Equipment
Scotty Cameron's new Concept X putters look like a blade but play like a mallet. Here's how he achieved that
Puttermakers tend to have a serious passion for creating putters for the best players in the game as well as everyday golfers. Scotty Cameron certainly fits that description and he brought that passion and coupled it with his experience to come up with his latest creation, the Scotty Cameron by Titleist Concept X.
The Concept X, which comes in CX-01 and CX-02 models, blend the visual characteristics of the Newport 2 with the playability of a mallet.
“The idea was to have it look like a blade and our best-selling blade is a Newport 2,” Cameron told Golf Digest. “So we took that head shape and put the weight where we needed it for a high moment of inertia and to aid off-center hits. The best way to do that is to go back further and out. We learned from the Futura a few years ago the benefit of keeping the weight back and out. But in this design, how do we keep the integrity of the Newport 2. So we went with a “wing” design, but to get that weight for the wings, we had to take the weight out of the head and we did that by taking the neck away. The insert is aluminum, and the sole plate is aluminum. So we took out 35 grams of weight and we put it back and out and that created the wings.”
The neck configurations are noticeable. The CX-01 employs a tour-proven “Nuckle Neck” with one shaft of offset, while the CX-02 is designed with a new, low slant “Joint Neck” that promotes additional toe flow. There’s also a new vibration dampening system for enhanced sound and feel and an anti-glare stealth gray finish. The putters will feature Cameron’s Pistolero grip and retail for $599, in stores July 27.
As usual, the tour played a significant role in the design of these putters, whose project code name was “Supersonic.”
“We work with pros almost every day in the Studio and it’s my time to ask questions like what are you looking for and why,” said Cameron. “This year has been more of a year with toe hang and toe flow, especially in mallets. So you have something play like a mallet but swing like a blade. This one is look like a blade, but swing like a mallet, but I didn’t want to go face-balanced. That said, I can bend the neck and make a face-balanced putter out of it for the tour. I can create offset and any neck height to create any hang or any toe flow they want. So the tour was huge in this process and the design also allows me to meet their needs.”
As usual, Cameron paid close attention to the aesthetics of the design as well. “I wanted the basis of the design to be mechanical, industrial and elegant and I wanted it kind of aerospace looking,” he said. “So originally there were no red dots in the back. But after we did the finish, we came back and put our trademark three dots in the back in silver. On the sole and the weights we would normally have a translucent red paint. I kept that clean to get more of this industrial, mechanical look. We do black putters and silver putters but this kind of gunmetal gray is a bit of a tweener that knocks down the glare and is super durable. But now we can mill over the top of it and get different looks.
“I’m not sure we could have done this product 20 years ago. With this technology and computers and tooling and milling machines and location devices, we’re taking putter design to the next level with these technologies. And the man power. Better engineers, too. Get it out of my head, get it onto paper, and then work with it in design engineering, tooling, manufacturing. To bring out these two models was almost a year’s venture because of so many parts and pieces and technology. You see it in your hand, but to get it there has been an absolute grind, but every time we do a project like this we learn something for the next project.”
Which surely will have a similar passion brought to it.