With the new Studio Style line, Scotty Cameron was looking to take a modern approach to the putters while giving a nod to the past.
The 12-model line features new technology, new materials and a new insert in what Cameron is calling the most significant redesign of his blade putter offering in recent history. On the 20th anniversary of the brand’s GSS-inserted Studio Style line, the putters pay homage to the past while bringing them forward to the present.
“While the name is a throwback, the technology, design and manufacturing methods are modern and brand new,” Cameron said. “Designed to produce remarkable feel and consistent performance, the new Studio Carbon Steel insert ensures softer sound for a confident roll on every putt.”
The Studio Style line will feature a Newport, Newport Plus, Newport 2, Newport 2 Plus, Newport 2.5 Plus, Squareback, Squareback 2, Squareback 2 Long Design, Fastback, Fastback Long Design, Fastback 1.5 and Catalina, which will be available for purchase on March 14.
On all of the models, one of the more noticeable additions is the carbon steel face insert with a unique design.
Senior Director of Putter R&D, Austie Rollinson, was working on the design of the new insert and couldn’t land on anything that resonated. He thought back to a conversation that he and Cameron had when designing the grips for last year’s Phantom line.
When Rollinson was designing the grips, he sketched out pluses and dashes, but it didn’t fit with the direction they wanted to take the design.
“(Cameron) goes, that’s just so boring. He goes, ‘Pull up the Audi Avant station wagon.’ He goes, ‘Look at the grill,’” Rollinson said. “It had this chain mail look on the grill. He says, pull up the interior and they had the stitching that was mirrored in the seats. He said that looks really cool, very industrial. So, we came up with this chain link pattern for the grip.”
Rollinson believed they could mimic the grip design in the insert and bring a whole new look to Scotty Cameron putters.
“I showed it to (Cameron) and he said, ‘That’s what we’re doing,’” Rollinson said. “It’s elegant, it’s unique, it’s different and it still achieves what we want to achieve in the milling, which is remove material from the face to cut down on the sound at impact. But, do it in an elegant way.”
Cameron was aiming to get the feel and softer sounds just right from the start of the project. They wanted to keep the insert back to the original Studio Style line with the octagon shape, but brought it into the future with the new chain link design.
That was paying homage to the past, but to bring it forward, and Rollinson and Cameron played with different materials to figure out how to save weight and how to get the sound and feel they were looking for.
“A lot of young players that are coming up are used to playing softer faces in their putters,” Rollinson said. “We knew we could do that in metal. We went on a journey trying to find the right combination of metal and milling to give us a nice soft feel that still had a Scotty Cameron responsiveness.”
They tested teryllium and aluminum, but it was carbon that kept giving them the results they wanted.
“It has great damping properties. That’s what you want to do, you want the vibration of impact to be absorbed by the material,” Rollinson said. “Stainless is ok, aluminum is pretty good, teryllium is good, but carbon steel is better. So, we made some samples of the carbon steel with the chain link and it was a light bulb went off.”
The carbon gave them the feel and sound they were looking for, so the team took it to Tour players to test. The reaction was unanimous and the Tour pros echoed what Cameron and his team had found.
Cameron also brought a new electroless nickel plating process that was implemented in this line to help enhance durability and prevent the corrosion historically associated with carbon steel putters. They knew they had something special and were excited about what this line would bring to the brand.
It’s a fine line that the engineers and designers have to walk, though, with ensuring they bring to life what loyal Scotty Cameron fans want but also continuing to evolve and adapt to changing times. Cameron and his team believed the Studio Line was the perfect blend of both worlds and will feature some fan favorites with the Newport models.
It will also feature new mid-mallet designs, though, that bring a new element. The Fastback and Squareback models feature ring-weighted, or perimeter-weighted, designs to help add forgiveness.
“One of the things we did when we made it larger was try to increase the forgiveness of this, increase the inertia. Getting rid of weight in the middle is going to help that,” Rollinson said. “And we knew we had to put aluminum into this. To make this whole thing out of steel would have been way too heavy.
“So, we have an aircraft aluminum sole plate and then the toe and heel sections that are contrasting are actually aluminum.”
The contrast in colors is intentional to bring a multi-material alignment system that helps players maintain a square putter face for a larger area toward and through impact with the ball.
It all factors in to a newly designed putter that is building off of past iterations while bringing the future to Scotty Cameron putters. The design, material and models are all made with the quality and performance attributes everyone expects from Scotty Cameron putters, but are an exciting redesign that will invoke new feelings towards an iconic putter line.
“Consumers are looking for that from Scotty Cameron, but they’re also looking for design innovations like what Scotty did with some of the Futuro putters years ago,” Rollinson said. “Bringing some of those elements into these, as well. So, having the perfect balance to satisfy all those customers.”
