Jacob Bridgeman — who ranks No. 1 on the PGA Tour in SG: Putting — practices with a blade and mallet to make sure his stroke is dialed.
@PGATour / X
Jacob Bridgeman is only in his third full season on the PGA Tour, but he’s already proven that on the greens, he’s among the game’s best.
During his rookie season, the 26-year-old ranked seventh in SG: Putting. He followed that up with another strong showing with the putter during his sophomore campaign as he finished 2025 21st in the category. This season, which features a win at the Genesis Invitational, Bridgeman sits atop the Tour in SG: Putting, gaining nearly a full shot on the field per round with his putter.
“I’ve always been a very aggressive putter,” Bridgeman said earlier this year.
That aggressiveness served him well in junior golf — but it began to cost him strokes once he got to college golf. So, with the knowledge of strokes-gained statistics guiding him, Bridgeman focused more and more on dialing in his peed to reduce three-putts.
“Dialed it back a little bit, got a lot more focused on speed,” Bridgeman said. “And towards the end of my college career got pretty good at it — pretty good at putting.”
Reducing three-putts is a tried-and-true method for improving putting stats, but that isn’t the only secret to Bridgeman’s success on the greens. He also practices with two different putters — a blade and a mallet — to make sure his stroke is sound.
No. 1 in SG: Putting, Jacob Bridgeman explains the reasoning behind practicing with two completely different putters.
“When I’m putting really good with a blade, I know my stroke is going to be in a position that’s miles better.” pic.twitter.com/gG2UcnaR6T
At the beginning of Bridgeman’s pro career, he putted exclusively with a blade. But after experimenting with the Spider Tour a bit, he opted to put the ever-popular TaylorMade mallet in the bag.
“I looked at the stats, and I doubled my strokes gained from the blade to the Spider, so it’s helped me quite a bit,” Bridgeman said. “This year I’ve putted well to start the year, and I think I’m going to stick with the Spider for a while.”
TaylorMade 2025 Spider Tour Black Custom Putter
BLACK PVD FINISH The durable PVD coating creates a beautiful high-quality finish with sole plate, back badge and copper accents.
TRUE PATH™ ALIGNMENT The patented alignment system provides visual clarity and helps golfers better envision the line to the hole.
WHITE TPU PURE ROLL™ INSERTMade from a combination of Surlyn and aluminum, the white TPU Pure Roll™ insert creates a softer feel.Grooves are angled at 45° to encourage optimal forward roll as well as better sound, feel and overall roll characteristics. The white insert also creates better symmetry with the white True Path alignment.
THIN WALL UNDERCUT CONSTRUCTION We’ve engineered a super stable structure by removing excess weight to create high MOI and legendary Spider performance.
HYBRAR ECHO®DAMPENER HYBRAR is behind the face to dampen unwanted vibrations, delivering premium sound and feelon every putt with the best possible sensation.
TSS WEIGHTING TSS weights provide balanced weighting and help optimize performance for all various putter lengths.
STEEL WIREFRAME Allows engineers to better control weight distribution and CG location.
However, while the mallet might have earned gamer status, his old blade still proves plenty useful as Bridgeman practices with the blade each week to make sure his stroke is technically sound.
“[The Spider] is super big, very forgiving,” he said. “A blade putter is less forgiving. If I hit it a couple millimeters off center, I’m going to feel that … It’s just a lot harder putter to putt with.”
When using the blade putter, Bridgeman has a much smaller margin for error on mishits than he does with the mallet. So, if he is stroking pure putts with the blade, he knows his stroke is technically sound and will translate out to the course.
“When I am putting good with the blade, I know my stroke is in a position where this is going to be miles better,” he said.
Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com where he spends his days blogging, producing and editing. Prior to joining the team at GOLF, he attended the University of Texas followed by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all things instruction and covers amateur and women’s golf. He can be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com.
