TaylorMade Rossa AGSI Putters Review

I’ll make you a bet. I’ll name an equipment category and you name the top three brands on tour. If you lose, you have to read this whole review. Ready?

Putters.

If you didn’t name TaylorMade, well, consider yourself average… and wrong.

TaylorMade has made serious inroads on the PGA Tour in a variety of categories in the past few years, including putters, where they’ve surpassed Ping and are slowly gaining ground on stalwarts Scotty Cameron (Titleist) and Odyssey (Callaway). The success of their drivers and now their irons and wedges has allowed TaylorMade to get their putters in the hands of some good golfers. For example, both Sergio Garcia (Booz Allen Classic) and Sean O’Hair (John Deere Classic) have won this year with a TaylorMade putter.

The new innovation? TaylorMade’s “Anti-skid Groove System Insert” (AGSI). TaylorMade may not be the first putter maker in the world to think of putting grooves on a putter (see our reviews of Yes! Golf’s Sophia and Olivia), but their early success on the world’s grandest stage makes them the clear front-runner.

We’ve had our grubby little hands on the Monza Corza and the Suzuka CGB putters with AGSI, part of TaylorMade’s 2006 (yes, 2006) putter line, for the past few months. Here is what we’ve found…

Design and Technology
The 2005 lineup (for those who didn’t catch the drift two sentenced earlier, that’s “last year” for TaylorMade) featured TaylorMade’s CGB technology – the moving of weight low and to the rear of the putter (sound familiar?) to maximize clubhead stability and thus distance and direction on off-center hits. The movement of a putter’s weight low and back also helps the ball to roll more smoothly, rather than skidding and hopping, off the putter face.

The AGSI (“Anti-skid Groove System Insert”) features 12 CNC milled grooves that “grab” the ball and impart topspin for a truer roll. Each groove is filled with a soft polymer for better feel and vibration absorption.

That trend continues in 2006, but TaylorMade has also added the fire-red AGSI inserts. The inserts are made of a metal TaylorMade calls “Titallium” (because it sounds cool), which is a seven-metal alloy that’s 65% lighter than steel. The 12 closely-spaced grooves are CNC milled. The purpose of all this? Two to five grooves “grab” the ball, depending on the force of the stroke, and launch the ball down the target line with more forward roll and less backspin than conventional, non-grooved putters. The result: less skid, less bounce, and a truer roll. Supposedly…

Looks and Setup
I prefer a mallet-shaped putter, so the Suzuka and the Monza Corza were ideal for my tests. The Suzuka features a relatively simple design that is similar to my beloved Scotty Cameron Red X (and the Ray Cook M1-X before it): a face with a semi-circular flange behind it. The single sight line leaves the putter with an uncomplicated, austere appearance. The Monza Corza, on the other hand, is anything but simple. With two swingback rails, a thin sight line, and two holes through which you can see the grass, this putter is a lot more ostentatious than austere.

Putting is about confidence, and as such, the Suzuka quickly found its way out of my bag and into a corner of the garage. If you look at the picture below, you may see why: the darn thing looks to be about two degrees closed at address. I measured – the sight line indeed square to the face – but it doesn’t look that way at address. I gave the putter to five or six accomplished players (solid putters each of them), and without prompting, they all said the same thing: the face appears closed relative to the sight line. Appearances can be deceiving – I realize this – but I’d rather not be deceived by a putter. Perhaps the addition of two more sight lines (like the Red X) would help to eliminate the appearance of a closed face on the Suzuka.

The Suzuka now belongs to someone who’s yet to notice the closed face… or to someone who sees the putter square as it was measured. Take your pick. <grin>

While the Suzuka (left) appears slightly closed at address, the Monza Corza just appears funky.

The Monza Corza, on the other hand, sets up perfectly. Its sole rests solidly on the ground and alignment is a breeze. Though the black sightline is sometimes lost slightly in the large center flange, the flange itself is about the width of a ball, making it relatively easy to line up in a fashion similar to the Two-Ball and its ilk. Also, as the sight line sits on a raised strip of steel, the sides are hidden when you position your eyes directly over the putter. If you set the putter flat on the ground and get your eyes over the sight line, you can be confident that you’re setting up to the ball the same way each and every time.

