Jordan Spieth's Cameron putter - May 2019

Boydr12 · May 29, 2019

Wow, you can tell how much he’s practicing putting by the grip, that grip only came out like a year ago lol

n_rones · May 29, 2019

> @Boydr12 said:

> Wow, you can tell how much he’s practicing putting by the grip, that grip only came out like a year ago lol

Pretty sure he only put that grip on like 2 months ago lol shows the difference between them and us i can use a superstroke for years and it wont look like that.

getair23 · May 29, 2019

I wonder how often Jordan checks the loft on that beauty. Photo bomb in 1st pic is awesome.

OldTomMorris · May 29, 2019

The ding just above the sight line would drive me nuts.

doublepar93 · May 29, 2019

> @OldTomMorris said:

> The ding just above the sight line would drive me nuts.

I thought the same thing. Especially right there where it sits.

bladehunter · May 29, 2019

Love it ! His and Geoff Ogilvys are the two best 009s on tour.

jbo89 · May 29, 2019

What is the length of his putter?

falken19150 · May 29, 2019

Probably the 2nd most valuable putter behind El Tigre's...……..awesome

ffohcyaw · May 29, 2019

Who'll be the first to say lead tape on the bottom...

Tree Levino · May 30, 2019

Now that's a gamer.

Gehly · May 30, 2019

> @ffohcyaw said:

> Who'll be the first to say lead tape on the bottom...

uh, there's no tape on the bottom...just finish worn on the sole

ffohcyaw · May 30, 2019

> @Gehly said:

> > @ffohcyaw said:

> > Who'll be the first to say lead tape on the bottom...

>

> uh, there's no tape on the bottom...just finish worn on the sole

yes I know that, riffing off a Mark O'Meara post

kmay__ · May 30, 2019

I know he had that old super worn out grip on it forever and he finally changed it out this year, almost looks like maybe they went at it with something to bring back that "worn in" feeling the old grip had. Or he literally hits an insane amount of practice putts.....which very well may be the case cause his putting this year is on fire compared to the last year or so.

bullsfan · May 30, 2019

Players that don't change tools a lot, win a lot. He's due soon. I laugh, because that's totally against most of our mentalities.

BottleCap · May 30, 2019

What's the point in posting this putter up? Has it changed at all?

FromDeepInTheTrees · May 30, 2019

No doubt I could have some great three jacks with that thing.

swgolf12 · May 30, 2019

> @ffohcyaw said:

> > @Gehly said:

> > > @ffohcyaw said:

> > > Who'll be the first to say lead tape on the bottom...

> >

> > uh, there's no tape on the bottom...just finish worn on the sole

>

> yes I know that, riffing off a Mark O'Meara post

I appreciate this, nothing better than a good ribbing.

Thats two thus far Shooter · May 30, 2019

Good to know Jordan also has a wife who wont let him send his putter into the custom shop for restoration.

chip75 · May 30, 2019

> @Boydr12 said:

> Wow, you can tell how much he’s practicing putting by the grip, that grip only came out like a year ago lol

I'm sure he practices a tonne, but the wear is probably from the larger SuperStroke grip rubbing against the rest of his clubs' grips at the bottom of the bag as it gets taken in and out. He might have softened the sides a bit with some sandpaper as well. Most pros aren't as bothered with bag chatter as the rest of us.

Storms · May 31, 2019

I don't know if I've ever seen a picture his putter without his grip looking like it came off a club at the back of the used section at golfmart. It almost makes me think that's how he buys them lol

GoIrish17 · June 1, 2019

> @Storms said:

> I don't know if I've ever seen a picture his putter without his grip looking like it came off a club at the back of the used section at golfmart. It almost makes me think that's how he buys them lol

“Buys them” ?

Storms · June 2, 2019

> @GoIrish17 said:

> > @Storms said:

> > I don't know if I've ever seen a picture his putter without his grip looking like it came off a club at the back of the used section at golfmart. It almost makes me think that's how he buys them lol

>

> “Buys them” ?

>

I just imagine him ignoring his rep trying to give him a fresh one and getting a crappy one off ebay ?

newportbeach · April 14, 2022

Bump to a classic thread.

JungleJimbo · April 9, 2023

Why Jordan Spieth Uses a Rusty Old Putter

wsj.com/articles/why-jordan-spieth-uses-a-rusty-old-putter-1459872766

April 5, 2016

The reigning Masters champion resists the temptation to tinker when it comes to his most important piece of equipment

https://archive.is/MyK4P

http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-jordan-spieth-uses-a-rusty-old-putter-1459872766

April 5, 2016 12:12 pm ET

Augusta, Ga.

Nearly a year has passed since Jordan Spieth won the Masters, elevating him into the ranks of America’s most prominent professional athletes. And by now, he looks the part. He has appeared in new commercials, signed with a new sponsor and even bought a new house.

But for someone with access to the latest and greatest of just about anything he desires, there is one part of Spieth’s ensemble that seems a little bit incongruous.

His putter is rusty.

Not figuratively rusty. Literally rusted from age. Spieth, 22, has been using the same putter since he was 15 years old, a rarity in an era of evolving equipment technology and fickle pros.

The other clubs in his bag shimmer in silver and black, evoking the kind of engineering usually reserved for spacecraft. The piece of equipment most associated with his rise to stardom looks more like an old muffler.

The putter is a Scotty Cameron 009 model, and when Spieth talks about it, he sounds like a middle-aged man still in love with his first car.

