US Open 2026: Wyndham Clark’s season was spiraling. Then I put this putter in the bag | Golf Equipment: Clubs, Balls, Bags
Wyndham Clark is on the precipice of profitable his second US Open in 4 years, and shockingly it’s his placing main the means. Clark has constructed his six-stroke lead at Shinnecock Hills by way of the flat stick, main the subject in strokes gained/placing by way of 54 holes.
Clark wanted to be regular on the greens throughout Saturday’s third spherical, and a stretch of spectacular par-save putts illustrate the significance. Seven-footers fell at Nos. 6 and 9. A five-footer on 10. A six-footer on 11 and a 14-footer at 13. None gimmes on shinny’s slippery placing surfaces. Miss all of them and it is a one-shot lead, not half-a-dozen.
Mind you, Clark wasn’t all the time so proficient on the greens. Earlier this 12 months he was languishing 132nd in strokes gained/placing, making a gift of pictures in six of eight begins, as he labored his means by way of an assortment of putters. Finally, at the Masters, Clark switched to a Ping Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue Onset mallet putter that clicked.
Clark’s putter has a number of strips of lead tape on the backside that nearly cowl the sole to counterbalance the weight of his lengthy, outsized Superstroke Revl Mid F/C grip. The 38-inch putter has 3 levels of loft, a 20-degree lie angle and an estimated head weight of 400 grams.
Quickly, Clark noticed enchancment, each in strokes gained and in his total finishes. The peak got here ultimately month’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson, the place Clark made 13 putts of 10 ft or extra for the week en path to claiming his fourth PGA Tour title. He was first in strokes gained-putting, choosing up 12,565 pictures on the subject, first in ft of putts made at 112 per spherical, together with 158 ft in the closing spherical, and first in putts per inexperienced in regulation.
Not to be confused with zero-torque putters, onset putters, corresponding to the Ping Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue mallet that Clark used are designed with the shaft close to the heart line of the putter head, behind the prime rail and forward of the CG. That offers golfers with a full-face view of the ball at handle and encourages extra of a pulling movement as an alternative of a push-like stroke, which Ping feels is extra constant.
This principle was first employed by Ping founder Karsten Solheim, who usually used a wheelbarrow analogy to make his level. He described how a lot simpler and extra secure it was to drag a wheelbarrow over a curb as an alternative of pushing it over the curb.
“My grandfather was a firm believer in the role CG position plays in the performance of a putter,” mentioned Ping president and CEO John Ok. Solheim. “We continue to apply that philosophy today in all our putter designs. Ensuring the proper CG placement relative to the shaft axis is critical to performance. Pulling the CG provides more stability through the stroke and helps keep putts online.”
Speaking of Ping, the firm might need pulled off the endorsement deal of the 12 months, signing Clark on Monday of this week to a putter-only contract.
“Since switching to the Ping Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Onset putter in April, I’ve seen significant improvement in my putting and I credit the new putter for helping me get back in the winner’s circle,” Clark mentioned. “The white finish first got my attention and when I started rolling putts with it, it set up easily and gave me immediate confidence. I’d never used a putter with onset before, so it was a new look for me that really matches my eye. The onset combined with the top-rail dot simplifies alignment and my consistency has improved. I’m sinking more long putts than ever.”
And perhaps extra main championships, too.
