2018 OFFICIAL FORUM MEMBER REVIEW: ODYSSEY EXO PUTTERS

[chemclub]

Nice work Gregb135 - tons of data!

Can you scoop the ball with the Rossie? Doesn't look like it. 

Maybe if the red bars were inverted so they swooped down from behind the face it should work. Something for Odyssey to keep in mind for the next model.  

[Just another lefty]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to make a last call for any testing suggestions. Getting pretty close to the end of testing but if anyone wants to see something specific I will try my best.

If your going to make suggestions, it's probably helpful to know what I've already done. Besides on-course testing, I've already tested this putter vs two other putters from ten different distances (with and without slope) with twenty putts per putter per distance (600 putts total) with some really interesting results. To address the dreaded 3 putt, I also measured the distance remaining to the cup for each missed putt from the 20', 30' and 50' distances which should also give some gauge of consistency and forgiveness. I've also got a rough test of MOI similar to GREGB135 but admittedly not nearly as in-depth. I tried this test from what ended up being 24' to try and see if greater differences would show up at a longer length. For the on-course testing I'll be giving not only strokes per round but strokes gained using the link I posted earlier.

So with all this in mind, anything else you really want to see?

[kardboard.kid]

Thanks for the work on these.  Although all sounds pretty promising, I am still stuck to my O-Works 1W that I tested last year.

[chemclub]

I do have one major gripe about the putter and it isn't so much about that putter as much as Odyssey product fulfillment and quality control. 

I ordered a 34" for testing... This putter is 33". Bad form Odyssey

[tony@CIC]

26 minutes ago, chemclub said:

I do have one major gripe about the putter and it isn't so much about that putter as much as Odyssey product fulfillment and quality control. 

I ordered a 34" for testing... This putter is 33". Bad form Odyssey

Ouch - how could they miss that. 

[chemclub]

4 hours ago, tony@CIC said:

Ouch - how could they miss that. 

Not really sure. I didn't raise a stink because I actually played a 33" for a while before going to 34" When it came and it was shorter I just thought, hey, let's give this a try again. But I definitely need it lengthened. 

[russtopherb]

9 hours ago, chemclub said:

Not really sure. I didn't raise a stink because I actually played a 33" for a while before going to 34" When it came and it was shorter I just thought, hey, let's give this a try again. But I definitely need it lengthened. 

That's pretty disappointing, because had you not noticed that (let's say the 33" sticker was missing from the shaft) then your resulting review could have skewed the wrong way due to thinking you were playing one thing, when in reality you were playing something different. 

I'm not a great putter, but even I can tell the difference in feel & stance between putters with 1" difference. It really does make a difference.

[chemclub]

3 hours ago, russtopherb said:

That's pretty disappointing, because had you not noticed that (let's say the 33" sticker was missing from the shaft) then your resulting review could have skewed the wrong way due to thinking you were playing one thing, when in reality you were playing something different. 

I'm not a great putter, but even I can tell the difference in feel & stance between putters with 1" difference. It really does make a difference.

I could tell right away it was a tad short, but like I said, I gamed a 33" for a long time a number of years ago so it wasn't so foreign to me in terms of swing and feel.

I am confident in the review, but not so confident that Odyssey will get your specs right when you order through them. 

Perhaps Odyssey can send me another one and I can do a comparison review between the 33" and the 34". I'm sure that would be such a valuable review for me—err um... you guys. 

[chemclub]

Since I'm really digging the higher MOI putter for now, I wanted to look into what that number even means. 

The frustrating thing for me is that no one puts units on anything so you have no idea what the heck 2000 MOI is relative to 8000. Even our scriptural reference (MGS Blog) didn't even say what the MOI unit was in their article about the ER9 evnroll. They mentioned kittens though. 

Based on my internet-ing I think the standard unit for MOI is gram-cm^2, which should allow you to convert if you find older measurements (Maltby's site for instance). Note that is grams times cm^2, not grams per cm^2.

Anyway, below is a chart I stole from Cure putters, a high MOI putter company (https://cureputters.com/pages/high-moi-comparison-cure-vs-others) Who also happens to list their MOI values with the wrong unit (g/cm^2 = incorrect, g x cm^2 = correct)

A few things I took away from this. Perhaps the reason I liked the PING ZING over my traditional Anser was because it does have a higher MOI (pure speculation but it is almost double).  

