There is no club in the bag like a putter. The shortest stick is often the club that causes us the most frustration. Each of us has had days where we feel like we can dig anything. And without a doubt, we’ve all had far more days where no matter what we try, we just can’t get the ball in the hole for love or money!
The thing about a putter is that it’s pivotal to the rest of our game. It can determine how we feel about our day on the course. If we dig some good putts, confidence pours in and we get comfortable about our lead and irons. It often makes us hit them better. But a bad missed putt can transfer to a bad tee shot or a bad post hole. And if we start missing putts at short distance, the golf gods will ensure we have to keep battling our devils at the same distance until we solve the problem.
Think how often professionals change rackets in search of the magic formula. It is the club that drives them to distraction more than any other club. This is why finding the best for us is so important. Here at AMERICAN GOLF, we have selected our top ten putters for 2023. Please read on and see which ones catch our eye.
Top 10 rackets 2023
Titleist Scotty Cameron Super Select Newport 2 (£429):
Shaft length: 34in, 35in Left-handed: no
Scotty Cameron rackets don’t come cheap. But in the player’s right hand, magic can happen with one of these wands. Think Cameron Smith on the final day at last year’s tournament. Scotty Scheffler’s rise to the top of the game over the past 15 months has been with a Scotty Cameron bat. And most famously of all, Tiger Woods has won 14 of his 15 majors with Scotty Cameron in his bag. If that’s not a resounding endorsement, I don’t know what is, because Tiger can hardly fault pomp!
The Super Select Newport 2 features the classic Scotty Cameron look and feel. This is the racquet that will make good racquets even better because it’s about finding the sweet spot and is definitely one of the best racquets of 2023. But it’s better suited to the low handicap than the high handicap. The weight is distributed so that no matter how tall we are, every user can find the perfect balance and performance combination.
TaylorMade Spider GT X Dune Silver Single Bend (£299):
Shaft length: 34in Left-handed: no
Since Titleist specializes in blade racquets with their Scotty Cameron set, Taylor Made racquets have gone the hammer route with their range of Spider racquets. Perhaps not the most unusual form of golf for traditionalists, golf is not a game of how, but of how many. And users like Dustin Johnson and Collin Morikawa aren’t bad at showing off, right?
With that in mind, the professionals at TaylorMade knew golfers needed reassurance. The Spider GT X is all about stability and forgiveness because we’re rarely perfectionists on the golf course. There is a combination of a lightweight aluminum housing and stainless steel rear weight that pushes the weight further out of the frame to achieve this stability. It allows us to achieve more consistency and distance control in our position, which every player will engage in.
Odyssey White Hot Versa One CH (£249):
Shaft Length: 34 inches Left-handed: Yes
For something that seems so complex, the situation really comes to a black and white conclusion. The ball goes into the hole or it doesn’t go. And this is where the Odyssey White Hot Versa comes in very handy.
The insertion of White Hot in the black blade helps this stand out as one of the best racquets of 2023. The contrast between white and black is perfect for aligning strikes because it’s perfect for eye line and allows us to define an area in our focus – an essential element of good manners. The insert has the feel and sound that tour players want, and the weight has been shifted up in the club from head to shaft to handle. This can help golfers of any level improve their stroke and rhythm, as this is the vital first step towards fortifying them.
Odyssey Tri-Hot 5K Seven Double Bend (£379):
Shaft Length: 34 in., 35 in. Left-handed: Yes (34 in.)
The Odyssey Tri-Hot 5K Seven has many of the same characteristics as the White Hot racquet with the same White Hot attachment, perfect alignment, and the same weight distribution in an effort to aid a player’s stroke and rhythm.
But where this stands out as one of the best specs of 2023 comes with how to move the center of gravity back closer to the face. The goal is to improve speed and spin consistency for off-center putts and let’s be honest, who hasn’t hit a couple of these during the round? The Odyssey racquet also has two removable tungsten cleats on the sole so we can find the racquet head weight that feels most comfortable to us.
TaylorMade Spider Tour Black Slant (£189):
Shaft Length: 34″, 35″ Left-handed: Yes (34″, 35″)
Perhaps the best reason to get a TaylorMade putter is the almost universal approval it has received from the golfers who have already purchased it. The Spider Tour Black has been popular in almost every way possible. Customers loved the feel of it, reporting their immediate confidence in it and how well-balanced it felt in terms of weight distribution.
