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The Oral History of Scottie Scheffler's Spider Tour X That Delivered Eight Worldwide Wins In 2024
Before we get into what could be some of the most mind-blowing statistics you may ever see in golf, let’s start this story with a text message:
“We’re all set here in Dallas. See you Tuesday at Bay Hill!”
That’s how Scottie Scheffler responded to TaylorMade Senior Tour Manager Adrian Rietveld’s inquiry as to how recent putter testing was going ahead of the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational. After months of testing various putter options, TaylorMade’s putter team sent a final matrix of five Spider Tour X putters to Scheffler at his home in Dallas.
The answer Rietveld received from Scottie was both a cliff hanger and promising at the same time. Scottie had found a putter he liked after testing at home…but the question was, which putter was it?
When Scheffler’s golf bag arrived on the putting green at Arnie’s Place on Tuesday, whether we knew it or not at the time, it was perhaps the most anticipated headcover removal in TaylorMade Golf’s history.
With a few of my TaylorMade colleagues, I was on the scene at Bay Hill covering the tournament for TaylorMade when Scottie’s caddy Ted Scott put the bag down on the edge of the putting green. Our attention immediately turned to the black Spider headcover in Scottie’s bag. The only putter headcover in the bag.
As part of our job to tell stories around the equipment TaylorMade athletes play, we asked Ted if we could take some photos and videos of the putter before Scottie arrived for his practice, to which he gracefully obliged. I lifted the putter out of the bag, removed the headcover and there it was…a Spider Tour X L-Neck with a full sight line on top of the True Path Alignment and a Pure Roll insert.
I had no clue at the time that I was holding the putter that would kick start one of the most dominant seasons in PGA TOUR history.
Before we expand on how we arrived at that moment, let’s jump ahead to what it produced.
Scottie's historic seven PGA TOUR wins (and a gold medal) in 2024 came with various pieces of history:
- Lowest scoring average in PGA TOUR history (68.0)
- First player to win THE PLAYERS, a major championship and the FedEx Cup in the same season
- First player in history to lead the TOUR in Greens in Regulation (73%) and Putting Average (1.68)
- Second player in history win the Masters Tournament and the FedEx Cup in the same season (first since 2015)
- Four signature event victories (Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage, The Memorial Tournament and the Travelers Championship)
Upon peeling back the layers of those seven PGA TOUR wins, with his Spider Tour X Scottie carded:
- 145 made birdie putts
- Seven made putts over 30-feet
- 13 made putts over 20-feet
- 35 made birdie/eagle putts over 15-feet
- Seven made par saves over 10-feet
- 34 final round birdie putts
- 10 instances of 3+ made birdie putts in a row
During this run, Scottie's longest made putts were:
- Arnold Palmer Invitational 2nd Round, 15th
Hole
- 45-feet-2-inches for birdie
- RBC Heritage 3rd round, 9th Hole
- 36-feet-6-inches for birdie
- API 4th Round, 15th Hole
- 35-feet-8-inches for birdie
- The PLAYERS 2nd Round, 3rd Hole
- 34-feet-2-inches for birdie
- The Masters 3rd round, 3rd Hole
- 34-feet for birdie
- TOUR Championship, 1st round, 7th Hole
- 33-feet-7-inches for birdie
Scheffler poured in many important putts in these seven wins, but we picked out one from each that stood out from the rest:
- API 3rd Round, 14th Hole
- 13-feet-3 inches for Par
- The PLAYERS 4th round, 8th and 9th
Holes
- 16-feet and 11-feet for birdie
- The Masters 3rd round, 13th Hole
- 31-feet for eagle
- RBC Heritage 4th Round, 15th Hole
- 11-feet-4 inches for Par
- The Memorial Tournament 4th Round, 16th
Hole
- 15-feet-9 inches for par
- Travelers Championship 3rd Round, 16th
Hole
- 15-feet-6 inches for birdie
- TOUR Championship 4th Round, 14th Hole
- 15-feet-6 inches for eagle
Winning seven tournaments goes beyond just pouring in birdie putts. Go watch Scottie's reaction to these four 10+ feet par putts (amongst 7+ instances) below and you will see why.
- API 3rd Round, 14th Hole
- 13-feet-3 inches
- RBC Heritage 1st Round, 11th Hole
- 16-feet-6-inches
- RBC Heritage 4th Round, 15th Hole
- 11-feet-4 inches
- The Memorial Tournament 4th Round, 16th Hole
- 15-feet-9 inches
- TOUR Championship, 2nd Round, 1st Hole
- 19-feet-6-inches
THE STORY OF SCHEFFLER'S SPIDER TOUR X L-NECK
If we were to rewind from that pivotal moment on the putting green at Bay Hill, you would have to go all the way back to the 2023 FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis. It was there that Scottie, predominantly a blade putter user for most of his career, first put his hands on a Spider Tour X putter.
The whole idea in the beginning was that he was so adamant about using a blade putter for so long, that we needed to think outside the box if we were going to give him a putter with the benefits of a Spider. That’s where the prototype came in.Adrian Rietveld, Senior Tour Manager
This prototype version of the Spider Tour X featured a milled face, forward center of gravity and various custom components. Scottie put it through extensive testing at TPC Southwind and played the putter in the next two FedEx Cup playoff events. He then went back to a blade, while behind the scenes the TaylorMade putter team was working on various putter shapes and sizes for Scheffler to continue to test in the coming months.
Amongst the testing, Scheffler was built putters with various alignment aids on top including a sight line and dot on blade putters and various complexions of True Path on top of Spider putters.
After the Ryder Cup, we identified something that could help him know he was striking the ball on the center of the face. Instead of the sight dot he had on his blade, we started to re-introduce True Path and we were on to something in terms of his eyes and what he thought he was doing vs. what he was actually doing when hitting his putts. With a Spider putter there’s so much tech that you can see and also not see, all helping him hit better putts more often.Adrian Rietveld
Prior to the story defining text message we started this article with, in the weeks leading up to the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Scheffler asked Adrian Rietveld for four different versions of the Spider Tour X prototype putter he played in Memphis. Shortly after that request, he asked for a “bells and whistles” version of the Spider Tour X…which gave the TaylorMade putter team freedom to put their spin on the fifth and final putter of the testing matrix.
When Scottie asked for the non-prototype Spider Tour X, we decided to go right in the middle of the spec profile of the four prototype putters. That putter, with a Surlyn insert, is the one that ended up winning all of these tournaments.Adrian Rietveld
That “bells and whistles” Spider Tour X hasn’t been modified other than standard loft/lie checks since it was placed in a box, taped up and shipped from our Carlsbad HQ.
- Hosel: L-Neck
- Length: 35.5’’
- Sight Line: True Path with Full Line
- Loft: 3°
- Lie: 72°
- Insert: Surlyn Pure Roll
- Grip: Golf Pride Pistol
From a Strokes Gained Putting perspective, Scheffler only has one round since putting the Spider Tour X in the bag with negative Strokes Gained Putting. His best statistical putting round came in the final round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational where he led the field with 3.892 Strokes Gained Putting and was 17-for-17 inside 15-feet. For the tournament at Bay Hill, Scottie finished 5th in Strokes Gained Putting at 4.347.
If you take anything away from reading this article, beyond the power and benefits of a Spider Tour putter, it should be that when Scottie Scheffler tells you he’s all set and ready to go…he means it.
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