Gear: PXG Torpedo ZT putter
Price: $449.99
Specs: Milled 303 stainless steel front section, 6061 aluminum rear body and milled face and adjustable sole weights..
Who it’s for: Golfers who like the look and stability of a traditional mallet but want to try a zero-torque design that reduces the putter face’s tendency to rotate during the stroke.
What you should know: PXG has adapted its popular Torpedo mallet from the Battle Ready II family into a zero-torque configuration to help golfers deliver the face more consistently at impact.
The Deep Dive: Zero-torque putters are becoming a lot like SUVs. Nearly every manufacturer has one, and golfers increasingly can find zero-torque models in familiar shapes instead of having to embrace something radically
different.
PXG’s new Torpedo ZT is another example of that evolution.
The company took the established Torpedo mallet from its Battle Ready II family and redesigned it to minimize the twisting forces that can cause the face to open or close during the putting stroke. The key is what PXG calls its Onset Hosel.
The idea is to make it easier for golfers to maintain a consistent face angle without making as many conscious adjustments during the stroke.
In a conventional putter, the shaft axis and the head’s center of gravity are positioned in a way that can encourage the face to rotate during the stroke. But with the Torpedo ZT, PXG positioned the shaft axis just above and extremely close to the head’s center of gravity. That creates a toe-up balance and reduces the torque that encourages face rotation.
Of course, a zero-torque putter won’t automatically correct poor alignment or turn a bad stroke into a good one, but it may help some players improve their consistency.
The Onset Hosel also incorporates 1 degree of forward press, encouraging golfers to position their hands slightly ahead of the ball at address. Although the Torpedo ZT has 4 degrees of measured loft, PXG designed that forward-press configuration to make it play more like a traditional putter with 3 degrees of loft.
Inside the head, PXG combines a relatively heavy, precision-milled stainless steel front section with a lightweight aluminum rear body. This allows engineers to position the center of gravity close to the shaft axis while distributing mass farther from the center of the head to increase moment of inertia (MOI). Higher MOI helps limit twisting when putts are struck away from the sweet spot.
The hitting surface features PXG’s Pyramid Milled Face Pattern, designed to provide consistent interaction between the face and the golf ball’s dimples while producing a softer impact sound.
Two interchangeable sole weights allow fitters to adjust the head weight from 357 to 392 grams, making it possible to experiment with different feels and configurations during a fitting.
While the balance is different, PXG kept two elements of the original Torpedo design: A long center sight line that helps golfers aim the face and the company’s Pick-Up Pocket that grabs a ball off the green.
But the larger story here is that golfers interested in zero-torque technology increasingly don’t have to abandon the appearance and features they already enjoy. With the Torpedo ZT, PXG is giving fans of its existing mallet another option without asking them to embrace an entirely new look.
David Dusek is a senior writer at Golfweek covering equipment and technology.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: PXG brings zero-torque technology to its popular Torpedo putter
