Best Putters Put Through The Test
Joel Tadman rounds up the best putters on the market this year and if you should be looking to upgrade this season.
Transcript
00:00Now, the putter is arguably the most important golf club in your bag, but if you're not feeling
00:04the love from your flat stick at the moment, now might be a really good time to switch.
00:08But how do you choose?
00:09Luckily for you, I've got all the latest models on the market here in front of me.
00:14I'm going to give them a thorough test at the beautiful Tavistock short game area, the
00:18Woburn Golf Club, to help you pick the right one for you.
00:21I'm going to break this video down into a few different sections, so you can skip to
00:24the one that most interests you.
00:26If you do like the look of any of the putters featured in this video, there are some handy
00:30links in the description below, so you can get your hands on those.
00:35The first section we're going to cover is alignment.
00:37It's a really important factor when choosing a putter, and obviously mallet putters tend
00:41to offer a little bit more alignment assistance, because there is a lot more real estate down
00:45behind the ball to put those visual cues on there.
00:47There's a few in 2024 that really stood out to me.
00:50I've got them here in front of me.
00:51The first is this Cobra Vintage Kuda model.
00:55I think the three lines, along with the parallel ridges that run alongside it, it's a very
01:00powerful system.
01:02You could argue it's a little bit busy, but it definitely helped me in terms of seeing
01:05where the face was pointing.
01:07The other one I think most golfers will appreciate and definitely will work for them is the one
01:13on the Spyder Tour.
01:14This is the one that Rory McIlroy uses.
01:16A few different head shapes available, but they've all got this high contrast white and
01:19black system that I think is really powerful.
01:22I also like the dual line on this Scotty Cameron Phantom number nine.
01:27There is also a similar system on the number 11, which has more of an arrow shape, but
01:31just having two lines rather than one just seems to help me a little bit more.
01:35Sometimes when you've got one line, it can look a little bit off on certain times, certain
01:38putts, certain days, but the two lines just seem to be a bit more consistent for me and
01:42I hold a lot of short-range putts with this particular model.
01:45I also like the alignment system on the Edel Array.
01:48This is the F1, the kind of wing-shaped mallet version.
01:51What's really cool about this putter is this plate actually comes off, so you can take
01:56it off and there's six different alignment plate options.
01:59You can pick the one that kind of suits your eye and what helps you align the best.
02:03This is the T-shaped one, which I think comes as standard, which works best for me, but
02:07there are a few different options you can choose from, so that's a really cool system
02:10with this Edel putter that not many other brands offer, but my favorite alignment option
02:17might surprise you.
02:18It is a new putter from Zebra.
02:20This is the Zebra Teardrop range and the TD7 in particular.
02:24You can see here, you've got the three long parallel white lines, which is a really powerful
02:29system in itself, but then you've got the white front strip, which runs along the face,
02:35kind of perpendicular to those lines, and that combination, just for me, was super powerful.
02:39I was really seeing very vividly where the face was pointing and I was starting the ball
02:44on line a lot more consistently with this putter in particular, but definitely, if you're
02:49looking for maximum alignment assistance, this is the one to go for.
02:52Now, this is probably the section most golfers will skip to.
02:58It's the putters that are the most forgiving in 2024, and there are a few that really stood
03:03out.
03:04Brands have really moved the needle in terms of forgiveness.
03:06The first one I want to point out is the Bettanardi Innovae 6.5, and they've actually shrunk this
03:12head down slightly versus what the club was like last year, but they've still managed
03:17to pack a load of forgiveness into this putter, and I was testing it on the green here at
03:21Weyburn Golf Club, and I was noticing the stability it would offer and the consistency
03:25of how far the ball was rolling out, so I really like the kind of solid feel I got from
03:29this putter.
