Putter / Putting help

I'm a 5 handicap who definitely loses most of my strokes from putting. I haven't bought a new putter in 15 years... and I am being fit for a new putter on Wednesday (assume mallet putter). What are the most popular current models of mallet putters? Out of curiosity (not necessarily for me), what models are the tour guys using?

The spider x has been pretty successful and I personally love mine. Not to mention I think it says something when most manufacturers are now making some sort of design that is very similar so something must be working

Spider, 2 ball, and fang seem the most popular mallets.

I’m blade putter but if I ever bought a new one I would buy a Spider.

Placing value on what putters the pro's use is a fundamentally flawed concept.

The clubs that PGA players use are very different from what we are sold despire having the same shape. Difference include changes to face inserts, shafts, weights, grips etc.

Many PGA players would likely choose different clubs if they were'nt being paid to play a certain brand.

Your putting stroke will also be very different to any other player, and what suits your eye and stroke will likely be very different to the next person. Go to your fitting with an open mind and let your decision be guided by the DATA not just the number of holed putts.

It says a few things actually..

a) many consumers are suckers for a good marketing campaign "Ultra high MOI design for more holed putts"

b) many consumers base purchases on what they see the pro's use "Rory and DJ use it so it must be good"

c) club manufacturers are in the business of making money and if they see a putter shape selling well they will replicate it

The Spider design is an effective method of placing weight at the perimer to increase MOI. There are other designs that do this better but they don't have the marketing team at Taylormade behind them.

I went about it a different way. I was a truly awful putter with zero confidence until about 12 months ago, so I decided to sort it out. I watched various videos and bought a putting mat, it led to me introducing a forward press to initiate my stroke. It worked wonders.

I then bought 17 putters of various different types, the vast majority second hand on eBay which I knew I could sell on. I tried mallets, blades, wide blades, mid mallets, face-balanced, toe-hang, heel-shafted, Centre-shafted, inserts, Milled face, light and heavy.

Some of them were immediately discarded, some were taken on course on a number of occasions, the ones that suited me best were kept. I now have 4 which I’m playing in rotation. Initially I played one round with each in rotation, if I had a bad round with it I’d play it again the next time, if I had another bad round it’d be sold.

Realised that I don’t like inserts, don’t like big mallets, don’t like CS and that toe-hang doesn’t really matter with my stroke.

I now have three wide blades, and funnily enough the putter that I had first of all which is the Betti SS#3. I’m intending to keep all four of these for at least a year, each one will have at least ten consecutive rounds with which I can judge. I may keep all 4, completely open to any eventuality.

Furthermore I’ve not lost any money on the buying and selling, it’s been fun!

And my putting is now at least 6 shots per round better than it was, confidence is high.

All I'm saying is that I've seen multiple people who got the spider and dramatically improved their putting. The tour pros really aren't a selling point since DJ changes his putter like he changes his underwear. It's just a solid design that fits a lot of people

The Spider should certainly be high on anyone's list to try when looking for a new putter.

I'm not OP but also looking at trying a mallet. How's the spider compare to the Scotty Phantom X5?

I've never tried a Scotty but I assume it would be similar. That shape and platform is super stale so I don't think you would be disappointed either way. I will say the alignment on the spider x works great for me because I'm not a fan of a dot and the true path alignment system really allowed me to focus on the ball and know I'll be hitting the sweet spot... Pretty sure the spider is a few bucks cheaper too so there's that??‍♂️

I walked away with the Mizuno M-Craft mallet - couldn't decide between black and blue. Also, wasn't so impressed by the fitting. I wasn't able to hit the Phantom X5 and it was a tie between the Mizuno and the Spider.

The m-craft putters were very high on my must try list. Felt great! But the spider just won out for me personally but this is why we have fittings