Equipment

How to pick the right putter

Published

6 years ago

Oct 24, 2020

In the game of golf, putting is the great equalizer. It doesn’t take speed or strength and simply requires you to select a line and hit a ball at the right speed—easier said than done. But regardless of your skill level, it is the one club in your set you really never have to upgrade once you find the right one, which is why knowing how to pick the right putter is so important.

This is the GolfWRX guide to selecting the right putter for you.

How to pick the right putter: The right look

This one seems simple, but you have to like the look of your putter and feel comfortable lining it up. For some golfers, that means finding a more traditional heel and toe weighted blade with a basic metal finish, for others that could also mean a larger mallet style that inspires confidence thanks to its larger footprint and contrasting colors.

Between the two aforementioned styles, there are still varying hosel/neck (where the shaft meet the head) configurations that can change how a putter wants to naturally rest when being held which can, in turn, change the natural toe hang of the putter and how it will fit.

How to pick the right putter: Understanding putter toe hang types

Face Balanced – Depending on the hosel configuration, this style can be found on both mallet and blade-style putters, and when being balanced by the shaft, the face will sit perpendicular to 12 o’clock. These are intended to fit golfers with a straight back-straight through stroke/minimal face rotation.

1/2 Toe Hang – This is the most neutral type of toe hang and sits between the face balanced and full toe down. It is found on most heel-toe blade putters with full-shaft offset (Scotty Cameron Newport 2 shown) and is for slightly arcing strokes with medium face rotation.

Toe Down/Full Toe Hang – This type is only going to be found on the most heel-shafted blade-style putters, and when being balanced by the shaft, the toe will face “6 0’clock”—directly down to the ground. These are intended to fit golfers with the most extremely arcing stroke and high level of face rotation.

NOTE: There are multiple variations of 1/2 toe hang that sit both closer to full toe down and face-balanced all designed to fit various stroked depending on the amount of arc and face rotation.

Whatever reason you have for picking the putter you ultimately use, make sure you like the looks of it because you’re going to be seeing a lot of each other.

How to pick the right putter: Understanding your stroke style

Your putting stroke will inevitably play a big role in the putter you select because certain styles are going to work better for certain golfers depending on their putting stroke style, which is referenced above. To make it easy to understand—putting strokes can be put into three categories, and for visual reference, check out the handy guide below with pictures supplied by our friends at Ping.

Slight Arc

Fitter and golfer reviewing PING Color Code Chart

This is where most golfers fit in since it is the most natural stroke to make. A slight arc is also what I like to call a neutral stroke, meaning that when it comes to picking a putter it gives the golfers the most options for finding one that is going to fit best.

Straight back and straight through

Fitter applying impact tape to bottom of iron

A straight back and straight through stroke can help a lot of golfers eliminate variables, and when paired with the right putter can really help those that struggle to get putts started on line. Golfers in this category usually perform best with a face-balanced putter.

Strong Arc

A strongly arced stroke is the exact opposite of straight back-straight through and requires the most amount of practice and technique to maintain consistency. Players with a strong arc generally also use a lot more wrist in their stroke and because of the inconsistency, this stroke creates, there are fewer putters on the market that fit this type.

Putting it all together

Once you have selected your putter, the last step is getting it dialed into your final spec for length, lie, and loft. For length, the goal is to be able to stand in a comfortable putting position with your eyes over the ball or, just inside of your eye line.

For lie and loft, it is best to see a fitter, since it requires specialized tools to properly adjust, but if you are trying to get an idea for the direction your putter will need to be bent use the reference guide below.

: Lie Angle too flat

: Correct Lie Angle

: Lie Angle too upright

To see how a professional putting fitting is conducted, check out the video below from TXG

Equipment

Then and now: Comparing Rory McIlroy’s current setup to his record-breaking 2019 Canadian Open victory

Published

2 hours ago

Jun 11, 2026

Alistair Cameron

In Rory McIlroy’s first appearance at the 2019 RBC Canadian Open, he crushed the record books to earn his 16th PGA Tour title in dominating fashion, winning by seven shots over Shane Lowry and Webb Simpson.

McIlroy’s score of 22-under-par 258 is the lowest 72-hole score to date at the Canadian Open, and his closing 61 is also the best final-round score in the history of one of golf’s oldest tournaments. Finally, with his win in 2019, McIlroy became only the sixth player to win the career Triple Crown, adding to his victories at the U.S. Open in 2011 and The Open Championship in 2014, joining Tommy Armour, Walter Hagen, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Tiger Woods in a coveted list.

So, with that, why not compare his current setup to the clubs he used to break all the records?

Driver

2019: TaylorMade M5 (9 degrees), Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 70 TX
2026: TaylorMade Qi4D (9 degrees @8), Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7X (45 5/8 inches)

McIroy led the Tour in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee in 2019; he’s doing the same in 2026. Between now and then, McIlroy has switched from the Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 70 TX (a shaft with slightly more feeling in the tip) to the original Fujikura Ventus Black 7X, having just made the change to the heavier version from playing the 60X.

