The last couple years in golf equipment have been dominated by two words. Zero Torque. In reality, this category is actually really, really low torque, but there’s a chance that we all missed something important about the trend. But Ping Golf, with the release of their new PLD Ally Blue Onset putter, claims to see what we’ve missed: Onset’s ability to help us aim the putter better.
First things first, the new Ping PLD Ally Blue Onset is NOT a zero torque, toe up, super-low torque, or CG-Shafted putter. The new Onset, which by the way has been played on Tour by Corey Conners for about the last year, is designed with a 304 stainless steel sole plate and a 6061 Aluminum Top Plate to help create a high MOI design that doesn’t get incredibly heavy. Coming in at 360 grams, the putter feels very “familiar” to golfers rather than a large, heavy, mallet design like other onset options on the market. It’s also balanced in weight from toe to heel, since they aren’t worried about forcing a toe-up design.
Ping has purposely designed the new offering with 15˚ of toe hang to enable players to maintain a small amount of arc in their putting stroke. This is a crucial feature of the putter because it makes the club more natural to use for golfers who have been playing their entire lives with something that’s meant to introduce arc in the putting stroke. One of the most common reasons for players to return Zero Torque options is that they constantly miss to their pull side, i.e. a left miss for a right-handed golfer. But it’s no secret that the Zero Torque market has taken over. Or, did it?
It’s previously been stated to me by Ping Golf employees that Ping is really an engineering company that happens to make golf clubs. They don’t rush into new product, and they don’t release new product unless they feel like they’ve done something to improve the space, and they certainly do not care to chase trends. So they went to the drawing board and tried to interpret the space in their own way. What they ended up finding out is that there was potentially more benefit in the onset hosel, than in the super low torque properties of the trend.
“We brought the Onset putters out for the first time in our backyard at the [WM Phoenix Open],” the company said in a release. “Right away they drew a lot of interest, we probably shipped three or four putters home to players that week; with Corey Conners putting it in play almost immediately with great success.”
When you move the shaft back away from the face, this allows players to see an uninterrupted topline and face. By unlocking that uninterrupted topline, lots of players have stated that they can aim the putter square to the target line more consistently. The human brain loves straight lines. We use lines to help us aim things across our everyday lives.
