We spotted Odyssey’s new Ai-One and Ai-One Milled putters down the stretch of the PGA Tour season and were able to photograph them on the putting green at the Shriners Children’s Open three weeks ago.

And we didn’t just spot the wands on the putting green; they wound up in some pretty big-time bags pretty quickly.

Jacob Davidson, GM of Odyssey Golf and Callaway VP of Global Tour spoke to this:

“We knew we had a great product when we launched this because the testing results came in so strong, but the one thing that I think we were a little bit, maybe not surprised, but excited about was early on – this putter captured the attention of the best players in the world. This putter is already in the bag of a number one player in the world (Ruoning Yin). This putter is already in the bag of our Masters Champion (Jon Rahm). This putter is already in the bag of someone that made a switch at the Tour Championship (Sam Burns)…the same player has never made a switch in putter since he turned professional in 2017.”

Given all of the aforementioned, intrigue abounded at GolfWRX HQ and in the GolfWRX forums around Callaway/Oddysey’s apparent application of artificial intelligence to putter design. Speculation about the cutaways behind the putter faces and what exactly was being showcased was rife as well. A putter face designed leveraging the powers of artificial intelligence, perhaps?

In a word, yes.

Odyssey today unveiled its Ai-One and Ai-One milled putters, which leverage the company’s Artificial Intelligence design and super-computing capabilities, honed in recent driver faces, to create what the company is calling “the most advanced insert in golf.”

What this means visually is a unique contour pattern on the back of the insert face designed to minimize speed loss on off-center putts and expand the sweet spot. Translation: Putts that finish up to 21 percent closer to the hole, according to Odyssey.

Introducing the putter line, Luke Williams Sr. Global Director at Odyssey said:

“We’ve designed two different putters under this Ai-One umbrella with really two different objectives. We have the milled line, the champagne-colored insert which is a milled titanium insert in a milled stainless steel head. So you get that look and feel of a milled putter, that is very important to us, to have the feel of that be consistent with what players that use milled putters expect, but with performance you wouldn’t get from a typical milled putter.

“And then we also knew that we wanted to have a White Hot version or a urethane softer feeling insert because that’s what through the years has really had the most decided advantage in the marketplace and really has become what we’ve been most known for, so that insert is a combination of an aluminum back section which has the contours which deliver the consistent ball speed married and co-molded to a White Hot urethane on the front. And that delivers the soft feel and the sound that that players have come to love for White Hot, so those are the two types of inserts – they both have tremendous performance.”

Let’s dig in further.

Odyssey Ai-One putters

At the heart of the Ai-One tech story is the Ai-One insert. A contoured aluminum insert is co-molded to the back of Odyssey’s famed White Hot insert in a bid for enhanced forgiveness and a larger sweet spot. Also notable from a feel standpoint: the White Hot insert is grooved.

Rightly proud of the innovation, Odyssey engineers developed a Panlite window to showcase the face technology behind a layer of automotive-grade polymer. The window is positioned in different locations on blade and mallet models.

Deviating from the traditional black exterior, engineers elected to use a blue PVD finish across the line.

5, 10, 15, and 20-gram weights may be used interchangeably to dial in head weight. Also, the latest iteration of Stroke Lab is a steel SL 90 shaft, which features up to 30 grams of weight in the butt end for counterbalancing.

Pricing, specs, and availability

• At retail and online: November 3
• Price: $299.99
• Head shapes (November 3): #1, Double Wide DB, Rossie S, #7S, and #7CH
• Head shapes (February): #2, Double Wide CH, Rossie DB, #7 DB, 2-Ball DB, CH, Jailbird Mini CH, DB

Family portrait, below.

Odyssey Ai-One Milled putters

Similar to the Ai-One, the insert design is essential to the Odyssey Ai-One Milled putter story. For this premium, milled stainless steel model, engineers utilize an A.I.-designed titanium insert to again achieve a larger sweet spot and enhanced forgiveness, minimizing speed loss on putts struck away from the center of the face.

Again, engineers implemented a blue PVD finish, and 5, 10, 15, and 20-gram weights may be used interchangeably to dial in head weight. The steel SL 90 shaft is standard here as well.

Pricing, specs, and availability

• At retail and online: November 3
• Price: $449.99
• Head shapes: One T, Two T, Three T, Six T, Seven T DB, Seven T CH, Eight T, and Eleven T

Family portrait, below.

Check out more photos of Odyssey’s Ai-One putters here.

Add another player to the list of golfers playing custom Titleist muscleback irons.

Cameron Young was spotted with “631.CY” irons in the bag ahead of the World Wide Technology Championship, gaming the new clubs in his 6- through 9-irons.

Young looks to be joining Adam Scott, Webb Simpson, and Justin Thomas in playing custom Titleist irons.

According to PGATour.com’s Sean Martin, the difference between Young’s 631.CY irons and off-the-rack Titleist 620 MB irons is the sole of the club. Owing to Young’s steep delivery and substantial shaft lean, Titleist had been grinding the soles of his 620 MB irons to add bounce in his short irons. 631.CY irons are forged with extra bounce.

“The short irons in the 631.CY’s have a little more leading-edge bounce, and then they float to a little bit wider sole than the 620 MB’s into his 6-iron,” Titleist’s Titleist’s Director, Player Promotions, J.J. Van Wezenbeeck said. “All the (631.CY’s) are higher-bounce than the 620 MB’s, but there’s also a little more sole width as you graduate (through the set).”

As Van Wezenbeeck indicates, the longer irons have slightly wider soles, which lowers the clubs’ center of gravity for higher launch. For example, Van Wezenbeeck said Young is hitting the 631.CY 6-irons 1 to 1.5 degrees higher.

Young will continue to use a 2023 Titleist T150 3-iron and T100 4- and 5-irons. He uses a Vokey Design SM9 wedge instead of a set-matching PW.

 

 

Matt Kuchar finished a stroke ahead of Danny Lee at El Cameleon in 2018 with his beloved Bridgestone J15CB irons in the bag along with some other regular arrows in his quiver, including a Bettinardi Kuchar Arm Lock flatstick.

Check out Kuchar’s full setup from his 2018 triumph in Playa del Carmen below. 

Driver: Bridgestone Tour B JGR (9.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Atmos Tour Spec 6S

3-wood: Titleist TS2 (13.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Speeder Evolution 757 X

Hybrids: Bridgestone Tour B XD-H (18 degrees), Ping Anser (20)
Shafts: Fujikura Motore Speeder TS 8.8 X flex

Irons: Bridgestone J15CB (5-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 S300 (soft stepped)

Wedges: Bridgestone J40 Forged (52 degrees, bent to 51); Cleveland RTX-4 (58 bent to 57, 64 bent to 63 degrees)
Shafts: Aerotech Steelfiber i110X, KBS Tour 120 S, KBS Tour 120 S

Putter: Bettinardi Kuchar Model 1 Arm Lock (400 grams, 3 degrees loft, 71 degrees lie, 40.5 degrees)
Grip: Bettinardi Arm Lock XL

Ball: Bridgestone Tour B X

Grips: Iomic