What is a "tour rat" putter?

[Dizz]

[quote name='RookieBlue7' timestamp='1319572437' post='3716853']
[quote name='J.W.' timestamp='1319554468' post='3715585']
[quote name='RookieBlue7' timestamp='1319551874' post='3715323']
[quote name='Chris92009' timestamp='1319544559' post='3714893']
Tour Rat CT Putters (Tour Only) vs. Tour Rat OTR Putters (Retail, off the rack) will not be identical however they will have similar characteristics...Personally, I prefer the CT Version however Scotty has hit a home run with this design (The CT has more finishes available, special stampings, etc...). He mentioned to me last summer that Titleist was telling him he needed more boxy and rounded looks like the newport and hence the Tour Rat (which is basically a mix of many different influences from prior designs; sort of like a "Best Of") is becoming extremely popular in design. The key design is the thick top line and soft sound....go get'em this will definitely a big seller in 2012!

Cheers!
[/quote]

Properly fitted, which will you make more putts with? Just curious.
[/quote]

If you put both putters on a machine that stroked putts for you then there would be no difference. If you're more confident in your $80 putter than your $2,500 putter then you'll make more putts with it...and vice versa. This is a dumb argument because people are free to spend their money however they want. No different than a 10 handicap spending $200 on a driver shaft when a stock shaft will work just fine because lets be honest as a 10 handicap you hardly have a repeatable swing. No different then spending $30,000-100,000 (or more in some cases) on that new car that you've wanted when you can go to Bill's Car lot and buy a dependable car for $5,000 that does the same thing. No different than buying that new Rolex or Tag for $3,000-10,000 when you could go to your local place and a $50 Timex or $100 Fossil. Nobody here has ever bought a high end tailored suit have they? Or expensive jeans, shirts, polos, golf pants, etc. You can buy $20 golf pants at Macy's why spend $80 on the new Nike tech pants? Why spend $200 on the new TW golf shoes or FJ Icons if you can get closeout Green Joys for $40. I can go on and on and on and on........

If the dude wants to spend $2,500 on a putter, go for it. It is after all, his money.
[/quote]

I can promise you if you're a good putter, it won't matter how much the putter costs as to how many putts you'll make. If you suck at putting, you're not going to improve that with a putter's price tag. I don't care how one spends their money, to be honest, but to say a putter is a better putter and you'll putt better with it because it costs more so you'll be more confident in it is hogwash. Either you can putt or you can't. What's critical to putting? Reading the green and getting the line and pace right. [b]Confidence in a golf club means nothing unless you have issues[/b]. I can be confident in any putter I own, so I should never miss a putt? Most likely at some point I will. Putting comes down to talent not confidence. Making an argument that confidence plays any role in the success to me, is asinine. It's talent and either you have it or you don't. a $2500 putter isn't going to make one bit of difference in one's ability to putt. Being properly fit will though, and if you putt side by side two putters properly fit, one retail and one tour in a test where you dont know which is which I'd be willing to bet you'd putt equally as well.
[/quote]

If you took a second to read my post you would have not wasted your time with this reply. I absolutely 100% agree with you aside from the part in bold. Golf is all about confidence. My post said that if you were confident in your $80 putter than your $2,500 putter you will make more putts. Never in my post did I say the price tag of a putter would or should give you confidence. If you don't think having confidence in a golf club matters then I can't believe you've ever played the game under pressure. And you completely missed the point, I'm not debating retail or tour. I'm debating the fact that guys buying $2,500 putters more than likely don't care what they cost. They should be able to spend their money how they please, just like you do...whether or not it's on a high end putters is up to you. Its not up to you to tell them what they should spend money on, you're absolutely correct a bone stock retail $300 Cameron putts just as well as a $2,500 Tour job. Either way you look at it, putting is 99% about confidence. Tiger won 14 majors with his beat to death Cameron putter... he could have switched to anything out there. Why didn't he? My guess, he was confident in that putter.

