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Shane Lowry has relied heavily on the Odyssey version of the 2-ball putter construction during his professional career.
He has used different brands, including the Odyssey Stroke Lab Exo 2-ball, the White Hot Pro 2-Ball blade, and the White Hot OG 2-ball since early 2024.
The 2-ball design and Lowry seemed to go hand in hand.
However, Lowry made an unexpected switch to the new TaylorMade Spider Tour Z mallet putter ahead of the 2024 Zurich Classic team event, where he partnered fellow Irishman Rory McIlroy.
Lowry made an unusual putter change at this unusual time: Was he only using the Spider putter because McIlroy, who was using the Spider Tour X head throughout 2024, was his partner? Was Lowry just having fun as his friend played in the Zurich Classic and wanted to match them? Did Lowry try McIlroy's putter and end up switching to it because he liked it so much?
It turns out that McIlroy's influence alone was encouraging Lowry to make more putts which led him to change his putter.
Lowry laughed when asked if he was trying to rap McIlroy with his putter change.
“No, it's actually a different putter than the one he uses. Maybe there was a lot of pressure there because I needed to cover some putts if we wanted to win,” he said.
In response to Lowry's comments, McIlroy uses the Tour X model, while Lowry moved to the Tour Z model, which is lighter and has one weight closer to the club face.
Despite deviating from his standard design, Lowry's Spider Tour Z putter features a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown that brings back memories of his previous 2-ball designs. Unlike his 2-ball putters, which have double-bent shafts, Lowry's new Spider Tour Z has a short, slanted neck.
“I've been struggling on the greens, and I needed something that looked new,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com.
“It has a different neck to it, so it moves in a different way, but it's the same. It has a white line behind it [like my 2-ball], and it is mallet style. So it's not a very big change.
“I just picked it up off the putting green and I liked the way it looked, and I said, 'Let's give it a go.'”
Lowry's new Spider Tour Z remains in his bag for solo events.
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