What’s interesting about McIlroy’s 2019 setup is that the weighting on his driver is actually set in the high-draw setting, using the T-Track weighting system, whereas in the Qi4D, he’s currently using a heavily rear-weighted setup. (Two 13-gram weights in the rear and only two 4-gram front weights.)

The TaylorMade M5 driver he played in during his Canadian Open win was the company’s first head that they claimed to design to initially exceed the USGA’s COR limit, and then injected with tuning resin to bring it back in bounds.

Fairway woods

2019: TaylorMade M6 3-wood (15 degrees), Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 80 TX; TaylorMade M5 5-wood (19 degrees), Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 90 TX
2026: TaylorMade Qi4D 3-wood (15 degrees), Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8X; TaylorMade Qi4D 5-wood (18 degrees), Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 9X

The TaylorMade M6 fairway wood that McIlroy was using during the 2019 season is still in the bag of some of the best golfers on Tour in 2026. Just check out Justin Rose’s winning setup from the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year. This year, though, McIlroy has still been searching for his top-end-of-the-bag setup, having played both the new Qi4D and the Qi10, which he won the Masters with.

The same shaft swap can be seen in the fairway woods as the driver, along with slightly less loft on the 5-wood.

Irons

2019: TaylorMade P750 (4) Buy here, TaylorMade P730 (5-9), Shafts: Project X 7.0
2026: TaylorMade P760 (4), TaylorMade Rors Proto (5-9), Shafts: Project X 7.0

The biggest difference between McIlroy’s custom set and the stock P730s is the groove design. While the P730s were constructed with 14 MX-9 grooves on their milled faces, McIlroy’s proto heads instead use the higher-spinning, 16-groove layout of the TW2 grooves. Other big differences between the sets are that McIlroy’s 7- and 8-irons have thinner toplines, are 1 degree stronger in loft, and are 1/4 inch longer than the original P730 builds.

With McIlroy’s 4-iron, the switch from P750 to P760 sees a transition to a two-piece construction with Speed Foam in it, which allows McIlroy to launch the ball slightly higher, with more workability.

Wedges

2019: TaylorMade Milled Grind (48-09SB), TaylorMade MG Hi-Toe (52-09SB, 56-09SB, 60-LB09), Shafts: Project X Rifle 6.5
2026: TaylorMade MG5 (46-09SB, 50-09SB, 54-11SB, 60-08LB @61), Shafts: Project X 6.5 (46-54), Project X 6.5 Wedge (60)

Between 2019 and 2026, McIlroy’s focus on his short game has been much more apparent. It was the reason why he switched back to the TP5 golf ball, to help with launch, spin and control with his wedges leading up to his career Grand Slam victory in 2025. The most apparent changes to McIlroy’s wedge setup are his lofts and bounce. He’s slowly delofted his pitching to a sand wedge, but has increased the loft on the lob wedge, bending his current 60-degree to 61. With that, adding more loft to his lob wedge also slightly increases the bounce and leading-edge sit point, so, as a result, he plays a lower-bounce lob wedge compared to 2019. The MG5 wedges are also softer than the first Milled Grind option from 2019. McIlroy also no longer plays the full-face grooves found on the Hi-Toe.

Putter

2019: TaylorMade Spider X
2026: TaylorMade Spider Tour X

Notice anything similar. Yes, the copper finish on Rory McIlroy’s Spider X putter in 2019 is a slightly more reflective finish than the recently released torched PVD finish. McIlroy was using the True Path alignment system, but now uses only a single white sightline.

Ball

2019: 2019 TaylorMade TP5 (#22)
2026: 2025 TaylorMade TP5 (RORS)

As mentioned above, McIlroy had transitioned from the TP5 to TP5x golf ball since his victory in Canada in 2019, but now is black with the same style of golf ball as his victory at Hamilton Golf & Country Club.

Grips

2019: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord
2026: Golf Pride MCC

Interesting, McIlroy actually used Golf Pride’s Tour Velvet Cord grips during his victory in 2019 (it was during a 2+ year switch to the corded TV) as opposed to his usual MCC grips, which he has played for most of his career.

Equipment

From the GolfWRX Classifieds: Titleist Vokey Proto Wedges 54M, 60T

Published

4 hours ago

Jun 11, 2026

Will Schube

At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, @Putt4Dough is selling some prototype wedges from Vokey Wedgeworks. These include a 54 degree wedge with the M grind and a 60 degree wedge with a T grind.

From the listing:

(1) Titleist Vokey Proto Wedge 54M with a Tour Issue DGS400 shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet (logo down). Standard length, lie, and loft. BB&F ferrule. Raw wedge in good condition. No initials. Price is $200 shipped. Buy both wedges for $380 shipped.

(2) Titleist Vokey Proto Wedge 60T with a KBS Tour 130X shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet. Standard length, lie, and loft. Raw wedge in good condition. No initials. Price is $200 shipped. Buy both wedges for $380 shipped.

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules.