SSB Yaupon - Demo 2009

[chemboy2]

Yaupon arrived in San Jose today!!

Be back for a review once I've had a chance to give it a roll...

[Sunset Beach Golf]

where's that review?

[chemboy2]

where's that review?

Like to hear it? Here it go...

So I got the opportunity to kick off the Shottalk Yaupon demo. My first impression was that, as great of pics as Chirs posts, they don't do the putters justice; this is a great looking putter in hand! While the finish on the demo Yaupon wouldn't be my first choice, it looks pretty good and I didn't have a single issue with glare during my demo week (can't say the same thing about the Studio Style's finish).

The Yaupon falls in the "tweener" category, too big to be an Anser style "blade" but way to small too be considered a mallet (IMO). The general shape and size (and finish for that matter) very much reminded me of the Odyssey White Hot Tour #5 I bagged late last year. While deeper front to back than my Studio Style, it was considerably shorter heel to toe. I liked the shorter blade length because it keeps the head size down (I'm not a huge fan of mallets but I do appreciate their "forgiveness" attributes). The sweet spot on this beauty isn't the largest around but it is sweet! Catch it in the sweet spot and you're rewarded with a nice soft audible 'click' and a very soft feel with smooth roll out. A miss on the toe/heel is felt isntantly and is accompanied with a loss of distance; nothing too penal or out of the ordinary though.

Another thing I noticed about the Yaupon was the toe hang, there is some serious toe hang on this bad-boy (certainly more than I'm accustomed to). During my demo sessions I found a nice arc stroke yielded the most consistent results.

The demo Yaupon has minimal stampings and that includes sight lines/dots. I love the fact that it does not have lines/dots as the shape of on the flange frames the ball quite well and can be used as parallel alignment lines (without the need for paint). I got the opportunity to have some buddies give it a roll and they commented that they would prefer to see a line or a dot but that's the beatuy of SSB; WE get to decide whether or not OUR putter will have them!

Overall the Yaupon is a very well balanced, great feeling putter and I very much enjoyed the week I spent with her.

With all the above being said, I must admit that I could have liked the Yaupon considerably more with a few of the standard options being changed; 1) I've always preferred the look of a plumber's neck instead of the goose neck, 2) the demo putter is 35" and I play mine putters between 33 and 33.5", and 3) the SSB grip is a firm Lamkin still grip (think 1st generation White Hot grip) while I use a Winn. Again, these are all options that I could specify at order time so these would fall into the "plus" column for those keeping score at home!

Major kudos to Chris and LaMont for their work on the Yaupon and a sincere thank you for giving me (us) the opportunity to give it a roll!!