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NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF PRIDE, THE #1 GRIP ON TOUR
The search for an effective putter has been an arduous task for world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, even to the point where he is unafraid to make drastic switches in the middle of tournaments.
After playing three rounds of the RBC Heritage with his normal TaylorMade Spider Tour, Johnson went for a TP Bandon 1 Prototype that featured an LA Golf multi-material TPZ 135 shaft that Sunday. It was the first time Johnson had used a multi-material putter shaft – he tested it on Wednesday before the tournament and received a final build on Saturday before using it on Sunday, where he had success, rising to No. 8 in strokes gained putting for the week.
“I feel like I haven’t putted really well for the last few weeks, so that’s kind of really why I’ve just been struggling with my putter,” Johnson said in the aftermath of his T13 finish in Hilton Head Island two weeks ago. “I kept with it, kept practicing, kept grinding, but it wasn’t really getting any better, so sometimes it’s just time for a change.”
Johnson admitted to not knowing the name of his new putter, but regardless, his praise of the TP Bandon 1 Prototype would lead most to believe that he will employ it at the Valspar Championship this week.
Steel putter shafts have long been the standard, but the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Kevin Na and Rickie Fowler have popularized multi-material shafts that claim to offer more stability for the putter head through impact. For Johnson, one of the materials in the shaft is Zylon, which costs roughly $2,000 a pound. For obvious reasons, these versions remain mostly in the hands of professional golfers.
Johnson isn’t the only top player willing to give this putter-and-shaft combination a try. Tommy Fleetwood also switched to the TP Bandon 1 Prototype with the same shaft. He lost more than two strokes to the field on the greens in his first-round 76 but came back with a 6-under 65 in the second round while showing great improvements on the greens at Harbour Town.
For other players, the arm-lock putting method may be of greater value than going with a multi-material shaft. Kevin Kisner used an Odyssey StrokeLab Black #7 Arm Lock putter with little success at the RBC Heritage and several other players have taken to practice greens in recent weeks to try the method that Will Zalatoris used with great success at the Masters.
Of course there still are plenty of players looking to more conventional means in hopes of shoring up their putting. Matt Wallace has opted for an Odyssey 2-Ball Ten while Patrick Cantlay has gone recently to an Odyssey White Hot OG 2-Ball mallet with a SuperStroke Flatso 1.0 grip.
Sean Fairholm