MacGregor V-FOIL GT by Bobby Grace Putter Review

The runaway success on tour and at retail by Odyssey’s 2-Ball Putters has spawned a wide range of putters that feature bold alignment marks and weight moved far away from the face of the putter. I recently had the chance to test the new MacGregor V-FOIL GT Putter, a Bobby Grace design. Here’s what I thought.

Unlike some people (named Erik), I’m not generally a fan of mallet putters. For years I played only blade putters, mainly my beloved Ping Scottsdale Anser. But I couldn’t resist the siren call of the Odyssey 2-Ball Putter three seasons ago, and I noticed the difference on the scorecard and standing over 5-footers.

So now I’m getting around to trying a few of the newer 2-Ball-inspired putters that expand upon the enhanced alignment system and deep weighting that make the 2-Ball such a great weapon. I was very eager to roll a few rocks with the new MacGregor V-FOIL GT by Bobby Grace putter. If you aren’t familiar with his work, Grace has been a high-profile putter designer since the mid-90s, when his milled aluminum mallet putters were used by Nick Price and Annika Sorenstam to win major championships. They had great names, like “The Fat Lady Swings.” Grace’s putter company was bought by Cobra, then he went solo again before joining forces with MacGregor two years ago.

Design
The V-FOIL GT is available in three sizes, all of which share a similar triangle-shaped head. I tried the V5K, the smallest of the models. The M5K and its larger brother, the M6.4K, are both available either heel-shafted or with a “tour-center” set up, in which the shaft enters the clubhead just inside of the center of the head. The largest of the three putters is the V7.5K, which is available as a long putter.

Like the 2-Ball, the Titleist Futura, the Ben Hogan Baby Ben and Big Ben, et al, the V-FOIL GT has a large mallet head with a prominent alignment aid built in. The V-FOIL has a simple, elegant alignment system consisting of a thin red line extending from the center of the face all the way to the back of the club, framed by brushed aluminum. The edges of the top of the putter have a darker finish, which focuses your attention on the lighter metal and the red line.

I know some people don’t like the round alignment aids atop the 2-Ball putter. I didn’t mind them, but if you prefer something more square, the V-FOIL is for you. The red line makes it very easy to aim the putter, which can only help your confidence.

Removable Weights
The V-FOIL GT also has three heavy weights distributed around its large aluminum head. MacGregor refers to this as the V-FOIL weighting system, meant to shift weight toward the edges of the putter in a V-shape. The two ends of the V – two removable copper screws – are on the bottom of the putter just back of the face. The bottom of the V is a large, fixed copper weight at the very back of the putter head. This weight distribution creates a high Moment of Intertia (MOI), which is a measure of how well the putter resists twisting on off-center hits.

I noticed that I lost very little in terms of distance or accuracy on putts hit off-center with the V-FOIL GT putter, which was especially helpful on longer putts. MacGregor sells a kit that contains three extra sets of screws of varying weights and a special wrench for changing out the screws for $49. The weights allow you to change the swingweight as much as 10 points. I didn’t get to test these extra weights, but they could be useful if you find yourself playing on a variety of courses that have greens of vastly different speeds. Or, you could just follow Harvey Penick’s wonderful advice for putting on very fast greens: “Don’t hit the ball as hard.”

Looks and Setup
If you don’t like big mallets, you can stop reading. You’re not going to see Ben Crenshaw busting one of these babies out anytime soon. But you will see a lot of MacGregor’s Bobby Grace putters on tour. Vijay Singh used one for several of his victories in 2004 (when it was still a prototype), and Fred Funk used one to win The Players Championship a few weeks back.

I thought the V-FOIL GT was a bit like a well-designed SUV: brawny and sleek at the same time. The triangle-shaped head was easy to square up to the ball. Bobby Grace’s putters have always had a “tri-plane” sole design that makes them easily accommodate different hand positions and stances.

The face of the putter looks especially cool. A forged copper insert shines in the center of the face, which has precise, circular milling marks. The entire head is milled, which is obvious from all the sharp angles and lines. A bit of extra personality is added by the several holes milled into the frame of the putter, which frees up even more weight to be shifted to the back of the putter.

As long as we’re talking about looks, I also liked the headcover that comes with the putter. It is just a notch below the Scotty Cameron by Titleist putters, and much richer looking than most everything else out there. The cover picks up the deep gray color of the putter, with the silver and red lines from the top of the putter running across the large, nearly oven mitt-size plush cover. It doesn’t change the performance of the putter, but it does convey a premium feel.

Feel and Sound
Golf balls keep getting harder and harder. Even premium tour balls like the Pro V1 have much firmer covers than the balata balls of 10 years ago. That’s great off the driver, but can lead to harsh feel with putters. The MacGregor V-FOIL GT putters solve this problem by using a soft beryllium copper insert. I found this to be the best of both worlds: a softer feel than a steel non-insert putter, but more of a “click” at impact than with plastic or urethane inserts. The sound produced with the two balls I used during my testing (HX Tour and HX Hot) was solid, not a “tink” or “ping.”

The grip is a Winn V17 – a soft, pistol-style model that carries over the red-stripe motif from the headcover. The predominant color is deep gray, so it isn’t the flashiest grip in the putter corral these days. It isn’t blue (Ping G2), lime green (Bettinardi by Ben Hogan) or red (Titleist and Odyssey). I’ll let you decide if a muted color is a feature or a drawback. I prefer the former.

Extras
As I noted before, the headcover is very cool. It does have two Velcro attachments, which I suppose have a finite life span. I suggest using the headcover, as aluminum is soft and dings pretty easily.

Specs
The MacGregor V-FOIL GT M5K Putter is available in lengths from 33 to 36 inches with 4 degrees of loft and a 71-degree lie angle, weighing 350 grams. The M6.4K has the same specs, and the M7.5K is available in 42 to 46 inches at a weight of 405 grams. Righties have their choice of heel-shafted or tour center configurations in the M5K and M6.4K, while lefties only get the tour center option. The M7.5K belly putter is only available in the tour center version for both righties and lefties. Street price is $230 at the golf retailer of your choice.

Conclusion
I was very impressed with the MacGregor V-FOIL GT M5K Putter. As with most alignment-style putters, it made most 5-footers feel like kick-ins. But the biggest bonus of my experience with the putter was how well it worked on longer putts and on putts with a lot of break. The distance control was easy to dial in after just a few putts on the practice green, and there were no surprises as there sometimes are with urethane-insert putters. And the triangular design made it easier to play the break on nearly any putt. With other alignment-style putters, I have a tendency to putt through the break. The MacGregor V-FOIL GT M5K simply had a lot more touch. it may look like a branding iron, but it has the finesse of a scalpel. I’d say this putter stands up to anything on the market, and is every bit as good as the Camerons, Pings and Odysseys of the world.