50 Words or Less
The TaylorMade Spider ZT putter blends zero torque design with exceptional stability. Solid feel. Large, ultra-modern head shape. Extremely forgiving. Available in counterbalanced and long versions.
Introduction
What happens when you take the hottest trend in putting – zero torque – and mix it with the most successful new putter shape of the last twenty years? You get the TaylorMade Spider ZT, a putter that’s been sold out since the moment it was announced.
Looks
At address, the TaylorMade Spider ZT putter is not immediately recognizable as a Spider. It lacks the traditional “wings” at the rear, instead opting for an angular, hourglass-type shape that combines elements of the Spider S [review HERE] and OS Spider [review HERE]. This large, ultramodern shape is balanced by the simple silver and black color scheme. By making the leading portion of the putter silver, the larger black portion can disappear as the golfer focuses on the ball or club face.
TaylorMade gave the Spider ZT a series of thin milled lines that they call “Milled True Path Alignment”. I like the way that these lines frame the ball, as I often find it hard to feel confident with a putter that’s long from heel to toe. The middle line is painted black to give it a more traditional top line sight line look.
In the bag, the TaylorMade Spider ZT has a lot of personality. The most eye-catching feature is the bright blue plate in the center of the sole. This plate is adorned with the spider logo and branding atop a geometric spiderweb design. Three weight ports – two near the leading edge, one in the center of the head – are present, but only the center-rear port is very noticeable, sitting like prey underneath the descending spider.
TaylorMade tied the look together with a bright blue head cover and a spider-themed SuperStroke grip and shaft band. I love all of these “extra mile” elements, and I want to particularly call out the design of the head cover. With a color this bold, the single black spider without any branding is an inspired choice.
Sound & Feel
The TaylorMade Spider ZT putter features the Pure Roll insert, which we’ve seen in numerous TM putters in the past. This insert is made from a combination of Surlyn and aluminum, and the resulting feel is solid. At short range – under twenty feet – I would call the feel dull. I use “dull” not to say it’s boring, but to indicate that it doesn’t feel crisp or poppy. When I moved beyond twenty feet, the feel got more lively with a bit of bounce on the center of the face. At all distances, I found that there was good feedback on strike location through the hands.
In contrast, the sound of impact was the same whether I was hitting it pure or intentionally missing by a mile. With a premium ball, contact sounded very quiet and, again, dull. It’s not quite a “thud” but it’s close – it’s a heavily muted “tock”. Like the feel, the sound does liven up a bit past twenty feet.
Performance
The TaylorMade Spider ZT putter carried on an increasingly long tradition I’ve had with zero torque putters, throwing its first putt – a twenty footer – into the bottom of the cup. If you’ve been using zero torque putters with regularity, the Spider ZT will feel very familiar, flowing easily with your stroke. TaylorMade also took the step of adding a “One Degree Off-Axis” SuperStroke Pistol 1.0 grip. This is akin to the Press grips used by LAB Golf [more on LAB’s grips HERE] which “neutralize” the built-in shaft lean. I liked this grip a lot – the size was comfortable and the pistol shaping was very modest.
Where the Spider ZT aims to separate itself from other zero torque putters is with its stability. The “5K” on the sole nods to the very high MOI, a product of using the weight distribution from the Spider Tour X [review HERE]. TaylorMade combined two metals – stainless steel and aluminum – and the aforementioned sole weights to make this one of the most stable zero torque putters available. In my testing, the TaylorMade Spider ZT did an excellent job holding its line and preserving ball speed on mishits. I did note that the putter performs slightly better with misses on the toe side versus the heel.
As we learned in a recent Golf Myths Unplugged, having zero torque does make putters feel lighter [learn more HERE]. The TaylorMade Spider ZT, built to 35″ with a head weight of 370 grams, had a swing weight of E8. It didn’t feel quite that heavy to me, but I did sense more heft than most other zero torque putters I’ve tested. While I can’t say for certain why that is – possibly the large footprint – I can report that it took less time for me to get a good sense of distance control. At thirty feet and beyond, I didn’t feel that I had to slug the ball to get it to the cup.
The flip side of that note is that the TaylorMade Spider ZT is big and heavy and can feel clumsy to swing. When I was fully committed to the “no thumbs” stroke and trusting the putter to get the ball to the hole, the results were outstanding. When I got fidgety because of not trusting my read, the results suffered. This putter has tons of forgiveness and wants to put the ball on the proper start line. If you let it do the work, you’ll enjoy the results.
Finally, in addition to the standard Spider ZT, TaylorMade is offering the Spider ZT Counterbalance and the Spider ZT Long. Both models feature a heavier head (395 grams in the CB, 470 in the Long) and a longer shaft (36″ or 38″ for the CB, 46″ for the Long). They also use KBS Graphite putter shafts and different SuperStroke grips. The Spider ZT Long has a Tour 1.0 two-piece grip, and the Spider ZT Counterbalance has a 13.75″ SuperStroke 2.0 on the 36″ version and a 17″ SuperStroke 3.0 on the 38″ model.
Conclusion
The TaylorMade Spider ZT putter is not your normal Spider in looks or performance, but that’s not a bad thing. By taking the Spider’s legendary forgiveness and merging it with a zero torque design, TaylorMade has created a putter that almost feels like it has an autopilot mode.