I did have one relatively minor issue with the Monza Corza: an occasional bit of glare off the rather smooth finish. You can see some glare in the image above, in fact. Not enough to blind me or prevent me from putting, but enough that I was conscious of the glare instead of getting the ball into the hole.

Feel/Sound and Performance
Anyone who played relatively decent golf ten years ago remembers the sound a balata made off the face of a putter. A soft, gentle “thud” that sent the ball on its way. The various inserts (see: White Hot, etc.) of recent years have attempted to re-create that sound with today’s harder-covered golf balls, and many have come close. Other players have become accustomed to the harder “click” provided by metal putters and their Pro V1x (or, as the case may be, their Rock-Flite).

90% of feel is sound, and the AGSI insert in the 2006 Rossa putters straddles the line between “thud” and “click” quite nicely. The ball feels (i.e. sounds) softer coming off the putter than it does from a steel putter, but not as soft (some would say “mushy”) as it does coming off the face of a White Hot or other polymer-insert butter. Contact feels controlled, powerful, and consistent.

As far as performance, the Monza Corza (again, the Suzuka didn’t get much play) rolls the ball like a champ. I don’t have the high-speed cameras to prove it (though there is a movie floating around that compares the roll off the faces of three different putters), but every putt felt as if the ball hugged the ground, didn’t bounce or skid as much, and started more on line. Distance control with the Monza Corza was exceptional, and no doubt this was a product of superb feel and a consistent, near-instant roll.

I made the mistake of loaning the Monza Corza to a guy at my club one day. Normally a terrible putter, the guy recorded 24 putts and beat me out of ten bucks. Thanks a lot, TaylorMade!

Extras
The weights in the Monza Corza can be exchanged for heavier or lighter cartridges, but I never saw much point in doing that: the club feels perfectly balanced and practically swings itself. Still, the option is there, and if you routinely play courses with varying green speeds, you may want to pick up a few cartridges and vary the weight of your putter head. The Suzuka features built-in weights that cannot be changed.

Both the Monza Corza and the Suzuka come with stylish headcovers. The Suzuka headcover is a thick and sturdy vinyl/leather/sock-like material that slips on like a wood headcover. No velcro, no snaps, no fuss. The Monza Corza headcover is a bit more stylish and slides on easily. The magnetic closure is appealing at first but unclasps itself a bit too easily when you’re yanking irons from your bag or shoving your clubs in the trunk of your car. Velcro may not look quite as suave, but it works a bit better.

The grips are pretty standard fare for putters these days, which is not to say that they’re not exceptional. The top third is red, the bottom two thirds are black, and it rests comfortably in your fingers. It feels a tad thinner than some putter grips I’ve used recently, but only by a small amount. It’s stylish and it’s a putter grip – to each his own.

Specs
The Suzuka CGB is a half-mallet putter with a 335g head and 3.5° loft. It lies 70° upright and comes in 33″, 34″, and 35″ variants. It’s heel-shafted with a double-bend shaft. The finish is Rossa’s standard 2006 Tour Satin finish.

The Monza Corza is available in three variations, all with a headweight of 345g, 2.5° loft, 70° lie, and 33″-35″ in length (32″-37″ can be custom ordered). A center-shafted model, an L-neck model, and a double-bend heel-shafted model are available. All come in the Tour Satin finish.

The 2006 Rossa putters MSRP for $229 but can be found for about $180 in golf stores nationwide.

Conclusion
Though I didn’t care for the Suzuka due to what appeared to be a closed face, the Monza Corza is a putter with which to be reckoned! I’ve never used a putter that so consistently seemed to roll the ball on the target line with consistence pace. The Monza Corza may look a tad funky, but the only funky looks you’ll get after using it are the looks your opponents will give you after you’ve rolled in a 20-footer at the last to beat them out of their hard-earned cash.