Behind Every Stroke: The Most Popular Putter on Champions Tour (2024)

To complete Golfing Focus’ in-depth analysis of what clubs Champions Tour pros use today we finally turned our analytical lens onto what is traditionally the shortest club in the bag – the putter.

We wanted to find out whether one particular putter is trusted above all others when it comes to the ones the best pros on the Senior Tour are playing.

Odyssey’s White Hot OG 2-Ball putter is the most popular on the Champions Tour with Padraig Harrington among the pros using it. White Hot models account for 22% of Senior Tour putters and the White Hot OG #7 Bird is the next most used alongside TaylorMade’s Spider and Scotty Cameron’s Phantom X T11.5, Newport 2 and Circle T 009 models.

In all, among the fifty Champions Tour pros Golfing Focus found reliable putter data on, we uncovered 41 different models of putter being used with many of the putters also being marked as a ‘prototype’ version made specifically for an individual player.

And therefore just as we found when Golfing Focus did a similar in-depth study of the most used putters on the PGA Tour it is clear that the Senior Tour pros are equally as exact as the main Tour colleagues when it comes to their putter requirements.

How precise Champions Tour pros are with their putters was also evident when it comes to the putter grips they pick which is another topic we cover in the remainder of the post together with why it is probably best to list Odyssey putters as the most ‘used’ rather than the most ‘popular’.

The Most Popular Putter On Champions Tour Is White hot

Roughly 40% of any golfer’s shots, whatever their ability, are taken on the putting green.

So it stands to reason that the best senior pros would take a great deal of care when selecting their putter.

Fortunately for them also, if they want to test a new putter, or make an adjustment to their existing one, it is not difficult for them to do so given all the equipment trucks that follow them around.

So it was fascinating to see through our research what the most popular putters on the Senior Tour are.

Odyssey putters are the most popular on the Champions Tour with over 40% of pros choosing them including 2023 money list winner Steve Stricker. Scotty Cameron and PING putters are the next most common with these 3 brands making up over 80% of the putters Golfing Focus analysed. But there are also 8 other putter brands used by Senior Tour pros.

Given our analysis of the putters of fifty Champions Tour pros turned up 41 different models though it is perhaps stretching things slightly to say one particular model is the most ‘popular’ as it appears almost every senior pro has a putter which only they use.

That so many different putters are being played is therefore perhaps simply more of an indication of how much care and attention Champions Tour players take to ensure their putter meets their precise individual needs.

But it is also likely an indication that like their amateur counterparts, a senior Tour pro’s confidence on the putting green can be just as fickle.

And that they are therefore consistently searching, like we all are, for that magic wand that will lead to more putts being holed on the greens!

Nevertheless, because our detailed research uncovered that close to the majority of Champions Tour pros – 44% based on the data available – are using ‘prototype’ putters it does illustrate how precise the top senior players are when it comes to the ‘shortest’ club in their bag.

Assuming of course they are not using a broom handle putter!

What was clear though was that Odyssey, Scotty Cameron and PING putter models dominate the putters used by Champions Tour pros with ones made by one of these manufacturers making up over 80% of the putters being used.

That being said Golfing Focus also found putters from eight other companies being played including from specialist putter manufacturers such as SIK, Bloodline, Bettinardi and Sacks Parente.

4-time major champion, and now Champions Tour legend, Ernie Els for example uses Bloodline’s RJ-1 putter while Fred Couples carries a Bettinardi putter named after himself – the ‘FC Prototype’.

Another key thing to bear in mind however, in any discussion of what is the most ‘popular’ putter among any group of pros, is the question of sponsorship.

Although it is very hard to know the details of all the Champions Tour players’ specific endorsement deals our analysis found several senior pros using a putter produced by one of their equipment sponsors.

Indeed 2023 Champions Tour money list winner Steve Stricker has had an endorsement deal with Odyssey since 2019 which is only for his putter.

But given the seven-time Senior Major Champion has used his Odyssey White Hot 2 putter almost exclusively since 2006 you would argue the sponsorship money is taking advantage of his success with that putter and he would use it irrespective of any endorsement contract.

So while it is without question that the putter choices of Champions Tour pros are influenced on some occasions by sponsorships it seems equally likely that others are not.

That being said it is probably better to consider that Odyssey, Scotty Cameron and PING putters are by far the most ‘common’ or ‘used’ among Champion Tour pros rather than the most ‘popular’.

