On the surface, Scottie Scheffler doesn’t appear to have many concerns over the state of his game. After all, he has spent approaching a year at the top of the world rankings and has five top-10 finishes in his first six starts of 2024.
Despite those achievements, there is one area where he has continued to struggle for his best form – putting, and that is something he is attempting to address at this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Scheffler is turning to the TaylorMade Spider Tour X putter at the Bay Hill event. The mallet putter is markedly different to his preferred option in recent months, having switched to an Olson Golf anser-style blade at November’s Hero World Challenge.
Per the Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis, Scheffler has also added half an inch in length to the putter to make it 35.5in as he seeks to address the one area of his game that is letting him down.
Scottie Scheffler is switching up his putting setup 👀@ToddLewisGC reports a new putter is in the bag for the world no. 1 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.Could this revamp his game on the greens? @GeorgeSavaricas & @RyanLavnerGC discuss. pic.twitter.com/99lUXdWoD8March 5, 2024
The putter is similar to another mallet putter, the TaylorMade Spider Tour X SS Proto, that Scheffler turned to last July at the St. Jude FedEx Championship, leaving behind his usual Scotty Cameron. Soon after, he returned to the Major-winning Scotty Cameron blade before making the switch to the Olson Golf option for the Tiger Woods-hosted event in the Bahamas.
A look at Scheffler's PGA Tour stats demonstrates why he has been exploring his options in recent months. From tee to green, he is the best on the Tour, but he is languishing in 144th in Strokes Gained: Putting as his long-running issues continue.
It was a similar story last year, too, where he incredibly led the Strokes Gained metrics for total, driving, tee-to-green and approach while languishing 162nd in putting.
The latest change comes weeks after the player immediately beneath Scheffler in the world rankings, Rory McIlroy, suggested it could be time for him to once again give a mallet putter a try.
The 34-year-old turned pundit for the CBS telecast at February Genesis invitational, and offered some thoughts on what Scheffler could do to solve his putting problems.
McIlroy, who has had his own putting issues, said after his final round: “For me, going to a mallet was a big change I really persisted with the blade putter for a long time, but I just feel like your stroke has to be so perfect to start the ball on line, where the mallet just gives you a little bit more margin for error.
“I’d love to see Scottie try a mallet. But selfishly for me, Scottie does everything else so well that he’s given the rest of us a chance.”
After struggling with his flat stick options throughout most of 2023, Scheffler turned to putting guru Phil Kenyon following August’s Tour Championship, and declared a month later: “I feel the benefits already.”
While that has yet to translate to an improvement in his putting stats, he will be hoping that the latest change is the key to fixing the one area of his game he has noticeably struggled with over the last year.
