Updated April 23, 2025. This article was thoroughly audited by multiple golf experts and coaches for its accuracy. You can read more about our rigorous testing protocol here.
One of the most neglected areas of the golf game by beginners is the putting green.
By using a poorly made putter, beginners can sabotage their short game, causing them to post higher scores and hindering their potential growth.
Our list of the best putters for beginners provides players early in their careers the opportunity to play with a putter that will help their game rather than hinder it.
These high forgiveness putters offer clear alignment aids along the top to help you center the golf ball on the face, plus provide an impressive feel to help you gain confidence on the green.
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Last updated on 2025-05-08. The links are affiliate links. Product images are served from Amazon Product Advertising API.
Table of Contents
Best Putter for Beginners 2025
Odyssey White Hot OG Rossie S Putter
Best Mallet Putter for Forgiveness
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Specifications
- Head: Half-Mallet
- Loft: 3 degrees
- Length: 33-35 inches
- Head Weight: 355 grams
Pros
- Soft White Hot insert provides deft touch from anywhere on the green
- Milled surface finish offers a tour-level appearance
- Large club head provides maximum forgiveness
Cons
- Only provides a straight-back stroke option
For a beginner golfer, the best mallet-style putter that offers premium forgiveness is the Odyssey White Hot OG Rossie S.
This face-balanced putter comes equipped with the company’s popular White Hot insert, delivering softness and distance control from anywhere on the green.
It features a milled finish along the perimeter of the face, helping the golf club grip the ball’s outer layer to minimize bouncing after impact and create that gentle forward roll that helps from mid-range distances.
When it comes to beginner putters, we like for the putter to produce a smooth, effortless stroke that provides a reliable roll with golf balls. The Rossie S ranks among the best half mallet putters we’ve ever played according to that criteria.
It features a clear alignment guide that keeps the golf ball centered on the club face, and we found it plays exceptionally well from 10 to 20 feet.
We find that beginners do better on the putting surface with a straight-back stroke, a feature the Rossie S utilizes extremely well with golfers.
During our time with the Rossie S, we found it delivered impressive accuracy and speed control, along with being a very forgiving putter.
Ping Anser Putter
Best Blade Putter for Forgiveness
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Specifications
- Head: Blade
- Loft: 3 degrees
- Length: 33-36 inches
- Head Weight: 345 grams
Pros
- Milled face offers the softness and gentle roll
- High contrast alignment guide helps center the putt
- Lightweight graphite shaft offers exceptional feel
Cons
- Does not come with a steel shaft option
Ping’s most popular putter, the Anser, gets an update with a milled face, lightweight graphite shaft, and high-contrast alignment guide.
This high MOI putter offers a firmer feel than comparable blade-style options but delivers the touch you need from anywhere on the putting surface.
It provides exceptional balance with heel and toe weights that give room for an arcing stroke yet can return the face to square at impact with regularity.
The slight difference between the milled face and shaft makes the Anser an outstanding offset putter for beginners looking for a blade-style putting solution.
While we wish this golf club had a stainless steel shaft option, it’s hard to argue that the Anser doesn’t deliver the lightweight feel that helps with long-range putting, a significant problem for most beginners.
Although it’s a classic, the latest version of the Ping Anser delivers modern technology to the beginning golfer, making it an easy choice as one of the best putters for beginners looking to play a blade-style putter.
Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5 Putter
Best Luxury Putter
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Specifications
- Head: Forked Mallet
- Loft: 3.5 degrees
- Length: 33-35 inches
- Head Weight: 340-370 grams
Pros
- Updated Pistolero putter grip
- Stationary sole weights offer customization and balance
- Milled face delivers softness and improved feel
Cons
- Expensive putter might be too much for beginners
From Scotty Cameron comes the Phantom X 5.5, our choice for the best putters for beginners when it comes to playing with tour-level equipment.
At address, it features a forked mallet appearance with a broad alignment guide, making it a dependable putter for helping beginner golfers improve their accuracy.
Additionally, the milled face provides a soft feel, helping you sink more putts from 10 to 25 feet. The milling creates more friction on the ball, creating an immediate forward roll that stays along the target line.
After using the Phantom X 5.5 on the greens, we can firmly attest that this mallet ranks among the best putters on the market for producing dependable roll with controllable distance.
