It’s been a pretty strong year for mallet and zero-torque putters in our testing. But what happens in the professional game doesn’t always mirror what’s happening in the amateur golf world. I went digging through the data on which putters have won major championships and one stat jumped out at me right away.
The last time a blade putter won a major championship was the 2024 U.S. Open where Bryson DeChambeau used his SIK Pro C-Series Armlock.
The streak, major by major
- 2024 U.S. Open — Bryson DeChambeau, SIK Pro C-Series Armlock, a blade. This is the last one.
- 2024 Open Championship — Xander Schauffele, Odyssey Toulon Design Las Vegas Prototype 7CH
- 2025 Masters — Rory McIlroy, TaylorMade Spider
- 2025 PGA Championship — Scottie Scheffler, TaylorMade Spider Tour X L-Neck
- 2025 U.S. Open — J.J. Spaun, L.A.B. Golf DF3, the first men’s major ever won with a zero-torque putter
- 2025 Open Championship — Scottie Scheffler, TaylorMade Spider Tour X L-Neck
- 2026 Masters — Rory McIlroy, TaylorMade Spider
- 2026 PGA Championship — Aaron Rai, TaylorMade Spider Tour V
- 2026 U.S. Open — Wyndham Clark, Ping Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Onset
That’s eight straight majors won with a mallet since DeChambeau’s blade at the 2024 U.S. Open. Five of the eight went to a TaylorMade Spider specifically.
What our own testing says
PuttView is the tracking system we use to measure putting performance. It scores every putt against a handicap-style baseline so a lower number means better performance relative to that baseline. Across 79 putters tested (26 zero-torque, 29 mallets, 24 blades) and more than 50,000 putts total, the category averages tell the story on their own. Zero-torque finished at -6.29. Mallets averaged -3.99. Blades averaged -2.65.
Only one mallet putter in the entire field, the Bettinardi BB 6.0 at -6.30, was able to match the zero-torque average. Every other mallet and every blade fell short.
Why this is happening
It’s not that blades have gotten worse. It’s forgiveness. A zero-torque head resists twisting on off-center hits in a way a traditional blade can’t and on the fastest, most difficult greens in the world, a hit that stays online even when the strike isn’t pure is worth more than it used to be.
Tour players have historically been slower than the rest of us to give up feel for forgiveness. That’s changing. The equipment is catching up to what our testing has said for a while now: the putters that resist twisting the most are the ones producing the most consistent results. Not all Tour players need the stability of the zero-torque or want that much resistance to twisting but the move away from the blade in these major championships is one to keep an eye on.
If you’re still gaming a blade because that’s what “good” putters are supposed to look like, the last two years of majors and our own testing are telling you something different.
Leave A Reply