Odyssey Ai-ONE Milled Putters - 2023 Forum Review

[fixyurdivot]

I finished up my last session for the strokes gained analysis yesterday afternoon. A wee little shift in results from the first two rounds.  Now onto the number crunching .

One of the key design goals from Odyssey's Engineering was to reduce distance variation across the face.  They cite the advantage of more consistent distance on mishits to be particularly important on long first putts. 

It stands to reason that our ability to stay close to center-strike, when making long putt strokes, isn't too good.  So, getting some "built into the face" help on these can make the difference on being a handful of inches closer than we otherwise might be... and we all know making the next putt increases every inch closer we are.

I'm going to try adding another much smaller scale test to assess this aspect of the Ai face.  But please all...

[Willie T]

Opted to play in the Friday Men’s group today.  Was another solo flight for Millie.  Really getting the feel for this putter as the ball was rolling predictable distances.  Total of 35 putts - did have several three putts, all attributed to my impatience and not taking time to reset.  As I said I am liking the feel of the ball off the face.  Today I played with a less premium ball (TopFlite Distance Control - very low price) as I wanted to see how the putter worked with such.  Sound wise - the “softer” ball is more muted.  Roll wise - ball comes off the face well and predictable distance.  Rolls of the day: birdie putt on two from about 20’ followed immediately by a 12’ for birdie on three.  
More to come….

[JustTapItIn]

Great reviews so far.  Anyone testing the blades - specifically, the Milled Two T CH?  Or, did I miss it somewhere in the first 8 pages?

[Rob Person]

On 12/23/2023 at 12:29 PM, JustTapItIn said:

Great reviews so far.  Anyone testing the blades - specifically, the Milled Two T CH?  Or, did I miss it somewhere in the first 8 pages?

I don't believe anyone has the milled blade. All the ones selected are posted on page 1.

[fixyurdivot]

I completed my "long putt accuracy testing" today... a 56 footer that really tested stability of these large MOI designs and to what extent the AI Face offers improvement. I just randomly chose that putt and, after rolling a couple groups of 5 balls with each, to get the feel of the line, started the H2H tests, switching between the two putters for 5 sets of data.  I measured and recorded the distance from cup for each ball in the 5 set group.  I got some interesting looks from folks but no one dared approach the loon on the practice green .

As I stated above, it's way more challenging for players to consistently hit the sweetspot center when we're having to draw the bow so far back.  This is where I think the high MOI designs offer help in that they reduce the torsion/twist from off center harder than usual swats.

Now it should be noted that I have the Seven T CH competing against the Evnroll ER5v - which by design of the grooves, is marketed as offering more even rollout lengths across the face.  Guerin Rife and his team were able to demostrate this to be true using a putting robot.  Shared earlier in this thread are videos of a putting robot being used to demonstrate the improvement the Ai face offers.  Both are the real deal... not just marketing hype.

Evnroll Long Putt 

Odyssey Long Putt

Other than more on-course play, my testing is completed. I'll be sharing the results of this data and the strokes gained test in my final reviews.  Which one wins the day?

[Rob Person]

Nice head to head. How did the speed feel between the 2 putters? Is there a discernible difference in the pressure used/needed to gain similar results?

[Josh Parker]

I keep bouncing back and forth between tests to see results.  I'm kind of wondering which insert is more forgiving.

Very different options. 

[fixyurdivot]

48 minutes ago, Rob Person said:

Nice head to head. How did the speed feel between the 2 putters? Is there a discernible difference in the pressure used/needed to gain similar results?

Great question.  While the feel of these two putters is different, the Odyssey being a bit more lively off the face, I don't feel like I'm having to compensate strike force much if at all to get the same rollout distance.  I mean I probably am and don't know it, but it doesn't feel like it.

43 minutes ago, Josh Parker said:

I keep bouncing back and forth between tests to see results.  I'm kind of wondering which insert is more forgiving.

Very different options. 

