Scotty Cameron Champions Choice putters: What you need to know

Aug 08, 2023

Equipment

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The latest version of Scotty Cameron’s limited run Champions Choice putters, which are modeled on some of Cameron’s most successful tour shapes, will debut next week with four popular and proven slightly oversize blade designs milled from 303 stainless steel and each featuring the distinctive Teryllium copper alloy face insert.

PRICE: $700. Four models: Newport Plus Button Back, Newport 1.5 Plus Button Back, Newport 2 Plus Button Back and Newport 2.5 Plus Button Back. Available in 33-, 34- and 35-inch lengths. At retail in limited quantities beginning July 28.

3 COOL THINGS 1. The touch, the feel...of copper. Teryllium is the trade name Cameron has used for the copper alloy face insert that’s found it in to putters made famous by Tiger Woods (his first Masters win) and more recently by Brooks Koepka. He also released a limited run of Teryllium putters in 2019 that matched the look of Woods’ winning putter from his late amateur and early pro days in the 1990s. These inserts are the same alloy from those original designs. Cameron found the mix of the softness of copper with the strengthening of tellurium, which is a metalloid component that makes the machining of copper alloys more effective and efficient. Tellurium in conjunction with the copper and several other metals produces the distinctive patina insert that provides a consistent soft feel.

2. That feel isn’t just the copper. The flashy insert may get all the attention, but behind what you see are some additional efforts to improve feel. Any time you have multiple materials joined together, especially in the impact area and especially in a putter, how you connect them says almost as much about the feel as the materials themselves. On these models, like the originals, a layer of elastomer rests between the copper alloy insert and the stainless steel body. The insert is attached by means of the “button back” screws, but this connection is further softened by a vibration damping membrane placed between the alloy inlay and the body of the putter.

3. Plus-sized models. Each of the four models in the Champions Choice series employs the slightly heftier shaping that Cameron debuted with his recent Super Select line. Dubbed “Plus,” Cameron thinks it’s a visual that’s becoming more desirable in the modern game. “It's easy to look at, soothing to the eye, bigger lines, bigger soles to sit a little more stable,” he said, noting the new shapes reflect a tour trend. “It’s really a tweener. I think we're seeing a lot of players calling it kind of a hybrid between a blade and a mallet.” The shapes are facilitated by a lighter 6061 aircraft grade aluminum sole plate that helps redistribute mass to the heavier stainless steel body for more stability both in the stroke and on off-center hits. It keeps the standard head weights the same as on the Super Select models: 345, 355 and 365 grams depending on shaft lengths.