Gear: Scotty Cameron Phantom X putters (2022)
Specs: Milled 303 stainless steel and 6061 aluminum. Available in seven head styles. 33-, 34- and 35-inch options
Price: $429
Available: April 15
Who It’s For: Deep-pocketed golfers who love blades and have an arched stroke but want the forgiveness and sightline options of a mallet.
The Skinny: The Phantom X mallet putters for 2022 are designed to provide the feel and sound of Scotty Cameron’s premium heel-toe weighted blades, but their added size created room for bolder alignment features and a higher moment of inertia for increased forgiveness.
The Deep Dive: The way that Scotty Cameron tells the tale, mallet putters from a generation ago were nearly all face-balanced, which means that if you rested the shaft of one in your palm and let the head hang loosely, the hitting area would point to the sky. That was fine for golfers who aspired to make a straight-back, straight-through stroke, but those putters were poorly matched for golfers who naturally made an arched stroke. Instead, arched-stroke players used less forgiving blade-style putters, and that was that.
Then, about a decade ago, new materials started finding their way into putter designs. They allowed weight to be shifted more easily, and putter makers like Cameron started crafting mallets with different hosel designs and weight systems that gave them toe-hang. Instead of being face-balanced, they could be used by golfers who made an arched putting stroke.
The 2022 updated Phantom X putter lineup is filled with mallet options for golfers who want forgiveness coupled with the feel of Cameron’s Newport and Newport 2 blades.