Well, I've only tried the non AI, non milled face in a golf shop rolling the Two Ball and a previous version of the Seven T, so I really cannot say which is more forgiving.  Based mostly on the robot test videos shared above, I'm of the opinion the varied cross-section of the AI face (in either milled or non-milled) does what it is intended to do. 

The other testers may be having better luck testing toe/center/heel strikes and seeing quantifiable differences, but I just didn't feel I could control strike force to the level needed.  That's why I was glad to see the robot tests.

My guess is that one would probably choose milled vs. non milled based more on sound and feel.  Certainly if someone was used to non milled, staying with that configuration would be my recommendation.  Just get the added benefit of the AI face with little or no discernable feel from what their used too.

[TJ Hall]

2 hours ago, Josh Parker said:

I keep bouncing back and forth between tests to see results.  I'm kind of wondering which insert is more forgiving.

Very different options. 

I keep checking the local golf shop but they only have the non-milled versions, was looking for the milled just to do a quick comparison since I am testing the non-milled version.

[Josh Parker]

1 hour ago, TJ Hall said:

I keep checking the local golf shop but they only have the non-milled versions, was looking for the milled just to do a quick comparison since I am testing the non-milled version.

Nice!  Hopefully you can find one. 

[fixyurdivot]

I was rolling the Seven T CH today during men's league and one of guys in the group glanced at the putter while we waited for another to finish.  He said "you haven't had that very long", to which I replied "you're correct, only a few weeks".  Dude is clearly current on the club market place .

Later he asked how I liked it and I said that it is competing H2H against my ER5v for a spot in the bag.  He then asked if I thought there was anything to the AI Face technology. I replied that, based on my tests and those by independent labs, it most definitely is not just a marketing gimmick.

He then asked "what do you mean your testing it?".  I told him about MGS. He has never heard of us.  Hopefully he takes my advice and signs up .

[Willie T]

Dec 27 update - 2” of rain does not lend to putting at the course or anywhere outside, so we (me, myself and I) break out the indoor mat and work with Millie and Versa on who has a better make percentage from given distances.  The mat is an older one that my wife gave me back in ‘19 and has seen literally thousands of balls rolled.  The cup section rises up about 4” in the last foot or so, so pace has to be good enough to conquer the hill.  Measured distances of 3’ - 5’ - 7’ and 9’ were used.  Each putter had 5 balls per round with six rounds per putter at each distance (all told between the two - 240 rolls of the ball).   The balls were a random mix of premium, middle and lower end - so all cover types were coming off the faces.  Recorded data (loading it to spreadsheets)  not enough pace (ball rolled back down the hill), pull (ball left miss) and push (ball right miss). Also purposed off-center strikes, not that I don’t do plenty without trying, to look at “promoted” forgiveness.
The results were close to what I anticipated - head to head up to a point and then……let’s just say Millie is making her presence know and Versa is fighting hard to retain her place…..

Edited December 28, 2023 by Willie T

[Willie T]

Dec 28 - Day After the Rain - Got to do a full 18 h2h with Millie and Versa.  With super soft greens it was a good day to really roll a few.  Charted the distances, the leaves and makes.  Here’s a little snippet on #6, a par 5 where I am  looking a birdie roll from about 20’ feet uphill….

The rest of the round was a similar in results - sometimes Millie sometimes Versa....this continues to be a neck and neck race to the finish line.  Really enjoying the competition these putters are offering to this old man hack of a golfer.  BTW - the round ended with a solid 82....not a bad day on the course. 

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by Willie T
grammar

[fixyurdivot]

Hi all, I have updated my product review post with the results of the "strokes gained" and long lag "distance to hole" tests.  Please check it out when you get a chance and let me know your thoughts.  The balance of my testing will be more on-course play getting to my play it or trade it and final conclusion.

Hope all the other testers on both the milled and non-milled are getting some decent weather for testing... tough time of year for some regions .