03:30It's not the best-looking, in my opinion, and I'm not sold on some of the design features,
03:35but if you're looking for forgiveness, this is a really good one to try, but the two that
03:39really stood out to me, and it was hard to pick a winner, really, was the first one was
03:42the Cobra 3D printed range, so on these putters, you've got a combination of some carbon fibre
03:48elements and then more metallic elements at the perimeter to give you that more stable
03:54feeling.
03:55You've got weights that you can adjust here that helps give you a little bit more forgiveness,
03:58and you've got the descending loft technology on the face, which gives you a more consistent
04:03roll depending on your kind of angle of attack.
04:05If you're leading the shaft forward or back, this kind of face orientation negates any
04:10impact that has on the launch and the roll you get, so there's a few different head shapes.
04:14I don't think the alignment features are very good, personally, but if you're looking for
04:17maximum forgiveness, there's a few different shapes.
04:21This one in particular, this Grand Sport 35, is a very forgiving kind of blade-style putter
04:26or smaller head-style putter.
04:28If you're looking for maximum help, I really like this Agera or Agera model, super, super
04:33stable in a kind of more of a wing-shape design, but I also really like this LA Golf Malibu.
04:39This is one of the more expensive putters out there, but it does have a lot of technology
04:43going on, so it's made of carbon fibre, and as a result, what you've done is you've got
04:47kind of a carbon fibre centrepiece weights here on the edge that give you maximum stability
04:53on off-centre hits, and you've got this special LA Golf shaft, which is really quite stable.
04:58I wouldn't say it's boardy, but you definitely notice it doesn't kick as much, especially
05:02on long putts when you're swinging it quite far.
05:04Super stable, and as a result, I felt like this was one of the most user-friendly putters
05:10out there.
05:11It didn't really give me the ball speed I was expecting on what was quite a stable and
05:14large head, but if you're looking for maximum forgiveness from a putter, I think this shaft
05:19and head combination is a real winner.
05:21So the LA Golf and the Cobra 3D Printed range are the two that really stood out for me for
05:26most forgiving.
05:30Right now we move on to the best feeling putters.
05:33Better quality, perhaps underrated, and better players, more discerning golfers look for
05:37feel when it comes to choosing a putter, and there's three that really stood out to me.
05:41The first was this PING PLD Answer Putter.
05:45Now this is a carryover product from last year.
05:47PING have actually released five new head shapes for 2024.
05:51Unfortunately, we couldn't get hold of any for this particular test, but regardless,
05:55the PLD range is a fantastic feeling range.
05:58You've got this really deep kind of milling on the face, which definitely does a really
06:02good job of dissipating a lot of the sound and dampening those vibrations and just giving
06:07you quite a soft...
06:08There's a little bit of audio to it, a little bit of a click to it, but relatively soft
06:12but solid.
06:13It's a nice combination that you get from the PLD range, in particular this PING Answer.
06:18I also like the feel of the tailor-made TP Reserve.
06:21This is a beautiful putter range.
06:23Not loads of technology gone into it, but it's just a stunning aesthetic.
06:27Everywhere you look, lots of clean lines.
06:30This is a soft kind of 303 stainless steel, a little bit of milling on the face, some
06:34grooves on there just to dampen those vibrations a bit.
06:37But if you like a firmer feeling putter, a really solid feeling putter, this tailor-made
06:41TP Reserve would marry well with quite a soft golf ball if you use a soft golf ball.
06:45But for me, my favourite feeling putter of 2024 is this Odyssey AI-1 milled.
06:51Now this is a titanium insert.
06:53It's all been designed using artificial intelligence.
06:56There's some weights in the sole here.
06:58This is the 2T shape.
06:59There's a few different shapes available, but it's tough to describe the sensation this
07:03putter kind of gives you when you're hitting putts.
07:05It's soft, but solid.
07:07Just really beautiful off the face.
07:09Not super soft.
07:10There's enough kind of feedback there in terms of where you're striking it and the kind of
07:13acoustics, but just a really pleasant sensation off the face.
