The Hot List
Equipment

Best New Mallet Putters

Golf Digest equipment editors Mike Stachura and E. Michael Johnson discuss the award-winning mallet putters on the 2016 Hot List.

Released on 2/2/2016

Transcript

00:00
(upbeat rock music)
00:06
What's the latest for this year's putter?
00:09
For this year's mallet?
00:10
In mallets, there are things that people really like,
00:13
and there are things that people really don't like.
00:16
I mean, when you're talking about clubs
00:17
that look like a potato masher or a branding iron
00:21
or a science fair project gone wrong,
00:24
people are going to have an opinion as to whether...
00:26
a strong opinion as to whether they like that look
00:29
or they don't like that look.
00:30
What you also see are just different ways
00:33
to attack alignment, right?
00:35
You've got four different putters here.
00:37
Every single one of 'em is trying to attack alignment
00:40
in a different way.
00:41
Here you got something that's about
00:43
the width of a golf ball.
00:44
Kinda the same there, but you've got
00:46
two squares on top here.
00:49
Here you have a bunch of lines
00:50
all going in the same direction.
00:52
What you've seen over the years is Bullseyes
00:55
and PING Ansers dominated the tour forever,
00:58
and then Odyssey came out with its 2-Ball
01:00
about 15 years ago or so.
01:03
And that kinda brought the mallet out of the closet,
01:06
if you will, from a bad player who had real issues
01:10
on the green to being a better mouse trap.
01:13
I mean, it's more stable
01:16
if you can handle the look of it.
01:18
It's probably a better way to putt.
01:20
And you've seen even tour players,
01:22
some of the best players in the world...
01:23
Jason Day, who just had a career year,
01:26
using that tailor-made Itsy Bitsy Spider.
01:29
I mean, he was knocking putts in
01:31
from everywhere with that thing.
01:33
I think when it comes right down to it,
01:35
tour players are no different than me or you.
01:38
If better is better, they're gonna go with better.
01:41
And I think the benefit of mallets is they are easier.
01:45
I'm gonna be brutal.
01:46
I'm gonna say, unless your name is on your bag,
01:50
you should be using a mallet putter.
01:52
It's all about forgiveness,
01:53
it's all about stability of the stroke...
01:55
Says the 14-handicapper who uses a blade.
01:57
Thank you. Thanks.
More from golfdigest.com
Equipment The Complete Hot List
Equipment The Complete Hot List
Golf Culture Most Annoying Golfers
Golf Culture Most Annoying Golfers
Instruction How To Do Everything
Instruction How To Do Everything
News & Tours Blog: Stay In The Loop
News & Tours Blog: Stay In The Loop
Ranking 100 Greatest Courses
Ranking 100 Greatest Courses
Cover Story Paulina Gretzky
Cover Story Paulina Gretzky