Tour Scottie Scheffler testing TaylorMade Spider "TourX SS Proto" mallet putters (no face insert) – 2023 FedEx St. Jude Championship

[atursky]

[So_Cal]

Wonder how the MOI is on this with no weights in back 

[pga43]

4 minutes ago, So_Cal said:

Wonder how the MOI is on this with no weights in back 

I was told they were trying to move weight forward and more interested in making it sort of feel like a blade and not so worried about MOI.

 

 

Greg

[tatertot]

4 minutes ago, pga43 said:

I was told they were trying to move weight forward and more interested in making it sort of feel like a blade and not so worried about MOI.

 

 

Greg

So it's as ugly as a mallet with none of the benefits? Kinda like marrying the fat, ugly chick ... only she can't cook and she's poor, too.

[UnderPar18]

1 minute ago, tatertot said:

So it's as ugly as a mallet with none of the benefits? Kinda like marrying the fat, ugly chick ... only she can't cook and she's poor, too.

 

Except maybe he likes the shape and wants something different to look at? I get what your saying, but I'm not sure pros need "the benefits of a mallet", nor do I think the benefits always lead to more putts holed.

[tatertot]

1 minute ago, UnderPar18 said:

 

Except maybe he likes the shape and wants something different to look at? I get what your saying, but I'm not sure pros need "the benefits of a mallet", nor do I think the benefits always lead to more putts holed.

Sure ... and she's got a great personality.

[So_Cal]

22 minutes ago, pga43 said:

I was told they were trying to move weight forward and more interested in making it sort of feel like a blade and not so worried about MOI.

 

 

Greg

There is something to that.  Sometimes weight forward works better 

[LazyLightning22]

Pros- they play the exact same equipment as us!

[J_Tizzle]

Thats pretty cool, wonder if it'll get the play this week.

 

With how he's been putting I'd think he'd try anything because it can't get much worse.

[TiScape]

9 minutes ago, LazyLightning22 said:

Pros- they play the exact same equipment as us!

Because our game is just like theirs 😉 

[pga43]

20 minutes ago, J_Tizzle said:

Thats pretty cool, wonder if it'll get the play this week.

 

With how he's been putting I'd think he'd try anything because it can't get much worse.

Are y’all going off his actual putting stats or regurgitating the drivel that the golf media has been spewing?

 

Greg

[ilikegolf26]

7 minutes ago, pga43 said:

Are y’all going off his actual putting stats or regurgitating the drivel that the golf media has been spewing?

 

Greg

He’s 130th in SG Putting on the season while leading in all the other major SG categories….

 

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by ilikegolf26

[J_Tizzle]

49 minutes ago, pga43 said:

Are y’all going off his actual putting stats or regurgitating the drivel that the golf media has been spewing?

 

Greg

 

I mean shots gained through the Wyndham was 135th on tour with a total of -11.9 shots gained...  Maybe I don't understand shots gained but I assume that's not very good for such a high ranked golfer?

 

Just saying that his putting is lagging behind the rest of the parts of his game and if he incrementally improved it he'd probably have several more wins this year.

Edited August 9, 2023 by J_Tizzle

[Fairways_and_Greens]

54 minutes ago, pga43 said:

Are y’all going off his actual putting stats or regurgitating the drivel that the golf media has been spewing?

 

Greg

his putting is the worst it’s ever been. What data are you looking at Greg?

 

it’s clearly what’s holding him back and only negative strokes gained category. 

 

[Fairways_and_Greens]

22 minutes ago, J_Tizzle said:

 

I mean shots gained through the Wyndham was 135th on tour with a total of -11.9 shots gained...  Maybe I don't understand shots gained but I assume that's not very good for such a high ranked golfer?

 

Just saying that his putting is lagging behind the rest of the parts of his game and if he incrementally improved it he'd probably have several more wins this year.

The only worse putter than him in the top 34 is Hideki. He's killing it everywhere else.

 

Here are his SG stats from this year:

 

And here are his SG stats from last year. Clearly when he had 6 tournaments of decent putting, he won 4 times...

[J_Tizzle]

3 minutes ago, Fairways_and_Greens said:

The only worse putter than him in the top 34 is Hideki. He's killing it everywhere else.

 

Here are his SG stats from this year:

 

And here are his SG stats from last year. Clearly when he had 6 tournaments of decent putting, he won 4 times...

