Scottie Scheffler’s TaylorMade Spider Tour X putter

Golfweek’s David Dusek reviews Scottie Scheffler’s TaylorMade Spider Tour X putter.

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I reached out to tayor made to see if
they would send me an exact replica of
Scotty sheffer’s Putter and they did it
so as you probably know the world’s
number one player Scotty Sheffer had a
fantastic 2023 but his putting was
absolutely abysmal so starting at the
end of the season he started tinkering
around with different Putters going into
a new tailor made spider that had a
really interesting miled face then he
went into some Olsen design Putters some
blade Putters then a couple days before
the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay
Hill in 2024 Scotty Sheffer put in a
spider tourx putter exactly like this
one and he ended up dominating the field
and winning and then the next week at
the Players Championship at TPC sress he
won again he very nearly won his third
start in a row after making this putter
change but ended up being a runner up at
that point I reached out and emailed
tailorman asking for a spider Tour X
putter that is exactly like Scotty
sheffer’s putter a few days later I had
a conversation with Andrew oldo at
Taylor mate he’s the person who’s in
charge of Taylor M’s putter Division and
I asked him what are the differences
between this Putter and the putter that
you would find at retail I also asked
him from his perspective why Scott
sheffler went into the spider tourx
Putter and what benefits he was going to
get from using this putter as opposed to
some of the putters he’d used in the
past the most interesting thing that
Andrew talked about with me and what he
mentioned first was the fact that Scotty
was having trouble aligning his blade
Putters and that by going to a spider
Tour X putter like this it allowed him
to get into a bigger easierto ous
alignment system for obvious reasons
blade style putter simply don’t have the
real estate to give you a very large
very easy to use alignment system lots
of times they’re going to have a single
line maybe a couple lines maybe a few
dots according to tlor T Scotty Sheffer
was having trouble aligning those
Putters and getting his putt started on
the line that he really intended by
going to the tailor made spider TX he
was able to get into a much longer
alignment system it was easier for him
to aim the putter face tailor made
refers to this white alignment feature
on the top with the single alignment
line as true path and so for Sheffer it
was just simply a lot easier to set the
face up on his intended target line to
get his putts rolling where he wanted to
roll them using this true path alignment
system rather than either the lines or
dots or other putter aiming mechanisms
that he had on Blaze now that being said
Tor made worked really hard to make sure
that this thing was going to swing and
feel exactly like the blazed out Putters
that Sheffer has used in the past and to
do that they put on this El neck hle
system now this is not a hosle that is
currently available at retail however if
sheer keeps winning I wouldn’t be the
least bit surprised if we see this
addition to the lineup at some point in
2024 now what makes this hazzle unique
and a little bit different from the
standard hles that are going to be
available on spider two or X is that
this is going to create a little bit of
tow hang you see if I balance this
putter out here on my hands you can see
that the toe portion of this putter
actually drops down it droops just a
little bit below where the heel section
is that means that the balance of this
putter the weighting if you will of this
putter is going to naturally open up on
the back swing and that is something
that a person who typically plays with a
blazed out putter likes people have
different types of putting Strokes some
people try and go straight back and
straight through some people have a
slight Arc to their putting stroke
bringing it to the inside squaring it at
the moment of impact and then letting it
sort of release through some people have
a pretty pronounced um amount of arc on
their putting stroke so once again this
is sheffer’s putter with that El that
hazzle this is going to be a retail
version um of the spyer tourx Putter and
you can see the hazzle is very very
different and if I balance this putter
you’re going to notice that the face
points almost directly straight up to
the sky this is what is referred to as
face balance so this putter while the
head is identical to the Scotty sheffler
model they are going to balance
differently and they are going to be
optimized for a different type of
putting stroke this face balanced putter
being much more ideally suited to
somebody who makes a relatively straight
back straight through putting stroke
this is in fact the same insert that’s
found in the retail version of the
spider tour Potters this is 80% Surin
tailmate according to uh Andrew has
tested out 100% Surin um pure roll
inserts but they end up being too soft
too mushy they don’t give the feedback
the players like so there is actually an
aluminum powder that’s mixed in with the
Sirin that gives it a little bit better
sound a little bit more click sound but
just like the other P roll inserts that
are out there the one that’s in
sheffer’s putter has grooves that are in
it that point on a 45° angle downward
and what those grooves are designed to
do is grab onto the back of the golf
ball and utilizing the Loft get it out
of the depression that the golf Ball’s
weight makes on the green but then get
it rolling faster than it would
otherwise quicker you get the ball
rolling rather than skidding or bouncing
on the green the more consistent the
performance you’re going to get the
retail has a superstroke pistol 1.0 grip
that comes as standard with the
obviously the uh Spider graphics on it
this is a Golf Pride um Pro only grip
that’s on right here and it is a little
bit more of a cord style feel um it does
have a pistol style shape for a player
who uses an arch putting stroke
generally speaking going with a slightly
smaller grip can feel a little bit more
natural for players who are trying to
create that straight back straight
through stroke going with slightly
larger putter grips can sometimes be
beneficial but at the end of the day the
question that I want to know and I’m
sure you want to know as well is how
does this thing feel does it feel like a
retail putter when I strike it how does
it perform on the greens so let’s go
find out
[Music]
okay so now that I have rolled a few
putts with Scotty sheffer’s spider TX
compared to a standard spider tourx I
got to tell you they feel pretty much
identical now that makes sense because
there is going to be the same true roll
insert in both of these Putters so when
the ball comes off of the face it should
sound and feel identical and to me they
they absolutely did do you notice a
difference in the putting stroke when
you have a putter that has an L hosle
which makes a slight Arc to it that
being said for me personally I also
create a slight Arc with my putting
stroke naturally so an elk huzzle to me
feels more natural than going with this
single Bend huzzle when it comes down to
length and grips and such that stuff is
going to be very subjective some people
like a smaller grip some people like a a
larger grip and it goes without saying
that Sheffer had this putter created to
the length that he needs to set up in
the addressed position where he wants to
be I do understand that this putter was
lengthened just a little bit from where
sheer had been before adding about a
quar of an inch so he can be a little
bit more upright in the addressed
position that comes down really to
working with a good custom fitter so
that when you get into the ideal address
position you’ve got a putter that
naturally is going to allow you to be
there comfortably so once you to wrap it
up the magic for Scotty sheffler in this
spider Tour X putter is going to be this
true path alignment system combining
that with a hosle configuration allows
him to make his natural slight Arc
stroke when those two things get put
together obviously he’s been tremendous
ly successful putting much much better
than he did certainly in 2023
[Music]