Equipment

Cleveland TFi 2135 Satin putters rethink how face and putter shape work together

August 28, 2017
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The new TFi 2135 Satin collection of putters builds on the alignment ideas established by the TFi 2135 putters when they debuted two years ago. The TFi 2135 took alignment a step further by elevating the putter’s sightline in line with the middle of the ball. Now, the TFi 2135 Satin putters take off-center hit stability a new direction, too.

The point of emphasis in the TFi 2135 Satin’s lineup of two blades and four mallets isn’t simply the use of a variably milled texture on the aluminum face. It’s how those textures are used to match up with the relative stability of each specific model. Traditionally, variable milling marks are used to control energy transfer so that off-center hits react off the face more like on-center hits. Hence the more coarse marks in the center transitioning to finer lines toward the heel and toe, said Cleveland’s engineering manager Dustin Brekke. What’s been lost in other attempts at variable milling on putters is that each putter has a different moment of inertia (MOI), or stability on off-center hits.

“This is a purposeful control of ballspeed,” Brekke said. “We’re reducing ballspeed in the center by about four percent, and if we perfectly control that variation to zero percent reduction, then we can directly counteract the ballspeed loss from MOI. That whole region is now an optimized sweet spot of consistent ball speed.

“What’s different than others is that we have a different variable transition for every single head based on the MOI of the head. It’s really a normalized ballspeed for every impact.”

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The point is that lower MOI models like typical blades lose significantly more ballspeed on off-center hits than higher MOI models like oversized mallets.

“If you put the same face on a high MOI model and a low MOI model, it’s not perfected for each,” he said.

The milled faces are backed by a thermoplastic urethane insert to provide a soft feel by damping vibrations.

Each of the TFi 2135 Satin models features the trademark sightline that's elevated 21.35 millimeters (half the diameter of a golf ball), which is designed to provide consistent alignment regardless of whether a player positions his eyes over the ball, inside or outside the line.

The models include heel-toe weighted blade models (1.0 and 8.0) and four mallet designs: the Elevado which has paralell wings extending back from the face; a counterbalanced version of the Elevado; the Cero, a traditional widebody mallet; and the Rho, the highest MOI mallet in the line with openings between the face and perimeter to provide increased stability.

The TFi 2135 Satin putters will be in stores Sept. 15 ($150 for mallets and blades, $175 for counterbalanced version).