These are the two most import parts of putting when testing putters

admin — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 20:43:05 +0000

When looking for a new putter, many golfers tend to focus, like Fully Equipped co-host Johnny Wunder, on strike and alignment.

“I look at putters like if I can aim it and I can hit it out of the middle,” Wunder said on this week’s episode.

But is that enough?

On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, Wunder posed that question to PGA Tour putting coach and GOLF contributor Stephen Sweeney. Sweeney responded that there’s a bit more to it for most accomplished golfers.

“I think once you get below, certainly in a single figure handicaps, you’re definitely leaving some meat on the bone there,” he said.

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Sweeney explained that he often tells people who ask him about getting a new putter that the real keys are making putts inside of eight feet and speed control from 30 to 70 feet.

“If a PGA Tour pro makes 25-footers at a 12 percent clip rate, if a consumer only makes, or a regular golfer only makes 2 percent of their 25-footers, they’re only 10% worse than a tour pro,” Sweeney said. “I mean, there’s no other area of the game that you’d say, ‘Hey, I’m only 10 percent worse than a tour pro, right?’ But you could be legitimately — from 4 to 8 feet, — you could be 40-50 percent worse than a tour pro.”

His point is that pros make so few of their 25-footers; looking at how many 25-footers you can make with a new putter is irrelevant.

What really matters is making short putts and not three-putting long ones.

“And on distance putting, you could be 70-80 percent worse than a tour pro on your proximity,” he continued. “So that mid-range level of putting is not that important to the average golfer, but… 3 to 8 feet and then outside 30, you need something sure, you can aim, you can start online, you can hit out of the center, but there’s definitely a weight component there for the speed putting, that I think the average consumer with a 7-handicap, they don’t match that up fully to take full advantage of what they’re investing in.”

So the next time you’re looking for a new putter, don’t go trying to make 10-20 footers. Make sure you can make the shorter ones and your speed control is good on the long ones.

For more from Wunder, Sweeney and co-host Jake Morrow, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped here, or watch it below.

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Dunlop Sports’ brands Srixon and Cleveland parts with Brooks Koepka

admin — Tue, 19 May 2026 00:39:00 +0000

Less than five years after signing an endorsement deal, Brooks Koepka, a five-time major winner, is an equipment free agent.

This morning, Dunlop Sports Americas issued a press release. It was four paragraphs in length, clean and professional. The kind of statement where both sides mentioned clearly decided to shake hands and part ways without any drama.

Effective today, the equipment partnership between Brooks Koepka and Dunlop Sports Americas, parent company of Srixon and Cleveland Golf, is over. Mutually agreed, the release says. And by the tone of it, that appears to be exactly what it was.

No fireworks. No messy public breakup. Just a genuine acknowledgment of what was built together since the parternship started in 2021 and a polite sendoff.

So, now, one of the five greatest major champions of his generation is an equipment free agent. Three PGA Championships. Two U.S. Opens. And as of this morning, nobody owns his bag.

As a free agent, Koepka can now play whatever clubs he wants, whenever he wants, for whatever reason he chooses. He has no contracts or obligations to fulfill, so his personal preferences will be his guide.

At the 2026 Masters, Koepka used a Titleist GT3 driver and a TaylorMade M2 4-wood, and a Nike Vapor Fly 3-iron along with his Srixon ZX7 irons and Cleveland RTZ wedges. He also played a Titleist Pro V1x ball that week.

Maybe we can agree there were signs?

In its release, Dunlop’s noted Koepka won a major with Srixon and Cleveland Golf equipment in play, a reference to Koepka’s win at the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill. But what happens next for Koepka is the interesting part because Dunlop Sports has amassed a strong stable of players that it can lean on. J.J. Spaun used Srixon irons and Cleveland wedges to win the U.S. Open at Oakmont last summer. Hideki Matsuyama won the 2021 Masters using Srixon and Cleveland clubs, and Keegan Bradley has routinely been in contention on the PGA Tour at multiple events every season, including last year when he won the Travelers Championship.

Still, equipment companies don’t let players like Koepka drift for long. He’s a big name, with a recognizable face, who is making a return to the PGA Tour after leaving LIV Golf at the end of 2025. He has the kind of game and style that makes a marketing department feel good about writing a check. Someone will come calling. Maybe they already have.

The timing of this announcement is interesting, coming two weeks before the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia. These things don’t happen in a vacuum, and four and a half years is an odd amount of time for a player endorsement deal, so it will be interesting to hear what Koepka says when he is asked about this before the start of the season’s second major.

What’s next, we don’t know yet. But Koepka golf bag will tell us eventually.

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parts – Golfing Networks

These are the two most import parts of putting when testing putters

TaylorMade 2026 Spider Tour X Small Slant Custom Putter

Dunlop Sports’ brands Srixon and Cleveland parts with Brooks Koepka

Less than five years after signing an endorsement deal, Brooks Koepka, a five-time major winner, is an equipment free agent.