How zero-torque putters changed the golf landscape in 2025

The last 12 months had a bit of everything – a career Grand Slam, Ryder Cup chaos and much more. With 2026 on the horizon, our writers look at the most memorable moments from 2025 and explain why they mattered.

Stories of 2025 No. 15: The ‘zero-torque’ movement

After JJ Spaun The 64-foot putt sealed his US Open victory and catapulted him into the international golf spotlight, he launched his LAB Golf DF3. Somewhat fittingly, the shooter seemed to stay square throughout.

Spaun’s emphatic victory at Oakmont highlighted the huge shift at both the highest levels of golf and the recreational game towards zero-torque players, as the win was the first major title for a player using a “zero-torque” model.

A “zero-torque” – or low-torque – feature is one designed with the shaft pointing directly through the center of gravity of the putter’s head, creating a putter that balances with the toe pointing straight up, as opposed to the toe pointing down at an angle or the face pointing up. This design creates a putter face that naturally wants to stay square at impact to help keep the ball on line.

Putting the shaft through the CG shaft usually requires it to be positioned behind the face initially, as opposed to moving a traditional putter. To counteract this, many low-torque magazines have a forward pivot to position the user’s hands in the correct position.

This design doesn’t remove all torque from the moment of deployment, but the name “zero-torque” caught on early.

Spaun wasn’t the first player to use or even win with a low-torque putter on the PGA Tour, but his early-season move coincided with his best PGA Tour year and underscored the rise of a new category in the game.

Low-torque putters first appeared on the PGA Tour when LAB Golf, maker of Spaun’s DF3 putters, was spotted in Adam Scott’s bag. Scott became a poster child of the early low-torque putt movement, using the rig in a long, “sweeper” configuration similar to the long-anchored putter he used to win the Masters.

The shot put genre really caught fire in late 2023, when Lucas Glover, whose career had fallen due to poor form, suddenly returned to the spotlight with back-to-back PGA Tour victories in August. Glover was using the LAB Mezz.1 Max sweeper, similar to Scott.

LAB Golf DF3 Putter

We took a chisel to the original Lie Angle Balanced device to make the DF3 smaller and sleeker while respecting the form that started it all. The DF3 offers our familiar build options and specifications. These options are suitable for players using fairly standard specs.

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ALSO ALSO IN: PGA Tour Superstore, Golf LAB

But not until late 2024, when major OEM competitors like Bettinardi, PXG, and Odyssey began entering the low-torque space. Those putters first saw a PGA Tour green at the end of that season and better adoption in 2025.

But this season, he started to have a fever.

Major OEMs TaylorMade and Scotty Cameron, two of the three biggest players in the machine market, along with Odyssey, introduced their versions of low-torque gauges in 2025. Ping also unveiled its PLD Ally Blue Onset device.

Moreover, the companies continued to innovate the concept. LAB was able to create the first low-torque heel shaft barrel and the Odyssey created a version that it did not require significant starting or tilting forward of the axis.

Spaun made waves early in the season with his runner-up finish at the Players before his win at Oakmont, while Brian Harman won with the then-unreleased TaylorMade Spider ZT and Garrick Higgo won with the LAB OZ.1i, Scott’s own designed putter. Meanwhile, Gary Woodland had his best season since 2020 using a Scotty Cameron Onset Center prototype.

Spaun, Higgo and Harman were the only players to win on Tour this season with a low-torque putter patternand Higgo was the only player in the Strokes Gained: Putting top-10, but the trend has had perhaps a bigger impact in the retail space.

LAB Golf’s marketing strategy overturned traditional thinking, which was for Tour players to influence recreational players, by first catching up with regular players to see if they could influence Tour usage. For the most part, it seems to be working.

Custom TaylorMade Spider 5K-ZT Putter

LOW-TOE DESIGN The KBS putter shaft is bored directly from the toe near the CG to a 1° pitched shaft starting 25mm behind the face allowing players to realize the benefits of a new stable, toe-up design. UNIQUE SOLE SHAPE New and improved sole shape to work specifically with this unique hose configuration, engineers worked tirelessly to find new ways to improve accuracy from the moment the putter gets behind the ball. The new sole curvature accommodates different types of players and ball positions, giving players the ability to find a consistent and repeatable shot. SPIDER STABILITY The combination of high-density stainless steel and low-density aerospace-grade aluminum provides the perfect foundation for a high-MOI design and allows for a shaft orientation that sits closer to the face. MILLED TRUE PATH™ ALIGNMENT Based on feedback from tournament players, we were tasked with coming up with a new premium alignment system. Based on the classic TaylorMade True Path™ technology, milled lines were added to the width of the golf ball helping players to properly index the face on center.

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ALSO ALSO IN: PGA Tour Superstore, Taylor Made

More and more low-torque equipment is being sold every day, and Odyssey’s Vice President of Product Strategy, Jacob Davidson, told GOLF we may see the creation of a “game-enhancing” putter category, as is the case for other club categories.

“Maybe, just maybe, for the first time, we’re starting to see the doubling of putting styles for the average golfer and the best golfers in the world,” Davidson said.

Right now, low-torque gauges are still relatively new to the game, but unlike early 2025, when many major OEMs were still trying to determine whether torque-style was just a fad or a trend with legitimate staying power, we seem to have an answer now.