Give Your Golf Game a Proper Roll with the Best Putters
“Drive for show. Putt for dough.”
That’s one of the oldest maxims in golf primarily because it’s true. Unless you hole out with your eight-iron from 150 yards thanks to a nod from the golf gods or you chip it in green-side from the first cut rough, you’re going to reach for your putter. Under the traditional understanding of par in golf, two strokes of every hole’s count are supposed to be putts. Still, too few players really give enough thought and investment into their putters.
The look and shape of a putter vary more than any other club in the bag, and developing research finds ways to push designs forward. Whether a butter knife or a two-ball, a lag or straight shaft, the variety and uniqueness of putter shapes make them the most personal club in the bag. A good putter has an intimate bond to a golfers’ game, and it needs to be chosen carefully.
This list includes some of the newest and most intriguing putter designs now available in a wide variety of prices. You should know your putting stroke and what makes you comfortable when you go putter hunting. If you have that information filed away, one of our choices for the best golf putters will knock it in the hole.
1. TaylorMade Truss TM2
By way of full disclosure, this scribe states for the record that this is the putter I carry in my bag. After trying multiple options at my True Spec fitting, I settled on the Truss TM2 for its pure accuracy. With an inventive hosel design, cutting edge alloys and excellent balance, the TM2 puts the ball where I aim it every time. That builds confidence on the greens. If I miss a putt, I know it’s on me and not the putter.
Its TaylorMade engineers designed the forked mallet layout of the putter to look like a more traditional putter from above so it doesn’t throw off the golfer. I never experienced a problem looking at it from any angle because I trust my Truss.
Buy: TaylorMade Truss TM2 $299.992. Honma Beres PP-201
While Honma makes elite golf clubs for any player who takes the game seriously, the company’s Beres line is famous throughout the sport for producing the most luxurious clubs in the game. Employing precious metals for looks and employing the most forgiving designs possible for feel, Honma Beres is for the player with ample resources and a desire to make the game easier. The Beres PP-201 qualifies on all of the above, employing a lag blade design and coming in finishes including gold and platinum.
3. Wilson Staff “The L” Infinite Putter
Wilson Golf is always on duty making sure beginner golfers or players on more of a budget have strong club choices. The company offers 16 variations of putter designs, with none of them costing more than $99. Wilson Staff’s “The L” comes from the Infinite Putter line and includes seven head shapes for personal preferences. Focused on game improvement, “The L” Infinite offers accurate counter-balancing to help the up and coming golfer control the putting stroke.
Buy: Wilson Staff Infinite Golf Putter, The "L", Right Hand, 35 $92.014. Callaway Odyssey Stroke Lab Triple Track 2-Ball
For the uninitiated, a two-ball putter isn’t designed for some bizarre trick shot off-shoot of golf in which you play two golf balls at once. The term refers to the length of the mallet putter head being two balls wide from face to hosel. Extra width means extra weight, and a smoother strike — especially for golfers with very level, very straight putting strokes. A player with a more rounded or arced stroke should look to another putter. Still, the (deep breath) Callaway Odyssey Stroke Lab Triple Track 2-Ball is a long-standing classic design for amateurs and pros alike.
Buy: Callaway Odyssey Stroke Lab Triple Track 2-Ball $249.995. Titleist Scotty Cameron Phantom X 7
The partnership between Titleist Golf and the Scotty Cameron design shop produces a selection of eye-catching putters. Angled like a stealth bomber, the Titleist Scotty Cameron Phantom X 7 looks that way for a reason beyond aesthetics. The mid-mallet head’s shape is intended to direct the eye to the accurate putting line, thus aiding aim. Its mid-bend shaft minimizes the amount of arc, so this is an option for putters with a less even stroke.
Buy: Titleist Scotty Cameron Phantom X 7 $429.996. Ping Heppler Tomcat 14
While its name sounds like a really cool law firm or what Aaron Rodgers yells before he takes a snap, the Ping Heppler Tomcat 14 is cast from aluminum and blended with supporting steel in its mallet shape. To help the golfer aim as much as possible, the putter head displays a 14-dot alignment aid “inspired by the lights on an airport runway” — giving the Heppler Tomcat its numeric name tag.
Buy: Ping Heppler Tomcat 14 $340.007. Mizuno M-Craft 3
A first edition product for Mizuno, the new M-Craft 3 is a mid-mallet design. Consider it a hybrid of a blade and a full mallet shape. Forged from mild carbon steel, then milled to its precise shape, the M-Craft 3 is intended for golfers with less putting arc and a balance point centered at the middle of the putter head.
Buy: Mizuno M-Craft 3 $299.958. TaylorMade Spider S
There’s a term in the realm of putting that designers wrestle to create the ideal club – MOI or Moment of Inertia. If we were to play a round of golf with Sir Isaac Newton, he’d tell us inertia is “a property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is changed by an external force.” After Sir Isaac missed his putt, Taylormade would tell him MOI is a measurement of a putter’s resistance to twisting on off-center hits. So, the greater the MOI number, the more stable a putter will be. Combining aluminum and tungsten, the Spider S has Taylormade’s highest MOI figure at 6,000 — making it the company’s most stable putter.
Buy: TaylorMade Golf Spider X $349.999. Callaway Odyssey Toulon Garage – Madison
Perfect for the golfer looking for that classic blade putter — the slim design that’s been knocking down four-footers for decades — the Madison came out of the Odyssey Putter Toulon Stroke Lab. It employs a simple shape with perfect balance to allow the essential pendulum motion from the shoulders that make for consistent putts. The Odyssey Toulon series also allows for extensive customization via club fittings.
10. Breakthrough Golf Stability Shaft
Admittedly, this is not a putter — but it goes on the list because it will make any putter on this list more reliable. The custom-made Breakthrough Golf Technology Stability Shaft replaces the steel of the standard putter with eight layers of carbon fiber. The idea is to firm up the putter and remove torsion (a fancy word for wiggling) from any putting stroke.
While it can certainly improve any golfer’s putting ability, the Breakthrough Shaft is particularly useful for the older golfer whose wrists might not be as strong or stable as they once were. Send them your putter, and they’ll send it back with a shaft they guarantee will put the buyer in a better place on the greens.