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Taylor Montgomery is the best putter on the PGA Tour. That’s if you go by the metrics of Strokes Gained: Putting, One Putt Percentage and Putting from inside ten feet. Safe to say, Montgomery’s putting is the strongest part of his game by far.
We caught up with him to ask about the putter he uses to clean up on the greens. These days, you’d probably expect the best putter on tour to be using something custom fitted down to an inch, and immaculate without a scratch to be seen.
That really couldn’t be further from the truth with Taylor Montgomery. Underneath his custom TaylorMade headcover lies a beat-up TaylorMade Spider Ghost from 2013.
And when we say beat-up, we really mean beat-up.
As I took a closer look at it, Montgomery’s caddie tells me, jokingly, not to scratch the weapon.
Regardless, I wasn’t going to touch the old TaylorMade, as I didn’t want to infect the putter that clearly had magic dust sprinkled on it.
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“I spray paint the putter if it gets chipped, I try to keep the grip in good shape. Sometimes it melts off and stuff, but I try not to re-grip it too much if I can help it,” Montgomery said.
“Then, on the clubhead, I try to keep the topline pretty clean and white. That’s about it, there’s scratches and paint chips everywhere.”
If Montgomery was anything like the rest of us, he’d have thought about swapping the wand out for something a little more modern and a little less battered. But he isn’t like us.
“I’ve never thought of changing out the putter,” he said, bemused that I would even entertain the thought.
“I have a few backups, but their paint jobs are a lot better than this one. They might be the same model, but are they truly ever the same? Not really.”

That’s right, Montgomery has replacement putters at the ready, that are the same model, but he doesn’t trust them to deliver exactly the same feeling compared to his gamer. That’s a man who knows what he likes on the greens.
When it comes to keeping his stroke in check, the best putter on the PGA Tour keeps things pretty straightforward.
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“Alignment for me is so crucial. If I’m trying to hit a putt right edge and my putter is aimed left edge then I’m probably not going to make the putt.
“I know a lot of coaches talk about how it doesn’t really matter – some players aim the putter left or right – that’s fine, but there’s some timing, and then you need to time your hands up at the ball.”
To keep that alignment on track, Montgomery uses something called a putting plate. These are pretty popular on tour, and essentially are triangle shaped pieces of metal that help you to line up your putter square to the target.

“It just comes down to speed and getting the same set-up I’ve had all the time.
“When I’m putting well, normally my speed is crucial for me to not push or pull putts. What I feel is the tempo of my putting stroke, if I start getting too quick or too slow, that’s when I start pushing or pulling putts.
“I’ve just kind of done the same thing since high school. I’ve built on that same method and developed it. Obviously, I think I’ve done the right thing for my putting.
“I’m just trying to do that with every other part of the game, that’s how you become a great player.”
Remember that the next time you have a bad day on the greens. It might not be the putter that’s at fault after all.
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