By Brian Sommer
Every few years, golf discovers a putter that has finally solved putting. This is one of the game’s more durable comic traditions. The metallurgy changes. The milling changes. The inserts change. The alignment systems acquire more lines than a municipal parking lot. Heads grow larger, then smaller, then larger again. Shafts migrate toward the heel, the center, and occasionally somewhere that appears to have been chosen during an argument.
But the promise remains remarkably constant. Better roll. Better feel. Better alignment. Better distance control. More forgiveness. More putts made. Golf manufacturers rarely lack confidence. Golfers, apparently, are expected to supply the evidence.
Which is why my recent experience with a new Bettinardi Fitzpatrick-style putter has been rather enjoyable. It has not revolutionized my putting, nor has it revealed some previously inaccessible secret of forward roll. I like it for a much simpler reason: it is an extremely good putter. Apparently, that is no longer enough praise for a piece of golf equipment. It should be. And somewhat unexpectedly, it also brought back memories.
When YES! Was Actually Different
Anyone who played much golf when YES! putters first appeared will probably remember them. They looked different, felt different, and even arrived with those distinctive yellow-and-white grips that made them recognizable from across a putting green. Most importantly, the face looked unlike almost anything else. There were the C-Grooves.
They were not decorative milling intended merely to make a CNC machine look industrious. YES! made an explicit engineering argument: a golf ball skids after impact before beginning true forward rotation, and the face of the putter could be designed to influence that transition.
This was not nonsense. A golf ball does skid, and it does not sit on a green like a marble on a sheet of glass. It settles slightly into the turf, which is one reason putters have loft. A few degrees help lift the ball from its resting position before friction, grass, slope, speed, moisture and everything else involved in putting begin having their say.
YES! was not alone in attacking the problem. Guerin Rife experimented with groove technology. Never Compromise explored face design. Other manufacturers investigated inserts, milling patterns, loft configurations and different ways of influencing launch and roll. But YES! made the idea visually unmistakable. The C-Groove became the product.
It also became recognizable because good players used it. I remember watching Retief Goosen during that period. He used a YES! putter while establishing himself as one of the finest players in the world and winning two U.S. Opens. That mattered, not because the putter caused him to win major championships, but because golfers notice what great players use. Manufacturers know this. It is one of the easiest ways for a sensible engineering proposition to begin its transformation into golf mythology.
The Claim Is Usually Smaller Than the Advertisement
The actual technological argument surrounding grooves is fairly modest. A ball initially skids. Face geometry may influence launch and rotation. Different combinations of loft, impact conditions, groove design and surface characteristics may alter how quickly the ball transitions into forward roll.
Fine. Test it. Measure it. Compare it. This is exactly what equipment companies should do. The difficulty begins when “this face may produce earlier forward rotation under these conditions” becomes “this putter rolls the ball better.” Better than what? Under what conditions? For whom? With what delivered loft, impact location, green speed and golf ball? Most inconveniently of all, does any of this mean you will actually hole more putts?
Golf advertising has always possessed a remarkable ability to begin with something measurable and end somewhere considerably more ambitious. A driver face produces more ball speed, therefore longer drives. A shaft changes launch characteristics, therefore greater consistency. An iron moves its center of gravity, therefore more control. A putter reduces skid, therefore better putting. One may admire the engineering while declining the invitation to swallow the conclusion whole. That is not cynicism. It is simply reading the sentence carefully.
My Own Putting Has Been Considerably Less Adventurous
I have spent most of my golfing life at the opposite end of putter experimentation. I am fairly traditional, perhaps stubbornly so. I use a conventional reverse-overlap putting grip and have for years. I understand there are now approximately seventeen thousand alternative methods of holding a putter, several involving grips that resemble pool noodles, broom handles or orthopedic appliances. I have never seen much reason to join in.
The same applies to putters themselves. I have tried mallets and half-mallets. They generally enjoy the same tenure in my bag as an unpopular interim government: not long. This is not because mallets do not work. Clearly, they do. Nor is it because conventional blades possess some mystical purity. I simply prefer traditional putters. I like looking down at them. I understand their proportions. They suit my eye. That matters more to me than a technical brochure explaining why I ought to prefer something else.
For years, one of my regular putters has been an old oil-can Scotty Cameron Laguna. It is familiar in precisely the way old golf clubs become familiar. There is no magic inside it. After enough years, you simply stop noticing the club and begin putting. That is a rather underrated quality.