When assembling a set of golf clubs, some amateurs overlook how high-quality equipment can shorten the learning curve.
While a putter like the Phantom X 5.5 comes with a high cost, the improvement you can make on the greens with this superb putter is worth your consideration.
Cleveland Huntington Beach Soft 4 Putter
Best Value Blade Putter
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Specifications
- Head: Blade
- Loft: 3 degrees
- Length: 33-35 inches
- Head Weight: 345 grams
Pros
- Precision milled face offers pure roll with a soft feel
- Exceptional feedback with outstanding responsiveness
- Dynamic mid-to-long range control
Cons
- Smaller blade requires timing for clean contact
Cleveland’s Huntington Beach Soft 4 features outstanding craftsmanship and a host of solid benefits for amateurs.
Features include a precision-milled face that delivers immediate feedback, a high-contrast alignment line that keeps your putts accurate, and a slight offset that helps you get over the golf ball at address.
Putters like this are rarely forgiving, but the good folks at Cleveland have crafted this putter to maintain speed along the target line.
The Cleveland model works exceptionally well with soft-blade putters, providing first-rate feedback at impact. It is also one of the most forgiving putters we’ve ever tested for a lightweight blade-style putter.
If you are interested in blade putters but want the best golf putter in terms of feel and responsiveness, our choice is the Huntington Beach Soft 4, an impressively dynamic flatstick well worth your time.
Odyssey 2-Ball Ten Putter
Most Accurate Mallet Putter for Beginners
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Specifications
- Loft: 3°
- Lie: 70°
- Shaft Length: 34”-35”
- Head Weight: 365 grams
Pros
- Popular 2-ball club head offers high MOI
- Outstanding accuracy on mid-range putts
- White Hot insert provides softness
Cons
- Heavier build can cause accuracy issues on long-distance putts
Odyssey’s 2-Ball putter, a classic treasured by beginning golfers for many years, offers precise putting from mid-range distances with exceptional distance control.
The high-MOI putter delivers premium softness behind the White Hot insert along the face.
If you are looking for accuracy, we can’t recommend the Odyssey 2-Ball enough. The insert provides a softness at impact, generating a clean forward roll that stays along the target line.
Odyssey features a Red Stroke Lab shaft that reduces weight, making the putter stiffer and more stable throughout the stroke.
If you’re looking for mallet putters that offer both power and control, the Odyssey 2-Ball provides both in a sleek package.
TaylorMade Spider SR Putter
Best Distance Control Mallet for Beginners
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Specifications
- Head: Forked Mallet
- Loft: 3 degrees
- Length: 33-35 inches
- Head Weight: 355 grams
Pros
- TPU insert produces optimal forward roll
- Two 50-gram weights provide balance and feel
- Unique alignment guide offers a ball-width path
Cons
- Smaller insert on the face demands an accurate impact
One of the best putters in terms of alignment, the TaylorMade Spider SR offers an exciting blend of feel, responsiveness, and control.
Featuring a soft TPU insert to enhance feel, the putter utilizes 58-gram weights along the heel and toe to increase MOI and maintain stability through the impact zone.
What we adored about this mallet comes from the craftsmanship. Although it may seem like a simple putter at first glance, TaylorMade has crafted a clever combination of features to enhance accuracy and roll.
When it comes to the best putters for beginners we’ve tested from long-range distances, the Spider SR proudly stands alongside them.
It offers impressive control on lag putts from over 30 feet, making it easily one of the best putters to save strokes.
One of the best features of this putter comes from the company’s patented white True Path arrow.
By placing a white arrow at the heart of the alignment guide, golfers can naturally envision the path of the putt, creating a more accurate roll on putts with slope.
Regarding beginner putters, the Spider SR’s ability to create better roll with more accuracy makes it a top option for amateurs.
Wilson Staff Infinite Buckingham Putter
Best Feel Mallet for Beginners
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Specifications
- Head: Mallet
- Loft: 3 degrees
- Length: 33-35 inches
- Head Weight: 365 grams
Pros
- Dark matte finish contrasts nicely with the ball
- Double milled face produces forgiveness
- Simplified alignment guide delivers accurate rotation after impact
Cons
- Design lacks an impressive modern appearance
From the Wilson Staff collection comes the Infinite Buckingham putter, a mallet that offers sophisticated loft technology to help control the putt’s length and produce better accuracy from short and long-range distances.