[Preeway]

The weather lately has definitely added to the challenge and I apologize for my recent absence. I do have some stuff to share and will get that up early next week. Also working on some more ideas for indoor tests until I can get back on a real putting surface.  

[MattWillGolf]

5 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

Hi all, I have updated my product review post with the results of the "strokes gained" and long lag "distance to hole" tests.  Please check it out when you get a chance and let me know your thoughts.  The balance of my testing will be more on-course play getting to my play it or trade it and final conclusion.

Hope all the other testers on both the milled and non-milled are getting some decent weather for testing... tough time of year for some regions .

Yes! this is the one I was waiting for vs. the Evnroll. Well done.  I was impressed by the closeness of the scores and that 2 out of the 3 distances there was better performance from the Ai-One milled. The signs of wear that you mentioned, made we think I'd put this putter aside when the greens get aerated and top dressed with sand. 

[fixyurdivot]

2 hours ago, MattWillGolf said:

Yes! this is the one I was waiting for vs. the Evnroll. Well done.  I was impressed by the closeness of the scores and that 2 out of the 3 distances there was better performance from the Ai-One milled. The signs of wear that you mentioned, made we think I'd put this putter aside when the greens get aerated and top dressed with sand. 

They are quite close and that doesn't surprise me too much given both are top shelf products. No doubt the burnishing is from sanded greens... well that and somewhere north of 500 putts .  I played the Odyssey today at Cimarron, shot a 78 and our team still only won 3rd place for the 2 net even numbered holes, 3 net odd numbered holes. I had six inside 10 foot rolls at birdie and did not get a single one .  But I did make an eagle on the #5 hole and had a stroke for a net ace and 3 points . 

I'm going to keep it in the bag until HQ tells us to complete our final write-up's.  The SG and lag putt tests are one thing, and certainly suggests the Odyssey will help. But according to David Bowie and Freddy Mercury, that don't mean a thing until your...

Oh, and while having beers after the round, we got a balloon show.  We counted 16 total.

[fixyurdivot]

Completed another round with the Seven T CH today.  I wasn't planning to play today but a buddy sent me an email saying he had a golfing jones going on... what's a friend to do? We played the blue/white combo's and I managed an un-inspiring 80 with 32 putts.  The Odyssey still feels good though today I had a case of the shorties.  Several times I heard the gallery say "it was in if you hit it" .

[Preeway]

Over the last 6 weeks I have either been too busy, or shut down by the weather, to play a round outside. I have however been able to get to an outdoor putting green on two occasions. This is my summary from the first trip to the putting green. Before I get into the stats, a couple short videos of me warming up on the putting green. It was a pretty cold day and the sand from the last time they applied sand onto the greens right before Thanksgiving was still very present on the surface.

 

My focus in this test was twofold. First, to see if my dispersion was better with either the Odyssey or my Bettinardi (current gamer). Based on my putting statistics from 2023, I am a really good putter. Therefore, I’m not looking to drop several strokes in my game with a new putter but rather to shore up some other low hanging fruit. So my first area of focus was to see if I can be more accurate from 15’ away as measured by the distance from the hole

These two pictures show the difference in dispersion from 15 feet. I hit 5 putts with each putter and did this in multiple iterations. These two pictures captured fairly average outcomes. After getting comfortable with the line and speed, I was making 1-2 putts each time with the Odyssey. It was rare to make 0-5 shots. With the Bettinardi, I was rarely making anything with the occasional occurrence of 1 made putt out of 5. I didn’t keep close stats (although I will have to start doing this when I am able to get outside between now and the end of the testing window) but the average miss was 1-2 feet with the Bettinardi.

The first pic shows 2 made and three close misses with the Odyssey

The second pic shows 5 misses with pretty wide dispersion. Not all my arrays were quite this poor but I didn’t get pictures of the better ones.