Bettinardi Built Something Familiar
That brings us to Matthew Fitzpatrick. His connection to YES! is far more interesting than the usual professional-equipment story because he did not abandon an old putter when a new manufacturer arrived with a new story. He wanted the old idea preserved. Fitzpatrick had grown accustomed to his YES! Tracy II and its C-Groove face. When YES! disappeared, that particular combination of head shape, feel and roll characteristics became difficult to replace. Bettinardi eventually worked with him to produce a modern version tailored to what he wanted.
That is much more interesting to me than the usual product launch. The manufacturer was not telling the player, “Here is our new technology. Adapt to it.” The player was effectively telling the manufacturer, “This is what I like. Build it.” Bettinardi was particularly well suited to the job. The company has been producing high-quality milled putters for years, and whatever one thinks of individual shapes or technologies, the manufacturing quality is difficult to quarrel with. The Fitzpatrick-inspired model carries that tradition forward while deliberately looking backward. That is probably why I was interested in it.
My First Few Rounds
I have played several rounds with mine, and almost immediately it reminded me of the old YES! putters. The C-Groove pattern is obvious when you inspect the face, but I do not find it intrusive at address. It is distinctive without being distracting. The head is a semi-Anser-style shape, while the flow neck changes the appearance considerably from the traditional plumber’s-neck, L-shaped hosel associated with a classic Anser. That combination works beautifully to my eye. It still looks like a putter, which increasingly feels like a courageous design choice. At address there is very little visual argument taking place. No wings. No enormous chassis extending behind the ball. No alignment apparatus suggesting that landing an Airbus might shortly become necessary. There is a head, a ball and a line. Good enough. For me, three characteristics dominate almost everything else when judging a putter: sound, feel and weight. Not because those qualities form some universal hierarchy. They simply matter most to me.
The Grip Had to Go
The putter arrived at 35 inches with Bettinardi’s stock grip. It is a very nice grip. I removed it. The grip was not bad. It was simply too heavy and substantial for me. Those are different statements. I prefer a thinner cord putter grip because it lets me feel the club more directly and makes the head seem more present in my hands. So, I regripped it and immediately preferred the result. I make no claim that the new grip transformed my putting performance. I simply prefer the way it feels. Golfers are allowed preferences without converting them into universal principles.
Sound Matters
The other pleasant surprise is the sound. I currently use the Bridgestone Tour BXS , which is a relatively soft-feeling golf ball. Some aggressively milled faces or soft inserts can make an already-muted ball feel almost lifeless. The Bettinardi does not. The sound remains subdued but distinct. There is enough information at impact to know that the ball has been struck and to have some sense of where it met the face. It avoids both extremes: neither metallic click nor marshmallow. For me, that matters. Sound and feel in putting are difficult to separate because much of what golfers describe as “feel” is interpreted through sound. Change the acoustic response and golfers often describe the club as harder or softer even when relatively little else has changed. Manufacturers understand this, and rightly so. The sound of a golf club is part of using it.
Does It Roll the Ball Well?
Yes. Very well. The ball comes off the C-Groove face beautifully, and I have no complaint whatsoever about the roll. But here comes the sentence equipment reviews seem increasingly reluctant to contain, I cannot honestly tell you that I roll the ball better or hole more putts with it than I do with my old Scotty Cameron. There. Civilization survives. My Laguna does not begin trembling in the garage. Bettinardi does not need to recall the product. The C-Grooves have not been discredited. It simply means that two excellent putters can both be excellent.
The Bettinardi is somewhat heavier than my old oil-can Laguna, and I notice the difference. After changing the grip, however, the overall feel moved much closer to what I prefer. The additional head weight is not remotely enough to discourage me from using it. Quite the opposite. I expect to play many more rounds with it. What I refuse to do is manufacture a performance difference merely because I bought something new. That may be the most dangerous sentence ever written in a golf equipment review.
The New-Club Honeymoon
Golfers are susceptible to an amusing phenomenon. We buy a new club, desperately want to like it, hit three good shots and declare the relationship official. “This thing is unbelievable.” Perhaps it is. Or perhaps you hit three good golf shots. Golf magazines, YouTube reviews and equipment forums have turned the first-day verdict into a minor industry. A golfer hits a dozen putts across an artificial indoor surface and announces that the roll is incredible. Compared with what? Measured how? What happens from forty feet? Downhill? On Bermuda? On punched greens? On wet greens? What happens when impact moves slightly away from the center? Nobody knows. But the roll is incredible. This is how golf talks now.
