First Look: PING Cadence TR Putters

by Dave Wolfe

“Left, Left, Left, Right, Left”

There are days when the quote above sounds like the first five holes of my round. I laughed when I first heard the term “Army Golf” being used to describe alternating shots from the left and the right sides of the hole. It was welcome levity, distracting me from my abysmal ball striking that day.

Off the golf course, that military chant, and it’s ilk, are used to keep the troops in sync as they march. The soldiers rhythm of step quickly matches the rhythm of the sergeant’s call. The sergeant’s cadence keeping his troop’s pace consistent and uniform.

Consistency is something that many of us strive for with our golf games. I know that I have told more than one instructor that consistent ball striking is one of my goals. Improved consistency should lead to lower scores, regardless of the ball trajectory. If I know that I’m always going to hit a vigorous fade, I can aim and play accordingly.

I know I’m not alone in this. Amateur golfers struggle with inconsistency. You’ve probably seen the impact tape studies comparing the impact position on the face of the pro vs. the amateur. The pros hit the center of the face over and over, while many amateurs spread their strikes around the face like fresh pepper on a salad.

We’d all play better golf, and score lower, if we could just decrease our roaming across the face, tighten up our swing path, normalize our swing tempo, and so on.

Again, consistency is a great goal.

Say Hello to Sergeant PING

In an effort to help golfers become more consistent on the putting green, PING has signed on to be your Putting Drill Sergeant. PING is your new Sergeant Hulka. That’s right, PING is going to be your new big toe. They are going to lead you to be a better putter, just like your big toe leads the others. To accomplish this mission, their engineers have made a new line of putters that will improve your consistency on the green. Say hello to Cadence TR.

PING’s engineers have produced putters with helpful technologies in the past, but the Cadence TR line adds an even more technologically advanced weapon to the arsenal. Lets take a look at the tech inside the Cadence TR line.

Cadence TR Tech: TR Grooves

PING’s TR insert tech has been around for a few years now. The Scottsdale TR line was the first major PING line to feature the True Roll insert, though I think that the Serene line actually released first. The insert increases roll out for balls struck off center, while taking a bit of the pop out of the sweet spot. The overall effect is to make the ball roll a consistent distance, regardless of where it is struck on the face.

Sometimes we miss the sweet spot. The TR insert makes the cost of that miss less significant.

Cadence TR Tech: Adjustable Length Shaft

Though you could probably fight effectively with a Roman short sword, you would never think to arm your kindergartner with a Scottish claymore. Obviously, it’s not a great plan to hand your five-year-old a large edged weapon, or even a small one for that fact. However, if the sword was smaller, it would be more effective for him or her. Fit is important.

The adjustable length shaft allows the golfer to fine tune the shaft to fit. It is easy to adjust and can be adjusted to near infinite lengths between its end dimensions. It’s like that little plastic strap on the back of your trucker hat. Dial in the right number of pegs and holes and it fits your head perfectly.

Cadence TR Tech: Fit For Stroke Shafts

This is another bit of tech that PING has offered for a few product cycles. There was a time when all of the mallets were  designed to be used by the straight stroke putter. A face-balanced head matching only the straight stroke. With these shafts, and their different bends, PING can now put together a mallet that will fit any stroke.

PING’s putter engineers explained how it works to Tim and I when we visited their HQ last spring. The putter may still be face balanced, but the bend in the shaft changes the center of gravity of the putter so that a more arcing path is promoted.

Weight, There’s Something New!

Here is the new innovation in the Cadence TR line: a choice between Traditional and Heavy weighting. PING will be offering each of the Cadence putters in a version with a traditional head weight, and also a heavy head weight. As you read above, they will be accomplishing this by changing the insert material between the versions. Changing from the Traditional aluminum insert to the Heavy stainless steel insert will add 25-33 grams, depending upon the model.

Adding 33 grams to the head of a putter is not insignificant. I will tell you from swinging these that there is a definite difference in feel between the Traditional and the Heavy.

What is the purpose of the weight options?

Simply put, PING believes that if you play a putter whose weight matches your stroke characteristics, then you will have a more consistent putting tempo, and with that be a better putter. The Traditional weighting matches a quicker tempo; Heavy weighting, slower.

The iPING app measures your putting tempo, and also includes an interesting explanation about the role of tempo in the putting stroke. To paraphrase, there is no one best tempo for putting, it will vary from player to player, but one of the marks of a good putter is that the tempo is consistent.

