PutterZone – Best Putter Reviews
TaylorMade has officially unveiled its long-expected Daytona Ghost 1 putter, the first but likely not last extension of its new Ghost putter line.
There aren’t a lot of surprises here, as the Daytona is an established model in the TaylorMade family. That said, it’s quite a sight to see a traditional Anser-style blade draped in the snowy white of the Ghost motif.
The Ghost line was launched earlier this year with the original Ghost mallet putter, which gained immediate fame in the hands of Justin Rose, who won two tournaments with it. In our review of the original Ghost putter, we gave it high marks in matters of alignment.
And alignment, of course, is where the Ghost line aims to earn its cabbage. TaylorMade has accumulated extensive putting data, and has found that a majority of even the best players are misaligned at a distance of 14 feet or more from the hole.
With help from the school of optometry at the University of Indiana, TaylorMade conceived a white finish that offers a striking visual contrast with the green of the grass, and thus a more vivid sense of the putter’s face angle in relation to the target line.
Finding the “right” white was also essential, and TaylorMade ultimately decided on a matte shade that matched its Penta TP ball, to ensure that the white was visually soothing as opposed to glaring or distracting.
The TaylorMade Daytona Ghost putter retails for $130 and will begin shipping soon. It features TaylorMade’s signature AGSI+ face insert and a single black sightline along the flange. The release of the Daytona Ghost putter indicates that the Ghost concept has been a success, and we won’t be surprised to see additional Ghost models announced in 2011.
It pains me greatly to say this, but I like this putter. The Ghost mallet is still a disaster, but I found this to be a much better implementation of the white body and new AGSI face. I don't know if the insert is the same between the mallet and the Daytona, but the Daytona's felt more like an integrated piece of the face. The mallet's felt soft. Head weight may be the difference? Not sure.
I think hell just froze over!
🙂
I just bought this today and for me the feel of this putter is better than the Core Classics Daytona. Not sure if they did more with the insert or not, but it feels that much better with this new Ghost design.
Francesco Mollinari has just won with the Monte Carlo Ghost variant too. I'm a half-mallet kind of guy, so I'm looking forward to trying out this one. Could be months though… 🙁