“It’s got character,” he said.

Golf history is dotted with legends who stuck with a trusty club. Bobby Jones used one of two versions of his famous Calamity Jane putter for all of his 13 major titles. Jack Nicklaus used the same 3-wood for 37 years. Tiger Woods used the same putter for all but the first of his 14 major victories. But rarely on the modern PGA Tour does any club stay in a player’s bag for so long. The fact that a player at the top of the sport is still using a club from his junior golf days is even more unusual.

“It’s pretty rare in modern golf,” said 2006 U.S. Open winner Geoff Ogilvy, “because technology advances so quick that you get left behind in a lot of aspects if you don’t move with it.”

6b64fd0f7f043a32427ca74c3979cf4ad925afd3

Defending Masters champion Jordan Spieth has been using the same putter since he was 15 years old.

PHOTO: ACUSHNET CO.

Yet Spieth is hardly lagging. His seven PGA Tour wins are tied with Woods for the most before age 23 in the modern era. He is arguably the best putter in the world. His success from 20 feet and beyond has expanded the notion of what constitutes a makeable putt.

In other words, he may be onto something.

“There’s this really nuanced level of a club being a part of you that is absolutely essential, and that gets lost when a player changes on a frequent basis,” said Cameron McCormick, Spieth’s longtime swing coach. “Familiarity is a cornerstone.”

Few professional athletes at Spieth’s level still rely so much on a piece of equipment they’ve been using since high school. Baseball bats break. Hockey sticks snap. Golf clubs and tennis rackets become casualties of the new sponsors that adolescent stars tend to attract as they start winning more tournaments.

Justin Thomas, who met Spieth when they were 14 and will make his Masters debut this week, has gone through more than a few putters since his junior golf days.

“Usually when they get to college, they are overwhelmed with the best of everything,” said Ken McDonald, who has represented various equipment companies at PGA Tour events for more than two decades. “Then, everything they had in 11th grade is gone.”

When Spieth arrived at the University of Texas in 2011, he received a new, personalized putter from Cameron, the renowned putter maker for Titleist. The club was engraved with Spieth’s name and dotted with orange paint resembling the Longhorns’ school color. But Spieth remained more comfortable with the putter that got him there.

Spieth’s journey with his putter is more reminiscent of the world of orchestra, where some elite musicians find the right instrument at a young age and never switch. Judith LeClair, the principal bassoon in the New York Philharmonic, has been using the same instrument since she was 16. She is 58.

“With bassoons, they’re very old,” LeClair said. “They have a pedigree. You don’t just get rid of one of these things.”

Cameron said advances in his craft have made newer putters more forgiving than the one Spieth uses. Some allow the weight of the club to be adjusted based on the speed of the greens. But from the day he first walked into Cameron’s Southern California studio for a fitting in 2008, Spieth has shown an affinity for the 009.

Spieth had seen two of his favorite players, Ogilvy and Adam Scott, use the same model. Cameron—who uses cameras that analyze a player’s swing path, alignment and eye position, among other factors—had initially recommended a different putter. Spieth used it at first, if only out of respect. “He was shy,” Cameron said of the teenage prodigy. But one year later, on another visit to the studio, Spieth figured out how to get the putter he wanted.

He missed several putts with the first putter—intentionally, he would later tell Cameron. Then, he asked to try the 009. Miracle of miracles, Spieth drained nine putts in a row. Recommendation changed.

e97f0ff717e076dc6ba61ef4e7712f9d8762b930

Jordan Spieth of the United States lines up his birdie putt on the third hole during the third round of the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas on Dec. 5, 2015.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

“It’s not very soft,” Spieth said. “I like that. I like being able to feel in my hands kind of the strike of the ball instead of just feeling like you’re gliding through air.”

Spieth has replaced the accessory elements of his putter over the years—the grip and the shaft. But the essential component—a 350-gram block of carbon steel—endures. The face of the putter has not rusted, so the browning is strictly a cosmetic issue.

Spieth is so enamored with the rust that when Cameron offers to send him backup putters to try, he makes an odd request: He wants them pre-rusted, which Cameron can do using chemicals. “Not many guys ask for that,” he said.

To be sure, McCormick said Spieth is sometimes curious about which putters his playing partners are using. Occasionally, he’ll take a few practice putts with someone else’s putter. And when it comes to equipment, temptations abound.

Every week on the PGA Tour, from Monday through Wednesday, manufacturers set up bags on the practice green with putters for pros to try. On any given day, there will be hundreds of shiny new clubs for them to peruse.

The exchange serves both sides. Manufacturers are constantly hawking newer, supposedly better products, which they need the world’s best players to promote. And players are constantly wondering if there is something better than what they have, especially after a tough round. But even when he thinks he can putt better, Spieth isn’t easily swayed.

“It says a lot about him understanding what’s important,” Ogilvy said. “He knows that the answer isn’t a different putter. If it’s not going well, the answer is in me somewhere.”

Most of the time, with the way Spieth putts, there isn’t even a question.

“When putts go in,” Spieth said, “anything looks good.”

Write to Brian Costa at [email protected]

Appeared in the April 6, 2016, print edition as 'Why Jordan Spieth Uses a Rusty Putter'.

Edited April 9, 2023 by JungleJimbo

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Jordan Spieth's Cameron putter - May 2019

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Why Jordan Spieth Uses a Rusty Old Putter

The reigning Masters champion resists the temptation to tinker when it comes to his most important piece of equipment

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