Let's face it, if you're an average putter you're probably in the majority. We all face the same dilemma; will buying that expensive new putter actually improve my game over the one that's already in my bag? While most of us are probably destined to 3 putt the rest of our lives we decided to take a look at some comparison testing against the putter god, Scotty Cameron.
We wanted to keep this test as much of a, "Is the grass really greener on the other side of the fence" theory as possible so we pulled together a group of putters that normal players would carry. The field that we tested is as follows:
- Odyssey O-Works Black with Winn AVS Pistol Grip
- Ping Sigma G Darby with Ping PP60 Pistol Grip
- Taylormade TP Black Copper Ardmore 3 with Superstroke Pistol GT Grip
- Odyssey White Hot 2 Ball with Superstroke Flatso 2.0
- Pyramid Aztec AZ-1
- Scotty Cameron 2020 Special Select Newport 2 with Pistolini Plus Grip
As for the actual testing, we took each putter onto the course for a single round each and then put them all through a 200 shot 4 distance test and broke things down into these standards for grading:
- Build Quality/Materials
- Feel
- Forgiveness
- 4 Distance Shot Test
Are they all scientific? No. This isn't Consumer Reports, give us a break.
BUILD QUALITY/MATERIALS
These are all major brand putters, with the exception of the Pyramid, and none are bargain bin so it comes as no surprise that they all seem very high quality. With them all being in the same class, this is sort of splitting hairs. The one that stands apart is the Scotty. It's solid, and of all 6 tested it feels like it's the only one that would still seem new after 10 years of play. Chock this one up to, "You get what you pay for". The surprise of the group is probably the Pyramid. It's got a great weight to it and the finish and material durability seem really good for more of an unknown competitor.
WINNER: Scotty Cameron Special Select Newport 2
2ND PLACE: Pyramid Aztec 2
3RD PLACE: Taylormade TP Black Copper Ardmore 3
FEEL
This category is less about grips because let's face it, those are easily changed. Instead, we focused on feedback and feel during contact. Needless to say, the two putters tested with solid milled faces had a clear advantage here. No surprise that the top three here is the same as Build Quality/Materials
WINNER: Scotty Cameron Special Select Newport 2
2ND PLACE: Pyramid Aztec 2
3RD PLACE: Taylormade TP Black Copper Ardmore 3
FORGIVENESS
We all have mis-hits, even the pros, so forgiveness can be massively important. The Pyramid is marketed as self-correcting and it does seem to come out straight even on some slight variation. The real shocker of this category was the Taylormade Ardmore. Especially on short putts, the accuracy of this putter is hard to overstate.
WINNER:
Taylormade TP Black Copper Ardmore 3
2ND PLACE: Pyramid Aztec 2
3RD PLACE:
Scotty Cameron Special Select Newport 2
4 DISTANCE SHOT TEST
For this test we took a lot of measures to level the playing field. For each of the 4 distances (4', 6', 8', and 10') we took ten putts with ten different balls and switched putters (to assure that we didn't just get on a run with a certain putter) until each club had 100 putts per distance (Total of 2,400). The total number of putts made determined the winner at each distance and subsequently the overall winner.
DISTANCE 1 - 4 FEET
Average across all putts: 89.3%
Taylormade TP Black Copper Ardmore 3: 95
Scotty Cameron 2020 Special Select Newport 2: 93
Odyssey O-Works Black: 91
Odyssey White Hot 2 Ball: 86
Pyramid Aztec AZ-1: 86
Ping Sigma G Darby: 85
DISTANCE 2 - 6 FEET
Average across all putts: 82.3%
Taylormade TP Black Copper Ardmore 3: 86
Scotty Cameron 2020 Special Select Newport 2: 86
Odyssey O-Works Black: 83
Odyssey White Hot 2 Ball: 83
Ping Sigma G Darby: 78
Pyramid Aztec AZ-1: 78
Pyramid Aztec AZ-1: 78
DISTANCE 3 - 8 FEET
Average across all putts: 78.3%
Scotty Cameron 2020 Special Select Newport 2: 85
Taylormade TP Black Copper Ardmore 3: 82
Odyssey White Hot 2 Ball: 80
Odyssey O-Works Black: 78
Pyramid Aztec AZ-1: 77
Ping Sigma G Darby: 68
DISTANCE 4 - 10 FEET
DISTANCE 4 - 10 FEET
Average across all putts: 70.8%
Scotty Cameron 2020 Special Select Newport 2: 77
Taylormade TP Black Copper Ardmore 3: 72
Odyssey O-Works Black: 71
Odyssey White Hot 2 Ball: 70
Pyramid Aztec AZ-1: 68
Ping Sigma G Darby: 67
TOTAL OF ALL DISTANCES
TOTAL OF ALL DISTANCES
Average across all putts: 80.2%
Scotty Cameron 2020 Special Select Newport 2: 341
Taylormade TP Black Copper Ardmore 3: 335
Odyssey O-Works Black: 323
Odyssey White Hot 2 Ball: 319
Pyramid Aztec AZ-1: 309
Ping Sigma G Darby: 298
FINAL THOUGHTS
So, is a Scotty Cameron really better than your club? The numbers say, yeah it might be. Albeit probably pretty marginally. At the end of the day its probably more about the intangibles than we all want to admit and this thing has a ton of those. It looks good, its nice, and it's priced accordingly. Like Deion said, "If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you play good. If you play good, they pay good".