What we liked about the Buckingham is that the company moved the balance point closer to the hands.
This feature provides a better, more controllable stroke, especially when putting off the green.
We also believe Buckingham’s milled face helps this offset putter produce a better feel and more responsiveness, which helps beginners learn how to control their putting.
But even though this putter comes from the Wilson Staff collection, the criss-cross alignment design doesn’t offer the “wow” factor most golfers want in a putter.
TaylorMade Spider GT Max Putter
Best Luxury Mallet Putter for Beginners
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Specifications
- Loft: 2.5°
- Lie: 70°
- Shaft Length: 34”-35”
- Head Weight: 365 grams
Pros
- Adjustable sliding weights offer total customization
- Extremely versatile with outstanding performance
- Precise weighting with stable, high MOI
Cons
- Strange head shape can be distracting for beginners
TaylorMade’s Spider GT Max offers a forked mallet that provides high MOI with unmatched stability. With a wide alignment guide along the top of the head, golfers can visualize the putt before they bring the putter back.
The sliding weight along the bottom of the putter remains the best feature of the putter. With two 40-gram weights along the forks, players can customize the head to produce more consistent putts that find the cup.
Great for beginners who want a heavier mallet, the Spider GT Max offers smooth, consistent roll behind a black TPU insert that generates quick forward roll.
Cleveland Frontline Elite RHO Putter
Best Mallet Putter for Distance Control
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Specifications
- Loft: 3°
- Lie: 70°
- Shaft Length: 34”-35”
- Head Weight: 350 grams
Pros
- Best for slight-arc stroke
- High contrast alignment guide
- Moderate toe hang with slant neck hosel
Cons
- Not ideal for straight stroke, can leave face open
Cleveland’s Frontline Elite RHO putter offers outstanding distance control with high-grade softness.
The face features a tungsten insert that balances contact across the face, while adding a nice slice of forgiveness for the beginning golfer.
The best feature on the Elite RHO putter is the wide alignment guide.
Along the top of the head, Cleveland placed a stripe, slightly smaller than the ball’s width, that helps with visualization. The putter also provides a consistent feel with a smooth release.
The mallet-style head shape also provides a nice weight for beginning golfers who need stability for their stroke.
A well-rounded putter, the Elite RHO won’t disappoint if you are looking for a top-tier flatstick that improves accuracy.
How to Choose the Best Beginner Putter
Looks
The way a putter sits behind the golf ball and sets up to the target line is of paramount importance when judging the effectiveness of a putter.
There are numerous different alignment lines/dots/aids designed with one thing in mind: hit the golf ball in the right direction.
Some golfers want minimal alignment aids, whereas others need big, long lines or prefer a unique system like a 2-ball putter or a SeeMore offer.
My judgment on looks is based on first impressions: how it looks when you pick it up, how it looks when you set it down behind the ball, how well it helps you focus on the target line, and the craftsmanship involved in making the putter.
Feel
Feel might be the hardest element of putting to define. There are numerous inserts and metals used in putters to offer golfers a wide array of feels at impact.
And on top of that, the type of golf ball you choose to use can affect feel as well!
For example, a rock hard distance ball like a Top Flite will feel quite different from a soft, high-compression ball like a Wilson Staff Duo.
For these tests, we used the most popular ball on the PGA Tour, a ball that suits a wide cross-section of players: the Titleist ProV1x.
The combination of distance, feel, and spin offered by the ProV1x is the reason why it revolutionized the golf world upon its introduction and made it a great ball to test putters with.
An often-overlooked element of feel is sound, so we’ve incorporated sound into this feel rating.
For example, we’ve used putters that made a lot of putts but had such an off-putting sound that we had to take them out of play.
Roll Quality
One of the most essential features of a putter is its ability to get the ball rolling quickly.
This may seem like an obvious statement, but you’d be surprised at how many putters cause the ball to skid or hop before it finally starts rolling properly.
These initial skids and hops can wreak havoc on both the accuracy and speed of the putt.
The goal is to get the ball rolling smoothly as soon as possible because a rolling ball carries a good amount of inertia and is less likely to be affected by the grain and impurities of the green.
If the ball is skidding, bouncing, or just not rolling smoothly, it’s more likely to be knocked off line or come up short of the hole.