The EXO Indy claims to have 5600+ MOI based on its claim that the EXO is 5% higher than the Toulon version.
https://www.callawaygolfpreowned.com/golf-clubs/putters/toulon-design-putters/putters-2017-toulon-indianapolis.html
http://www.golfwrx.com/487554/odysseys-new-exo-indianapolis-seven-and-rossie-putters-2018-pga-show-demo-day/

But these data suggest the Indy has less MOI than the popular TM Spider and Scotty Futura models. 

 

[GregB135]

I'm 5 rounds in with the EXO Rossie (aside from testing sessions) and the results look really good. In 2 of those 5 rounds I was below 30 putts for the round (both were 29). And that is on greens ranging in quality from pristine to just about lettuce. In all 5 rounds my putts per green ratio was below 2, managing 1.6 twice. I've seen improvement in up and down percentage as well. I'll throw a little more detail on the numbers into the Stage2, but it's gonna be tough to get this putter out of the bag now.

[Just another lefty]

On ‎11‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 12:21 PM, chemclub said:

I tried to get a recording of the sound at impact but I have a pretty cheap phone and it was only picking up the high frequencies—gave it a much higher pitched sound than in reality. Hopefully my fellow testers have better luck.

 I would describe the sound and feel at impact as muted and solid.

Here's a video I posted on YouTube of the sound at impact of the EXO 7S.

https://youtu.be/8AK8jSWClIc

 

[chemclub]

That's it! That's the sound

[Just another lefty]

1 hour ago, chemclub said:

That's it! That's the sound

Yeah, it took a few tries to get it right. It kept sounding too high pitched.

I'm right there with you on the sound, muted and solid.

[chemclub]

I also dug up the paper work on my putter and it does say 34". I think it is short of that, perhaps only by 3/4" but I will likely put a small extension on it when I buy a gravity grip in the spring.

[Jon Brittan]

56 minutes ago, chemclub said:

I also dug up the paper work on my putter and it does say 34". I think it is short of that, perhaps only by 3/4" but I will likely put a small extension on it when I buy a gravity grip in the spring.

May be worth just a little investigation.
Some companies measure their club shafts differently to others and long drive driver shafts are measured differently to traditional drivers, for example.
It's entirely possible you did get an "Odyssey 24" ", it's just that it turns out not to be the same thing as brand B's 34" depending on precisely what is being measured.

In some ways, that is one of the true problems of the sport, very few true standards, so as a customer who doesn't necessarily want to have to understand too much about what you're buying you can end up with something other than what you expected.

[GregB135]

The chat traffic has been REALLY slow in this thread. The holidays and wet weather have put a damper on my playing schedule so I've only gotten one more round in with the EXO. It was another round of 30> putts 

What i've seen with the EXO is about a 1/2 stroke drop in putts per hole average, and 3 putts per round has dropped to an acceptable 1.0. Unfortunately my tee to green game has been horrid so it hasn't resulted in low scores, just not utterly disastrous ones.

I did get some practice green time in yesterday. Did a few drills: 3' circle drill x 3 (5/6, 6/6, 5/6), 3/6/9 Ladder x 2 (3' 87%, 6' 50%, 9' 50%) 

Bottom line - the ball is going in the hole more often, and my confidence circle is now out to about 9'.

Stage 2 should be  posted in a couple of days.

[GregB135]

Stage 2 is up!!!

Thanks everyone for all the great input and questions.

[Nunfa0]

Great stuff guys, love the amount of data you've all provided and I think "Tour Sauce" is my new favorite testing section

[Just another lefty]

Another Stage 2 is up.

Happy New Year everyone.

[chemclub]

Sorry I went AWOL there for a little while - work and the holidays piled up on me and I am just now coming up for air.

Enough excuses! Great writ ups guys! Love the quantitative approach that Lefty took.

Looks like the putters are all staying in the bag for now. I will be interested to see if that is the case after next season.

I'm definitely planning to swap out my grip. I chose to go with a thinner firmer grip just to experiment, but I think I will exchange with a super stroke or the evnroll gravity grip when they start selling. Evnroll red even matches my putter!

