Stats show how Scottie Scheffler’s putting has improved since switching to Spider

ORLANDO, Fla. – Scottie Scheffler had one of the greatest seasons in golf history last year. It started at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, thanks in large part to one important change to his equipment.

When he arrived at Bay Hill last year, Scheffler had gone nearly a year without winning. He was perplexed by his putting struggles, which left him incapable of converting all the birdie opportunities created by his peerless ball-striking.

It got so bad that Scheffler and his usual housemate, fellow TOUR player Sam Burns, would stay up and practice their putting on indoor mats while their pregnant wives were asleep. Scheffler’s longtime friend and mentor, Brad Payne, recounted sitting in Scheffler’s Dallas dining room as they discussed how to deal with the frustration.

“Every interview that he got into was, ‘Let’s talk about your putting," Payne said in the PGA TOUR’s “Scottie 24” documentary on YouTube. "And it was day after day after day. And he’s working on it, and he’s very frustrated. We sat down around their dinner table and I was like, ‘Buddy, how are you doing?’ and he said, ‘I don’t think I’m doing well.’”

That meeting came last year after The Genesis Invitational, when Scheffler finished T10 despite finishing last in Strokes Gained: Putting (-4.36). He left the event ranked 127th on TOUR in that metric, losing nearly a half-stroke per round on the greens.

Fortunately, he found a solution in his next start. Scheffler, who’d used a blade putter for almost the entirety of his career, debuted a new TaylorMade Spider mallet at last year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard.

Scheffler went on to win by five shots for his first PGA TOUR victory in 51 weeks. Last year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational started a five-event run where Scheffler won four times and finished second in the other start. He also won the Masters during that span and a second Signature Event, the RBC Heritage. Scheffler went on to win seven PGA TOUR titles in 2024, as well as the Olympic gold medal and the FedExCup.

“When you're going through … changes in equipment specifically, if you come out the first week and have terrible results, you're more likely to blame the equipment than you are yourself,” Scheffler said Wednesday. “So it was definitely nice to get out here have a good week on the greens and have good tournament results, that definitely gave me some confidence with the new equipment moving forward.”

Scheffler finished fifth in SG: Putting in his 2024 win at Bay Hill. A year after making the switch, the data shows how much the mallet has helped him on the greens.

Scheffler has gained nearly 0.3 strokes per round on the greens since last year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, an improvement of three-quarters of a stroke per round; in the year prior, he lost 0.44 strokes per round on the greens. That difference translates to nearly three strokes per tournament.

Since switching to the Spider, Scheffler is averaging 28.1 putts per round. He was averaging 29.2 per round over the prior year. The biggest improvement has come on mid-range putts. He’s made 33.4% of his putts from 10-15 feet in the past year, compared to 26.4% over the prior year. From 15-20 feet, he’s making 27.6% (compared to 21.1% in the previous year).

Scheffler is also missing fewer short putts, as his make percentage from 3-5 feet has jumped from 83.4% to 89.8%. His three-putt percentage has been cut in half, as well, dropping from 2.8% to 1.4%.

The change to the Spider was accompanied by Scheffler’s decision to not use the line on his ball as an alignment aid on his putts. He did that to rely more on his feel and to replicate the athleticism that he uses in his full swing.

“When I look back a year, … I think about how different I feel over the ball on the greens,” Scheffler said Wednesday. “Any time the ball's not going in the hole I think … you try and do anything you can to almost force the ball in there, and that's not how golf is. You can't force things in this sport. You especially can't force things at PGA TOUR events.

"Feeling more free, not lining up the ball, just getting over, leaning into my athleticism and focusing as much as I can out there on just playing the game. Those are some of the big differences for me when I look back to kind of where I was a year ago.”