Tony Finau has unconventional new golf club in his bag before the Truist Championship

Tony Finau tests broomstick putter ahead of The Truist Championship

Finau has used a Ping blade putter for a number of years, but after a poor start to the season, he’s trialing a broomstick at The Truist. But it’s not your typical long putter like Adam Scott and Akshay Bhatia use.

This putter is more angled than others, as Finau looked for a way to hold the club that felt more comfortable. He’s not using the claw grip like Bhatia with his right hand, and he’s not standing over the club like many of the long putter users.

He explained why he’s holding the club differently before The Truist Championship to Golf WRX, “I didn’t play last week, so I was like, maybe this is the time to give it a chance. It never felt good, though. 

“I was holding it different. These guys are doing like it’s an actual broomstick where they’re going like this (holding with a fist at the top with thumb pointing up and sweeping with the right hand). It’s never felt comfortable like this; that’s why I actually never gave it a shot.

“Most people use it because it helps almost anchor it up here, and it helps them get rid of any type of yip or anything. I feel like I’m going to get the yips going like this, so I actually have to put my hand like this (with palm facing up), but it feels really nice.

“I putted for about 45 minutes, where I was just forcing myself to do this. And then I just noticed getting even on a mat, it’s like it was so hard to make a good stroke. And I was like, ‘alright, it doesn’t feel natural at all.’

“So then I was like, ‘Is there a way for me to hold a long putter where it actually feels at least repeatable and natural?’ and that was the way.”

Why Tony Finau’s switch to a broomstick putter is confusing

This move would make sense if Finau’s putting was holding him back, but that hasn’t been the case over the last two seasons.

Looking at his Strokes Gained data, it’s red across the board, but he’s actually gained strokes on the green in 2026.

Where Finau has lost strokes not just this season, but last season too, is off the tee. He ranks 150th on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy, hitting just 50% of fairways, and 80th in driving distance. That puts the American 142nd in total driving on the tour this year.

In modern golf, that’s simply not going to cut it, and he should be spending his days and nights addressing that instead of messing around with a broomstick putter.