Can Tommy Fleetwood's new putter unlock victory in the desert?

Tommy Fleetwood is using a new prototype TaylorMade TP Soto Truss in Abu Dhabi this week at the HSBC Championship, and as far as first impressions go, it's off to a hot start.

As the golf year draws to a close, this is typically the time when we start to see new products being tested in a competitive environment for the first time ahead of big product launches in 2025.

We've already seen new Cobra drivers hit the USGA conforming list, and Srixon's new line for 2025 has also been spotted out and about. 

As far as TaylorMade is concerned, everything has been kept firmly under wraps, that was until Fleetwood walked on to the practice Green as Yas Links with a new putter in hand. 

The putter in question is a prototype TP Soto Truss with an instantly recognisable neck, similar to the original Truss putters that first hit shelves in 2020. 

Fleetwood is a TaylorMade brand ambassador but, until this week, used an Odyssey White Hot Pro 3 Blade.

We will get into why he's changed shortly, but first let's take a look at the new putter, which Fleetwood had a hand in designing. 

The Truss design is a curious one, and to be honest not one I fell in love with upon release, but the unusual looking neck is designed to increase stiffness in the head, and in turn damped vibration leading to improved feel and sound at impact. 

While the new TF prototype features that same neck design, it also has TaylorMade's True Roll insert. 

So how has the new putter performed?

Well, Fleetwood has only played two rounds with it but he's currently sat in a tie for 2nd (at the time of writing) at the HSBC Championship. 

In the opening round the Englishman shot a stunning 10-under 62 to tie the course record, making eight birdies and one eagle. In round two he again impressed with a solid 4-under 68. 

While the scores are impressive, what really caught my eye is Fleetwood's strokes gained putting stats.

Fleetwood currently ranks 5th for strokes gained putting through two rounds, and had gained 1.63 shots per round on the field. 

Now, this stat is interesting for two reasons, firstly Fleetwood has a new putter in the bag. But secondly, and possible for the reason for the change in the first place, is Fleetwood, despite playing well in his last three events, has consistently lost shots to the field on the greens.

In his lat six starts, Fleetwood has finished inside the top-20 in all six, with three finishes inside the top five.

However, in four of those finishes he has lost a minimum of half a shot on the field putting, and at the FedExt St Jude he was losing a staggering 1.8 shots to the field with putter in hand. 

While recent form is only an indicator, it would suggest that Fleetwood may well have been fed up with the flat stick letting him down when all other areas of his game were going great guns. 

Fleetwood currently ranks 87th for putting on the PGA Tour, but this equipment change, much like Scheffler's switch into a TaylorMade Spider at the start of 2024, could be the game changer he needs to win his first event on American soil.

It remains to be seen whether or not Fleetwood's proto putter will make its way onto shelves for us mere mortals, but we will be watching closely to see how it performs for the rest of the week. The early signs suggest Fleetwood and the design team at TaylorMade may be onto a winner.