 

[Jeff58]

What to do if you don’t want to look like a Rory Groupy -

 

Step 1.

 

 

 

Step 2.

 

 

[GolfWRX_Spotted]

1 hour ago, Fairways_and_Greens said:

his putting is the worst it’s ever been. What data are you looking at Greg?

 

it’s clearly what’s holding him back and only negative strokes gained category. 

 

Thank you, love to see someone back up their statement with facts, otherwise I read it as just their opinion.  

 

I think it would be great to see where past #1's compared against Scottie in putting stats and being #1 in all SG categories.

 

Greg

[ChiGolf224]

can anybody ID the grip from that one shot? It almost looks like a regular swing grip and not a putter grip

 

upadte: saw it's a pro only red star. somehow i completely forgot those existed

Edited August 9, 2023 by ChiGolf224

[Fairways_and_Greens]

4 hours ago, GolfWRX_Spotted said:

Thank you, love to see someone back up their statement with facts, otherwise I read it as just their opinion.  

 

I think it would be great to see where past #1's compared against Scottie in putting stats and being #1 in all SG categories.

 

Greg

Using DataGolf, and looking at Scheffler, Rahm, McIlroy, Johnson, Thomas, Koepka, Rose, Day, Spieth, Tiger, Scott, Donald, Westwood, Singh...

 

When they were #1, using a 50 round moving average...

 

Scheffler - between 0.0 and -0.4

Rahm - as high as 1.1, but dipped down around .3 after son born

McIlroy - 2012 - 2015 was around 0.1, got as high as 0.4. Early this year got as high as 0.78

Johnson - 2017-2018 was around 0.3, about the same in 2021

Thomas - Got up to around 0.3 when #1 but went down.

Koepka - Around 0.2

Rose - 0.3 when starting #1 and got as high as 1.0

Day- 0.3 when starting #1 and got as high as 1.2

Spieth - 0.7 when starting #1 and got as high as 0.9

Tiger - around 1.1 SGP when #1

Scott - around 0.4 when #1 in 2014, this was a real outlier year until 2020, except for when he was a rookie.

Donald - Around 1.0

Westwood - 0.3

Singh - 0.2

 

Scotty is a bit of an outlier.

[MFBach]

9 hours ago, So_Cal said:

Wonder how the MOI is on this with no weights in back 

 

9 hours ago, tatertot said:

So it's as ugly as a mallet with none of the benefits? Kinda like marrying the fat, ugly chick ... only she can't cook and she's poor, too.

The MOI is still higher than the SC blade he’s been whiffing with for months now, not to mention the added stability offered by a wider footprint/weight distribution. 
 

To say there aren’t any benefits is just flat out disingenuous. It may have been tongue in cheek, but a mallet with a more forward CG is going to offer higher MOI while making it easier to close/square the face through impact than a back weighted model. 
 

So, he’s putting with a mallet, hoping to benefit from added stability, but didn’t want to make any changes to his stroke and/or feel, so they moved the weight forward to minimize adjustments to his setup and stroke… it would make sense, given the solid face. 
 

It’s also possible he was testing a mallet, but having trouble with an open FA at impact, so they moved weight forward to fight the miss. 
 

Either way, it’s funny that everyone has been giving him s*** for his putting all year, but as soon as he tries something new, he gets more s*** because it’s “ugly” to some or doesn’t make sense to others. 

[GolfWRX_Spotted]

40 minutes ago, Fairways_and_Greens said:

Using DataGolf, and looking at Scheffler, Rahm, McIlroy, Johnson, Thomas, Koepka, Rose, Day, Spieth, Tiger, Scott, Donald, Westwood, Singh...

 

When they were #1, using a 50 round moving average...

 

Scheffler - between 0.0 and -0.4

Rahm - as high as 1.1, but dipped down around .3 after son born

McIlroy - 2012 - 2015 was around 0.1, got as high as 0.4. Early this year got as high as 0.78

Johnson - 2017-2018 was around 0.3, about the same in 2021

Thomas - Got up to around 0.3 when #1 but went down.

Koepka - Around 0.2

Rose - 0.3 when starting #1 and got as high as 1.0

Day- 0.3 when starting #1 and got as high as 1.2

Spieth - 0.7 when starting #1 and got as high as 0.9

Tiger - around 1.1 SGP when #1

Scott - around 0.4 when #1 in 2014, this was a real outlier year until 2020, except for when he was a rookie.

