Test Results You Can Depend On

We took the same refinements and improvements we told you about with our 2016 Most Wanted Mallet test and applied them to this year’s blade test.

To recap: We opened a new test facility, doubled the number of putters testers to 20, and put 25 blade putters to the test. As was the case with our mallet test, testing took over 120 hours to complete, and once again, 9,000 total putts were recorded.

All testers used Bridgestone B330-RX golf balls. The natural stroke type of each tester was identified using the iPing Putting App.

Updated Scoring

We have made one small change to the way we present our results. Several of you commented that the Strokes Gained methodology was a bit difficult to relate to actual on-course performance. While we should first mention that changing the metric doesn’t alter the order of results, to help simplify things a bit we reverted to our Stroked Gained 18 (SG18) scoring system.

The SG18 value reflects the number of strokes (plus or minus) a given putter would be expected to contribute to your score over an 18 hole span, relative to the average for the field. For example, a putter with a SG value of .50 (the SG18 value for our #5 blade this year), would be expected to save you half a stroke per 18 holes (or one stroke over 2 rounds) relative to the average putter in this field.

The goal, as always, remains to empower you, the consumer, with accurate and reliable data and analysis that will help you identify the best putter for your game.

If you are in the market for a new blade putter, this guide is for you.

How We Test

Testers are asked to play a series of holes with each putter. 18 holes total are played from three distances;  5, 10, and 20 feet (each) by each tester with each mallet in the test. The total number of putts required to finish each hole is recorded. At the completion of the test, a Strokes Gained value is calculated for each putter.

Here are the complete parameters of this year’s test:

• Number of Testers: 20
• Handicap Range: +3-20
• Test Location: MyGolfSpy Testing Facility
• Balls Used: Bridgestone B330-RX
• Distances Assessed: Five, Ten, and Twenty Feet
• Holes Completed at Each Distance: 6 (per tester/per putter)
• Total Putts in Test: 9000

The Top 5 Ranked Blades

The Data

The chart below contains data from this year’s test. You can hover over any column title to bring up the sort feature, allowing you to sort by whatever columns you feel are most relevant to you.

Our overall rankings are based on the Strokes Gained value, which is found in the last column.

Mobile Users: We are working to enhance the mobile experience for these charts. For now, please view the static version.

For a limited time, all MyGolfSpy referred customers can get an additional 10% trade-in bonus on the value of their clubs when they use the code SPYTRADE.