New putter has Luke Donald in contention at RBC Heritage

When you have been one of the best putters in the game for the better part of a decade, serious slippage in that area usually does not bode well for the putter. Ask Luke Donald. Since 2009 Donald has led the tour three times in strokes gained/putting and has been in the top 13 six times. Last season, however, he fell to 38th and this year things have gotten worse, as his T-127 ranking in that stat would attest. Such results prompted a change. “I have not changed my putter for a long time until the last couple of weeks,” Donald said. “I’ve got the same head on my putter, but a different shaft. It’s a center shaft. … The putter I’ve been using the last couple of years I just felt like I hadn’t seen the ball go in, so I just wanted something different to look at.” The putter Donald is using is an Odyssey Works Versa #7H. Donald has used a heel-shafted #7 model—a head with “fangs” on the back—for several years.