Ben Griffin’s season was already considered a rousing success. In April, the 29-year-old teamed up with Andrew Novak to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for his maiden PGA Tour title. He followed it a month later with his first individual title at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Griffin qualified for the Tour Championship for the first time and made his first appearance at the Ryder Cup, cementing his place as one of the top American players.
And yet, even the best players in the world are never fully satisfied with the state of their game. When Griffin arrived at El Cardonal at Diamante for the World Wide Technology Championship earlier in the week, his bag featured a new TaylorMade Spider Tour X putter that replaced a longtime Scotty Cameron prototype blade.
While it’s impossible to predict how a new putter will perform, the switch proved to be a key component in Griffin’s breakout week. Griffin came from three shots back to best Chad Ramey and Sami Valimaki by two shots for his third tour title this year.
Griffin’s final round 63 included seven birdies over the last 11 holes to vault into contention. Asked if his new putter had become a bag staple after the win, Griffin didn’t hesitate to acknowledge its impact—it gave him measurable confidence on short putts and allowed him to stay aggressive with his pace on longer ones. By the end of the week, the putter had gone from an experiment to a defining piece of his arsenal.
“I think I had a good amount of fun with it this week, so I’ll have about a month and a half to digest it and see if I want to bring it to the Sony Open,” Griffin said. “I think she’s here to stay.”
Let’s dive into the rest of the tools that got it done.
Driver: Ping G430 Max 10K (UST Mamiya Lin-Q V1 7TX Proto shaft), 9 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10, 15 degrees
7-wood: TaylorMade Qi10, 21 degrees
Irons: Mizuno Pro S3 (4-PW)
Wedges: Mizuno Pro T1 (52 degrees), TaylorMade MG5 (56, 60 degrees)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X