The second focus was to look at how mishits effect my accuracy on makable long putts. In this sequence I was putting from 10 feet away and hitting them off center near the toe. I know my putting stroke needs some work this offseason and I suspect many of my misses from this range are due in part from missing the center of the face when putting under pressure.

First picture is with the Odyssey. While I had a hard time getting the ball past the cup off the toe, all the misses were very close.

Second picture is with the Bettinardi. Despite making a consistent stroke lined up at the hole, I noticed a significant impairment in my distance.

I have more testing to work through to really be certain the Odyssey will find a permanent place in the bag but again, the early results look promising.

[Josh Parker]

20 minutes ago, Preeway said:

Over the last 6 weeks I have either been too busy, or shut down by the weather, to play a round outside. I have however been able to get to an outdoor putting green on two occasions. This is my summary from the first trip to the putting green. Before I get into the stats, a couple short videos of me warming up on the putting green. It was a pretty cold day and the sand from the last time they applied sand onto the greens right before Thanksgiving was still very present on the surface.

 

My focus in this test was twofold. First, to see if my dispersion was better with either the Odyssey or my Bettinardi (current gamer). Based on my putting statistics from 2023, I am a really good putter. Therefore, I’m not looking to drop several strokes in my game with a new putter but rather to shore up some other low hanging fruit. So my first area of focus was to see if I can be more accurate from 15’ away as measured by the distance from the hole

These two pictures show the difference in dispersion from 15 feet. I hit 5 putts with each putter and did this in multiple iterations. These two pictures captured fairly average outcomes. After getting comfortable with the line and speed, I was making 1-2 putts each time with the Odyssey. It was rare to make 0-5 shots. With the Bettinardi, I was rarely making anything with the occasional occurrence of 1 made putt out of 5. I didn’t keep close stats (although I will have to start doing this when I am able to get outside between now and the end of the testing window) but the average miss was 1-2 feet with the Bettinardi.

The first pic shows 2 made and three close misses with the Odyssey

The second pic shows 5 misses with pretty wide dispersion. Not all my arrays were quite this poor but I didn’t get pictures of the better ones.

The second focus was to look at how mishits effect my accuracy on makable long putts. In this sequence I was putting from 10 feet away and hitting them off center near the toe. I know my putting stroke needs some work this offseason and I suspect many of my misses from this range are due in part from missing the center of the face when putting under pressure.

First picture is with the Odyssey. While I had a hard time getting the ball past the cup off the toe, all the misses were very close.

Second picture is with the Bettinardi. Despite making a consistent stroke lined up at the hole, I noticed a significant impairment in my distance.

I have more testing to work through to really be certain the Odyssey will find a permanent place in the bag but again, the early results look promising.

Great info so far!

[fixyurdivot]

13 hours ago, Preeway said:

Over the last 6 weeks I have either been too busy, or shut down by the weather, to play a round outside. I have however been able to get to an outdoor putting green on two occasions. This is my summary from the first trip to the putting green. Before I get into the stats, a couple short videos of me warming up on the putting green. It was a pretty cold day and the sand from the last time they applied sand onto the greens right before Thanksgiving was still very present on the surface.

 

My focus in this test was twofold. First, to see if my dispersion was better with either the Odyssey or my Bettinardi (current gamer). Based on my putting statistics from 2023, I am a really good putter. Therefore, I’m not looking to drop several strokes in my game with a new putter but rather to shore up some other low hanging fruit. So my first area of focus was to see if I can be more accurate from 15’ away as measured by the distance from the hole

These two pictures show the difference in dispersion from 15 feet. I hit 5 putts with each putter and did this in multiple iterations. These two pictures captured fairly average outcomes. After getting comfortable with the line and speed, I was making 1-2 putts each time with the Odyssey. It was rare to make 0-5 shots. With the Bettinardi, I was rarely making anything with the occasional occurrence of 1 made putt out of 5. I didn’t keep close stats (although I will have to start doing this when I am able to get outside between now and the end of the testing window) but the average miss was 1-2 feet with the Bettinardi.

