Adam Scott? He Got Me Thinking About Putters

However, watching this unfold got me thinking about something that has been bothering me for years. Most golfers — and I mean most — are walking around with putters that make absolutely no sense for their game. They see their favorite tour pro using something shiny and new, march into the pro shop, and boom, the purchase is made. No questions are ever asked about whether the putter will actually fit how they putt.

Scott has just proved that even the most successful setups sometimes need a complete overhaul. If that doesn't make you question your own putting situation, I don't know what will.

When Champions Change Everything

What Scott did wasn't just swapping one putter for another. He abandoned his L.A.B. Golf Directed Force long putter — the one that helped define his career — for their new OZ.1i HS traditional-length model. This represents a significant philosophical shift, particularly when considering that Scott finished 111th in Strokes Gained: Putting this season and missed the FedEx Cup Playoffs entirely.

Scott made history at the 2013 Masters as the first player to win that tournament with a long putter — though he wasn't the first major winner to use an anchored stroke. That distinction belongs to Keegan Bradley at the 2011 PGA Championship, followed by Webb Simpson and Ernie Els. However, Scott's Masters victory completed what many saw as validation for long putter technology.

Why Everyone's Doing It Wrong

During my almost three decades working in golf, I've witnessed this same mistake repeated countless times. Golfers will pick putters based on what looks cool, what their buddy uses, or what they saw on TV last Sunday. Rarely will they buy a putter that actually matches their stroke.

It's backwards thinking when you think about it.

These same players will spend 3 hours getting fitted for a driver they'll use 14 times per round, then grab whatever putter "feels right" in 30 seconds. Meanwhile, putting accounts for roughly 40 percent of their shots in an average round.

I've seen players fighting blade putters when they desperately need mallet forgiveness. Others use face-balanced designs when their natural stroke screams for toe weighting.

They're sabotaging themselves before they even line up the putt.

What Actually Matters in Putter Design

Head Shape Is Everything

Mallets versus blades isn't just about looks — though that's usually how golfers make the decision. Mallet putters spread weight around the perimeter, which means off-center hits won't punish you as severely. This is the reason nearly 70 percent of tour players now use them. These guys hit the ball more consistently than anyone, and they still want that forgiveness.

Blade putters give you pure feedback. Every mishit, you'll know about immediately. Some players love that direct connection. Others find it discouraging. Half-mallets try to bridge both worlds — some forgiveness and a traditional feel.

Face Construction Changes Everything

Face insert putters utilize materials such as urethane or specialized metals to create a softer impact and more consistent ball roll, even when you don't catch it perfectly. Milled faces, on the other hand, are carved from solid metal and give you unfiltered feedback about your contact quality.

Neither approach is automatically better. Tiger Woods, for example, won multiple majors with an insert putter, proving that the "best" option depends entirely on what you need from your equipment.

Where The Shaft Attaches Affects Your Stroke

Center-shafted putters generally work better if you take the putter straight back and straight through. Heel-shafted designs, however, complement natural arcing strokes where the putter face opens and closes slightly during the motion.

Scott's switch to a heel-shafted putter tells us something important: he's probably embracing more natural face rotation instead of fighting it. This represents a significant technical shift for someone who has been going one way for over a decade.

Balance Determines Face Behavior

Face-balanced putters resist twisting and work well for straight-back, straight-through strokes. Toe-weighted putters, by contrast, want to rotate naturally, which suits arcing stroke patterns.

You can test this yourself right now. Simply balance any putter on your finger. If the face points toward the sky, it's face-balanced. If the toe droops down, it's toe-weighted. Simple as that.

Length and Grip Size Matter More Than You Think

Standard putters typically measure between 32 and 36 inches, but "standard" is meaningless if it doesn't fit your setup. Your height, how you stand over the ball, and what feels comfortable should determine length — not what everyone else uses.

Grip size is equally crucial. Larger grips quiet your hands and reduce face rotation. Smaller grips let you manipulate the putter more actively. Both approaches work, but only if they match your natural tendencies.

What Scott's Teaching Us

Adam Scott's equipment revolution should make every golfer uncomfortable. This is a guy who won one of golf's biggest championships with his previous setup. He earned millions of dollars putting that way. Yet he was honest enough to admit it wasn't working anymore and brave enough to start over completely.

Most recreational golfers never reach that level of honest self-evaluation. They'll often blame their putting struggles on everything except the equipment they're using. "I just need to practice more." "The greens were bumpy." "I got unlucky."

Sometimes, the problem is really simpler than that. Sometimes you're just fighting your putter every time you step onto a green.

Scott's switch reminds us that no equipment choice is permanent. Even the most successful relationships with golf clubs sometimes need to come to an end. The question is whether you're willing to be as honest with yourself as he was with his putting.

So next time you're standing over a 3-footer wondering why putting feels so difficult, don't automatically blame your stroke. Instead, consider whether your putter is actually helping you succeed or setting you up to fail.

After all, if Adam Scott can throw away a decade of muscle memory and millions in career earnings to find a better way to putt, maybe the rest of us can at least question whether we're using the right tool for the job.