Posted on Thu, May. 15, 2008

Want more birdies? Try these putters from Rife, TaylorMade

LANGSTON WERTZ JR.

lwertz@charlotteobserver.com

The new putters from Rife Golf and TaylorMade couldn't be any more different, but our testers -- and me -- both rank them the same way: five out of five stars.Last week, we tested two seriously good drivers, TaylorMade's Tour Burner and Callaway's low center of gravity square Fusion model, and both clubs got perfect scores.

The streak continues this week in one of the hottest golf years, in terms of good equipment, we've seen in awhile.

The Rife (rifeputters.com) 2-Bar Hybrid costs $199 and looks much more conventional than the Taylor. It features the company's special horizontal face grooves which get the ball rolling much faster than most of the competition.

It helps get your putts started on the line you pick.

You can also bend the hosel to fit your setup, using a vertical notch in the face to find your perfect angle. If you like, you can adjust the weights in the back.

Few clubs we have tried elicited the love this one did.

Guys picked it up, hit it a few times and just said "five stars." It's easy to hit and has a soft feel, but not mushy. The putter is a cross between the company's mallet and its popular TwoBar version, which has been seen in infomercials on the Golf Channel.

It hides a lot of technology well, while the TaylorMade, at first glance, looks like a space ship.

It just looks huge. It looks heavy. It looks like you might not want to try it.

That is until you roll a ball with it.

TaylorMade engineers used a similar approach with the putter that they take with their ultra successful line of drivers: make it as forgiving as possible by increasing MOI. Pro golfers hit their driver in the center about one out of five times and don't always hit the putter in the center. TaylorMade wanted average players, who don't hit it as well as pros with either club, to not lose performance for off center hits -- just like with drivers.

I think they've succeeded.

The new Spider putter is $199 and there's a lot of technology at work:

• TaylorMade engineered the putter using steel wire-frame head construction with a light aluminum core. Remember when I told you it looks like a brick but doesn't feel like one? This helps push weight to the perimeter to boost MOI. Remember when I told you they were mirroring driver technology?

• TaylorMade's moveable weight technology, made famous in its woods, allows weight to be pushed far from the face, moving the center of gravity back.

• Finally, TaylorMade's special face insert promotes a smoother roll.

The shape of the club is a bit weird at first but becomes comfortable quick. It's easy to line up and is really solid on long distance putts and nearly automatic on short ones.

I think you need to get past the looks and try it.

News N Notes

• Sergio Garcia won the Players Championship last week with a bag full of TaylorMade, giving the company an impromptu infomerical in his postgame interview with NBC's Bob Costas.

In his bag? Tour Burner TP driver 9 degree; Burner TP 3-wood 14.5 degree; r7 TP 5-wood 17.5 degree; rac MB TP irons (3-PW); Z TP 54- and 58-degree wedge; TP Red LDP ball.

• Graphite Design -- maker of some of the most widely played high-performance shafts on the PGA TOUR -- drove five top-10 finishers at The Players Championship as well as the winners on the LPGA and Japan tours, while claiming a model count victory on the Nationwide Tour, according to the Darrell Survey.

• Titleist was the most played golf ball with 94 players at the PLAYERS Championship, more than five times the nearest competitor with 17. In fact, only four players finished under par at TPC Sawgrass, with three of them relying upon Titleist golf balls for their success.

• Evolve Golf -- maker of the No. 1 performance golf tee on Tour -- says its popular Epoch tee has been used in 100 major tour wins worldwide following its most recent victory at last weekend's SemGroup Championship on the LPGA Tour.