There’s that word again. Consistent. Selecting the Traditional or Heavy weight, correct shaft for your stroke, proper shaft length, and the TR insert are all there to make your rolls more consistent.

If you can make your rolls consistent, you should be able to make better putts as you move through your round.

What Is The Color Coded Grips Purpose?

A quick word about the grips. First, they are color coded (like the inserts) so that the Traditional weight grips are blue, and the Heavy models black. Both grips are made of the same material and are the same weight. PING has not made the Heavy version grips heavier to compensate for the heavier head. That’s counterbalancing, and it effectively counteracts the effect of the heavier head. While there is a counterbalanced version of the Anser 2 in the line up, the other heavy versions are not counterbalanced. FWIW, the Anser 2 CB actually has the lighter blue aluminum insert.

PING Cadence TR Models

Anser 2

• Style: Blade
• Alignment: Clean top rail and single alignment line
• Weights: Traditional, 340g; Heavy, 365g
• Stroke Fit: Slight Arc stroke type
• Customization: lie angle +/- 4º
• Price: U.S. MSRP: $185

Anser 2 Counter Balanced

• Style: Counterbalanced Blade
• Alignment: Clean top rail and single alignment line
• Length: 38″, 50g counterweight, 17″ grip
• Weight: Traditional insert only, 400g
• Stroke Fit: Slight Arc stroke type
• Customization: lie angle +/- 4º
• Price: U.S. MSRP: $235

Anser W

• Style: Blade
• Alignment: alignment line extends through face
• Weights: Traditional, 350g; Heavy, 375g
• Stroke Fit: Slight Arc stroke type
• Customization: lie angle +/- 4º
• Price: U.S. MSRP: $185

B65

• Style: Rounded Blade with Anser-style hosel
• Alignment: single alignment line
• Weights: Traditional, 340g; Heavy, 365g
• Stroke Fit: Straight stroke type
• Customization: lie angle +/- 4º
• Price: U.S. MSRP: $185

Rustler

• Style: High-MOI mallet
• Alignment: alignment line extends from top rail to back of putter
• Weights: Traditional, 350g; Heavy, 383g
• Stroke Fit: Straight, Slight Arc, Strong Arc stroke types (achieved by different shaft bends)
• Customization: lie angle +/- 2º
• Price: U.S. MSRP: $215

Sidebar: Rustler = Nome 3?

When I saw the Rustler, it looked familiar. After a few rolls, and hours of staring, I realized why I thought I had seen it before. It looks like the Nome! I love the Nome. I took photos of Mahan’s gold Nome and Westwoods gold Nome TR when PING let me inside their putter vault. The Rustler looks to me like a stripped down version of the Nome. I like the Rustler name, but from this point forward, I will refer to the Rustler as the Skele-Nome. Feel free to do so as well.

Shea H

• Style: Heel-shafted mid mallet
• Alignment: single alignment line
• Weights: Traditional, 345g; Heavy, 378g
• Stroke Fit: Strong Arc stroke type
• Customization: lie angle +/- 4º
• Price: U.S. MSRP: $185

Tomcat C

• Style: Center-shafted mid-mallet
• Alignment: sight line and ball width alignment guides
• Weights: Traditional, 355g; Heavy, 380g
• Stroke Fit: Straight stroke type
• Customization: lie angle +/- 2º
• Price: U.S. MSRP: $185

So…Does The Weighting Make A Difference?

With the Cadence TR line, PING has given us a batch of putters that can be fit to our strokes, help us roll the ball consistent distances, and putt with consistent tempo.

I imagine that some of you have some questions about the cadence/tempo claims of new PING Cadence TR line. The obvious question is Does the weighting make a difference? I think that is a very valid and important question to address. Does changing the weight in the head of the putter from Traditional to Heavy really change the performance of the putter?

That’s Only 7 Putters, Where is #8?

The other question in the mind of our more Rainman-esq readers is Where is the eighth putter model? That is an impressive observation that you have made there. The paragraph from PING above says eight models, and I have only shown you seven. Where is the missing model? What PING putter could be awesome enough to get a touch of solo time? I think that some of you know exactly what putters has earned such VIP treatment…

Tune in tomorrow for the answers to see if the weight does make a difference and to get the full story on the eighth Cadence model.