07:18Really like the feel of this Odyssey AI-1 milled putter.
07:21It does come in at a premium price, but when you factor in the feel, the looks, and the
07:25stroked lab shaft that you get with it, there's an awful lot to like about this putter.
07:29So if you're looking for the best feeling putters of 2024, these are the three I'd go for.
07:37So the next section is value, and before I come onto my top picks in this section, I'm
07:40just going to give you a reminder to like this video if you do like it, and subscribe
07:44to the Golf Monthly YouTube channel so you don't miss any of our equipment videos.
07:49So the four that I've chosen I've got here in front of me, starting with the Ram FX Mill.
07:55Now this comes in at a mere £79.99, and if you're looking for a simple, no-frills putter
08:02range that's going to give you quite a firm feel, a little bit of a louder sound to it,
08:07I recommend this putter range.
08:09I really enjoyed using it.
08:10The ball comes off the face pretty fast, which I think will help you if you play on slower
08:15greens.
08:16I like the kind of all-black look of the shaft and the head, and the grip's pretty good as
08:20well.
08:21Nice, large shape.
08:22Could be tackier, I think, in your hands, but nice oversized grip there is going to
08:25give you nice control of the face.
08:26So for a budget option, this Ram range is really good.
08:30And then we move up in price slightly with the other three that I've chosen, but the
08:33performance level does go up a notch, I think, on these three, and the feel as well.
08:37Just staying with that theme of firmer feeling, value putters, I like this new TaylorMade
08:41TP Collection, the new black finish they've got on this range, does, as I said, offer
08:47a firmer feel, but just looks a little bit more premium than where we were with the Ram
08:50range.
08:51A few different head shapes to choose from.
08:52I really like this Del Monte 7, so the kind of that fat blade shape.
08:57Works really well, that kind of white line on the black head just stands out really vividly.
09:01But my two favourites in the value section were these two.
09:05So this is the Wilson Infinite Windy Cities, the first choice.
09:10This is brand new for 2024.
09:12A few different design changes, we've got the three lines on the flange, kind of milling
09:17on the face.
09:18It's pretty shallow, so as a result, it does still offer quite a firm feel and quite a
09:21loud sound to it.
09:22But again, if you play a soft-feeling golf ball, which kind of a lot of golfers who would
09:28be shopping for this sort of product would probably be playing a low-compression, soft-feeling
09:31ball.
09:32I think that that would kind of marry up really well.
09:34There's a few different head shapes to choose from, but I really like this Blade Windy City.
09:40So probably my favourite, in terms of value, would be this Cleveland HB Soft.
09:45Now this is the Retrieve model.
09:47A few things I like about this one, it comes in at £139, so pretty cheap.
09:52And it's got this progressive milling on the face, which is really deep, so it offers a
09:55really soft feel and pretty good forgiveness and speed control.
09:59If your stroke pattern moves up and down the face, I think you're going to enjoy the consistency
10:04of roll-out you get from this putter.
10:06It's pretty forgiving.
10:07This particular shape, obviously it's perimeter-weighted, so it's going to be pretty user-friendly.
10:11The grip is massive.
10:12They've probably gone a bit too far on the size of the grip.
10:16I preferred the one they had before, but if you like a chunky, oversized grip, it's probably
10:21one to think about.
10:22You can get your hands on there really easily.
10:23It's going to kind of just give you better control and awareness of the club face.
10:28As I mentioned earlier, this is the Retrieve model, so what you can do with this is, once
10:32you've holed out your putt, you can put the putter head in the hole and get the ball out
10:35without the ball sticking the cavity there, so you can get it out without having to bend
10:38down.
10:39If that's something that's appealing to you, just get another box ticked for this Cleveland
10:44range.
10:45What I really like about this range in particular is how soft it feels.
10:48If you play a firm golf ball or you just prefer a soft feel from your putter, this Cleveland
10:52HB Soft 2, as the name suggests, is going to deliver that.
