While some may try and convince you that advancing the ball as far down the hole as possible off the tee is more important, I think we can all honestly agree that golf tournaments and matches are won or lost when the putter is in hand. Players of all ages and abilities are always searching for an edge among the best putters in order to hole out under pressure and shoot lower scores.
As the PGA Tour swiftly gathers momentum and major season quickly approaches, I wanted to break down some notable players who have made a putter switch at the start of the 2025 season and what success that could bring over the coming months. The last one is massive and definitely one to keep an eye on!
1. Hideki Matsuyama
At the end of the 2024 PGA Tour season, Hideki Matsuyama sat a miserable 121st in Strokes Gained putting. The crazy part is, he still won twice! Thanks to his immense ball-striking the 2021 Masters champion continued to put himself in contention throughout the year and finished 9th in the FedEx Cup. The Japanese star has been a Scotty Cameron loyalist since the inception of his career, regularly switching between various Newport 2 models. However, a more drastic change at the beginning of January into a center-shafted, Tour-only Scotty Cameron saw Matsuyama take the title at The Sentry in just his first start of the year. Now sitting 35th in Strokes Gained putting through four events, I can really see Hideki pushing on to have a big season and I wouldn’t be surprised if he picks up his second major title.
2. Collin Morikawa
I often place Morikawa in the same boat as Matsuyama - someone who golfs their ball better than most but is streaky on the greens and therefore doesn’t win half as much as he should. Over the course of the 2024 season, Morikawa was seen using multiple putter models from TaylorMade and even a custom Olson design putter at one point. While the American found some confidence in using a claw grip and actually was positive in Strokes Gained putting in 2024, he’ll want to really push on in 2025 and add not only more major championships but be a part of a winning Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black.
At the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last week, Morikawa was spotted with a familiar putter in the bag in the shape of a TaylorMade TP Collection Soto. While it’s unclear on whether this is the same head he has used at times over the past couple of seasons just refinished in black, this particular model has a standard plumbers neck with single sight-dot on top and was fitted with a Diamana P105 graphite shaft with carbon fiber weave. He won’t be competing this week at the Waste Management Open due to playing in the TGL earlier in the week where his LA Golf Club team took down McIlroy’s Boston Common.
3. Justin Rose
Last year saw Justin Rose struggle in a multitude of areas on the golf course, with putting being one of them. The Englishman was down in 97th in Strokes Gained Putting on the PGA Tour and while there’s no doubt his famous Axis-1 putter sparked a resurgence on the greens a few years back, something had to change going into 2025 to cement his place on the Ryder Cup team and not rely on a Captain’s pick as he did in 2023.
Rose has seen a solid start to the 2025 season though, notably picking up a T-3rd finish at the iconic Pebble Beach last week in just his second start of the year. While there has been images circulating of a new Axis-1 prototype, Rose used a Scotty Cameron T-5 Tour Prototype last week en route to a top-5 finish. Like Morikawa, Rose has found comfort in a claw grip and so his putters are all fitted with a larger SuperStroke Zenergy 1.0 grip.
4. Akshay Bhatia
Akshay Bhatia is one of the up-and-coming superstars in today’s game and while it feels as though he’s been around forever due to turning professional at seventeen, it’s only the last two seasons on the PGA Tour where he has broken through and picked up two wins at the Valero Texas Open and Barracuda Championship respectively.
Bhatia switched to an Odyssey Jailbird Broomstick putter through the 2023 season and despite seeing success picking up the aforementioned wins, it’s clear to see he has the desire to keep improving, even within an area of the game where he is deemed fairly strong. During the 2024 season, the young American was ranked 33rd in Strokes Gained Putting and already this year he has made the leap to 18th. While he has been seen still using the Jailbird Broomstick, he was seen testing a new Odyssey 10 Prototype with Microhinge grooves at Pebble Beach last week. Was this just to look at something different for practice or will it make it in the bag permanently? Time will tell but whatever he has done has seen a spike in his performance on the greens already.
5. Tom Kim
The 22-year South-Korean has become a popular character on the PGA Tour over the past couple of years due to his charisma and high energy levels but his game is what has earned his peers' respect. While not the longest from the tee, Kim is an elite ball striker who gains strokes in nearly every area from tee to green but it is his performances on the green that have let him down at times. In 2024 Kim sat 114th in Strokes Gained putting despite numerous changes in putters from his standard Newport 2 Tour Only Model, through to a Tour Only T-9 Scotty Cameron mallet putter.
The new 2025 Scotty Cameron Studio Style putter range has seen a lot of attraction from professional players on both the PGA and DP World Tour thanks to a new Chainlink insert that is designed to dramatically soften the feel off the face compared to the previous deep milled design. As a Titleist ambassador, Kim has taken advantage of creating a custom Newport 2 Tour Only design with the insert and beautiful bronze finish to the head.
One key thing to highlight compared to Kim’s previous putters is the fact he opted for a dual-sightline aid on the putter head, compared to the sight-dot on top of the putter we are used to seeing with his custom models. This could be due to a change of set-up when addressing the putter and how his eyes are set over the ball, or purely something experimental and different to look at. This initial putter switch has seen Kim move into the positive in Strokes Gained putting through three events so far this season and he’ll be hoping this upward trajectory continues.
One To Keep An Eye On...
While the names above have made concrete switches, one player dabbling with a new putter who could make a potential switch is Jordan Spieth. The American is starting his season off the back of wrist surgery and a few months out so while not necessarily tournament-fresh, you’d imagine if there was one part of his game that would be sharp, it would be his putting.
Spieth has used the same Scotty Cameron 009 putter since he was 15 years-old and has rarely been tempted to move away from this model. However, at Pebble Beach, it appeared Scotty Cameron had made the Texan a new 009 prototype in a satin silver finish compared to the rustic look of his gamer. While he may have practiced a little on the putting green with this new wand, he stuck with the original putter within the tournament. Considering Spieth was 101st in Strokes Gained putting in 2024, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up switching at some point if his struggles on the green continue.
