s PGA Championship. If Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, and Bryson DeChambeau show up with any kind of short-game and putting form, they will be in the mix on Sunday. And the presence of such A-listers on the leaderboard will further burnish Valhalla’s reputation as a serious venue.“

  • “It does not follow, however, that Valhalla is a great golf course. In fact, I find it a fairly mediocre and bland one. Very few holes offer multiple options of the tee (the exceptions being the short par-4 fourth and the double-fairway par-5 seventh), most of the greens lack memorable contouring, and the recovery shots from around the fairways and greens are one-dimensional and repetitive. So even if Sunday turns out to be a barn-burner, the first three rounds, when the focus will be on the course and the shots demanded, will probably be sleepier, aside from the inevitable Blockie walk-and-talk.”
Full piece.

6. Dunne resigns from policy board

Mark Schlabach for ESPN…”Jimmy Dunne, who last year helped negotiate the PGA Tour’s controversial framework agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, resigned from the tour’s policy board on Monday.”

  • “In Dunne’s resignation letter, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN, Dunne wrote that “no meaningful progress has been made towards a transaction with PIF” and that “my vote and my role is utterly superfluous” now that player directors outnumber independent directors on the policy board. Dunne’s resignation was effective immediately.”
  • “It is crucial for the Board to avoid letting yesterday’s differences interfere with today’s decisions, especially when they influence future opportunities for the tour,” Dunne wrote. “Unifying professional golf is paramount to restoring fan interest and repairing wounds left from a fractured game. I have tried my best to move all minds in that direction.”
  • “Along with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, Dunne and policy board chairman Ed Herlihy secretly negotiated the framework agreement with the PIF, which is financing the rival LIV Golf League. Monahan and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan announced the deal on June 6. Most PGA Tour players — including some player directors — were unaware of the deal until it was announced on TV.”
Full piece.
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Tour Rundown: Rose blooms, Rory rolls

Published

1 day ago

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May 13, 2024

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This week last year, I found myself praying to the weather goddesses and gods that Rochester would be spared their wrath over the next seven days. The 2023 Oak Hill PGA Championship (that was slated for August when the contract was signed) was on the horizon, and I wanted my region to show well. Things turned out fine, with all four seasons making an appearance, a PGA Professional (Blockie!) stealing hearts, and a proven champion in Koepka (although I was pulling for Viktor.)

This year, no concerns. Louisville will shine this week at Valhalla, but we’ve matters to consider before we look to four days of coverage this week. Nelly did not win on the LPGA this week, so who did? The PGA Tour held two events in the Carolinas, and Tour Champions celebrated a major event in Alabama. Four noteworthy events to run down, so let’s head to RunDownTown and take care of business.

LPGA @ Founders Cup: Rose blooms

There was a sense that Rose Zhang might have a role in the 2020s version of the LPGA. After winning everything there was in amateur golf, she came out and won her first tournament as a professional. That was last May and, let’s be honest, who among us thought it would take 12 months for Zhang to win again? Rhymes with hero, I know.

This week in New Jersey, eyes were on Nelly Korda, as she made a run at a sixth consecutive win on the LPGA circuit. Korda ran out of gas on Saturday, and that was just fine. Madelene Sagstrom and Zhang had turned the soiree at Upper Montclair into a battle of birdies. Gabriela Ruffels came third at nine-under par. No one else reached double digits under par but Sagstrom and Zhang. They didn’t just reach -10…they more than doubled it.

Sagstrom had the look of a winner with five holes left to play. She was three shots clear of Zhang, at 23-under par. The Swede played her closing quintet in plus-one, finishing at 22-deep, 13 shots ahead of Ruffels. That performance we’d anticipated from Zhang? It happened on Sunday. She closed with four birdies in five holes to snatch victory number two, by two shots. Spring is a lovely time for a Rose in bloom.

PGA Tour @ Wells Fargo: Rory the Fourth is crowned in Charlotte

Xander Schauffele is a likable lad. He has an Olympic gold medal on his shelf, and a few PGA Tour titles to his credit. Even X knows that even par won’t get much done in a final round unless conditions are brutal. They weren’t brutal at Quail Hollow on Sunday. X posted even par on day four. It kept him ahead of third-place finisher Byeong Hun An but gave him zero chance of challenging for the title.

Paired with Xander in round four was the King of Quail, Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman had previously won thrice at the North Carolina track, and he was champing at the bit to gain some momentum on the road to Louisville. While Xander scored increasingly worse along the week (64-67-70-71) McIlroy saved his best round for the final round. Thanks to five birdies and two eagles, McIlroy ran away with the event, winning his fourth Wells Fargo by five over Schauffele.

PGA Tour @ Myrtle Beach Classic: a little CG won the inaugural week

It always seemed odd that the PGA Tour had zero stops along the Grand Strand each season. This week’s event seemed odd in that the golfers played the same course each day, and there were zero handicaps involved. Most events at Myrtle Beach involve hundreds of amateurs at dozens of courses, with all sorts of handicaps.

The Dunes Club is a Robert Trent Jones Sr. course, down toward Pawley’s Island. It claims what used to be considered an unreachable, par-five hole, the watery 13th. Nothing is unreachable any longer, including a 22-under par total for a six-shot win. Chris Gotterup, a former Rutgers and Oklahoma golfer, played sizzling golf all week and won by a sextet of shots. Gotterup opened with 66, then improved to 64 on Friday. His Saturday 65 sounded a beacon of “come get me,” and his closing 67 ensured that second place was the only thing up for grabs.

Chasing the podium’s second level were a bunch of young Americans. In the end, Alastair Docherty and Davis Thompson reached 16-deep, thanks to rounds of 64 and 68 on Sunday. They held off six golfers at 15-under par. The victory was Gotterup’s first on tour and should be enough to get him a Wikipedia page, among other plaudits.

PGA Tour Champions @ Regions Traditions: Vindication for Dougie

Doug Barron, if I recall correctly, was suspended by the Powers That Be, way back in 2009, for testosterone. He was naturally low in the hormone, so he took supplements. This did not sit well with certain admins, so he was put on the shelf for 18 months. Not cool.

In 2019, Barron came out on the Tour Champions. He won in August. The next year, despite the craziness of Covid, he won again.  Barron hit a dry spell for a few years. He kept his card, but accrued no additional victories. In late April, Barron showed serious signs of life, with a t2 at Mitsubishi. This week in Birmingham, he jumped out to a lead, lost it, then gained it back on Saturday. With major championship glory on the line, Barron brought the train into the station with 68 on Sunday.

Stephen Alker, the man who could not lose just two years ago, gave serious chase with a closing 63. He moved up 11 slots, into solo 2nd on Sunday. He finished two shots back of the champion. Two shots ain’t much. Cough once and you drop a pair. Third place saw a three-way tie, including last year’s winner (Steve Stricker) and runner-up (Ernie Els.) Despite the intimidating presence of the game’s greats, however, Doug Barron had more than enough of everything this week, and he has a third Tour Champions title to show off.

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