10:56Right, so now I'm going to pick some of my favorite models in each of the sizes of heads
11:01that putters tend to get categorized into.
11:04Obviously, I haven't tested every single model of every single range in 2024.
11:08That would be impossible, but I have tested a pretty decent cross-section, over 50 different
11:13putters here at the Tavistock Short Game area at Weber and Golf Club, so I feel like I'm
11:16pretty well-qualified to choose some of my particular favorites, but do your own research
11:21into other models if I haven't mentioned them.
11:24In terms of mallets, my first one that I do really like is the Tailowedge Spider Tour.
11:28As I said, it has four or five different heads, but this particular shape really well worked
11:34well for me.
11:35I love this gunmetal PVD finish.
11:37I think it looks super premium, and you pair that with the Super Stroke grip, it just sets
11:43up really well, very comfortable, and I was really prolific from long range with this
11:47putter.
11:48I felt like three putts were at a minimum with this particular club.
11:52I think it rolls the ball really well as well.
11:54These Pure Roll grooves help get the ball rolling early and not skidding too much when
12:00you hit it, so I think that combination works really well.
12:02If you're looking for just a really user-friendly premium mallet, this Spider Tour range is
12:08really good, in particular this Spider Tour model that Rory uses, I would thoroughly recommend.
12:15I'm not picking and winning.
12:16These are just my three overall favorites.
12:18The next one is the Scotty Cameron.
12:19As I've mentioned, this is the number nine.
12:22I've been testing the 5.5 as well, but this one really stood out to me.
12:27It takes a bit of getting used to.
12:28It's got kind of a sleek look to it with these holes where you can see the grass through.
12:32It's a new look for a Scotty Cameron, but I think it actually works, and we've seen
12:36other brands do something similar in the past, but I think what you'll notice with this particular
12:42range is the slightly different mill pattern on the face means, along with some more dampening
12:48material behind the face, this putter range does feel softer than the previous Phantom
12:53X range.
12:54If you're looking for a slightly softer feel, you do still get a bit of audio feedback on
12:58the strike.
12:59I wouldn't say it's kind of soft, soft, but it's softer than where we were with the previous
13:04range, which was quite firm, so that's really good.
13:06I also like the new grip that Scotty Cameron have put on these grips, so this is the full
13:10contact grip, so even though it's quite skinny, quite thin, I wouldn't call it mid-size.
13:15You can actually get your thumbs on there pretty easily, and I think the texture's really
13:18good as well, and also allow me to control the face really consistently, so this particular
13:23putter I was very prolific with, especially from short and mid-range, kind of hold more
13:27fair share of mid-range putts with this.
13:30One more left field pick, now this is a brand that's really making strides on tour, seeing
13:36a lot of golfers gravitating towards this particular brand, putters that maybe have
13:41struggled with the yips in the past, like Will Zalatorre, Lucas Glover, even Adam Scott,
13:46Phil Mickelson have been using this particular brand.
13:49It's Lab Golf, and this is the DF3.
13:52Now this is a slightly slimmed down version of what we saw from them last year, and DF3,
13:59DF stands for directed force, so these are lie angle balanced putters, so they're essentially
14:04said to have zero torque, it means that the club face is meant to kind of square up on
14:09its own.
14:10You do kind of get used to how the putter kind of flows during the stroke, and it does
14:15feel quite effortless, actually, to get the putter kind of squaring, especially from short
14:19range, I was pretty good with this putter.