The first pic shows 2 made and three close misses with the Odyssey

The second pic shows 5 misses with pretty wide dispersion. Not all my arrays were quite this poor but I didn’t get pictures of the better ones.

The second focus was to look at how mishits effect my accuracy on makable long putts. In this sequence I was putting from 10 feet away and hitting them off center near the toe. I know my putting stroke needs some work this offseason and I suspect many of my misses from this range are due in part from missing the center of the face when putting under pressure.

First picture is with the Odyssey. While I had a hard time getting the ball past the cup off the toe, all the misses were very close.

Second picture is with the Bettinardi. Despite making a consistent stroke lined up at the hole, I noticed a significant impairment in my distance.

I have more testing to work through to really be certain the Odyssey will find a permanent place in the bag but again, the early results look promising.

Those results are quite compelling - especially from 10 feet. That suggests to me the Bettinardi is kind of dead off the center.  Glad you're finding some decent weather to get some testing done.

[Preeway]

3 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

Those results are quite compelling - especially from 10 feet. That suggests to me the Bettinardi is kind of dead off the center.  Glad you're finding some decent weather to get some testing done.

To be fair, I probably had a couple better sets with the Bettinardi but didn’t take pictures or I erased them on accident. Working on some more picture sets for a few days from now. 

[fixyurdivot]

Don't know for sure but I suspect much less effort has gone into putter technology in past decades and only more recently become a focus for the various design teams. I mean putting is hugely important but from a magnitude perspective mishits on putters don't end up OB or in hazards. 

Players have LOADS more difficulty with drivers, woods, and irons, so it seems that's been the focus in recent decades.  Now having finely honed forgiveness and distance in those arrows, OEM's are turing attention to putters.  Is my thinking on this wonky? Thoughts?? 

Unless Callaway has captured some IP (patents), it would not surprise me in the least to see more AI design theme putters, from other OEM's, hit the market.

[Preeway]

I agree that AI will be more common in club design in the years ahead. The new Callaway driver features the Ai term in their design as well. 

[ZoonORama]

Good morning all!

Over the past couple of weeks, with the holidays and weather, I was unable to get outside to putt so I took the time to develop a matrix of sorts to measure success against my current gamer. Using an indoor putting surface….

I start with 100 putts from 7’, 5’, 3’ and finally 1’ with each putter. I record the misses and average and that gives me a baseline. I have found that continually putting produces (as you can imagine) the off-center hits, toe/heel and even not focusing very well (after about the first 50). I think this works well to replicate the “sloppy” nature of how I get into a hurry when putting, not lining up all the time, mis-hitting, etc. - so this testing is pretty telling. The idea here is not to rate my performance but rather, in light of the lack thereof, how does the AI-ONE help me. 

So, I am finishing up a session later this week and will post the findings. I must say I thought initially the AI-ONE claims were hype but after spending a lot of time with this stick, I am a believer. 

Cheers 

 

[cnosil]

48 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

Players have LOADS more difficulty with drivers, woods, and irons, so it seems that's been the focus in recent decades.  Now having finely honed forgiveness and distance in those arrows, OEM's are turing attention to putters.  Is my thinking on this wonky? Thoughts?? 

my Opinion: 
Agree that the appearance that there is more difficulty with the full swing clubs because you look at dispersion patterns which are wide.   You still miss but he same amounts with a putter but it is perceived as a slow swing and your aren’t missing by much.  1* open with a driver isn’t as bad as 1* open with a putter.  
 

the major OEMs and definitely putter specific manufacturers have been doing things to improve a putters performance.  I’d say Evnroll is a prime example.   
 

withe these putters we throw out the term AI and we all become focused on the buzzword.   Bobby Grace has had.their HSM insert for decades that alters ball speed based on where you hit the face.   The Odyssey insert has some more research that looked at datasets of where people hit the ball to try and optimize ball speed more granular than done previously but not something that is totally new.   

