Indoor Golf: Odyssey Triple Track #7 and Stroke Lab Women’s Putters

Today, Odyssey announces their Triple Track #7 and Stroke Lab Women’s putters.

The #7 represents a natural and welcome extension of the Triple Track putter line while the Stroke Lab Women’s putter line continues Odyssey’s tradition of making putters to meet the needs of female golfers.

Though this is not a huge release for Odyssey, there are some key elements worth exploring with both of these offerings. Let’s start with the new Triple Track #7.

Odyssey Triple Track #7

Triple Track #7 features our innovative Triple Track Technology for improved alignment in the #7, which is our most popular head shape on Tour. It also feature our Stroke Lab shaft to improve tempo and consistency and our Microhinge Star insert for a putter that delivers exceptional alignment, consistency and performance.

The #7 head is one of the iconic Odyssey putter shapes so it makes sense they would want to get a version out there that features Triple Track technology. Yes, when I say technology, I am talking about painted-on Triple Track lines.

Be that as it may, the simple Triple Track alignment system is potentially game-changing for golfers who just don’t feel confident aiming the putter. The belief is that when you combine the Triple Track putter with the Triple Track ball, it is tough to feel lost over a putt in terms of direction. Sure, your read may still suck and you probably needed to hit the ball a little harder but at least the ball went where you pointed it.

Do The Lines Help?

At the start of the year, I was very curious about how this technology would play out with the golfing public. Would golfers embrace the three lines? Will they then also buy more Callaway Triple Track balls? Does lining everything up slow putting or speed it up by eliminating indecision at address?

I don’t really have an answer for obvious reasons. The 2020 golf season has been anything but typical. I don’t know how many Triple Track putters Odyssey has sold so far but I’d not be surprised if the number is an order of magnitude off of expectation. You can’t really quantify public acceptance of a product if said public has not had a chance to purchase said new product.

Perhaps the release of the Triple Track #7 (and #7S) will be just the thing to rekindle curiosity about Triple Track. If these putters start showing up in bags this summer, then we can circle back on the topic of Triple Track effectiveness and market penetration.

Stroke Lab Women’s Line

Stroke Lab Women’s Putters (available in the #7, #1 and 2-Ball) provides Stroke Lab weighting, our White Hot Microhinge Insert provides great feel, the high contrast creates easy alignment, and the components and length are specifically designed to help improve your performance.

The Stroke Lab Women’s putter line is just that – a Stroke Lab putter line geared toward the female golfer. You may be wondering what makes a putter a “women’s putter.”

In this case, it is really three different things.

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First of all, you will see that the color of this line differs from the original Stroke Lab line. Black and yellow has been replaced with blue and silver. The Stroke Lab grip is slightly smaller and the available models are 33”/34”. As such, they’ve been designed with the typically smaller female golfer in mind.

Offering an incarnation of a putter line with different specs for women is not a new concept at Odyssey or other companies for that matter. There was a women’s version of the White Hot Pro, White Hot RX and, I believe, the Divine line was circa White Hot or White Hot Ice. Regardless, they have been making women’s putter lines for a while as have PING, TaylorMade and others.

Do We Need Women’s Putters?

The more I think about this putter line, the more I wonder why it is necessary.

Sure, you have a line that would physically be more comfortable for golfers of smaller stature. Funny thing, though, is that not all women are smaller in stature. No more than all men are of larger stature. Naturally, as a company making products, you play the percentages. But if the main putter line includes a range of lengths and weights, do you need the sex differentiation?

Maybe it comes down to paint. Women’s putters are usually brighter colored, featuring pastels and arguably less aggressive aesthetics. This also seems flawed to me. I find the blue and silver coloring of this new Stroke Lab putter to be way more attractive than the black and yellow men’s (?) putter. Moreover, I’m sure the converse is true for some women.

Maybe my being-male biased causes me to miss the point here. Maybe putter lines such as these inspire more women to play golf and help them to have more fun. If so, they should be considered a vital part of the golf landscape. Such is not the case if they only pigeonhole women golfers.

Y Chromosome Biased

Again, I’m a male and maybe I just don’t get it. If you are thinking this, I’d encourage you to give this article by Anya Alverez a read. She explores essentially this exact topic, What Exactly Makes a Women’s Golf Club a Women’s Golf Club?

The only other similar example I can think of is how the Bettinardi Queen B line was originally marketed as a women’s putter line. As it turned out, men liked those putters, too. Consequently, Bettinardi has removed the sex-specific aspect from the Queen B line. Smart marketing move. You can probably sell a whole bunch more putters if you target all golfers rather than some golfers. I’m sure there are men who are drawn to the blue and silver aesthetics. However, some of these men would never buy a “women’s” putter.

Sorry for soapboxing here. However, most courses are moving away from the concept of men’s and women’s tees. Instead of the starter checking chromosomes, golfers are told to play the tee that fits their game. Shouldn’t golf companies follow that lead?

Releasing Today!

Triple Track #7 and the Stroke Lab Women’s putter line will be in shops near you on June 4. That’s today!

The pricing on both the Triple Track #7 and the Stroke Lab Women’s putters starts at $249.99. If your shop is open, these putters should be there.

Remember, I’m waiting to hear your Triple Track findings. Did you try it out? Did it work for you? Feel free to give me your take on the pros and cons of branding putters as “women’s putters.” If I’m way off base on this, enlighten me.

For more information, head to Odyssey.com.