Equipment

Best Blade Putters of 2019: The 14 best options in that classic, Anser-style shape

April 02, 2019
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The putter can be both the easiest and the hardest club in the bag to part with. On one hand, it’s just one club, so it’s simple enough to grab a new putter off the rack. Sometimes, though, the memories with your old putter make you hold it tight. If you’re one of those golfers who has a long, emotional history with your putter and just can’t think to let it go, we dare you to take a look at the medal winners in the blade putter category. The 2019 Hot List blade putter selections feature technology that’ll have you rethinking that old trusty putter in no time.

As the name would suggest, many blade putters still hold the same general profile of an Anser-esque club. Within this classic shape, however, is a whole lot of technology. In some models, you’ll find heel-toe weighting to aid in stabilizing the stroke. On the faces, you’ll find both milled faces—to help with off-center hits—and then inserts to soften the feel at impact.

This year we saw more shaft technology than in years past. There’s the option now to have a partially graphite shaft in your putter, to improve weighting and stroke consistency. There’s also a shaft that can be adjusted without taking the grip off and sawing the shaft down.

The customization options among the models featured are vast, from head shape, to color, to grip size, to shaft length, to counter balancing. With all of the advanced options, you’ll have no trouble finding a new putter that feels like home on the 2019 Hot List.

Gold-medal winners:

Story: These putters are known for their one-piece, milled, soft carbon-steel construction, but they also feature a proprietary milling pattern in a honeycomb shape. This is designed to provide a firmer feel for golfers who are speed-conscious. Among the new shapes for 2019 is the #6, a heel-toe-weighted blade with a sole wide enough to be a mallet but with a slight amount of toe hang.

Street Price: $400


Story: For the first time, Bettinardi is using stainless steel in the Studio Stock line. The goal is to provide a crisper sound at impact. However, Bettinardi is still very sensitive to the feel, so the face features a milling pattern that is 20-percent deeper than in previous models. The result is a one-piece milled design with the type of soft feel that could appeal to golfers who use putters with polymer inserts.

Street Price: $450


Edel Torque Balanced

Story: The theory of “torque balanced”—or putters with a toe-up balance point—is to challenge the traditional ideas of toe hang and face-balanced putters. Edel says those designs work against a natural putting stroke. By removing weight from the toe, these putters have less resistance to the way the toe opens or closes during the stroke. In other words, there’s less torque. The non-tapered grip encourages even pressure and better alignment.

Street Price: $375


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Story: With tour input, these putters combine two company franchises: the benefits of “microhinge” technology and the sound and feel of a soft elastomer insert. The former uses a stainless steel layer with small protrusions that flex at impact to get rid of backspin, and the latter is Odyssey’s tour-preferred cushioned, resilient face insert. Put the two together, and you’ve got the right kind of soft with ground-hugging roll.

Street Price: $200


Odyssey Stroke Lab

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Story: Graphite shafts in your woods? Of course. Graphite in irons? Sure. But you’ve probably never heard of graphite in a putter. Well, the Stroke Lab shaft is mostly graphite, with steel near the head, making it 40 grams lighter than standard. Odyssey counters that with a weight in the grip and a slightly heavier head to improve consistency in the stroke. That puts 44-percent more of the putter’s weight in the player’s hands versus typical steel-shaft putters.

Street Price: $250


Odyssey Toulon Design

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Story: The diamond-shape milling pattern on the 303 stainless-steel putter now extends across the face instead of just in the center as with past models. The shapes created by the milling pattern, including tiny horizontal grooves, channel the vibrations of impact for a softer, lower-pitched sound, smooth feel and better roll. The three new blade models are available with Odyssey’s new Stroke Lab shafts for better stroke consistency.

Street Price: $450


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Story: If you haven’t been fit for a putter, you’re likely playing the wrong length. But not to worry: This putter adjusts to any length from 32 to 36 inches. And it does so almost invisibly through a neatly intuitive mechanism hidden in the grip. A cool trick, but it’s made better by the multiple-firmness, two-piece face insert made of a resilient polymer used in running shoes. The face’s varied groove pattern promotes consistent results off different parts of the face.

Street Price: $200


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Story: That milling pattern on the face is about more than just feel. The overlapping grooves vary in depth across the face to create more consistent strikes by evening the energy transfer—whether it’s toe, heel or center hit. The three choices for sole weights (steel, tungsten and aluminum) in each of the four classic blade shapes (Dale Anser, B60, ZB and Voss) better match each player’s feel and length preferences.

Street Price: $300


Piretti Elite Series

Story: Piretti has been making its highly customized putters from its U.S. studio for more than a decade. Notable features include slightly heavier heads (compared to most putters on the market) and lower lofts to better match today’s more closely mown greens. Made of 303 stainless steel with a deep-milled face, the Elite Series features interchangeable sole weights that allow you to tweak the overall weight from 355 to 375 grams.

Street Price: $550


Story: The grooves in the aluminum-alloy insert angle downward at 45 degrees to promote a forward, end-over-end roll. This is important because it combats the backspin created by the putterhead’s loft at impact. The two blade models—Juno and Soto (left)—have a distressed copper finish and are balanced with 10-gram weights in the heel and toe that can be adjusted by a clubfitter. The models offer different levels of toe hang to better match various putting strokes.

Street Price: $220


Story: Always carrying the air of jewelry, these milled stainless-steel blades are technological tools, too. Hidden is the vibration-damping layer (now up to 30-percent larger) between the wraparound face inlays and the body for a softer feel. Externally, the reshaped sole almost automatically rests square at address and through the stroke. New is the Squareback 1.5 model, which offers sharper lines, including a thinner topline and a soft aluminum face.

Street Price: $400

Silver-medal winners:


Cleveland Huntingdon Beach SOFT

Story: The use of SOFT in the name doesn’t just reference feel; it also stands for “speed-optimized face technology.” With the variable-milled pattern, the grooves are more tightly etched in the center, and then become wider toward the heel and toe. This makes putts roll similarly regardless of the impact location. The groove pattern also differs with each head style to better match its effect with the head’s stability on off-center hits.

Street Price: $130


Piretti 303 Series

Story: It’s hard not to get caught up in this putter’s classic look, but its craftsmanship and customization make it more than a pretty face. Each head is milled from 303 stainless steel, and grooves are milled deep in the face to improve feel. Each putter can be customized for length (32½ to 37 inches), lie angle (67 to 74 degrees) and head weight (350 to 375 grams). There also are custom-sightline options and paint fills, and eight grip colors.

Street Price: $400


SeeMore S7X

Story: Everything begins and ends with alignment. This centershaft blade has the familiar RifleScope system: Golfers can tell if they’re square to the target if the putter’s shaft hides a red dot on the heel. The body is milled from stainless steel, and the face features a milled-aluminum insert that’s larger to create a softer feel across more of the face. Completing the alignment features is a distinctive blue center line on the flange.

Street Price: $450