Scheffler Elaborates on the Transformation of His Putting Game
Scottie Scheffler’s putting has been a subject of scrutiny by the media, fans, and the golfer himself, despite owning the lowest scoring average on tour last season. Over the past year, he struggled with alignment and experimented with various techniques and putters. Ultimately, he settled on the TaylorMade Spider Tour X putter, which has helped significantly improve his game. Scheffler finds it easier to align the ball and achieve a better visual with this putter.
He also decided to remove the line from his golf ball, as it sometimes distracted him. This adjustment allowed him to focus more on the putt’s overall picture rather than fixating on perfect alignment. Despite minor inconsistencies, Scheffler’s putting performance at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship demonstrated notable improvement, contributing to his back-to-back tour victories.
Why Scheffler Changed to the TaylorMade Spider Tour X Putter
(in his own words)
“At times last year I struggled lining the ball up in the middle of the face, so I lined the ball up on the toe sometimes, and I struggled with a tiny bit of a heel strike, and that … just became kind of my miss. Like if I was fighting a duck hook off the tee, I was fighting a little bit of a heel miss with the putter.”
“This Spider putter is really easy for me to line up. I don’t have to use the line on the ball. I line the putter up really well, and I line up in the middle of the face, and pretty much as simple as that. Kind of gives me just a really good visual.”
And …
“It’s good for me visually, and I like the way kind of the ball comes off the face, and so it’s helping me just be more kind of outward with my putting than focusing on what’s going on right here, just focusing on the picture of the putt.”
How the Alignment Line on Your Ball May Negatively Impact Your Putting
Scheffler further elaborated that he removed the alignment line from his golf ball because it distracted him when he noticed it wasn’t rolling accurately during his putts.
“At times last year I think I definitely tried too hard on my putting, and the idea of not going to the line is to become more free over the ball,” he said. “I’ve found a putter now where when I line up very well, and the line on the ball I was using to help myself line up. I wasn’t using it as trying to hit it perfect each time or using it in anything else other than to try and help myself line up.”
“At times I think it got to the point where a ball would go in, but if that ball didn’t roll end over end, at the back of your head, you’re like, wait, did I hit that putt really good? I think sometimes I expected perfection out of myself, and I’m like that in a lot of different things, so when it comes to the putting, now not using the line just to be more free to not try as hard, which is a heck of a lot easier said than done.”
“It’s about sticking to my process and controlling what I can control, and that’s having a good attitude and hitting a good putt, and not using the line has helped a lot in that.”
Scheffler’s Putting Changes Reflected in Wins, and Putting Stats
We were all aware that Scheffler had been struggling with his putting. A few weeks ago we saw on social media that he was trying out a new mallet putter, the TaylorMade Spider Tour X, despite being loyal to his Scotty Cameron blade putter for some time now.
He decided to make the switch and the results are the talk of the tour. Scheffler’s putting rank in 2024 prior to the Travelers Championship and the Players Championship was 144th. Despite this, he managed to finish in the top 10 in four tournaments.
After the putter switch, Scheffler is ranked 1st in Putting Average (1.668) and is up 18 spots to 89th in Strokes Gained: Putting. At the Players Championship, he ranked 39th. Still far from the best, but if he can keep this trend going, he may be unstoppable.
Written by TJ Biggs, The Saturday Golfer