[RookieBlue7]

[quote name='J.W.' timestamp='1319587342' post='3717943']
[quote name='RookieBlue7' timestamp='1319572437' post='3716853']
[quote name='J.W.' timestamp='1319554468' post='3715585']
[quote name='RookieBlue7' timestamp='1319551874' post='3715323']
[quote name='Chris92009' timestamp='1319544559' post='3714893']
Tour Rat CT Putters (Tour Only) vs. Tour Rat OTR Putters (Retail, off the rack) will not be identical however they will have similar characteristics...Personally, I prefer the CT Version however Scotty has hit a home run with this design (The CT has more finishes available, special stampings, etc...). He mentioned to me last summer that Titleist was telling him he needed more boxy and rounded looks like the newport and hence the Tour Rat (which is basically a mix of many different influences from prior designs; sort of like a "Best Of") is becoming extremely popular in design. The key design is the thick top line and soft sound....go get'em this will definitely a big seller in 2012!

Cheers!
[/quote]

Properly fitted, which will you make more putts with? Just curious.
[/quote]

If you put both putters on a machine that stroked putts for you then there would be no difference. If you're more confident in your $80 putter than your $2,500 putter then you'll make more putts with it...and vice versa. This is a dumb argument because people are free to spend their money however they want. No different than a 10 handicap spending $200 on a driver shaft when a stock shaft will work just fine because lets be honest as a 10 handicap you hardly have a repeatable swing. No different then spending $30,000-100,000 (or more in some cases) on that new car that you've wanted when you can go to Bill's Car lot and buy a dependable car for $5,000 that does the same thing. No different than buying that new Rolex or Tag for $3,000-10,000 when you could go to your local place and a $50 Timex or $100 Fossil. Nobody here has ever bought a high end tailored suit have they? Or expensive jeans, shirts, polos, golf pants, etc. You can buy $20 golf pants at Macy's why spend $80 on the new Nike tech pants? Why spend $200 on the new TW golf shoes or FJ Icons if you can get closeout Green Joys for $40. I can go on and on and on and on........

If the dude wants to spend $2,500 on a putter, go for it. It is after all, his money.
[/quote]

I can promise you if you're a good putter, it won't matter how much the putter costs as to how many putts you'll make. If you suck at putting, you're not going to improve that with a putter's price tag. I don't care how one spends their money, to be honest, but to say a putter is a better putter and you'll putt better with it because it costs more so you'll be more confident in it is hogwash. Either you can putt or you can't. What's critical to putting? Reading the green and getting the line and pace right. [b]Confidence in a golf club means nothing unless you have issues[/b]. I can be confident in any putter I own, so I should never miss a putt? Most likely at some point I will. Putting comes down to talent not confidence. Making an argument that confidence plays any role in the success to me, is asinine. It's talent and either you have it or you don't. a $2500 putter isn't going to make one bit of difference in one's ability to putt. Being properly fit will though, and if you putt side by side two putters properly fit, one retail and one tour in a test where you dont know which is which I'd be willing to bet you'd putt equally as well.
[/quote]

If you took a second to read my post you would have not wasted your time with this reply. I absolutely 100% agree with you aside from the part in bold. Golf is all about confidence. My post said that if you were confident in your $80 putter than your $2,500 putter you will make more putts. Never in my post did I say the price tag of a putter would or should give you confidence. If you don't think having confidence in a golf club matters then I can't believe you've ever played the game under pressure. And you completely missed the point, I'm not debating retail or tour. I'm debating the fact that guys buying $2,500 putters more than likely don't care what they cost. They should be able to spend their money how they please, just like you do...whether or not it's on a high end putters is up to you. Its not up to you to tell them what they should spend money on, you're absolutely correct a bone stock retail $300 Cameron putts just as well as a $2,500 Tour job. Either way you look at it, putting is 99% about confidence. Tiger won 14 majors with his beat to death Cameron putter... he could have switched to anything out there. Why didn't he? My guess, he was confident in that putter.
[/quote]


I've played plenty of high pressure golf. I've never really thought about what club I was hitting and thought, "hmm... I'm really confident in this club, let's hit it". I'm not wired like that. I've never felt pressure in any athletic endeavor. I'm more along the lines of "if I do this and do it correctly, then I'll have success". I've never thought about hitting a certain club because I was confident in it. I know where my margins for error are and what increases my percentage of success, but it had nothing to do with "hey, I hit this club great, so let's go with it". I like to think I hit all of my clubs great, and don't have to play to a favorite club. My putter slot is always revolving because I'm a club whore. I've had GSS Camerons, Buttonbacks, etc. I know I suck with all of them because as much as I want them to work, if they're not CS'd, they don't work for me. The centershafted prototype I had worked well, but I didn't putt any better with it than any of my other ho'd putters.

