Black Beauty - Odyssey Black Series
Odyssey, owned by Callaway is one of the top selling putter brands in golf if not the top-selling in the world. They have a wide variety and many of which are in play in PGA Tour like their famous Two-Ball and Sabre-Tooth. A couple of years back they introduced the Odyssey Black "milled" putter series. As you may well know, going milled means taking on the big boys of specialised milled putters like Scotty Cameron and Bettinardi. It's like going into a purist's heaven.
What you see here is the Odyssey Black Series #1 putter which featured all the hallmarks of a great milled putter with advanced technology for elite and ultimate performance. It was given a multi-material construction and is a thing of beauty and performance. The head has a nickel-plated finish and is milled from 1025 carbon steel and tungsten to create a deep centre of gravity and has pure roll characteristics. A precision milled head will create optimal balanced weighting to promote accuracy and feel. It also redistribute weight to the tungsten flange for a truer roll from deeper centre of gravity. A urethane dampening layer is used in the tungsten flange and carbon steel to soften vibration and enhance feel.
This putter is no slouch and costs almost as much as a Scotty. Some claimed that it is better than a Scotty. You may no longer find it here as a new club and maybe only from used club retailers but it is unlikely because you won't get a good price selling it "used" and usually too good to be sold off like that. It is probably selling for more than USD200 in the US now. Reviews by golfers and those I knew who are using it claimed this is better than the Scotty. Among the top traits that were well received are the balance, weight, feel and roll. For anything that takes the Scotty Cameron out of the bag must be exceptional. It also looks sleek and cool.
One can never understand a club at this price point and they give you head covers that are poor. I think the worst type of head covers are those that comes with Velcro. Everything that is not suppose to stick there got stuck there and where its main job is to facilitate attachment and closure for the cover it will soon wear out. The original cover for this putter comes with a cool and clever design in black and white and a magnetic strip to close. While the magnetic part is functional and a useful touch the cover material lacks quality. It tore and cracked too quickly for a product at this price. I have to substitute it with a CoMo! CoMo! Design Studio cover.
CNC Milled Putter
In my previous articles I have explained the difference in the process, manufacturing and quality of cast versus milled putters much like cast versus forged irons. Watch how it is done.
Bettinardi - One of the Best. He's famous for the Honeycomb design on the face.
A Previous Article On Putters
What Is CNC Milled?
CNC stands for Computer Numerical Control which is a manufacturing term and a CNC milling machine can be programmed and used to shape things like a putter head from a block of solid metal. Although it can also be done by the pure skilled hands of a machinist, you may never repeat the same moves and probably have a hard time doing it consistently. When the face of a putter is CNC milled, it makes the face of the putter extremely flat. The tolerance is an amazing one thousandth of an inch. Having a smooth and flat face on the putter eliminates an important variable of the putting surface even though you still have to contend with mental pressure, swing stroke and an uneven surface on the green.
With today's modern space age material, computer-aided designs, engineers and entrepreneurs aplenty, things are getting even more innovative and avant garde and putters are really becoming works of art. Milled putters are superior in that it has purity that cast types do not. Cast types are made from molten metal poured into molds to take a certain shape. When liquid metal is poured into a mold it is liken to pouring water into a tray to make ice cubes. Bubbles will naturally form and these are considered impurities. Playing with milled putters is like audiophiles who loves quality sound of music. It's all about purity. So if you want to pure your putt, go for a milled putter!
Golf as in life, play as it lies!
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