Scotty Cameron OC 'low torque' putters: What you need to know
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Scotty Cameron OC putters, the first models from the world’s leading putter designer to embrace the current trend of reduced torque designs, make their debut in both the company’s Phantom mallet and Studio Style families. The two models attempt to reduce the role of the hands in manipulating face angle during the putting stroke through a distinctive onset hosel orientation. The designs feature a center-shafted position where the shaft axis is in line with the head’s center of gravity and slightly back of the face (hence the OC, or “onset center”).
PRICE: $550. Two models: Studio Style Fastback OC, Phantom 11R OC. 33, 34, 35 inches. 360-380 grams. Available Nov. 14.
3 Cool Things
1. Less torque, more feel. The “zero torque” putter movement is the hottest trend in golf with some retailers experiencing 40 percent or more of their current putter sales coming under this category. Noticeably absent among manufacturers has been Scotty Cameron’s lineup until now. The simple fact is that zero torque is increasingly a viable option in today’s game, something that Cameron’s team, which is fueled by its interactions on tour, has been studying for some time. It helps that Austie Rollinson, Scotty Cameron’s senior director of putter R&D, has been working on this idea and introducing putters that pushed this concept more than a decade in his previous time at Odyssey. The key with these OC models is to maintain the player’s perception of control of the head through the stroke while significantly reducing the variability.
“Especially the way we design putters and fit putters, that area of toe flow or toe hang or torque, whatever you want to call it, is really important to the way we do it,” Rollinson said, referencing the way heel-shafted putters tend to hang in toe-down or face-up (face balanced) position when balanced on the edge of a table. That position tends to require varying degrees of “release” or face rotation in the putting stroke that players have developed over time to square up the head at impact. “If you’re eliminating that aspect, well, you're eliminating feel for these players. As we've dug into this idea, we've learned that there are some players where you know what they're feeling in certain putters doesn't match up with the their stroke, and they have some uncertainty and that creates variability. So getting something in their hands that reduces that uncertainty helps their confidence go up.
“I think the whole idea that these kind of putters are ‘zero torque’ is being redefined in the marketplace. You don’t actually eliminate the torque. You may eliminate the torque about the shaft, but there’s still this huge amount of torque in your hands, in the lie plane. So we’re not eliminating torque, we’re redirecting it in the lie plane that is perpendicular to the path in the face, and that's what I think gives golfers also the feel of stability that helps to be more repeatable with their putting strokes.”
The OC putters, in both the half-mallet Studio Style Fastback OC and the wider winged Phantom 11 R OC, maintain that control and feel aspect with heavier stock head weights and a heavier shaft.
2. Aim point. The Studio Style Fastback feature a special spud section that rests just above the body of the head (and its center of gravity) that allows for two characteristics: more easily customized lie angle from the standard 70 degrees and a cleaner look at the face’s top line and alignment line that works back from the face to the shaft. The Phantom 11 R OC also incorporates a small spud that allows for degrees of lie angle adjustment in the fitting process. “We wanted the shaft in the center and then the CG is under the shaft, so you can move this up or down and it doesn't affect this toe-up balance of the design,” Rollinson said. “We’re able to keep that distinct top line visible, and I think that's another advantage of these more onset center shafts.” The all-black shaft also allows the shaft to provide the optimal contrast to aid in proper alignment.
3. Facing feel. Each model incorporates the chain-link face milling introduced on the Studio Style lineup earlier this year. The Studio Style Fastback OC uses a studio carbon steel face insert, while the Phantom 11R OC uses a full chain-link style milling pattern across the face. The pattern and insert are designed to engrain consistent sound and feel with a more efficient launch on putts.
