Hideki Matsuyama’s Putter Delusion ANALYZED 👀🚨🗣️⛳️

Hideki Matsuyama is the most prominent switcher of putters in the game of professional golf. But I’ve gotten to the point where instead of asking which one’s next, which I know we all like to know, I think the real question is which one’s best. So today we dive. Earlier today, I posted this on Instagram. It is essentially an outline of every single putter Hideki used over the course of the 2025 PGA Tour season. Nine putters in 22 events. But now the goal is to figure out where they all rank in terms of putting performances from worst to best. At number nine is, funny enough, his latest acquisition, a studio style Newport 2 prototype. On the surface, this looks close to stock, but it’s a Daki, so no, it’s not. He has a German stainless steel insert with light milling instead of the studio carbon steel with the chain link milling. 25 g weight in the heel and a 20 grammer in the toe. Obviously trying to get the toe to rotate a little bit faster. Spidey senses say that was moving a little bit too fast, though, because he lost just over one and a half shots on the greens. At eight, we have a putter that he ends up always coming back to after a decent period of time. A GSS timeless Newport two he calls his ace. But Ace probably needs to be put back in the closet because she lost an average of 1.33 strokes over the course of two events. At seven is a blacked out timeless Newport 2 he used for just the players where he lost8 shots to the field. The week prior at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he was gaming a beached timeless Newport 2. Beed is just Scotty’s terminology for a sound slot cut behind the face. Lost just over half a shot with this putter. incredible irony in the fact that he switched into a new one the next week and actually putted worse. Been there, done that. It’s amazing to me how many putters he just uses for one event and ditches them. But now onto our top five. This one is a Craftsman squareback straight shafted prototype with an epoxy filled bullet sole. And thankfully, we have made it to positive strokes gained at just over.1. At four, we have a GSS Timeless Newport 2 with a triple cut sole grind on a putter. I have no words. Probably one of the most unique Scotties in his entire collection. First off, the top line is very thick. Also rolled. This sole is not a triole, but there is a ton of camber. Then you obviously have the triple cut sole as well. You’d have to think and so it sits a certain way. I hope square, but you never know with Hideki. Is it worth it to gain 0.14 shots over the course of four events? I guess so. At three, the putter he used in route to his best strokes gained performance ever last year at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. He got the win, gaining just over 2.2 shots on the greens that week. The putter in question is yet another Craftsman Squareback model, but this one has a plumber’s neck. Similar to the other one though, it does have an epoxy filled bullet. It’s either being done for sound so the putter doesn’t slip on the greens or to add some weight. Twice as many shots gained as the last putter at 28. At two, we are going way back into the archives with a Studio Select Newport 2 tour prototype. I have no idea when this was made, but obviously cannot help but notice it looks very similar to the 2008 Studio Select. Main difference though, this Cameron is handstamped. You got the welded neck. This one is engraved. Nonetheless, 0.58 strokes gained in three events. And finally, Hideki’s best performing putter of the year and the one he also used to win the century, a 9mm straight shafted prototype. In five events, he gained 63 shots with this putter. And in true Hideki fashion, he ditched it the week after having one of his better weeks on the greens all year. No offset for the win, though. How fitting.