Elite golfers rarely get attached to their drivers. Every year, new models are released promising more distance, more forgiveness or both. Players on the PGA Tour and the LPGA tour want their driver to look good and to sound good, but at the end of the day if the launch monitor data is better than an old club, the new driver is going in the bag.
Putters, on the other hand, are a different story. Golfers develop a relationship with their putter. New technologies and features can be great great, but how it looks in the address position and how it sounds at impact are critical. If a putter doesn’t look good or sound good to a player, it’s probably not going in the bag.
Manufacturers know this, of course, so once they find success with a shape and a technology, they tend to make subtle refinements to those putters instead of massive changes. With that in mind, several of the new putters listed below may look familiar. Others have features that you may have seen before. All of them, however, are upgrades to the originals. With the help of a good custom fitter, they might help you improve your performance on the greens and lower your scores.
Bettinardi Queen B #6 putter. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Gear: Queen B Series
Price: $400
Specs: Milled carbon steel with honeycomb face pattern
If the logos on these rose gold PVD-finished putters were removed, many golfers would still recognize them as being made by Bettinardi. The micro-honeycomb face milling has been synonymous with the company for decades.
Redesigned for 2021, the three Queen Bee putters (QB6, QB11 and QB12) each weigh 362 grams and have softer, more rounded edges, a single white alignment line and some degree of toe hang. The honeycomb face pattern is designed to provide a firmer feel at impact, which many golfers prefer as golf ball compressions have lowered over the past few years. More …
Cleveland Frontline Elevado putter. (Cleveland)
Gear: Cleveland Frontline Elevado
Price: $199.99
Specs: Milled stainless steel head with tungsten weights and grooved face insert
Many putter makers add weight to the back of the head, but Cleveland went the other way in the development of the Frontline family, adding tungsten weights to the face in the heel and toe positions. According to the company, this helps golfers hit their putts straighter by boosting stability.
The forged face insert has grooves that are designed to normalize ball speed, so putts struck outside the center of the hitting area roll out nearly as far as well-hit putts, improving golfers’ distance control.
There are seven different Frontline putters. The Elevado, with extra weight in the heel and toe areas, comes in three different hosel configurations for players who have either a slightly-arched or straight putting stroke
The lattice of steel in the back of the Cobra King Supersport-35 putter can only be produced by 3D printing. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Gear: Cobra King Supersport-35 putter
Price: $399
Specs: Printed 316 stainless steel. 34″ and right-hand only
With the release of the limited-edition King Supersport-35 putter, Cobra has teamed with HP to make a putter using a new method, 3D metal printing.
The process of 3D printing involves a computer being given detailed instructions about a structure before the system adds layer upon layer of material to recreate the object. Using HP’s Metal Jet 3D printing technology, Cobra designers could create shapes and structures that could not be made using either casting or forging.
The King Supersport-35 is printed in 315 stainless steel, including the dark lattice area in the back of the head. The lattice structure is very strong but utilizes significantly less steel, so the middle of the putter is lighter. The saved weight was redistributed to the heel and toe areas of the head, giving the King Supersport-35 extreme perimeter weighting and more stability. More …
The White Hot insert (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Gear: Odyssey White Hot OG putters
Price: $219 on a steel shaft; $269 with Stroke Lab shaft
Specs: Milled carbon steel with urethane insert
The White Hot insert was developed in 2000 using the same urethane material Callaway used in the Rule 35 golf ball. It is firm to the touch, but at impact it behaves like soft material. For many players, it also creates a sound that matches the force applied to putts. Some putter inserts feel exceedingly soft or sound too quiet when players hit putts firmly, leading to distance control problems. The White Hot typically creates a soft sound on short putts and a crisper, higher-toned clicking sound on long putts that are hit harder.