*edit - the shaft needs an inch extension as well

 

[Just another lefty]

4 hours ago, chemclub said:

I think I will exchange with a super stroke or the evnroll gravity grip when they start selling

Is the gravity grip counterbalanced? Curious to hear your thoughts on it.

[cnosil]

Is the gravity grip counterbalanced? Curious to hear your thoughts on it.

 

It has 60 grams of weight running along the underside of the shaft. If can be used to counterbalance a putter, depending on weighting the grip you are replacing.

 

I have tried it and it is a nice grip. It is thin left to right and fairly thick top to Bottom. I will most likely end up with one on my next putter.

[Just another lefty]

 

15 minutes ago, cnosil said:

I have tried it and it is a nice grip

Thanks, that sounds interesting.

[chemclub]

The gravity grip is supposed to give you better feel because that 60g rod of steel on the underside of the grip nestles into your fingers and allows you to feel the putter head and face position better.

 

I wonder if the concept is the same as the Forward Grips that MGS tested a few years back. Might give them both a try. I wonder how feel would suffer with the gravity grip because you have the weight of the grip plus the 60g rod - some reviews online say the grip is 120 g.

 

[chemclub]

After looking into the Forward grips a little more I think I might go with them first instead of the gravity grip. The Forward grip is the same weight as the current one on the Indy (Lampkin 3Gen) so the putter will swing the same, which is what I want! Plus they are a Canadian company.

[chemclub]

Found this article from the MGS main site really interesting.

https://mygolfspy.com/putter-moi-2019-odyssey-exo/

Firstly, it does contradict my own attempts at quantifying the MOI of the Indy back in post #69 based on Cure's numbers. Interesting to see that the 7 ranks higher in terms of MOI than the Indy and the EXOs rank higher than the TM Spider (at least according to Odyssey's numbers).

Of course, I don't know how much a difference of a few hundred g*cm^2 translates to feel and performance, but as someone who has really come around to the benefits of higher MOI, this is definitely a number I expect to see on any putter I will buy in the future. 

We are starting to thaw out in the Midwest so I expect to post some more thoughts on this putter soon.

[GregB135]

19 minutes ago, chemclub said:

Found this article from the MGS main site really interesting.

https://mygolfspy.com/putter-moi-2019-odyssey-exo/

Firstly, it does contradict my own attempts at quantifying the MOI of the Indy back in post #69 based on Cure's numbers. Interesting to see that the 7 ranks higher in terms of MOI than the Indy and the EXOs rank higher than the TM Spider (at least according to Odyssey's numbers).

Of course, I don't know how much a difference of a few hundred g*cm^2 translates to feel and performance, but as someone who has really come around to the benefits of higher MOI, this is definitely a number I expect to see on any putter I will buy in the future. 

We are starting to thaw out in the Midwest so I expect to post some more thoughts on this putter soon.

Interesting article. I have a great idea. Call all last year's EXO testers test this years models with the Stroke Lab shafts?  That would be fun!!

[cnosil]

I think the point that the article misses or that I missed in my reading is that MOI also impacts speed of rotation which controls squaring face at impact. I tend to miss right with higher MOI putters because they want to stay open too much on the forward swing.

[chemclub]

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

I think the point that the article misses or that I missed in my reading is that MOI also impacts speed of rotation which controls squaring face at impact. I tend to miss right with higher MOI putters because they want to stay open too much on the forward swing.
 

I'm not sure I necessarily agree. Just looking for clarification.

I would think that the squaring of the face is dominated by the toe hang as opposed to the MOI design of the head. The higher MOI reduces face twisting due to an impact (a la Newton) that twists the head about its center of mass. The MOI design itself doesn't maintain the direction of motion of the head through space.

I could see MOI affecting face squaring because MOI often implies a heavier putter head, so for the same toe hang, it would take more muscles to close it. But that effect would be the same for a high vs low MOI head design of the same mass.

[THEZIPR23]

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

I think the point that the article misses or that I missed in my reading is that MOI also impacts speed of rotation which controls squaring face at impact. I tend to miss right with higher MOI putters because they want to stay open too much on the forward swing.
 

Is it MOI or is it the weight and the way it is distributed that causes this? My understanding of MOI is it shouldn't have an impact on rotation, but I am not sure. There may be something that causes this during construction to create higher MOI.