Golf Course 5

Odyssey Golf is owned by Callaway and as such retains the quality that you would expect from this fine golf equipment manufacture. Odyssey golf was purchased by Ely Calloway in 1997. He quickly brought innovation to the company that has made Odyssey golf a top of the line golf equipment manufacture. The company’s White Steel 2-ball SRT putter is a prime example of new thinking when it comes to golf putter design.

Calloway is best known for its big Bertha Drivers that have set the standard worldwide. Ely Calloway purchased half of a small golf club manufacture that specialized in placing steel shafts cores within hickory club shafts to add durability and performance. This led him to become the CEO of

Hickory Stick USA and in 1988 changed the name of the company to Calloway Golf Company.

We obtained a new Odyssey White Steel 2-ball SRT putter with a length of 35 inches. We evaluated the putter over a month using 4 different teaching pros in Southwest Florida. Each pro would use the Odyssey White Steel 2-ball putter for a week. It does have an odd shape and the source of name two balls can be easily discerned by the two white inserts placed at the top of the club that look like two golf balls. However given the comments of many golfers following the introduction of the Big Bertha and the constant innovation that has come from Odyssey and Calloway we

waited until we had a chance see how it performed prior to making any judgements.

The Odyssey Two ball SRT putter did not seem to fit me as well as I would have liked. However I am old fashioned preferring to use bladed clubs especially putters. I only spent three days testing the putter on the practice greens before turning it over to the first of our testers. The evaluation process was totally subjective to overall feel and performance. Two of the teaching pros were already using a mallet style putter manufactured by another company. The other two used traditional bladed putters. All the pros were between 5′7 and 6′1′ in height so the club did reasonably fit each evaluator.

The shape

of the Odyssey’s Saturn Ring construction brought comments almost immediately; however the fact it was made by Calloway’s Odyssey Golf Company was enough to quell any real discontent. At the end of the month we sat down and discussed the positives and negatives that each golfe pro had for the club. We were surprised to find that the major complaint was the feel of the club. All thought the inserts gave the club an unusual feel. Accuracy was considered average to slightly above average with the comment that if each evaluator had more time to work with the putter it probably would increase. Overall the evaluators gave the club a thumbs up rating. The traditional blade putter pros still had second thoughts about having a Saturn Ring Technology shaped club in their bags.

It looks like Odyssey Golf has a winner in its White Steel 2-ball SRT putter.

James Kesel, MS, is the publisher of Good Golf Swing website. Providing information on golf swing tips, putting tips, golf training aids, golf instruction and the latest and best golf ebooks.