FIRST LOOK – 2015 PING Ketsch

by Dave Wolfe

Ketsch: Early Favorite For 2015 Most Wanted Mallet

When we first toured the new PING Cadence TR line-up, one putter was left out of the article. I gave you a pretty good clue as to what was excluded, hinting that the excluded putter had earned the right to a little solo attention. Well let’s drop the subterfuge and get right to the potentially special putter in the Cadence TR stable: The PING Cadence TR Ketsch.

Unfamiliar with the PING Ketch and why it gets put on a pedestal? Let’s just say that the first incarnation of the Ketsch dominated the competition in the 2014 Most Wanted Mallet Test. 5-footers were basically gimmies for all of our testers. Yep, all of our testers.

The Ketch was an amazing performer on tour as well. In less than a year of play, there are already gold versions in PING’s fabled Gold Putter Vault.

It was the hot putter of 2014 and if the Cadence TR version of the Ketch is truly updated and upgraded, then I think that we have an early favorite in the 2015 Most Wanted Mallet field.

Not One Ketch, But Two

The Cadence TR line consists of both Traditional and Heavy versions for each model, and the Ketsch is no exception. Let’s take a look at the two incarnations.

• Style: Machined Aluminum mallet, 17-4 stainless steel sole plate
• Face: Milled TR Grooves
• Alignment: alignment line extends from top rail to back of putter
• Weights: Traditional, 355g; Heavy, 388g
• Stroke Fit: Straight, Slight Arc, Strong Arc stroke types (achieved by different shaft bends)
• Customization: lie angle +/- 2º
• Price: U.S. MSRP: $245

Admittedly, there is not a whole lot of visual differences between the two Ketsch models. The are made of the same materials, with the variation in weight coming from the sole plates. There are some differences between the 2014 Most Wanted winning Ketsch and the Cadence TR Ketsch though.

First, let’s take a look at the big difference, the TR grooves.

The Groovespiracy

The Ketsch entered the 2014 golf market with very little promotion or fanfare. Then it won our Most Wanted Mallet Competition in a dominant fashion, and it became a very hot commodity. Lots of golfers had to wait through backorders, as PING strove to get the supply up to the demand. PING had a real hit on their hands.

Then they stopped production.

The issue was the grooves. It was not that they were non-conforming, or ineffective. Instead, PING had discovered that they were just not quite as effective as they could be, and so they re-tooled, and re-released a Ketsch with the 2.0 grooves. That means that the Cadence TR Ketsch is actually the third incarnation of the Ketsch. If you look at the photo above, you can see that both versions have the same number of grooves, but that the grooves on the Cadence TR version are definitely smaller.

It will be interesting to see if the new grooves make an already great rolling putter even better. I played a round with the Heavy version last week and one thing that I did notice is that the new grooves put a slightly hotter roll on the ball. I tended to miss short with the old version, and that was not the case at all with the Cadence TR. Just speculating though. At some point, I am going to follow up with some old vs. new groove testing with the iPING app.

Stay Tuned…