South Florida Isn’t Augusta
My first few rounds with the Bettinardi have also taken place during perhaps the least useful time of year for rendering grand verdicts about putting equipment: summer in South Florida. Green maintenance. Slower surfaces. Changing moisture levels. Grass growing as though paid by the inch. The rounds I have played with the putter have been on greens running noticeably slower than they normally do. So what exactly would I be proving by declaring that my distance control has improved or deteriorated? Very little. The surfaces themselves are changing. The more interesting test will come as summer maintenance ends and the greens begin returning to their normal condition. That will give the Bettinardi a more meaningful audition. Not on a strip of synthetic turf. On a golf course. Long putts, short putts, fast putts, slow putts, downhill putts where breathing on the ball seems excessive, and uphill putts where the hole appears to have moved to another county. Golf will decide. It usually does.
Technology Doesn’t Need to Save Us
Perhaps the strangest feature of modern golf equipment is the apparent belief that being very good is no longer sufficient. Every club must solve something. A new driver cannot simply be beautifully made and perform extremely well. It must redefine speed. A wedge cannot merely offer excellent turf interaction. It must reinvent spin. An iron cannot simply be attractive and consistent. It must produce revolutionary forgiveness through a proprietary arrangement of tungsten apparently discovered at CERN. And a putter cannot simply feel wonderful and roll the ball beautifully. It must improve putting. Why can an excellent putter not simply be an excellent putter?
That is where I find myself with the Bettinardi. It has not transformed me. Thankfully, I was not looking to be transformed. I wanted a traditional-looking putter with a flow neck, excellent milling, good balance, a face technology I remembered fondly, and the sound and weight characteristics I enjoy. After changing the grip, that is almost precisely what I have.
The Fitzpatrick Story Tells Us Something Useful
There is always a temptation to look at a successful player and work backward from the equipment. Fitzpatrick uses this sort of putter. Fitzpatrick is an exceptional putter. Therefore, this sort of putter must contribute to exceptional putting. Retief Goosen used a YES! putter while winning major championships. Thousands of other golfers bought YES! putters. They did not all win two U.S. Opens. Fitzpatrick uses a C-Groove-inspired Bettinardi. Thousands of golfers could buy similar putters tomorrow. They will not putt like Matthew Fitzpatrick. This should not require much explanation, yet golf marketing thrives partly because we enjoy confusing what great players use with why great players are great. The club matters. Fit matters. Loft, weight, length, lie and face characteristics matter. So do sound, appearance and whether you enjoy looking down at the thing. But the putter remains an instrument. It is not the musician.
Why I Like This One
The Bettinardi Fitz is beautifully made. It looks excellent. It sounds excellent. The ball comes off the C-Groove face beautifully. The flow neck suits my eye, and the traditional head shape fits the sort of putters I have always preferred. Replacing the stock grip with a thinner cord grip brought the weight and feedback closer to what I wanted.
Will it permanently replace the old Scotty Cameron Laguna? I have no idea. That may be another unfashionable position: not knowing yet. For the moment, both can exist without a duel to the death. The Cameron is lighter and extraordinarily familiar. The Bettinardi is somewhat heavier, beautifully balanced and carries a face technology I have always found interesting. Each rolls golf balls. Each hole putts when I start them at the correct speed on the correct line. Each miss when I do not. Rather than diminishing the technology, that allows me to appreciate it without requiring mythology.
A Very Good Putter Is Enough
Golf equipment becomes much more interesting once we stop demanding that every new product justify itself by declaring war on everything that came before it. The Bettinardi Fitzpatrick putter does not make the old YES! concept obsolete. It preserves it. It does not make my old Scotty Cameron irrelevant. It joins it. And it does not need to make me a better putter for me to say that I think it is an exceptionally good one. That is praise, not qualification. Perhaps after another twenty rounds I will discover things I like less. Perhaps when the South Florida greens recover from summer maintenance, I will appreciate certain characteristics more. Perhaps the Bettinardi will remain in the bag for years. Perhaps the Laguna will return next month.
Golf has a way of making fools of premature declarations. For now, I know enough. The Bettinardi is beautifully made. The C-Groove face produces the familiar sensation I remember from YES! putters. The shape and flow neck suit my eye. The thinner cord grip has improved the overall feel for my preferences. The Tour BXS retains the muted impact sound I like. And the putter has performed exactly as an excellent putter should. No revolution. No revelation. No claim that I have finally discovered the secret of putting. Just a very good putter. In an industry forever trying to sell us miracles, perhaps that is the most refreshing claim of all.
Photo Courtesy of Bettinardi Golf