Alright, let’s talk about this putter thing. My putting, man, it was getting ugly. Really ugly. Felt like I was leaving shots all over the place, especially inside 10 feet. Costing me strokes, costing me beers against my buddies. You know how it is. My old blade, faithful for years, just wasn’t cutting it anymore. Or maybe it was me, who knows? Anyway, I started looking around. Saw a few guys using these mallet things, the Spider types.
Decided to pull the trigger on the Tour X model. Walked into the shop, picked it up. First thing I noticed? The weight. Definitely felt more substantial than my old putter. Had this distinctive shape too, looked kinda techy but solid. Held it, took a few practice strokes there in the store. Felt… stable. That’s the word. Like it wanted to go straight back and straight through.
First few rolls
Got it home, couldn’t wait, so I went straight to the practice green down the road. Spent a good hour just rolling putt after putt. Short ones, long ones.
- The feel off the face: It was different. Not exactly soft, not hard either. Sort of a solid ‘thump’ sound. Took a bit to get used to the feedback.
- Lining it up: That white line down the middle, yeah, that actually helped my eyes quite a bit. Seemed easier to point it where I wanted to go compared to my old simple blade.
- Stability: This was the big one. On those little 3-5 footers, the head felt really steady. Less shaky, less twitchy during the stroke. That felt good.
Didn’t magically make everything, mind you. Still had to put a good stroke on it. Hit some bad ones, pushed a few, pulled a few. But the misses felt… less disastrous? Hard to explain. It just felt more forgiving if my stroke wasn’t absolutely perfect.
Taking it to the course
Okay, practice is practice. The real test is out on the course, with a few bucks on the line. First round out, I was nervous. Felt like everyone was watching my putting stroke, haha. Started off a bit shaky, left a couple short. Classic. But then, around the 4th or 5th hole, something clicked.
Made a nice 8-footer for par. Then drained a 15-footer for birdie a few holes later. The confidence started building. What I really noticed was my lag putting. Getting the long ones closer. The weight and balance seemed to help me get a better feel for distance control. Didn’t three-putt nearly as much as usual, which was a massive win for me.
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Had a round last week where I couldn’t buy a putt. Everything burned the edge. But that felt more like me having a bad day, not the putter failing me, if that makes sense. With my old putter, on bad days, it felt like the putter itself was fighting me. This one, even on bad days, feels like it’s trying to help.
So, what’s the verdict?
It’s staying in the bag. For now, anyway. Took some getting used to, switching from a blade to a mallet like this. The feel is different, the look is different. But the results, for me, have been better. My short putting feels more solid, and my distance control on long putts has definitely improved.
Is it magic? Nope. You still gotta practice. You still gotta read the greens. But does it help with stability and alignment? Yeah, I think it does. For someone like me, who was getting a bit twitchy and inconsistent, especially on shorter putts, moving to this mallet style, specifically this Spider Tour X, seems to have calmed things down. It just feels easier to swing steady. That’s my experience, anyway. Worked for me, might work for you if you’re fighting the same kinda battles on the green.
