I just returned from the Pennsylvania Interstate Athletic Association State Championships at Pennsylvania State University, where 216 of Pennsylvania’s best boys and girls golfers (two of whom were my coaches) competed for the state championship.
I see a lot of great golf and stuff: low-torque putters. a lot of! This has been the case at every junior tournament I’ve attended this year.
Why is this surprising? Low torque/zero torque/lie angle balance/launch (whatever you want to call them) putters are the hottest club category in the sport, but not to the point where you might see multiple players on your team using them at your local municipal facility.
In junior golf, however, that may be the case.
While there are no official usage numbers to go by, standing on a practice green with about 60 players, I counted 10 low-torque putters. (Most are LAB Golf or Odyssey Square 2 Square models.) Additionally, at least two players who finished in the top 10 in the AAA men’s division used low-torque putters.
So why do so many elite teenagers use these putter types?
The answer may well lie in what Golf Magazine’s Jake Morrow said on a recent episode of the “Well Equipped” podcast. Morrow points out that the ideal candidate for a Lab golf putter (or any starter putter) is someone who has never putted before, since veteran players have years of muscle memory and a natural arc to the ball. Junior golfers, on the other hand, don’t have to work as hard to realign their muscles.
In other words, not many junior golfers grew up “hooking” putters with Bullseyes and Wilson 8802 style putters, so they will find it easier to adjust to lower torque putters. No retraining required.
Low-torque putters have become popular in professional golf, but will the real explosion come when today’s top juniors start competing on the PGA Tour? Only time will tell.
3 things I’m thinking about
Something new is coming: Now that the tour is back from Japan, 2026 gear will start to appear. We’ve already seen PXG’s new Lightning line of metalwoods and Odyssey’s Tri-Hot Square 2 Square putter. Stay tuned to the USGA qualifying list in the coming weeks for more newcomers.
Do I still need a driver? Tommy Fleetwood won in India with a club no longer than a mini driver, which got me thinking: Do I even need one myself? While I’m happy with the driver I’m using this year, my goal going into ClubTest 2026 will be to find (again) the best driver for my game. That said, I rarely get to play on the course long enough to even need a driver, so maybe there’s no driver worth exploring.
What is Jason Day doing? Day is one of the most interesting free agents to watch, and this week is no different: He appears to be playing Avoda prototype irons in Utah. The company also produces Bryson DeChambeau’s 3D printed irons with raised and rolled edges. We will monitor the entire process!
