ed. Note: This is the 4th part of the special six-part fit series in the minds of the world’s most skilled club trainers.
Previous installments: How to find the perfect golf ball|How professionals call for drivers|Fairway wood accessories from Xander Schauffele inside
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In the fourth part of our Tour series, I smiled Cody Hale of the Odyssey Let’s go through his putting strategy, and, I think, most importantly for the best players in the world, it’s the device for players to forge the strongest emotional attachment (the ball is the second one).
Putters are hard to fit because sometimes numbers don’t matter. Expert fitters will tell you the putters (1) consistent goals, (2) effective connections, and (3) whether they can trust their feelings and what they see.
The best putter fitters I see on tour (like Cody) are usually the best listeners. They are almost like therapists. Try to get good statistics and convince players only one The answer is not the answer. Cody is very good at doing these two things: (1) bringing players back to an effective baseline, and (2) making sure players feel comfortable at all costs.
The job of stroke is provided to the coach. Cody’s work matches the putter to enhance the work. It doesn’t sound easy because you have some masters to serve. Your player’s eyes, the conditions on the putter surface and the player’s feeling and ultimately the overall performance.
The best players in the world all have a sense of sensitivity, and Cody has the responsibility to ensure that the player’s feelings and putting are in harmony. In short, putters should adapt to the player, not the other way around.
Therefore, when looking for putters, it is important to prioritize some keys. For me, it is:
1. Can I aim? 2. Am I hitting it in the middle? 3. Most of the time, will the ball roll over my line? 4. Am I happy with the putter?
Odyssey won more putts on the tour than any other brand, and Cody was a big part of it. Hope you like his insights.
Odyssey Travel Putting Strategy
By Cody Hale, Odyssey PGA Tour Rep
Push rod accessories of any level are highly personalized and unlock a wide range of possibilities. On the tour, our goal is to optimize players’ putter settings to complement their Stoke dynamics and hope to produce more repeatable and transferable results in match conditions.
In the tour, our fitting process first established baseline measurements using the Quintic Ball volume. Within our tour truck, we were lucky enough to have a quintet-equipped green that allowed us to analyze key parameters for putting and golf performance. We can identify areas of improvement, whether it is the accuracy of refining targets and startup lines, startup conditions or choosing other putter models and balance data that are more suitable for the player’s Stoke mechanism. The impact of the facial angle is one of the most reviewed parameters as it is a key determinant of the starting line. When improving the starting line, we consider several factors, which may be as simple as making a slight adjustment (not all good putts are fully targeted) or testing different Hosel configurations and the center of the mass position that may affect the player’s feeling and stroke mode.
Odyssey puts the lab into the Callaway Tour Performance trailer.
Johnny Wunder
Take Chris Kirk as an example, who tends to have a smaller left target, creating a push bias, but still makes the face pose a frontal impact well. During testing with Chris, we have determined that his target was a circular hammer design with minimal designs, no alignment aids or having vertical alignment (i.e., Versa). These features often help reduce his left target bias to a more manageable range.
Recently, Chris recently worked with his coach to do some setup tweaks and transformed him into a prison bird S2 without sight. The putter changes improve his target standard accuracy and reduce the delta between his target and the start line to 0.5 degrees. Not all Tour participants aim completely at putters, so it is important to determine the best range for each player and match the putter design that supports these trends.
Odyssey Ai-One Square to Square Barridd Custom Putter
Odyssey’s new series of AI-One Square 2 Square putters have a modern center axis design that balances them so they want to keep a square in the golfer’s stroke. These putters are perfect for golfers when putting the rod to minimize their face rotation. AI-One uses an insert designed by AI, and we create a profile on the insertion of aluminum proponents, which we collectively cashed onto a striking surface of white hot amino alkyl to promote consistent ball speed through a classic white heat that is a love for tourists and amateurs. Modern Center Axis Design This design centers on the axis on the CG plane of the push rod. This causes the push rod to be opposite to the toe in the position of reverse torque, opposite to the traditional push rod with toe suspension. This design promotes square faces throughout the stroke. The built-in forward forward press 3.3° forward shaft tilts the hand presets the forward pressure position, eliminating the opening of the face that usually occurs when the golfer presses on its own. Unique Navy Blue PVD Finish This range features beautiful Navy Blue PVD finishes that really set it apart and have a premium look, and of course, the Prison Bird model comes with our classic Versa Alignment.
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Each player has a unique set of variables in their settings and stroke, which is the beauty and challenge of fusing shapes, blowing configurations, and balance profiles to best suit the player’s stroke mechanics. The “feeling” of Tour players is crucial and their feedback plays a big role in shaping our suggestions. As we can tighten the gaps and results that players perceive, their focus can shift from mechanics to consistent sense, rhythm and speed controls.
A noteworthy example includes the current SG top five players: he made changes on putters at the end of last season. Last season, we measured his stroke a few times and despite the good goal from 0.5° from 8-10 feet, his stroke path was excellent and needed compensation for what was in line with the meaning of the face. The putter design he used had a deeper center of mass and had italic design, which was perfect for these trends at the time.
Around the middle of the season, with his coach, we decided to test another option that could work together to create a more neutral environment for the road and faces. The suggestion is to stand in a mallet state for alignment purposes, but move the center of the mass axis more forward, while the shaft axis passes through the center more, thus allowing less toe hanging. Steering #7 Double Bend (Facial Balance) immediately creates a path at the bottom left of 2° and increases his face awareness more naturally. After weeks of testing, putters started to work, and statistically, he was one of the best putters in the past seven months, including the PGA Tour champion last fall.
Every player is unique, but our goal remains the same: fine-tune their devices in a way that builds the most important trust, consistency and performance.
Want to overhaul 2025? Find a club location near your True Spec Golf.
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