Tommy Fleetwood set for surprising putter switch

A professional golfer switching putter wouldn’t usually be a big story. But, when it’s Tommy Fleetwood swapping out his trusty blade, you take notice.

The Englishman is in Abu Dhabi this week for the HSBC Championship and before the event gets underway, he revealed he’s spent the last month testing out a new flatstick.

Fleetwood fans will know that his Odyssey White Hot Pro putter has been in the bag since early 2022. It’s a shape that has become synonymous with the Ryder Cup winner, but it looks to have met its match.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the penultimate tournament of the DP World Tour season, Fleetwood explained how he’s gone about making the change.

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“It is a new putter. It is a new TaylorMade putter that I’ve been working with at home,” said the 33-year-old. “The guys at TaylorMade, they have done an amazing job like we spoke about, designing something like a little bit different.”

He went onto explain that thanks to the busy schedule, there’s not much time to try out and bed in new gear into his set-up. But, a four week stretch without a tournament allowed him to get used to a new flatstick.

“It’s felt really, really good. It was the perfect time for me to be practising with something. It’s sort of difficult these days. I love testing my equipment and testing things that are new and different, but it’s so difficult with the way the schedule is.

“The tournaments are packed in so close to each other, and there’s never not a big event or not an important event it seems.

“To have that time at home to work on something that I’ve put a lot of effort into and something I’m really interested in; and like I said, TaylorMade have done an amazing job with it, and it’s felt good.

“[I’m] looking forward to going out there tomorrow and getting it in competition because that’s the only thing I haven’t done yet, so that’s exciting.”

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Details on the putter are, for the moment, limited, but in a couple of photos, we can see the shape of it. If you were expecting Fleetwood to get on the mallet bandwagon like his TaylorMade compatriots McIlroy and Scheffler, then you’d be wrong.

Fleetwood has always been a blade fan, and that is still the case with this silver TaylorMade model. It’s similar in shape to the TaylorMade TP Reserve B29, with a flow neck design, not dissimilar to previous models he’s used.

It also looks to have an insert, or at least some sort of detailing on the face. Once Fleetwood puts in play for real, we’ll get more details. Hopefully for his sake it does the business on the greens.

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Lewis Fraser As bunkered’s Performance Editor, Lewis oversees the content that’s designed to make you a better player. From the latest gear to tuition, nutrition, strategy and more, he’s the man. A graduate of the University of Stirling, Lewis joined bunkered in 2021. Formerly a caddie at Castle Stuart Golf Links, he is a member of Bathgate Golf Club where he plays off four.

Performance Editor