[orlen]

[quote name='RookieBlue7' timestamp='1319572437' post='3716853']
[quote name='J.W.' timestamp='1319554468' post='3715585']
[quote name='RookieBlue7' timestamp='1319551874' post='3715323']
[quote name='Chris92009' timestamp='1319544559' post='3714893']
Tour Rat CT Putters (Tour Only) vs. Tour Rat OTR Putters (Retail, off the rack) will not be identical however they will have similar characteristics...Personally, I prefer the CT Version however Scotty has hit a home run with this design (The CT has more finishes available, special stampings, etc...). He mentioned to me last summer that Titleist was telling him he needed more boxy and rounded looks like the newport and hence the Tour Rat (which is basically a mix of many different influences from prior designs; sort of like a "Best Of") is becoming extremely popular in design. The key design is the thick top line and soft sound....go get'em this will definitely a big seller in 2012!

Cheers!
[/quote]

Properly fitted, which will you make more putts with? Just curious.
[/quote]

If you put both putters on a machine that stroked putts for you then there would be no difference. If you're more confident in your $80 putter than your $2,500 putter then you'll make more putts with it...and vice versa. This is a dumb argument because people are free to spend their money however they want. No different than a 10 handicap spending $200 on a driver shaft when a stock shaft will work just fine because lets be honest as a 10 handicap you hardly have a repeatable swing. No different then spending $30,000-100,000 (or more in some cases) on that new car that you've wanted when you can go to Bill's Car lot and buy a dependable car for $5,000 that does the same thing. No different than buying that new Rolex or Tag for $3,000-10,000 when you could go to your local place and a $50 Timex or $100 Fossil. Nobody here has ever bought a high end tailored suit have they? Or expensive jeans, shirts, polos, golf pants, etc. You can buy $20 golf pants at Macy's why spend $80 on the new Nike tech pants? Why spend $200 on the new TW golf shoes or FJ Icons if you can get closeout Green Joys for $40. I can go on and on and on and on........

If the dude wants to spend $2,500 on a putter, go for it. It is after all, his money.
[/quote]

I can promise you if you're a good putter, it won't matter how much the putter costs as to how many putts you'll make. If you suck at putting, you're not going to improve that with a putter's price tag. I don't care how one spends their money, to be honest, but to say a putter is a better putter and you'll putt better with it because it costs more so you'll be more confident in it is hogwash. Either you can putt or you can't. What's critical to putting? Reading the green and getting the line and pace right. Confidence in a golf club means nothing unless you have issues. I can be confident in any putter I own, so I should never miss a putt? Most likely at some point I will. Putting comes down to talent not confidence. Making an argument that confidence plays any role in the success to me, is asinine. It's talent and either you have it or you don't. a $2500 putter isn't going to make one bit of difference in one's ability to putt. Being properly fit will though, and if you putt side by side two putters properly fit, one retail and one tour in a test where you dont know which is which I'd be willing to bet you'd putt equally as well.
[/quote]

You make a decent point. But: You can be a confident putter and still suck because you lack talent. But I'm guessing there are far more talented/good putters that lack confidence which is going to result in making less putts. Confidence is important, especially in putting.

To add to your point: a $2,500 putter isn't going to make you a good putter if you suck. Go practice. If you want a shiny toy, get one.

Edit: J.W. made my point. Didn't mean to beat a dead horse

[Dizz]

So, the clubs in your bag...you are confident in them right? When you decided on those clubs did you not hit them better than whatever you put them up against? To bring up Tiger again, he hit the stringer a lot under the gun...he was confident in that club...confident in that shot. But put a driver in his hand and there goes the confidence. You ever see him hit range balls? He hits the driver fine there. So why not on the golf course under pressure? Probably has something to do with confidence, no? I'm not really talking literally club to club. I saw where you were going with your original post, you think spending $2,500 on a tour putter when you can have something nearly identical at retail for $300 is a waste. I'm not saying you're wrong but the point is, some people see value in that. Just the same with cars, watches, clothes, shoes...anything. In high school I had a serious shoe fetish and Jordan brand sneakers. I don't anymore but my dad used to laugh at me when I spent $150+ on several pairs of shoes every year. The only shoes he would wear are $29 shoes that he would beat to hell and replace. His shoes did exactly what my shoes did and probably cost just about the same to make. My old boss walked around with a $6,000 Rolex on his wrist every day and I wore a $79 Fossil...same thing.