There are seven putters in the White Hot OG family, each having a classic-looking chrome finish and black alignment features. They are available with either a traditional steel shaft or an updated version of the Odyssey Stroke Lab shaft with a shorter steel section and a red graphite area. More …
The 2021 DS72 is a midsize mallet that is based on Viktor Hovland’s putter. (Ping)
Gear: Ping 2021 putters
Price: $270-$380 each
Specs: Stainless steel, aluminum and tungsten heads with dual-durometer polymer insert
There are nine 2021 putters, ranging from three versions of the iconic Anser to mid-sized mallets to larger mallets. All of them have a few things in common.
Each putter has a new Pebax elastomer insert that has two levels of firmness. Pebax is a polymer that Ping has used in select putters before, such as the Sigma 2 family. It is light, feels soft at impact and does an excellent job of returning energy to the ball. In the 2021 putters, Ping used two Pebax layers, with the outermost layer being soft for better performance on short putts and the back layer being firmer for a more solid feel on long putts. This soft insert complements the Heppler putters that Ping released last season, which have a smooth stainless steel face designed to feel firm and crisp.
The materials used to make each putter vary based on the head’s size, but all of them were made to deliver more stability and forgiveness. More …
PXG One and Done putter. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Gear: PXG One and Done putter
Price: $525
Specs: Aluminum body with tungsten weight and adjustable weight screws in the sole.
Looking at the One and Done in the address position, a player’s eyes will immediately see a white golf ball-size disk on the top of the putter, bracketed by a pair of white lines. There is also a single alignment line in the center of the topline. These three elements are designed to work in harmony and make it easier for a player to square the face to the target line.
The matte black portion of the chassis of the One and Done is made from aerospace-grade aluminum, which is extremely light. PXG designers then gave the putter a C-shaped tungsten piece that wraps around the back of the sole. The heavier tungsten pulls the center of gravity down and back, away from the hitting area, which helps boost stability on off-center hits. More …
The white Spider EX contrasts with green, and the alignment lines and dots are designed to improve aim. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Gear: TaylorMade Spider EX putter
Price: $349.99 with Super Stroke Pistol GTR 1.0 grip
Specs: Aluminum and carbon-fiber frame with steel and tungsten weights, and grooved face insert. Available in 33-inch, 34-inch and 35-inch versions.
The new Spider EX is a variation of the Spider X putter that Rory McIlroy has often used. The frame’s perimeter is made from lightweight aluminum, with the center section made from carbon fiber. Using those materials saved a significant amount of weight and allowed designers to add 28-gram steel weights in the heel and toe areas and tungsten weights in the back heel and toe portions of the head. While custom fitters can change the tungsten weights to modify the club’s swing weight, the extra mass boosts the moment of inertia and makes the Spider EX much more stable.
To encourage the ball to roll instead of skid as it comes off the face, TaylorMade gave the Spider EX a new Pure Roll² insert. The insert contains thermoplastic polyurethane surrounding eight aluminum grooves that point downward at a 45-degree angle. TaylorMade said the grooves grab the back of the ball at impact and pull it upward to get it rolling, while the TPU portion softens impact and enhances feel. More …
The Phantom X 11 and 11.5 have more mass at the end of the heel and toe extensions. (Titleist)
Gear: Scotty Cameron Phantom X 11, 11.5 putters
Price: $429 each
Specs: Milled 303 stainless steel with aluminum and adjustable sole weights
The Phantom X 11 and X 11.5 are similarly shaped to the X 5 and X 5.5, but they are slightly larger and have extra steel pieces at the end of the heel and toe wings. Again, the silver-toned areas are milled 303 stainless steel, and the darker sections are aluminum to save weight. The larger profile increases stability and the moment of inertia to make the X 11 and X 11.5 more resistant to twisting on off-center hits.
The difference between the two putters, again, is found in the neck. The Phantom X 11 has a high-bend neck and is face balanced; the Phantom X 11.5 has a single bend that is lower, which encourages more movement in the toe portion of the putter, so it is better for golfers who have an arched stroke. More …
