Odyssey’s new Ai-ONE Square 2 Square Jailbird Putter is ultra forgiving with a world-class feel that you would expect from a putter that is $500. The only thing is, you’ll pay almost half of that.
Last week, Odyssey unveiled their new lineup of Ai-ONE putters, including a double-wide blade, the #7, and the Jailbird. Luckily, the Jailbird was available for me to get my hands on and review, and it was a pleasant experience that I truly enjoyed, a surprise considering I have yet to find a flatstick that has made me want to ditch my Scotty Cameron Super Select Newport.
Traditionally, blade putters are for those who need less forgiveness and are supreme putters. Finding the center of the face is difficult but rewarding. Many of us, myself included, likely would benefit from a mallet design, but personally, I have enjoyed the feel and success I have felt from playing a blade. But I’m always up to try something new.
There are a few very specific differences that the Jailbird offers that other mallets do not. First is the size. It feels to me that looking down at this putter is much different than looking down at a Spider from TaylorMade, one of the most popular mallets on the market.
The head of the Jailbird is much larger. It feels like it will be impossible to miss the center of the club or have any sort of mishit. It also has a great weight distribution that puts most of the mass down at the putter head, making it truly effortless to use the weight of the putter to do the work.
Hitting Putts
I had only rolled maybe 100 putts with this on the BirdieBall, so this was truly my first time bringing it out on the course. Hitting some balls on a mat and hitting them on recently aerated greens is truly not a comparable experience, but when you’re not playing for millions of dollars, who truly cares?
What’s important is feeling the club and seeing if it benefits your game.
I felt my putting was better, especially on lag putts. Mallets seem to have always been an easier putter for me to hit lag putts with than my blade, but for the short knee-knockers, I prefer a blade for those. I had not felt a ball come off the face of a putter like this, maybe ever.
I have been very vocal about my support for golfers who have a handicap higher than 7 to use the Titleist AVX, as its soft feel and lower ball flight have benefitted my game a ton.
I remember people saying putting with the AVX was “like hitting a bouncy ball.” I have never resonated with that until now because my Scotty has never given me a feeling like this. That bouncy ball feel was definitely one I related to immediately with the very first putt I hit with the Jailbird.
It rocketed off the face, and a 22-footer for birdie on the first hole (with no warm-up and no practice putts) burned the front edge with barely any backswing. I knew this would be a putter that would require little guesswork with the lag putts, something that translated to a lack of three putts on the front nine holes.
How I Feel AI Benefitted My Game
Callaway and Odyssey have truly hopped onto this AI train, and I’m all for it. In this Jailbird, there is an Ai-ONE insert that the company talks about:
“Designed using Artificial Intelligence, we’ve created contours on the aluminum backer of the insert to promote consistent ball speed across the face. We’ve co-molded a grooved White Hot urethane layer into that aluminum backer for the classic White Hot feel that Tour players and amateurs love.”
It feels like whatever they’re doing, it worked. I have not had a putter where I have felt so much confidence with longer lags almost immediately. I admit that my putting with the Newport over the past three years has significantly improved, but one place I’ve struggled a lot since ditching my last mallet, a Spider, is my lags.
I didn’t feel that with this, either. I felt like the speed of putts of 30 feet or more was somewhat automatic. Of course, I was far from perfect and three-putted twice on the back nine, but I’ll take that, considering aerated greens and a new putter were two of the variables I decided to put into this round.
What I’d Like to Be Better
I don’t have any real complaints with this putter. On top of that statement, I haven’t used it long enough to justify any major shortcomings or even identify any real issues with it.
I am still getting used to the grip, but that’s something that will come with time. I have preferred a larger grip on my putter over the last six months. Previously, I was trying to get something that was not much thicker than the shaft itself, but I noticed I had more face control with something a tad larger.
The Square 2 Square grip on the Jailbird is not as thick as the Matador I have on my Newport. However, I believe the tech in this putter helps square the face more than the grip can.
Overall Thoughts
The Jailbird version of Odyssey’s Ai-ONE Square 2 Square lineup is amongst the best feeling putters out there. There’s nothing better than rolling up to Dick’s, Golf Galaxy, or any other golf retailer and hitting a putter, and thinking, “Man, I could really get used to having something like this in the bag.”
It seems like everything goes in, and everything feels just as it should with those putters, and of course, it never really feels like that out on the course.
This is one of the very few times I can say I felt the same sensations as I would with putters in the store. The feel was magnificent, everything seemed to fall (or at least be close), and the help I got from the putter itself was truly beneficial to my game.
