Joe Ferguson from Golf Monthly takes a look at the Odyssey Dual Force Rossie II putter, which Nick Faldo won the Masters with in 1996, and compares it to the modern day equivalent in the Odyssey Ai-One Rossie putter in this series of Retro Review.
Can it still compete with the modern day equivalent?
Filmed at: Frilford Heath golf club.
Can it still compete with the modern day equivalent?
Filmed at: Frilford Heath golf club.
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00:00Retro review time again, and I've got a beauty for you today.
00:03Today I'm looking at the Odyssey Dual Force Rossi 2 putter.
00:08Now those of you in the know will know
00:09this was made famous by Nick Fowler at the 1996 Masters.
00:13And as always on Retro Review,
00:14we're putting it up against a modern day equivalent.
00:16So I'm looking at the Odyssey Rossi AI1 double bend putter.
00:22Now we teamed up with Golf Clubs for Cash,
00:24one of the leading retailers of pre-loved equipment.
00:26We're gonna see how these stack up against each other.
00:28Let's go.
00:29Let's go.
00:36So the Rossi 2 was really the putter
00:38that paved the way for Odyssey to become what they are today
00:41and paved the way for other models like the 2-ball,
00:43like the number seven,
00:44the fang that you'll all be familiar,
00:46and loads of familiar Odyssey models.
00:48Now, essentially, this was a face-balanced putter
00:51and it came with some really cool alignment aids.
00:53On the top of the flange here,
00:54we've got three alignment aids you see on the leading edge
00:57and two that sit on the backs.
00:58it was really super easy to line up.
01:00And another benefit of that is it kind of helped you
01:02with your eye line.
01:03I always found if you try and get those two lines
01:06to match up when you're looking down on them,
01:08you could be pretty sure your eyes
01:10were in a really nice place over the ball.
01:12It was one of the first putters ever to use an insert,
01:15which really affected the feel and enhanced that feel.
01:17And again, really paved the way for some later technologies,
01:21which you'll see present on this AI-1.
01:23So we've got the white hot insert,
01:25this has become really, really familiar.
01:26And we've got the AI-1 face that sits behind there,
01:29which is all designed to increase the MOI
01:31and increase your performance off your mishit putts.
01:35Loads of other technological advancements here.
01:37We've got interchangeable weights,
01:39we've got the stroke lab shaft.
01:40There's a lot more going on here.
01:42So I think it's time to see whether
01:44the technological advancements have made all the difference
01:46and see if this can still stack up against the competition.
01:50So before we get the first impressions here,
01:51let's get the numbers out of the way.
01:53I picked this up for 48.99, less than 50 pounds,
01:57for a putter that's won multiple, multiple majors.
02:00That's a really, really good deal.
02:01When you consider the AI-1 that I'm putting it up against
02:04retails at around 289.99.
02:06There's quite a significant difference there,
02:08I think you'll agree.
02:09So in terms of first impressions, down by the ball,
02:12I've used this putter a lot in the past.
02:14It was really a very familiar look for me.
02:17I love the abundance of alignment aids, as I mentioned.
02:20They're really prevalent on the top
02:21and it makes it really, really easy to point this putter
02:24where you want to point it.
02:25This is one of the first putters with an insert,
02:28so it'll be really interesting.
02:30Yeah, that's really nice.
02:32Little low on the blade,
02:33but it still felt really, really soft.
02:35So it just ran out of pace
02:36because I hit it a little lower on the blade.
02:40But really, with that very simple alignment aid,
02:44that super soft feel, it's just burned the lip there.
02:47That's a really, really nice feeling putter.
02:51It's giving me vibes of Faldo 96 already.
02:53I'm really enjoying this one already.
02:56Little bit off the toe, still maintaining its speed
02:59and just lipped out on the left edge.
03:01So that's a really interesting one.
03:03Let's grab those balls back
03:04and we'll hit a couple of putts with the A01
03:06and get some first impressions of that as well.
03:08Okay, so the first thing I noticed about the A01
03:10when I put it in behind the ball
03:13is it's a little bit deeper,
03:14so there's more depth to this head.
03:16It's a bit rounder and it's a little bit larger,
03:18which is likely to give us a little bit more MOI
03:20and a little bit more forgiveness.
03:22The alignment aid is still very, very clear,
03:24although they've gone away
03:26from the wider corresponding lines on the top edge
03:30to be able to match to the back edge.
