In part four of our Tour fitting series, I tapped Cody Hale of Odyssey to take us through his putter-fitting strategy and what matters most to the best players in the world when it comes to what, in my opinion, is the piece of equipment to which players forge the strongest emotional attachment (the ball is a close second).
Putters are a hard club to fit, because sometimes the numbers don’t matter. Expert fitters will tell you players most desire from a putter (1) consistent aim, (2) efficient contact, and (3) whether they can trust what they feel and see.
The best putter fitters I see on Tour (like Cody) are typically the best listeners; they’re almost like therapists. Trying to achieve good statistical results and convince players that there is only one answer isn’t the answer. Cody is excellent at doing these two things: (1) Getting players back to a baseline that works, and (2) ensuring players are comfortable at all costs.
The stroke work is for the coaches; Cody’s job is matching the putter to enhance that work. It’s not as easy as it sounds, because you have a few masters to serve. Your player’s eyes, the conditions of the putting surfaces and the player’s feel and ultimately overall performance.
The best players in the world all have sensitive feels, and it’s Cody’s duty to ensure that a player’s feel and putter work in harmony. In simple terms, the putter should adjust to the player, and not the other way around.
So when looking for a putter, it’s important that you prioritize a few keys. For me, it’s:
1. Can I aim it? 2. Do I hit it out of the middle? 3. Does the ball roll over my line most of the time? 4. Am I comfortable with the putter?
Odyssey wins more putter counts on Tour than any other brand, and Cody is a huge part of that. I hope you enjoy his insights.
Odyssey Tour putter fitting strategy
by Cody Hale, Odyssey PGA Tour rep
Putter fittings at any level are highly individualized and unlock a wide range of possibilities. On Tour, our goal is to optimize a player’s putter setup to complement their stoke dynamics and hopefully help produce a more repeatable and transferable result in tournament conditions.
At Tour events, our fitting process begins by establishing a baseline measurement using Quintic Ball Roll. Inside our Tour Truck, we are fortunate to have a putting green equipped with Quintic that allow us to analyze key parameters for how the putter and golf ball are performing. We can identify areas for improvement whether it’s refining aim and start line accuracy, launch conditions or selecting a different putter model and balance profile better suited for that player’s stoke mechanics. Face angle at impact is one of the most reviewed parameters as it’s a critical determinant for start line. We look at several factors when improving start line and it could be as simple as a slight aim adjustment (not all good putters aim it perfectly) or testing different hosel configurations and center of mass locations that may influence a players feel and stroke patterns.
The Odyssey putting lab inside the Callaway Tour Performance trailer.Johnny Wunder
Take, for instance, Chris Kirk, who tends to have a slight left aim that produces a push bias but still manages to square the face at impact quite well. During our testing with Chris, we have identified that he aims best with rounded mallet designs that have minimal to no alignment aid or that feature perpendicular alignment (i.e., Versa). These features tend to help reduce his left aim bias into a more manageable range.
Recently, Chris recently has worked with his coach on some setup adjustments, and alongside that we transitioned him into a Jailbird S2S with no sightline. The putter change improved his aim accuracy and reduced the delta between his aim and start line to less than 0.5 degrees. Not all Tour players aim a putter perfectly, so it’s important to determine the optimal ranges for each player and match a putter design that supports those tendencies.
Each player has a unique set of variables in his or her setup and stroke, and that’s the beauty and challenge of blending a shape, hosel configuration and balance profile to best suit a player’s stroke mechanics. A Tour player’s “feel” is paramount, and their feedback plays a major role in shaping our recommendations. When we can tighten the gap between what the player perceives and the results, their focus can shift from mechanics to refining consistent feels, rhythm and speed control.
A notable example includes a current top five player in SG: Putting who made a putter change toward the end of last season. We measured his stroke several times last season and, despite good aim within 0.5° from 8-10 feet, his stroke path was extremely out-to-in, requiring signification compensation to match up the face. The putter design he was using featured a deeper center of mass with a slant neck design that decently suited those tendencies at the time.
About midway through the season, alongside his coach, we decided to test another option that could create a more neutral environment for the path and face to work together. The recommendation was to stand in a mallet shape for alignment purposes but move the center of mass more forward with a shaft axis more through the center, which created less toe hang. The switch to a #7 Double Bend (Face Balanced) immediately yielded a path consistently under 2° left and more naturally increased his face awareness. Following several weeks of testing, the putter went into play, and he has emerged as statistically one of the best putters over the past 7 months, including a PGA Tour win last fall.
Every player is unique, but our goal remains the same: fine tune their equipment in a way that builds trust, consistency and performance when it matters most.
Johnny currently serves as the Director of Equipment at Golf.com, contributing to platforms like Fully Equipped Golf. Prior to this role, he was the Content Marketing Manager at Callaway Golf, where he led “Callaway Golf’s World of Wunder,” a platform dedicated to in-depth golf equipment content. Before joining Callaway, he was the Director of Original Content and host of “The Gear Dive” podcast at GolfWRX.com. Beyond his professional endeavors, Johnny is an avid golfer with a deep passion for the game, having played since his youth in Seattle, Washington.
