Saying that Justin Thomas has struggled on the greens this season is like saying the wind golfers typically contend with on Scotland’s famous links courses is nothing but a refreshing summer breeze. Statistically, the 31-year-old has been one of the worst putters on the PGA Tour this season, ranking 157th out of 175 players in Strokes Gained: Putting.
Knowing that, maybe it should not be a surprise that the two-time PGA Championship winner has made a putter change this week at the Genesis Scottish Open.
Thomas had been using a custom-made Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5 for several seasons, and he used that putter to win both of his major championships, but this week at the Renaissance Club, he added a prototype Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.2 putter to his bag.
The mallet-style putter is nearly identical to the prototype mallet putter that Scotty Cameron made for Jordan Spieth and that Spieth tinkered with at the Travelers Championship. And that’s no accident.
“Paul Vizanko of Scotty Cameron had made one for Jordan, just for him to have and to mess with and to see how he liked it,” Thomas said on Thursday. “I happened to be staying with Jordan a couple of times over that stretch when he got it, and I picked it up and thought it looked amazing. I thought it felt great, and talking with Paul about it, there were a lot of characteristics in the way the putter was built that helped a pretty good amount of my bad tendencies, I would say, that are in my stroke. It’s just able to help that, so I asked them to make me up one and send me one.”
Phantom 9.2 has a plumber’s neck hosel that has been hand-welded to the head, and is fitted with the same SuperStroke Zenergy Pistol Tour grip that Thomas had on his previous putter. What is new, however, is Thomas’ putter (like Spieth’s prototype) is fitted with a graphite shaft made by UST Mamiya labeled ‘Scotty Cameron Xperimental Prototype.’
Before this week at the Scottish Open, where Thomas shot an opening-round 62 before carding a 72 on Friday, Thomas had never used a graphite-shafted putter in competition. Scotty Cameron has also never sold a graphite-shafted putter at retail.
Thomas’s putter has a short black alignment line extending back from the topline. It does not extend all the way to the back of the putter, but instead stops after about an inch. There are weights in the heel and toe area of the sole so Vizanko and others at Scotty Cameron can adjust the swing weight for Thomas. The Phantom 9.2’s overall shape is very similar to Phantom 9.5 that is currently in pro shops, but there are no milling marks on the top of Thomas’s putter