03:31So they've lost that kind of, as I said,
03:34accidental training aid, if you like,
03:36although it is still really, really clear to line up.
03:40Secondly, I would say it's definitely
03:42a much more premium-looking head.
03:43The dark navy finish is really, really smart.
03:47And the white alignment aids really contrast nicely
03:50against that sort of dark navy finish.
03:53We've got the very, very popular white hot insert,
03:56which is essentially made from the same material
03:58as a golf ball, so matching those feels
04:00has always been a real winner.
04:02And we've got more features everywhere.
04:03We've got a weight plate on the bottom,
04:04we've got interchangeable weights in the heel and toe
04:06to spread that weight,
04:07and we've got that A01 face behind the ball,
04:09which we know gives us some assistance on miss hits.
04:12Not only that, we've got more tech in the shaft.
04:14We've got the Stroke Lab technology in the shaft.
04:16So in theory, this putt is packed
04:18with an awful lot more features.
04:20So it'll be really interesting to see how it performs.
04:23I'd say, as with the other Rossi, really easy to line up.
04:28I would argue that's slightly firmer to the feel.
04:30It's done a great job.
04:31It's rolled straight in for me.
04:33I would argue that's slightly firmer in the feel.
04:39Coming off really, really nicely.
04:40That probably would have gone in
04:42had it not glanced that ball as well.
04:47Yeah, rolling really nicely off that face.
04:49Arguably, that was probably three out of three
04:51from this 20, 22 foot range for the newer technology there.
04:55So it's going to be really, really interesting to see
04:58how it gets on when we start putting it
04:59on some more official tests.
05:01Okay, if you're enjoying what you're seeing,
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05:06Also, let us know in the comments
05:08what you'd like me to take a look at
05:09in my next retro review.
05:11Okay, so I'm down here at Frilford Heath Golf Club,
05:13which is beautiful.
05:14So I'm down here at Frilford Heath Golf Club,
05:16which is beautiful, by the way.
05:17And I've set up a 70 foot putt on this par three.
05:21So lag putting is crucial to your score.
05:23Not only to your score, but also to your short putting.
05:25Because obviously the closer you can lay these,
05:27the more chance you've got holding the next putt.
05:29So it's really, really important.
05:31In theory, the tech behind the new modern putter,
05:34the AI1 face, the StrokeLab shaft,
05:37everything that goes into this
05:38should make it a little bit more forgiving
05:40on these longer putts.
05:41And this is where people generally
05:42miss the center of the face,
05:44and they're putting more swing and more oomph into the putt.
05:47So in theory, this is where it should come into its own.
05:49So what I'm going to do is I'm going to hit
05:50six putts with each.
05:52I've got my handy tape measure with me here.
05:56And I'm going to measure each single putt.
05:57I'm going to add them up,
05:59so I'm going to hit six with each, add them up.
06:01The cumulative total, in theory,
06:03obviously the one that's got less distance
06:05will be the winner in this test.
06:06So let's go.
06:07I'm going to start with the AI1 putter.
06:10And as I said, in theory,
06:12this should be significantly more advanced
06:17in this test with its technology.
06:19I'll block that one a little bit to start with.
06:22Just a little bit shyer pace.
06:24Actually, I did better than I thought,
06:25and that's an interesting one.
06:26That was quite low on the face,
06:27so I'm wondering whether a bit of AI1 technology
06:30helped me there.
06:31Let's see if we can get a little bit closer this time.
06:36Really good for pace.
06:37Two pretty good there, one a bit iffy.
06:39I'll go and measure them, then we'll go again.
06:54Right, so I'm not too displeased with those.
06:56One particularly poor strike to start with,
06:58but I think I was flattered a bit by the AI1 there.
07:00I had 5.92 meters in total for those six putts.
07:05So let's see if the old one's still got the magic.
07:09It's a very different look to look down on.
07:10We've got slightly different alignment aids,
07:14but it is comfy.
07:17It's like a familiar feeling.
07:18I gained this putter.
07:20That was a nicely struck putt, really good for weight.
07:23That's a great start, little kick in there.
07:31Okay, great, another one's stone dead.
07:32I'll go and measure those, and I'll get back to you.
07:38Okay, there you go, so the old Rossi came in at 5.3 meters
07:53versus 5.92 from the AI1, so really interesting there.
07:57In this test at least, a small victory for the old Rossi 2.
08:01Best putt of 30 years old Rossi 2 there.
