Using the most advanced materials available to create some of the most forgiving flatsticks in golf has been an enduring concept behind TaylorMade’s Spider putters.
It’s fair to say the Spider concept has worked extremely well for over a decade now, with the high-MOI mallet putters racking up an avalanche of tour wins and sales over the journey.
But Spider’s phenomenal success looks set to continue unabated with the release of the new Spider Tour Series.
Riffing off the original Spider design — one of the most instantly recognisable head shapes in golf — four new putters will join the Spider web in 2023.
MORE SPIDER VENOM
The new Spider Tour Series features four new putters, each imbued with the unmistakeable Spider DNA. Two of them look familiar while the other two offer a modern take on the classic Spider aesthetic.
SPIDER TOUR
The Spider Tour is a throwback to the original Spider model, designed to offer maximum stability and inertia during a stroke.
Interchangeable TSS weights are fitted inside its hefty wings, shifting mass to the rear perimeter of the head to promote a stable stroke and excellent feel and feedback.
The Spider Tour is also available in a counter-balanced 38” model.
SPIDER TOUR X
Rory McIlroy used the previous Spider Tour X Hydro Blast model with great success so it’s understandable why the new Spider Tour X doesn’t deviate too far from its tour-proven pedigree.
The Spider Tour X’s diminutive wings on the rear of the head remain but the weights that previously were affixed to them have been shifted to the sole.
The new weighting layout shifts the centre of gravity ever so slightly towards the face to promote rotation while still maintaining a high level of MOI.
SPIDER TOUR Z
The new Spider Tour Z putter takes its cues from the Spider Tour but is designed to provide a feel more aligned with that of a blade putter.
Its modern winged shape is clearly Spideresque but a couple of TSS sole weights positioned on the front corners offer greater face rotation that the Spider Tour.
SPIDER TOUR V
A mix of the Tour X and Tour Z, the Spider Tour V is the smallest and most compact model in the Spider Tour Series line-up.
It’s a modern and streamlined mallet that is most notable for the absence of any Spider-like wings, yet it is still ultra-forgiving for off-centre strikes.
The Spider Tour V features the same TSS weighting layout as the Tour Z, with a pair of sole weights near the face encouraging the most rotation of any Spider Tour Series putter.
CHOOSE YOUR NECK
Each model in the Spider Tour Series comes with a choice of two hosels.
TaylorMade’s #3 small slant hosel will provide around 30° of toe hang to suit an arcing putting stroke.
Players with a more straight-back-and-through stroke will be better suited by the new double bend shaft, which offers face-balanced performance.
TRUE PATH ALL ROUND
TaylorMade have installed their distinctive monochromatic True Path alignment system to every Spider Tour Series model.
The white, ball-width pathway — overlaid with a thin black line — aids alignment at address while offering a visual reference point to help get the putter to square up at impact.
SOUND AND FEEL
For such a large and unorthodox putter, the Spider has always had superb sound and feel.
A large part of that is down to TaylorMade’s Pure Roll insert, which again makes a return appearance in the Spider Tour Series.
The aluminium and Surlyn insert offers a pure feel off the putter face, with its grooves (which are set at a 45° angle) encouraging a top-spinning, end-over-end roll off the face.
Meanwhile, hidden under the sole plate just behind the face is a HYBRAR damper.
Seen in TaylorMade’s game improvement irons, the vibration-absorbing HYBRAR material enlivens feel and sound in the Spider Tour Series by minimising unwanted vibration.
GUNMETAL GREY, ANYONE?
It may look like the new Spider Tour Series features the same HydroBlast finish as before.
But it’s actually painted with a durable, high-gloss Gunmetal Grey PVD, a finish that is uniform throughout the Spider Tour line-up.
Also consistent throughout the new Spider putter range is a white SuperStroke Pistol 1.0 grip and KBS CT Stepless putter shaft.
TAYLORMADE SPIDER TOUR SERIES SPECS
- Hand: RH/LH (CB and Mint RH only)
- Grip: SuperStroke Pistol GT 1.0
- Shaft: KBS CT Putter Black PVD Stepless
- Loft: 3°
- Lie Angle: 70°
- Lengths: 33” (Mint), 34”, 35”, 38” (CB: counter balanced)
- Hosels: Small Slant #3; Double Bend shaft