I am testing the Sacks Parente putters and had great distribution with off center strikes and they don’t have an AI face.   

[GolfSpy BOS]

27 minutes ago, cnosil said:

my Opinion: 
Agree that the appearance that there is more difficulty with the full swing clubs because you look at dispersion patterns which are wide.   You still miss but he same amounts with a putter but it is perceived as a slow swing and your aren’t missing by much.  1* open with a driver isn’t as bad as 1* open with a putter.  
 

the major OEMs and definitely putter specific manufacturers have been doing things to improve a putters performance.  I’d say Evnroll is a prime example.   
 

withe these putters we throw out the term AI and we all become focused on the buzzword.   Bobby Grace has had.their HSM insert for decades that alters ball speed based on where you hit the face.   The Odyssey insert has some more research that looked at datasets of where people hit the ball to try and optimize ball speed more granular than done previously but not something that is totally new.   

I am testing the Sacks Parente putters and had great distribution with off center strikes and they don’t have an AI face.   

Yup and Ping too.  They had some face milling that was supposed to do something similar to EVNROLL without the course correction benefit of the variable grooves.  I forget what they called it.  

and then there's LAB who approach it not so much in the face tech but in the whole package of the putter stroke and stability.

[TJ Hall]

3 minutes ago, GolfSpy BOS said:

Yup and Ping too.  They had some face milling that was supposed to do something similar to EVNROLL without the course correction benefit of the variable grooves.  I forget what they called it.  

and then there's LAB who approach it not so much in the face tech but in the whole package of the putter stroke and stability.

SIK also had something with descending loft technology.  Regardless of what the technology gets called, if the specific club fits your swing and helps make improvements, it would be worth the investment.  Manufacturers rely on the buzzwords to help sell new stuff and AI is a big one overall right now, not just specific to golf clubs.

[Rob Person]

31 minutes ago, cnosil said:

my Opinion: 
Agree that the appearance that there is more difficulty with the full swing clubs because you look at dispersion patterns which are wide.   You still miss but he same amounts with a putter but it is perceived as a slow swing and your aren’t missing by much.  1* open with a driver isn’t as bad as 1* open with a putter.  
 

the major OEMs and definitely putter specific manufacturers have been doing things to improve a putters performance.  I’d say Evnroll is a prime example.   
 

withe these putters we throw out the term AI and we all become focused on the buzzword.   Bobby Grace has had.their HSM insert for decades that alters ball speed based on where you hit the face.   The Odyssey insert has some more research that looked at datasets of where people hit the ball to try and optimize ball speed more granular than done previously but not something that is totally new.   

I am testing the Sacks Parente putters and had great distribution with off center strikes and they don’t have an AI face.   

I will say that when odyssey first released their white hot insert, they were one of kind tech at the time. Everyone at my dad's club had to have one. Over the years there have been a few companies to produce insert putters too.  To follow up with the off center strikes, on my blade putter I noticed that due to its uniform face,  combined with my putting arc,  it tended to fall extremely short.

To add to the comment about fast putting vs setup putting, I also found the DB to follow through nicely on course. And any mishits were directly related to hurrying up.

 

[GolfSpy BOS]

5 minutes ago, TJ Hall said:

SIK also had something with descending loft technology.  Regardless of what the technology gets called, if the specific club fits your swing and helps make improvements, it would be worth the investment.  Manufacturers rely on the buzzwords to help sell new stuff and AI is a big one overall right now, not just specific to golf clubs.

totally forgot about SIK and Cobra with SIK faces... I guess I can add NIKE to the list too as a retired putter OEM! haha

I'm still probably missing some too, but I'll just say its cool to see another company looking to improve putter performance.  

I think that @fixyurdivot finding performance to be on par or slightly better than his EVNROLL is a great sign for the Callaway and the Ai-ONE line from a performance standpoint.  

I'm enjoying this test so far, looking forward to hearing more from you all as we start to reach some conclusions!