BRAND OF PUTTER	CHAMPIONS TOUR PROS USING BRAND	MOST POPULAR PUTTER MODEL(S)
Odyssey	Alex Cejka, Bernhard Langer, David Duval, Jerry Kelly, Joe Durant, John Daly, Justin Leonard, K.J. Choi, Lee Janzen, Olin Browne, Padraig Harrington, Retief Goosen, Rob Labritz, Rod Pampling, Steve Flesch, Steve Stricker, Steven Alker, Stuart Appleby, Tim O’Neal, Tom Lehman, Vijay Singh	White Hot OG 2-Ball Check PGA Superstore
Scotty Cameron	Billy Andrade, Brett Quigley, Brian Gay, Darren Clarke, David Toms, Davis Love III, Dicky Pride, Esteban Toledo, Mike Weir, Woody Austin, Y.E. Yang	Phantom X T11.5 Check PGA Superstore Newport 2 Notchback Circle T 009 (M)
PING	Arjun Atwal, Chris DiMarco, Jeff Maggert, Ken Tanigawa, Kevin Sutherland, Kirk Triplett, Miguel Angel Jiménez, Stewart Cink, Tim Herron	PLD Anser Check eBay
TaylorMade	Doug Barron, Scott McCarron	Spider
Bloodline	Ernie Els	R1-J
L.A.B. Golf	Jim Furyk	Mezz.1
MacGregor	David McKenzie	Bobby Grace
SIK	Rocco Mediate	Pro C-Series Armlock
Argolf	Tim Petrovic	Arthur LT
Bettinardi	Fred Couples	FC Prototype
Sacks Parente	Ken Duke	Series 54

[Note – Just so you know, and we are upfront as an affiliate program participant, Golfing Focus, at no cost to you, earns from qualifying purchases made through links on this page.]

Blade vs. Mallet Putters on the Champions Tour

When Golfing Focus analysed what putters the best pros on the PGA Tour use we were interested in the split between mallet and blade putters.

So when it came to the Champions Tour pros we were keen to find out the same breakdown.

And out of the fifty Champions Tour pros Golfing Focus researched we discovered 62% use mallet putters including Padraig Harrington and Vijay Singh.

In this majority group some use smaller ‘mid-mallet’ putters including Steven Alker and Miguel Angel Jiménez while Bernhard Langer’s broom handle Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball Long putter is also a mallet design.

In the minority of senior pros who use blade putters, which includes Steve Stricker and Ernie Els, we also found some such as 1997 British Open winner Justin Leonard using a ‘wide blade’ putter model.

Further, and as we noted above in the case of 2023 Champions Tour money winner Steve Stricker, some pros never change their putter while other senior pros are consistently experimenting.

And interestingly some are experimenting not only with different makes, and between mallets and blades, but also between standard-length and broom handle putters.

2021 US Senior Open winner Jim Furyk for example has been seen to switch out his wide-blade Odyssey Versa 1W putter in preference for L.A.B. Golf Mezz broom handle model.

Dicky Pride is another who is carrying two different putters with him on the Champions Tour switching between Scotty Cameron FB+ and T-11.5 Proto putters.

Nevertheless, it does appear that like their colleagues on the main Tour, the best Champions Tour pros are displaying a similar preference for mallet design putters over more traditional blade models.

What Putter Grips Do The Senior Tour Pros Use?

Decisions around putters on the Champions Tour today of course don’t just stop with the model.

The number of putter grips available to players has also grown hugely in recent years and in the modern game there are now 16 putter grip manufacturers each offering dozens of options in multiple different sizes.

As a result, we wanted next to turn our analytical lens onto the putter grips the top Champions Tour pros use.

And Golfing Focus’ research found Superstroke to be the most common putter grip brand on the Champions Tour. The Traxion Pistol GT 2.0 is their most used model but the most used putter grip among the fifty senior pros we analysed is Scotty Cameron’s ‘Dancing Cameron’ grip.

Six pros using either the standard or cord version including Steve Stricker.

In all, we found 21 different individual putter grips being used by this group of Senior Tour pros.

And while Superstroke and Scotty Cameron appear to be the dominant brands on the Champions Tour, PING, Odyssey, Golf Pride, Flat Cat and Sacks Perente putter grips were also chosen by several players.

Clearly the days of the putter grip not being something to even consider are long gone and the pros spend a great deal of time selecting the grip, and not just the putter, that will help them hole as much as possible on the greens!

Before You Go …

Do you ever watch TV coverage of the pros on Tour and come away thinking that the top players hardly ever miss a putt?

Read our next article to take a closer look at how good they are and to discover how amateurs by comparison are not that bad at putting themselves!

What Percentage of Putts Do Pros Make? TV Does Not Tell the Story

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