Even tour professionals now prioritize practicality over style. Players increasingly choose clubs that are easy to hit and produce better scores over sleek but hard-to-handle options. At the center of this shift are zero-torque putters and the 7-wood.
Zero-torque putters have near-zero torque — the twisting of the clubface during the stroke — giving them outstanding straight-line performance. After L.A.B. Golf sparked the trend, TaylorMade, Callaway, PXG and others followed suit. The "zero-torque craze" swept across greens starting last year and is expected to continue through this year.
According to industry sources on the 26th, Callaway introduced the new "Ai Dual S2S," PXG unveiled the "Hot Rod," and GoldFive — the Korean brand that gained fame for gifting a putter to U.S. President Donald Trump — launched the "Number 7" zero-torque putter. Titleist plans to add an "Onset Center (OC) model" to its 2026 Phantom putter line starting in April, which is essentially a zero-torque design under a different name. "Zero-torque putters have moved beyond a fad and established themselves as a genre of their own," said Lee Jong-sung, CEO of GoldFive. "We expect demand to remain steady this year, continuing from last year."
Another trend in the putter market is the decline of the blade era, with mallets now dominating. Not a single player among the top 10 in the men's world golf rankings uses a blade putter. Tiger Woods once dominated golf with a blade putter, but Scottie Scheffler, the world No. 1, and Rory McIlroy, ranked No. 2, who grew up idolizing Woods as a role model, both favor mallet putters.
The 7-wood has recently emerged as a "secret weapon" among male golfers. Scheffler himself has made the 7-wood a key part of his arsenal. He used a 7-wood instead of a 3-iron when winning the PGA Championship, a major on the PGA Tour, last year and the American Express tournament this year.
