Gift-givers, hint-hint: Here are 2024’s hottest putters
Putters are too big to fit in a stocking and too personal to give without a fitting. If you’re a giver who revels in the surprise of the recipient, this would not seem to be a wise choice.
On the other hand, it’s a given that the golfers we love use the putter more than any other club in the bag. If the giver can manage to personalize this gift – maybe by sneaking the current putter out to the golf shop for an expert match to one of the Fab 5 below – disappointment seems unlikely. A safe alternative with built-in fun: a gift certificate that includes a fitting and a trip to one of Colorado’s indoor putting experiences. The best alternative of all: gift to self, maybe with some of that pro shop money left over from the season’s victories.
Here are the year’s hot flatsticks according to the CGA’s friends at Golftec, PGA Tour SuperStore and Lenny’s.
Titleist’s Scotty Cameron. This name has been the gold standard for putting at least as long as Tiger Woods piled up majors. The 2024 introductions were the Phantom mallet, the bottom of which looks a bit like a fighter jet, and two long putters. The latest arrival at Lenny’s is the gorgeous – or, a guy might say, cool-looking – Xperimental GOLO 6.2 LTD ($800). Scotty Camerons routinely retail at ballpark $400 and coveted collectors models go for much more.
Ping’s PLD. Ping has a well-deserved reputation for crafting precision putters and fitting players for look, size and feel. A custom fitting here – online or in the Arizona lab – is recommended before splurging on the latest “it” collection, PLD. The five new milled models ($485 each) include Ping’s flagship Anser, modernized.
Callaway’s Odyssey Ai-One. Odyssey’s distinctive White Hot line put it on the putting green with Scotty Cameron and Ping, and now the Ai-One collection is red hot. There are milled mallets, round mallets, two-balls and blades. Here in Colorado, our own Wyndham Clark has brought the Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser ($350) front and center.
TaylorMade’s Spider. Scotty Scheffler did his thing in 2024 with the Spider Tour X ($350), also a favorite of Rory McElroy and Nelly Korda. Who wouldn’t want to putt like those three? But there’s variety in that Spider collection, with the Spider GT Max ($450), the Spider GTX ($200) and, in red or ghost white, the Spider Bend ($250).
L.A.B. Golf’s DF3. L.A.B. stands for Lie Angle Balance technology, which led to patents for an elliptical putting grip (2015) and a self-balancing putter (2016). The labgolf.com website explains it all, convincingly, and will even fit players to the most important component, lie angle, without a visit to a shop. You just need a video and some careful measurements. The Oregon-built standard DF3 comes in the most popular specs at $449; add $100 to customize.
P.S. Mr. McMulligan remarked: “Would you really spend that much on a putter?” Ha! How much did he spend on that seven-wood he uses maybe three times a round? And, oh, that driver he uses MAYBE 16 times a round? Say no more.
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Veteran journalist Susan Fornoff has written about golf for publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, ColoradoBiz magazine and her own GottaGoGolf.com. She provides the voice of “Molly McMulligan,” the CGA’s on-course consultant on golf for fun. Email her at mollymcmulligan@gmail.com.
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