Putting is all about feel, yet the trend that has emerged on greens all across golf in recent years is using putters that take a certain amount of feel out of the stroke.
The quirky Oregon-based L.A.B. Golf company has been the headliner company for “zero torque” putters and putting, with its unique-looking models and a “lie angle balance” design concept that keeps the putter face square through impact—and seeking to minimize golfers’ manipulation of the putter head in a stroke. J.J. Spaun won the U.S. Open with a L.A.B. Golf putter and other companies have tried to make inroads in the zero torque putter market.
And now one of the game’s putting giants is joining the party.
Scotty Cameron, the upscale putter maker whose models have won countless pro tournaments including all of Tiger Woods’s majors and are popular with amateurs, launched two new putters earlier this month called “OC” and promising low-torque performance and feel.
OC stands for “Onset Center,” referring to the shaft position of the putter, set back from the putter head’s face (onset) while also in line with the putter’s center of gravity (center). One of the principles of zero/low torque putters is having a center shaft (or something close to it).
“In the last few years, we’ve seen a growing number of golfers who want to minimize the feel of face rotation in the stroke via putter setup,” said Austie Rollinson, Scotty Cameron’s senior director of putter research and development. “We now have an entirely new configuration for golfers who want to feel a square, straight-back-and-through path.”
The company prefers to call these low torque rather than zero torque, claiming that any putting stroke introduces torque. And the two Cameron models offered as OCs fit the mojo for a low-torque stroke.
The Phantom 11R OC is built off the Scotty Cameron Phantom 11 platform, a stable multi-material mallet design with high moment of inertia (MOI). It is available in right and left hands.
The Studio Style Fastback OC shares the look of Cameron’s 2025 Fastback model, a ring-weighted mid-mallet design. It is available only for righthanders; both models are available in 33-, 34- and 35-inch lengths at a price of $549.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Scotty Cameron Enters the Market for This Popular Putting Trend.