Tommy Fleetwood Debuts New TaylorMade Spider Tour V Putter

Tommy Fleetwood put a new TaylorMade Spider Tour V in play at the Tour Championship this week, his fifth putter change of the season and a return to the laser-etched sightlines he used to win his first PGA Tour title at East Lake last year.

How did the new putter perform?

Fleetwood gained nearly three-quarters of a stroke on the greens during his opening-round 66 Thursday, TaylorMade putter rep James Holley told GOLF. Holley said Fleetwood's stroke has improved through his work with coach Phil Kenyon, and that "he does a bit better with more forward CG specifically on the left-to-right putts."

What led to the switch?

Fleetwood has progressed from a blade to TaylorMade's Spider Tour, then the Tour X and now the Tour V, each with a more forward center of gravity and a short slant hosel. He tested the Tour V and a companion Tour F shape at the Valero Texas Open, two weeks before their Tour release, but stuck with the Spider Tour at the time. His alignment aid has moved as well: he dropped the hand-drawn Sharpie lines he won with in favor of a "pilot's eye" sight this spring, then asked TaylorMade last week at the BMW Championship to bring the lines back, this time lasered onto the head in a design meant to create a path rather than individual sightlines. Each version has pushed his center of gravity a little further forward.

Every putter change has pushed Fleetwood's center of gravity a little further forward.

TaylorMade sent Fleetwood CAD designs of the new lines on a Wednesday and had the finished Spider Tour V ready for him to test by the following Monday.