When it comes to improving their game, Tour professionals will try anything to get better and shave strokes off their scores. Whether it's Matt Fitzpatrick's cross-handed chip shot, or Bryson DeChambeau's armlock method of putting, players are experimenting with different ways to get themselves up the leaderboard.
Recently, following the success of Wyndham Clark at the US Open, as well as Keegan Bradley at the Travelers Championship, a specific putter has been catching the eye of the world's elite, with the Odyssey Versa Jailbird mallet putter being reportedly requested over 100 times by those on their respective Tours.
A Keegan Bradley W would make it back-to-back 🏆 for @odysseygolf Versa Jailbird.Joe Toulon told me 100+ Jailbird requests were made across all tours after Wyndham Clark’s win — the most they’ve seen in one week for a model since Rocco Mediate’s ‘08 US Open run with Sabertooth.June 25, 2023
According to Golf.com's Jonathan Wall: "Joe Toulon (PGA Tour Rep for Odyssey/Callaway Golf) told me 100+ Jailbird requests were made across all tours after Wyndham Clark’s win — the most they’ve seen in one week for a model since Rocco Mediate’s ‘08 US Open run with Sabertooth."
It's not just those on the ground reporting the requests for the Versa Jailbird putter. Even Odyssey themselves have humorously admitted it via their social media, tweeting a number of funny posts about the success of their model.
One of the tweets came shortly after Bradley rolled in his putt to win a sixth PGA Tour title, whilst another came following Clark's maiden Major success, with both posts shown below.
Our tour team working through all these Jailbird requests pic.twitter.com/Q2UwAudZFKJune 25, 2023
Changing lives in a major way pic.twitter.com/OcVSbGtDS5June 19, 2023
The hype surrounding the putter is also something to do with Rickie Fowler, who changed to the Odyssey Versa Jailbird at the beginning of 2023. One of the best putters on Tour, Fowler previously used a blade-style putter for most of his career but moved to the larger mallet with a longer shaft after trying out his caddie's putter.
Such was the impact made by Fowler, Clark played a round with his fellow countryman at Medalist in Florida and asked for the exact same club after seeing Rickie make "every single putt."
"We were playing at Medalist where he belongs in Florida, and I hadn't been putting good, and this was right before Bay Hill, and I played with Rickie, and he just made every single putt," Clark said. "Afterwards we were practicing a little bit getting ready for it and I hit a couple and I was like, oh, gosh, this is really nice. So I texted the Odyssey guy, and I said, hey, can you make me Rickie's putter? And he's like, well what specs? I said, the exact same."