08:04Now, it's not necessarily a hugely fair test,
08:06because when I went first with the AI1,
08:08obviously I'm getting a feel for the pace
08:11and a feel for the line.
08:12So if I wanted to be 100% scientifically accurate,
08:15I'd probably do it a few more times
08:18and vary the sort of, the order that I go in
08:21to make that fair, but for the purposes of this test,
08:24we're calling it a victory for the old Rossi.
08:27So that's a long range test, but we all know,
08:30and you've probably seen from some
08:31of my long range putts there,
08:32occasionally I leave myself a little more than a tap in.
08:35So I need to know these putters can do their business
08:38from short range, and this is a really crucial point.
08:41This is eight foot, which for those of you who don't know,
08:43is the 50-50 point for the PJ Tour averages.
08:47May seem strange, you might think
08:48they hold everything from here,
08:49but on the PJ Tour, 50% of these putts go in and 50% miss.
08:53So this will be a really good barometer
08:55for how these putters are performing.
08:57So I'm going to go with the AI1 first this time
08:59to give it a slightly better chance.
09:01I'm going to hit 10 putts with each of these,
09:04and I want to see how they perform under pressure,
09:06out of 10, how they do.
09:08So I'm going to go straight away with the AI1
09:10and get into it.
09:12So this putt's a little bit off the right,
09:14so it's probably right edge,
09:16and that's a really nice, solid start.
09:19I remember watching Mark Brooks,
09:20the American Mark Brooks, win the US PGA
09:23with the old Odyssey Rossi,
09:24so this is giving me good feelings.
09:25He held out really well that time.
09:27Slight pull there.
09:29Okay, that's two out of three.
09:30I'm going to speed it up now,
09:31take you through the 10, and see how we get on.
09:34Okay, so that's six out of 10 there.
09:39So that's above PGA Tour average,
09:40so I'm going to go with that.
09:41I'm going to go straight away with the AI1,
09:43and I'm going to hit 10 putts with each of these.
09:45So this is giving me good feelings.
09:47I remember watching Mark Brooks,
09:48the American Mark Brooks, win the US PGA
09:50with the old Odyssey Rossi,
09:52so this is giving me good feelings.
09:53I'm going to go straight away with the AI1,
09:55and I'm going to hit 10 putts with each of these.
09:57So that's above PGA Tour average.
09:58I'm not displeased with that at all,
10:00so that's a reasonable start from the AI1.
10:02Let's have a go with the Rossi 2.
10:04So I mentioned Mark Brooks there.
10:05He was another US PGA Tour player
10:07who had this original dual force Rossi 2 in.
10:10Another one of my favorite players of all time,
10:12Annika Sorenstam, she used this putter a lot,
10:14and she was one of the best holder outers I've ever seen,
10:16so I'm going to try and channel my inner Annika here,
10:19and see if I can beat six out of 10.
10:22♪♪♪
10:40That's it.
10:41So a tougher start there for the original Rossi 2,
10:44but when it needed to, like in 1996
10:46when it battled out the Masters,
10:48it came up clutch under pressure.
10:50Delivered me a really good finish there,
10:52and it tied the AI1 at six out of 10.
10:54Both just above PGA Tour average,
10:56which I'm quite pleased with.
10:58And for a putter that's cost me less than 50 pounds,
11:00when you couple that with the long range test
11:02we've just done, that really is quite interesting.
11:05So that was a lot of fun.
11:06It's always nice to pick up clubs that I've used before,
11:09and see how they stack up against modern day competition.
11:12And I think you'll see from the tests we did there,
11:14this can still very much cut the mustard.
11:16For 48.99 versus a putter that's costing 289.99,
11:22in those tests at least, it did a really, really good job.
11:24Now I can hear you in the comments below,
11:26already saying, well maybe those aren't fair tests,
11:29you need to do more, there needs to be a longer test period
11:31to get a fair reflection.
11:32And I think you're probably right.
11:35From the technology behind this,
11:36and I've used this putter as well quite a lot,
11:38I think over the course of time,
11:40the extra forgiveness, the extra MOI,
11:42would probably come through,
11:44and start to show itself over some longer periods of time.
11:47And undoubtedly, from an aesthetics point of view,
11:50and a premium feel point of view,
11:53the IR-1 is still very much probably the superior putter.
11:57But you should never count out the underdog,
11:59the Odyssey Dual Force Rossi II, it's won majors,
12:02it started off a whole era of putting for Odyssey,
12:05and like I said, for under 50 pounds,
12:07I think that's exceptional value.