Scottie Scheffler is a blade putter user. He has used them throughout his career, with the exception of a short switch at the CJ Cup in 2022. Scheffler switches his putter models from time to time, but he usually opts for his custom Scotty Cameron Special Select Timeless GSS prototypes.
Scheffler, however, was seen Tuesday, at the 2023 FedEx St. Jude Championship testing several TaylorMade Spider Mallet Putters.
It was a rare sight to see a mallet-style putting club, which is hardly suited to Scheffler. But that’s not the end of this story.
Scheffler’s test putter faces are not the standard Spiders with Pure Roll inserts. The faces instead appeared to be milled face constructions made of metal with visible screws on the toe and heel. The necks were designed to look like plumbers’, which is a familiar style of hosel for Scheffler.
Scheffler gave one of TaylorMade’s Spider Tour X SS Proto putting clubs a place in his bag on Thursday.
Scheffler gave a press conference on Wednesday at TPC Southwind. He provided more insight into the never before seen TaylorMade prototyping heads and explained what he liked about the new design.
Scheffler said, “The guys at TaylorMade did a lot of the work on my putter.” “I liked the look of the Spider putter but did not enjoy the feel. We talked about the feel. I have always had trouble with putters which are heavy in the back. This one has more weight on the front, so it feels like a blade, but also has that visual top, where I can line it up easier. This year, I feel like some of my putts have been right on the edge but not in.
It could be my alignment. If you have a half-inch alignment problem, your ball will either go in the middle instead of out or out instead. It’s a close game, so I feel comfortable with the balance point on this putter. I can’t wait to test it this week .”
Scheffler said in his press conference on Wednesday that the weight of the Spider putter is “more in front”. Scheffler’s approved design has a solid face construction. It makes sense that the CG would be closer to the face of the putter than a Spider with a Surlyn insert. This will make the putter feel more like a mallet than a standard Spider.
TaylorMade is yet to comment on these designs. While it’s not confirmed which head Scheffler played on Thursday or the differences between prototypes, we got a good look at a TaylorMade spider Tour X Proto putter this week.
See more photos and read what GolfWRX forum members have to say about the Spider prototype putting putter.
View all our photos of the 2023 FedEx St. Jude Championship by clicking here