14:22I think the look takes some getting used to, there's a decent amount of alignment assistance
14:25with that T shape at the front, the only thing I didn't really like about this putter was
14:29the feel of it, it feels kind of quite hollow, quite dead, given how large the head is I
14:35was expecting a bit more speed off the face, but I felt like I had to give putts from long
14:40range a little bit more effort, might be because there's quite some deep grooves on the face
14:44which are taking a bit of the speed off the ball, but once you've kind of recalibrated
14:49yourself to know that you have to give putts from long range a little bit more effort,
14:53that should help you get the speed control right, and then I think in particular short
14:57range putts, if you struggle with short range putts and you're used to using a larger head
15:01design, definitely worth giving this DF3 from Lab Golf a try, loads of different head weighting
15:08options as you can see here, there's arm locks, there's all sorts of lie angles available
15:13as well, so we recommend you go for a custom fitting for this particular model, if you
15:17do that I think you'll really enjoy the performance on offer once you get used to those unorthodox
15:22looks.
15:23Right, so the final category is blades and these are the three that really stood out
15:29to me in 2024, the first is the PXG Battle Ready 2, now this is the Brandon model, loads
15:36going on with this putter, you've got tungsten weights right in the corner to give you lots
15:41of stability, which is good because when you look down it, it's quite long and quite thin
15:45from front to back, so you might look a bit intimidated by it, but because you've got
15:48that weighting there, you've got a polymer inside the head, as well as some pretty aggressive
15:54milling on the face in this kind of pyramid style design, combining to give you a softer
16:00feel, so while it's pretty stable, it's relatively soft at the impact, so if you like a soft
16:06feeling blade that's going to give you a lot of stability, I'd recommend the PXG Battle
16:10Ready 2.
16:11The next one I want to talk about is a carryover product from last year, so this is the PING
16:152023 ANSA range, I like the kind of contrast between the front section here in silver and
16:22the black section behind it, and you've got the white line perpendicular to that, so that
16:27kind of contrast system really works for me, you've also got some tungsten weighting here,
16:32so even though it's a pretty compact head, again, pretty stable on those off centre hits,
16:37but probably my favourite blade for 2024 is this Odyssey AI1 model, you've got this pan
16:44light window on the back, which means you can see the artificially designed face design,
16:49it's very unusual, but when you hit a few putts away, you can actually feel and experience
16:53it at work, especially from long range, what is a pretty compact head, it was surprisingly
16:59forgiving, my roll outs were very consistent with this, so I think that's also helped by
17:03the face design, so you've got some subtle grooves here, which I do think help get the
17:07ball rolling a little bit more, and you've got this white hot insert as well, which I
17:11was surprised about actually, I thought this would feel softer than it actually did, I
17:15still felt like it actually felt quite firmish, or kind of mid to firm, so you might be expecting
17:21something that feels a little bit softer from this white hot insert, but that aside, really
17:26nice overall looking putter, really clean design, I love this kind of dark blue finish
17:31on it, loads of shapes to choose from of course in the Odyssey AI1 range, but this
17:36number one model really stood out to me in particular.
17:41So the moment has arrived, it's now time for me to pick my overall favourite putter of 2024,
17:48and it is the Odyssey AI1 milled putter, now this does come in at a premium price,
17:54there's no getting away from it, £450 is a lot of money for a putter, but what you do
17:58get is a putter that feels incredible, there's loads of shapes available, this is the 2T,
18:04I'd probably gravitate towards the 3T shape, the slightly wider head in this range, but
18:10this is definitely the best feeling putter I've tried in 2024, and I think the combination of
18:15the feel, the forgiveness of what is a pretty small head from this blade style design, just
18:20put it kind of slightly head and shoulders above other putters that I've tested this year, don't
18:25get me wrong if I liked mallet putters, I think the Scotty Cameron Phantom and the TaylorMade
18:30Spider Tour range would be the ones I would go for, but me personally I use a blade style putter
18:36or a kind of wide blade style putter, so I was always going to choose a slightly smaller head
18:41shape, and this particular one was just the one that kind of ticked the most boxes for me and
18:46gave me the best feelings over the board, and was probably the one I hold the most putts with
18:50testing here on the short game area, so Odyssey AI1 milled, that's my favourite putter of 2024.