[Dizz]

[quote name='orlen' timestamp='1319587565' post='3717965']
[quote name='RookieBlue7' timestamp='1319572437' post='3716853']
[quote name='J.W.' timestamp='1319554468' post='3715585']
[quote name='RookieBlue7' timestamp='1319551874' post='3715323']
[quote name='Chris92009' timestamp='1319544559' post='3714893']
Tour Rat CT Putters (Tour Only) vs. Tour Rat OTR Putters (Retail, off the rack) will not be identical however they will have similar characteristics...Personally, I prefer the CT Version however Scotty has hit a home run with this design (The CT has more finishes available, special stampings, etc...). He mentioned to me last summer that Titleist was telling him he needed more boxy and rounded looks like the newport and hence the Tour Rat (which is basically a mix of many different influences from prior designs; sort of like a "Best Of") is becoming extremely popular in design. The key design is the thick top line and soft sound....go get'em this will definitely a big seller in 2012!

Cheers!
[/quote]

Properly fitted, which will you make more putts with? Just curious.
[/quote]

If you put both putters on a machine that stroked putts for you then there would be no difference. If you're more confident in your $80 putter than your $2,500 putter then you'll make more putts with it...and vice versa. This is a dumb argument because people are free to spend their money however they want. No different than a 10 handicap spending $200 on a driver shaft when a stock shaft will work just fine because lets be honest as a 10 handicap you hardly have a repeatable swing. No different then spending $30,000-100,000 (or more in some cases) on that new car that you've wanted when you can go to Bill's Car lot and buy a dependable car for $5,000 that does the same thing. No different than buying that new Rolex or Tag for $3,000-10,000 when you could go to your local place and a $50 Timex or $100 Fossil. Nobody here has ever bought a high end tailored suit have they? Or expensive jeans, shirts, polos, golf pants, etc. You can buy $20 golf pants at Macy's why spend $80 on the new Nike tech pants? Why spend $200 on the new TW golf shoes or FJ Icons if you can get closeout Green Joys for $40. I can go on and on and on and on........

If the dude wants to spend $2,500 on a putter, go for it. It is after all, his money.
[/quote]

I can promise you if you're a good putter, it won't matter how much the putter costs as to how many putts you'll make. If you suck at putting, you're not going to improve that with a putter's price tag. I don't care how one spends their money, to be honest, but to say a putter is a better putter and you'll putt better with it because it costs more so you'll be more confident in it is hogwash. Either you can putt or you can't. What's critical to putting? Reading the green and getting the line and pace right. Confidence in a golf club means nothing unless you have issues. I can be confident in any putter I own, so I should never miss a putt? Most likely at some point I will. Putting comes down to talent not confidence. Making an argument that confidence plays any role in the success to me, is asinine. It's talent and either you have it or you don't. a $2500 putter isn't going to make one bit of difference in one's ability to putt. Being properly fit will though, and if you putt side by side two putters properly fit, one retail and one tour in a test where you dont know which is which I'd be willing to bet you'd putt equally as well.
[/quote]

You make a decent point. But: You can be a confident putter and still suck because you lack talent. But I'm guessing there are far more talented/good putters that lack confidence which is going to result in making less putts. Confidence is important, especially in putting.

To add to your point: a $2,500 putter isn't going to make you a good putter if you suck. Go practice. If you want a shiny toy, get one.

Edit: J.W. made my point. Didn't mean to beat a dead horse
[/quote]



Let's be honest anybody that lacks some talent in golf doesn't have confidence in his putting. I remember reading an article with Faxon about his game. He could miss 5 eight foot putts in a row and the 6th time he still thought in his mind that he'd make the next one. But as soon as he missed a fairway with the driver he would stand up on the next hole and think there was no way he could get this in the fairway. Confidence, IMO, plays a HUGE role in golf.

[Golfer4Life]

The information I have read regarding the Tour Rat does not indicate an OTR offering anytime soon. I am not sure about the Super Rat or the new Mallet. As for pricing, it seem that is a topic that it won't go away. Simple, if you don't want to pay the $2500.00 don't. Just don't bag the guys that do so, not fair IMO.