The Stroke Lab putters are more than just a collection of different head shapes and grips or a routine refresh of a tried and true putter lineup. This time around the folks at Odyssey went right back to the drawing board and started with the question "Why are golfers not getting any better at putting?!" In fact, the data would show that as a whole, golfers are getting worse and worse at putting as the years go by. This question led Odyssey to the discovery that somehow putters have become all out of whack from a design standpoint. Heads are too light. Shafts are too heavy. Grips don't match heads and shafts.
Enter the Odyssey Stroke Lab.
The main idea behind Stroke Lab is to put the golfer back in control of their putting stroke by weighting the putter in such a way that it naturally improves tempo and encourages consistency. Weight is very carefully added to the head and to the grip and removed from the shaft in order to accomplish this, and the result is a putter that feels extremely natural and in control.
The EXO insert makes a return here as well as many of Odyssey's Tour-proven head shapes and neck styles. I was fit into a Stroke Lab #1 which is a very traditional Anser style blade putter with a plumbers neck and roughly 4:30 toe hang - something I've used for years now and am very comfortable with.
A quick blurb about me and my history with putters. I love putters. I've owned many putters from many manufacturers boutique and mainstream, and I've loved so many of them. That said, despite the dozens and dozens of putters that I've cycled through and continue to own I've NEVER been overly fond of any putter with an insert face. Going into The Grandaddy knowing that I will need to put an insert putter into play was certainly giving me some feelings of trepidation, but I was committed to giving everything a fair shot and went in with a positive attitude.
Instantly all my fear would prove unfounded. The EXO insert is as good an insert as I've ever felt and it masterfully blends a superior roll with a responsive feel. I've always felt that O-works felt completely dead and had no feedback, and previous inserts before that were always lacking in one way or another for me. It's such a personal thing when talking about sound, feel, and feedback so everyone's opinions will always differ and that's a great thing. All in all, I couldn't be happier with the EXO insert and IMO it's so good that I can't possibly imagine how Odyssey will even attempt to improve it going forward. It will sound like hyperbole but I really think that they've found "it" with this one.
The Stroke Lab #1 features 2 alignment aids; a single alignment line on the flange as well as a perpendicular aid in the form of silver paint across the entire top line against a black putter head. For me this added two-tone alignment aid is perfect since I absolutely cannot use an alignment line. The first thing I did upon receiving my putter was to take a sharpie to the flange line to minimize it, so I could focus on the leading edge to align my putts. Again, this is obviously very personal and I'm certainly in the minority here.
So how does all this combine in the end? For me, incredibly well! I found instant success on the putting greens while under pressure. Not just success in one area or another either but all across the board. My putting wasn't perfect (obviously) but it was very good. I only missed 1 putt inside 5 ft at The Grandaddy, and my lag putting was off the charts good. I hit multiple putts from another time zone to inches, and these were putts that if I had put them to 8 ft I would have been satisfied. I rolled in those pesky 4 footers with ease and regularity. I made enough 15-20 footers to have an impact on the matches.
It's sort of difficult to know what to attribute this success to. Is it the EXO insert? Is it the Stroke Lab tech/weighting? Is it the alignment aid? I don't necessarily have the specific answer but it also doesn't matter. The fact is that the parts combine to create the whole, and the whole is a putt making instrument even in incapable hands like mine. I really enjoy rolling putts with it and I think it's mainly due to the instant comfort level that I have with it. The face rolls the ball wonderfully and I find it really easy to align to my target. The weighting just feels 'right' and I'm pretty sure it has really improved the consistency of my putting stroke. At the end of the day, I'm making putts and that's what a putter is all about.
A couple months ago I wouldn't have believed that I would enjoy my time with an insert putter, but the new reality is that this putter could hold down the #1 spot in my lineup for the entirety of this season.
Enter the Odyssey Stroke Lab.
The main idea behind Stroke Lab is to put the golfer back in control of their putting stroke by weighting the putter in such a way that it naturally improves tempo and encourages consistency. Weight is very carefully added to the head and to the grip and removed from the shaft in order to accomplish this, and the result is a putter that feels extremely natural and in control.
The EXO insert makes a return here as well as many of Odyssey's Tour-proven head shapes and neck styles. I was fit into a Stroke Lab #1 which is a very traditional Anser style blade putter with a plumbers neck and roughly 4:30 toe hang - something I've used for years now and am very comfortable with.
A quick blurb about me and my history with putters. I love putters. I've owned many putters from many manufacturers boutique and mainstream, and I've loved so many of them. That said, despite the dozens and dozens of putters that I've cycled through and continue to own I've NEVER been overly fond of any putter with an insert face. Going into The Grandaddy knowing that I will need to put an insert putter into play was certainly giving me some feelings of trepidation, but I was committed to giving everything a fair shot and went in with a positive attitude.
Instantly all my fear would prove unfounded. The EXO insert is as good an insert as I've ever felt and it masterfully blends a superior roll with a responsive feel. I've always felt that O-works felt completely dead and had no feedback, and previous inserts before that were always lacking in one way or another for me. It's such a personal thing when talking about sound, feel, and feedback so everyone's opinions will always differ and that's a great thing. All in all, I couldn't be happier with the EXO insert and IMO it's so good that I can't possibly imagine how Odyssey will even attempt to improve it going forward. It will sound like hyperbole but I really think that they've found "it" with this one.
The Stroke Lab #1 features 2 alignment aids; a single alignment line on the flange as well as a perpendicular aid in the form of silver paint across the entire top line against a black putter head. For me this added two-tone alignment aid is perfect since I absolutely cannot use an alignment line. The first thing I did upon receiving my putter was to take a sharpie to the flange line to minimize it, so I could focus on the leading edge to align my putts. Again, this is obviously very personal and I'm certainly in the minority here.
So how does all this combine in the end? For me, incredibly well! I found instant success on the putting greens while under pressure. Not just success in one area or another either but all across the board. My putting wasn't perfect (obviously) but it was very good. I only missed 1 putt inside 5 ft at The Grandaddy, and my lag putting was off the charts good. I hit multiple putts from another time zone to inches, and these were putts that if I had put them to 8 ft I would have been satisfied. I rolled in those pesky 4 footers with ease and regularity. I made enough 15-20 footers to have an impact on the matches.
It's sort of difficult to know what to attribute this success to. Is it the EXO insert? Is it the Stroke Lab tech/weighting? Is it the alignment aid? I don't necessarily have the specific answer but it also doesn't matter. The fact is that the parts combine to create the whole, and the whole is a putt making instrument even in incapable hands like mine. I really enjoy rolling putts with it and I think it's mainly due to the instant comfort level that I have with it. The face rolls the ball wonderfully and I find it really easy to align to my target. The weighting just feels 'right' and I'm pretty sure it has really improved the consistency of my putting stroke. At the end of the day, I'm making putts and that's what a putter is all about.
A couple months ago I wouldn't have believed that I would enjoy my time with an insert putter, but the new reality is that this putter could hold down the #1 spot in my lineup for the entirety of this season.
I still have an EXO that I need to turn in a proper review once I get it configured properly.
The EXO will have a little toe hang whereas the 2ball fang is face balanced.