Donald - Around 1.0

Westwood - 0.3

Singh - 0.2

 

Scotty is a bit of an outlier.

 

 

Thanks

 

Who averages hitting more greens and has the best proximity to the hole.

 

 

Greg

[craz-e]

Would be good to see a milled faced spider made available to the public 

[tatertot]

33 minutes ago, MFBach said:

 

The MOI is still higher than the SC blade he’s been whiffing with for months now, not to mention the added stability offered by a wider footprint/weight distribution. 
 

To say there aren’t any benefits is just flat out disingenuous. It may have been tongue in cheek, but a mallet with a more forward CG is going to offer higher MOI while making it easier to close/square the face through impact than a back weighted model. 
 

So, he’s putting with a mallet, hoping to benefit from added stability, but didn’t want to make any changes to his stroke and/or feel, so they moved the weight forward to minimize adjustments to his setup and stroke… it would make sense, given the solid face. 
 

It’s also possible he was testing a mallet, but having trouble with an open FA at impact, so they moved weight forward to fight the miss. 
 

Either way, it’s funny that everyone has been giving him s*** for his putting all year, but as soon as he tries something new, he gets more s*** because it’s “ugly” to some or doesn’t make sense to others. 

Honest question ... With the same neck, and the weight positioned forward, how is the mallet easier to square than a blade? 

[TheMoneyShot]

I’ll buy this in a 38 inch if it’s ever released. 

[MFBach]

11 minutes ago, tatertot said:

Honest question ... With the same neck, and the weight positioned forward, how is the mallet easier to square than a blade? 

Sorry if that was a confusing response. I was just trying to acknowledge the fact that there are physical principles at play that do affect the results and explain the changes in the putter head. 
 

It’s really two different answers though. It’s not “easier” to square the face of a mallet than a blade, all things considered. It’s easier and more naturally closes the face faster when CG moves forward, putters included. 
 

The mallet will offer more stability and higher MOI than a blade because the weight is distributed across a wider area (even with CG adjustments seen here), but he may not have like that or struggled with FA at impact with too much back weight. If that’s the case, they can move weight forward, closer to the face, to help close/square the head through impact faster, relative to the original putter design, but not comparable to a blade. 
 

I was suggesting that he wanted more forgiveness and stability without sacrificing the feel and stroke he’s used to with the Scotty, so they modified the putter to meet those requests as well as they could. 

[MerryTex]

They’re doing what the GT Max provides but in a prototype head that’s milled with a fixed weight. Gives him the feel he’s accustomed to and like Greg stated it allows the putter to feel more blade like in its release. I mentioned this in the Spider thread earlier. I liked the Max but could quite get my speed dialed week in and week out, especially not getting to practice as much. A milled face gives me more consistent speed because it’s what I’m used to. 
 

It’s pretty cool to see Scotty working with Taylormade to try and find a fix. I know it may be a bandaid but he may find some confidence and it can open a lot of opportunities in the playoffs if it pays off. I want to say having the CG more forward also provides a difference in the spin, getting the ball to roll quicker on its intended line. 

[dmeeksDC]

Only shows once again that MOI is way down the list of what matters in putting. Scheffler wants the pure roll and long-range accuracy of weight forward. I’ve watched him all year. Stats are stats, but his putting is barely off. Amazing how many putts he has had hit the hole and just not go down. Will not surprise at all to see him make a small change and get hot. 

Edited August 10, 2023 by dmeeksDC

[Jdavenp3]

Any information whether the face and hosel can be removed from the putter? Just looking at it, it seems TM may be introducing a way to remove the face in order to change necks, inserts, millings, etc with the screws. Could just be for weighting purposes as well-just speculating here.

[MerryTex]

1 minute ago, Jdavenp3 said:

Any information whether the face and hosel can be removed from the putter? Just looking at it, it seems TM may be introducing a way to remove the face in order to change necks, inserts, millings, etc with the screws. Could just be for weighting purposes as well-just speculating here.

I could see them going with no ability to change just as much as I could see them innovating the Spider into a milled head with options for players to have. They did a little of this with the GT Max with the movable weights. I could see a few more of these being spotted throughout the playoffs into late fall and then releasing to the public once the season kicks off in Hawaii.