Scottie Scheffler (Arnold Palmer Invitational) and Abraham Ancer (LIV Golf Hong Kong) were your victors this past weekend.
Scheffler’s putter switch dominated headlines as he saw massive improvements with the TaylorMade Spider Tour X mallet. The world No. 1 ranked fifth in strokes gained putting for the week at Bay Hill, gaining 4.36 shots on the field. Even with that performance, he is only at No. 107 on Tour for the year.
Scheffler has been all over the map with putters over the past year, mostly using blades. He had a long run with a Scotty Cameron Special Select Timeless Tourtype before starting to experiment halfway through 2023.
The Texan first changed to a wider-bodied Scotty Cameron Timeless Tourtype blade before going into a TaylorMade Spider Tour X SS proto mallet that is similar to what he is playing now. Scheffler also had a recent stint with a Logan Olson prototype blade.
The Spider Tour X putter in his bag is a half-inch longer (35.5 inches) than his previous gamer and features an L-Neck hosel and True Path alignment aid with a full-line sight line on top. It has 3 degrees of loft and a 72-degree lie angle.
Interestingly, the new sight line convinced Scheffler not to use a line on his golf ball.
“I like not having to line the ball up,” Scheffler said. “I line this putter up well in the middle of the face. It’s very good visually. And yeah, I try not to focus too much on the results, but my process was really good this week and the results so far are pretty tough to argue with, I would say.”
Here are the rest of Scheffler’s clubs he played last week:
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (8 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X
3-Wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X
Irons: Srixon ZU85 (3, 4), TaylorMade P7TW (5-PW)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 Hybrid Prototype 10 X (3), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-PW)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM8 (50-12F, 56-14F), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (60.5-T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X
Grip: Golf Pride Pro Only
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
On the LIV side, Ancer also used a mallet on his way to winning a three-man playoff in Hong Kong.
It was a nice sign of form for Ancer, who had fallen to No. 99 in Data Golf before the victory pushed him up 20 spots to No. 79.
The former Callaway staffer is now a free agent with a mixed bag. He is one of the few pros in the men’s game who have multiple fairway woods and a hybrid.
Here are his clubs from last week:
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Blue 60 TX
3-Wood: TaylorMade SIM2 Max (15 degrees)
Shaft: Project X Even Flow Riptide 70 6.5 TX
5-Wood: Callaway Rogue ST prototype
Shaft: LA Golf Ozik TP
4-Hybrid: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus Rescue (22 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 90 6.5 TX
Irons: Srixon ZX5 MK II (5, 6), Miura TC-201 (7-PW)
Shafts: Mitsubishi MMT 105 TX
Wedges: Miura (52 degrees), Callaway Jaws Raw (56 and 60 degrees)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Black S400
Putter: Odyssey White Hot No. 5 Stroke Lab
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Grips: Golf Pride MMC
I miss, I miss, I make
2 months ago
Scheffler going to a mallet is interesting. However no club is as personal as a putter. There are those that change putter all the time. Then you get someone like Tiger who after some changes has settled on his signature Scotty.
In order to find the “right one” you need to experiment. I like a putter that gives me the best distance control.