Like everyone, Tom Kim has seen how successful mallet putters have become at the highest levels of professional golf.
For a player who won his first three PGA Tour events with a blade-model putter, Kim started experimenting with different putters over the past three seasons, including both mallets and blades.
But earlier this spring, Kim decided to go back to what works and switched back to a Scotty Cameron Newport 2-style blade with a custom LA Golf graphite shaft.
That decision paid off big time as Kim has regained his form this summer, culminating in a two-shot victory last week at the Genesis Scottish Open, breaking a three-year winless drought.
“I’ve always putted my best with a blade,” Kim said when he switched back to the putter in March. “I was using a mallet for a couple of years, but I’ve won a lot of my tournaments with a blade, and I wanted to come back, kind of use something natural. Scotty and [Director of Player Fitting and Development] Paul [Vizanko] really helped me with this piece and it looks great with the mint blue [paintfill].”
The exact putter, a TourType GSS tour prototype, is the same one Kim used for his first PGA Tour win at the 2022 Wyndham Championship. He then used different Newport 2-style putters to win his next two Tour events.
STUDIO CARBON STEEL (SCS) FACE INSERT
Designed to deliver the unmistakably soft sound and feel of carbon, the new precision milled Studio Carbon Steel (SCS) insert is treated with an electroless nickel plating for enhanced durability in a re-engineered concept that includes the line’s new chain-link face milling technology and aerospace-inspired vibration damping for tuned sound, feel and performance.
CHAIN-LINK FACE MILLING TECHNOLOGY
New chain-link face milling technology reduces the putter face insert’s touch points at impact with the ball using a texture that softens the sound and provides improved roll characteristics while preserving feel and feedback off the putter face.
FULL CONTACT SLIM GRIP
With a comfortable chain-link texture to match the new putter face milling pattern, the custom crafted Full Contact Slim paddle-style grip was designed to complement the stroke and performance of blade and mid-mallet putters. Its uniquely contoured profile and flat top provide superior comfort and contact between the hands and the putter, and enhanced body alignment.
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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA TOUR Superstore, Titleist
He re-inserted the custom gamer in March and hasn’t wavered since. Last week in Scotland, Kim ranked 20th in Stokes Gained: Putting, picking up 3.658 strokes for the week and rolling in 296 feet of putts. Those numbers were even better during his final-round 64, when he gained 2.328 strokes, which was the sixth-best in the field.
Kim joins Matt Fitzpatrick as the only players to win on Tour this season while using a blade putter, as pros have increasingly valued the alignment and forgiveness benefits of mallets.
But not everyone is going to putt better with something larger, and some players might simply have an emotional connection to a blade shape, which is why the category likely won’t go anywhere for the foreseeable future.