Offering good distance control, this racquet is priced significantly lower than some of the others on this list. The square head helps achieve better alignment and the stainless steel frame means weight is pushed to the ends of the club, increasing tolerance. To top it off if off, Pure Roll technology features 45-degree grooves in place to help the ball start and stay on the line more consistently. In theory, that should give us a greater chance of digging the wounds—if we pick the right line!
Title holder Scotty Cameron Phantom X 12.5 (£349):
Shaft length: 34in Left-handed: no
The Scotty Cameron Phantom X 12.5 looks very different from the classic Scotty Cameron racquets, but it’s still one of the best. More of a hammer style rather than a blade, it is more suitable for a variety of golfers. It has a single mill sight line coated in glossy black on top of the blade which makes it easy to align and a critical assist as we try to hit our shots from the center of the club.
This racket is a combination of aluminum and stainless steel, which is perfectly weighted to feel good in our hands and inspire confidence about our strokes. And the aluminum face is designed to provide a nice, smooth feel on the ball. With its low-bend chrome shaft, this racquet will benefit players whose stroke has more of an arc than a straight stroke.
Cobra King Vintage Cuda Single Bend (£179):
Shaft Length: 34 inches Left-handed: Yes
The Cobra King Vintage Cuda is an oversized mallet that wants to give the golfer tolerance and stability on the ball. Bryson DeChambeau may be known for his huge drive, but he didn’t win the US Open in 2020 without being able to putt well, and he worked with the engineers at Cobra in creating this racquet.
As one of the best Cobra putters, the Vintage Cuda has a face with aluminum inserts with four downward upper chambers on the face. This should result in a consistent roll trajectory that works for different types of putts and angles of attack, as getting a good roll to the face is the first step towards hitting good putts.
Ping 2023 Anser (£269):
Shaft Length: 31″-36″ Right-handed: Yes (31″-36″)
As always, with their custom-fitted clubs, Ping tries to ensure that every golfer gets the club they really want. With the 2023 Anser version, players can opt for an extra-short 31-inch shaft if they want to channel their inner Jack Nicklaus and adopt a more stooped stance. Or they can choose to go the other way up to 36 inches to mimic someone like Ernie Els who stood on top of his mortar.
One of the standout features of this Ping racket that makes this one of the best racket rackets is the platinum top line. Positioned against the black recess of the blade, it draws attention to the front of the club, allowing the player to focus on their aim. There are tungsten weights added to both the toe and heel to create a sense of stability and security, and they also provide greater tolerance and performance on slightly off-center hits.
Wilson BL22 Model (£299):
Shaft Length: 34 inches Left-handed: Yes
Walk the golf course with a Wilson putter in our hands and show your golf partners that you mean business! This is one of the best golf putters and it looks like one of the best dropout clubs with its shiny stainless steel blade.
This racquet has been precision milled to create this beautiful racquet with the goal of great feel and consistent ball roll for improved accuracy. There are also custom weights built into the sole for improved feel and stroke control. As experienced club makers like Wilson are aware, the putter must sit in the player’s hands. Generate that confidence before the ball is hit and there is actually a much greater chance of the ball being hit.
TaylorMade Spider GT Max Single Bend Adjustable Racket (£379):
Shaft length: 34in Left-handed: no
What makes the Spider GT Max stand out as one of the best racquets to buy are the two adjustable sliding 40g tungsten racquets. These weights can go in three different positions to aid our performance. If we have a tendency to pull the slurry, the weight can be shifted towards the back of the head. If we push the strikes more often, the weight can be moved toward the front. Or we can keep the weights centered for a well balanced club head.
Once we decided on the correct placement from the nine adjustable positions of the sliding weights, the black line on top of the lightweight aluminum cap should help us line up perfectly and get us to dig more pitches, fingers crossed!
Come see us!
Now that you’ve read our guide to the best rackets available right now, we’d be glad if people wanted to buy something right away. But choosing a putter is a very personal thing. We usually need to feel the racket in our hand and see how it rolls before we decide to buy one.
So feel free to drop by one of the American Golf Shops (Maybe a link here to the website of all stores nationwide) where our trained staff can help and guide us to the club that gives us the confidence we crave as summer approaches.
About the author
Adam Lanegan – Golf Writer
Adam is a freelance news and sports journalist who has written for the BBC, The Sunday Post, The Eye, The Times, The Telegraph and more. He has been writing about golf for nearly two decades and has covered 13 Open Championships and two Ryder Cups. Not only does Adam cover golf, he has been playing golf for as long as he can. He was a member of Northenden Golf Club for about 25 years until his children arrived and his last official handicap was 11, although on any given day his form fluctuated between eight and 18.