Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy explain switches to new putters

Early this week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, Scottie Scheffler – who has used blade-style putters for the majority of his professional career – was spotted testing multiple TaylorMade Spider mallet putters.

The putters that Scheffler tested sent shockwaves across the equipment world for two reasons:

1) This was a rare departure from the norm for Scheffler, who typically employs custom Scotty Cameron Special Select blade putters.

2) The TaylorMade Spider putters appeared noticeably different than the company’s typical retail designs. TaylorMade Spider putters are usually built with “Pure Roll” inserts in the face for enhanced feel and performance, but Scheffler’s prototype versions appeared to have solid faces, sans insert.

On Wednesday, Scheffler confirmed that he’s giving the new TaylorMade Spider TourX “SS Proto” putter design a starting spot in the bag on Thursday, and he spoke on the mysterious new design:

“So the guys at TaylorMade have done a lot of work for me with the putter,” Scheffler explained. “I've always liked the visual of that Spider putter, but I really just did not like the feel. That's something we discussed, kind of the feel and – I've always struggled with putters that have a lot of weight in the back side of it, and this one is a bit different than a lot of the Spiders that they've made, and the weight is more in the front so it has the feel of a blade putter that I like but it also has a lot of that visual on the top where it's easier for me to line up. It feels like at times this year I've hit a lot of good putts that have gone right up to the edge and not gone in.

“Maybe it could be my alignment. If your alignment is a half-inch off, the ball lips out instead of going in the middle or lips out instead of lips in. The margins in this game are so close, so it's something that I feel really comfortable with where the balance point is on this putter, and I'm excited to try it out this week.”

Since typical Spider mallets have soft face inserts, the solid face on Scheffler’s prototype helps move the center of gravity (CG) more toward the face. This helps more closely mimic the design and feel of his previous blade putter, while still gaining the benefits of a larger, more forgiving head style.

Scheffler’s new Spider TourX SS Proto putter appears to have a milled face, a single black alignment line against a white True Path channel on the crown, and a muted charcoal body with a custom sole plate. It also has a plumber’s neck hosel, which is reminiscent of his previous blade putters.

Think of Scheffler’s new putter as a hybrid between a blade and a mallet; it has the body and structure of a Spider mallet, but it’s made to match Scheffler’s blade-style preferences and familiarity.

Scheffler was not the only one to make news by switching putters just before the FedExCup Playoffs. Rory McIlroy did the same, meaning that Nos. 2 and 3 in the FedExCup standings heading into this three-week playoff stretch have switched at the same time.

McIlroy has mostly used a TaylorMade Spider over the past few years but switched to a Scotty Cameron at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and used a blade-style Cameron at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in March.

Six weeks later, at the Wells Fargo Championship, McIlroy returned to his original putter, the TaylorMade Spider Hydro Blast mallet.

This week he’s using a Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5, which is a winged mallet. The switch, according to McIlroy, doesn’t appear to be as dramatic as it seems.

“Honestly, I just wanted a different look, just wanted to freshen it up,” McIlroy said Wednesday in Memphis. “I've got my Spider with me this week if that putter isn't doing what I want it to do over the first couple days. I may go back. I just wanted to freshen it up.

“Honestly, it was zero testing process. It was go into the garage and see what I had and just pull a couple out and go have a few putts. That was it.”

McIlroy is 86th in Strokes Gained: Putting this season after having the best putting year of his career in 2022. He ranked a career-high 16th in that category en route to his record third FedExCup title.