Fowler’s Odyssey Versa Jailbird set in movement one of the well-liked gear developments within the business.
Jonathan Wall/GOLF
With all due respect to golf’s governing our bodies and their try and shake up the sport with an earth-shattering ball rollback proposal for all — the largest gear story of the 12 months was finalized months in the past. Up till this 12 months, lengthy putters gave the impression to be destined for obscurity after the USGA and R&A proposed modifications to Rule 14-1 of the Guidelines of Golf, within the spring of 2013, that successfully killed the lengthy putter.
Shortly thereafter, Matt Kuchar, Bryson DeChambeau and Will Zalatoris put the arm-lock method on the map and watched because it obtained pushback from fellow pros who claimed it must be banned. From that time ahead, the tactic finally misplaced steam and slowly pale into the background.
Whereas we’d by no means see a return to the glory days of lengthy putters, Rickie Fowler set in movement a putter development that took the golf world by storm this 12 months — and doesn’t seem like slowing down.
To know how we received right here, it’s greatest to start out originally when Fowler put an outdated Odyssey Versa Jailbird mallet in play on the American Specific Championship.
A little bit of inside baseball on Fowler’s putter: The construct virtually by no means occurred. Again in January when Joe Toulon, Callaway’s PGA Tour supervisor and a former Odyssey rep, was sifting by putter drawers throughout a truck cleanup, he occurred upon a single Versa Jailbird head. It’s vital to recollect Jailbird was discontinued after its launch in 2013, so the putter had no enterprise being within the drawer.
Jonathan Wall/GOLF
“The journey by the truck was extra to see what we wanted and didn’t want to start out the 12 months [at the American Express],” Toulon informed GOLF.com. “I keep in mind discovering the Jailbird head and considering to myself, man, this hasn’t been that well-liked of a head, particularly currently. However with Versa coming again, I simply determined to depart it on the truck.”
One week later in La Quinta, California, Toulon obtained a textual content from Fowler with a request to have a Versa Jailbird constructed to match caddie Ricky Romano’s wand — all the way down to the 17-inch SuperStroke grip and slab of lead tape on the only real that helped it obtain a particular counterbalance really feel.
Fowler shortly discovered his stroke on the greens and the requests began coming from different execs for the “Rickie Fowler putter.” A kind of construct requests got here from Wyndham Clark, who rolled putts with Fowler’s Jailbird simply months earlier than besting his buddy with virtually the very same putter construct at the U.S. Open.
If Fowler’s success set issues in movement for a Jailbird resurgence, Clark’s maiden main win broke the dam.
With extra requests than heads out there, Odyssey needed to get selective at first. Then got here the retail demand from leisure gamers clamoring to get their palms on a particular construct that may finally be referred to as the “Jailbird 380 White Sizzling” — an equivalent replica of Fowler’s 380-gram putter, sans the slab of lead tape. As anticipated, the limited-edition putter offered out in a matter of minutes and even crashed Odyssey’s web site.
L.A.B. Golf MEZZ.1
$449
Zero Torque. Zero Compromise. MEZZ.1 Stock makes it easy for any golfer to benefit from Lie Angle Balance. It looks pretty much like a normal putter. But it actually helps you make putts. MEZZ.1 Stock is our mid-mallet putter that’s fully CNC machined from a billet of 6061 aircraft aluminum (body) and 303 stainless steel (midsection). It includes 10 weights (eight on the bottom, two on the sides) that allow us to individually build each putter to a golfer’s exact specifications.
Finish: Anodized 6061 Aircraft Aluminum (Black) and Brushed 303 Stainless Steel.
Length: 33, 34, or 35 inches.
Lie Angles: 67, 69, or 71 degrees.
Loft: 2.5 degrees static loft (1-degree of effective loft with Press II 1.5º).
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When a putter begins to generate unimaginable curiosity on Tour and within the retail market, different producers discover a method to journey the wave of success. On this case, that turned out to be L.A.B. Golf, which noticed Lucas Glover put the corporate’s Mezz.1 Max broomstick within the highlight late within the season.
Unable to get something going with the wand, Glover determined to provide the broomstick technique a shot earlier than the Memorial Event after seeing fellow professional Adam Scott have success with the construct.
“I simply ordered one and requested for Adam Scott specs from the putter rep,” Glover mentioned. “I mentioned we’re about the identical peak, I don’t need to know anything and I’ll educate myself how to do that.”
The “Adam Scott specs” is code for a 45-inch broomstick construct — higher often called the lengthy putter Scott used to win the 2013 Masters. In contrast to a traditional putter the place the palms are positioned one instantly above the opposite on the grip, Glover’s broomstick construct required him to get snug with a special stance and break up grip — which means two separate grips on the shaft — that positioned his palms effectively aside from one another. Glover admitted there was an acclimation interval, but it surely didn’t take him lengthy to see a noticeable enchancment in his stroke.
Glover would go on to win back-to-back PGA Tour occasions — Wyndham and the FedEx St. Jude Championship — to set in movement a run on broomstick putters that’s prone to proceed into subsequent 12 months. (L.A.B. additionally noticed Camilo Villegas win utilizing a L.A.B. wand that includes, you guessed it, Fowler’s similar 17-inch SuperStroke Tour 3.0 grip.)
The anchored broomstick is perhaps lifeless within the water, however with Fowler, Clark, Glover and Villegas main the cost, longer counterbalance and brookstick builds are making a main comeback. Solely this time round, it doesn’t really feel like a fleeting development.
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