Forgiveness
You’d think that a putting stroke should be an easy, short, repeatable motion that results in sweet spot contact every time.
The putter only moves a few inches back and through, right?
Well, it’s a whole lot more complicated than that. Even the best, smoothest putting strokes in the world produce mis-hits.
And in a game where the target is a mere 4.25” in diameter, precision is the name of the game.
So we’re looking for putters that will produce good results no matter where the putt is struck on the face.
If you hit a sweet spot with one stroke and then miss it with the next, ideally, you’d still like both putts to roll the same distance and along the same line.
A putter with poor forgiveness will leave mis-hits woefully short or bending offline.
A higher level of forgiveness equals more putts made, especially in high-pressure situations when your stroke might get a little wobbly or tentative.
Value
The last criterion here is value. Many beginner and intermediate golfers are just getting into the game and need to upgrade their whole bag.
While it’s tempting to spend $600 on a driver and $400 on a putter, is it really worth it?
The best Scotty Cameron putters may be ubiquitous on tour, but can a $100 putter get the job done and still leave you with enough left over for a lesson or two?
With green fees increasing every year, spending your dollars wisely is important.
If you’re playing for big money, maybe it’s worth it to splurge on a putter. But what if there’s a putter out there that fits your needs for a much lower price?
Or you may be the type of player who constantly changes putters. You’ve got one in your bag and ten in your garage.
The putter that couldn’t miss yesterday suddenly stops working, so you hop online and buy yourself a new weapon for the greens.
Either way, you’re looking for a great bang for your buck! We’ve put in the time to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth with these best budget putters.
Check our detailed guide: How to Choose a Putter
Expert Advice
Many first-time golfers don’t realize how vital the putter is for their game. A golfer can expect to take anywhere from 30 to 40 putts per round, making the putter the most used club in their bag.
The putter offers terrific value for the cost, considering how often it is used during an 18-hole round.
While all golfers should stay within their budget, allocating more money for a higher-end putter does pay off in the long run due to its frequent usage and the importance of putting in lowering scores.
If you’ve heard the adage, “you get what you pay for,” in the case of the putter for new golfers, it is actually true.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What type of putter should a beginner use?
Mallet putters tend to have better accuracy for inexperienced golfers, making them the best style for beginners.
Mallet putters offer a heavier weight, better distance control, and the ability to move the head on a straight-back, straight-through putting stroke that helps eliminate errors and mis-hits.
Mallet putters also feature large alignment lines to help beginner golfers find the center of the putter face, creating a pure roll and increasing the likelihood of made putts from shorter distances, ultimately saving strokes.
Should a beginner use a blade or mallet putter?
We believe a mallet-style putter offers a better chance for beginning golfers to make more putts from short and mid-range distances, where many strokes pile up per round.
While most golfers may think that strokes are lost on the tee box and from the fairway, the truth is that missing short, makeable putts causes high scores to inflate.
Blade putters, although lighter, require more consistency and experience because these putters demand an arc stroke where the putter face comes to the inside before returning to square at impact. This stroke causes more off-center strikes for beginner golfers.
What is the most forgiving putter type?
For high handicappers and beginners, mallet putters offer the most forgiveness. A mallet is a high MOI putter, helping new golfers keep the face square throughout the putting stroke.
Due to its size, shape, and weight, the mallet is an ideal putter for beginners, helping them achieve better consistency, prevent bouncing and skipping after impact, and allow for contact from the sweet spot for a more consistent roll.
The best putters for beginners provide exceptional feel, dependable ball speed, and the correct loft technology to help produce better forgiveness.
How do I know if I need a mallet or blade putter?
To determine if you need a mallet or blade putter, consider your putting stroke. Blade putters are often preferred by golfers with an arc in their stroke, while mallet putters are generally recommended for those with a straighter back-and-through motion.
Ultimately, the best choice depends on what feels most comfortable and helps you consistently align and control your putts.
What is the most forgiving putter in golf?
The Odyssey White Hot OG Rossie wins our award as the top putter for providing the most forgiveness. Featuring their patented White Hot Insert, the OG Rossie delivers a soft feel, a smooth, consistent stroke with top-tier forgiveness, and pure roll.
The White Hot OG Rossie also features a wide alignment guide that perfectly aligns with the outer edges of the golf ball, helping beginning golfers find the sweet spot with consistency.
But if the ball strikes off-center, the putter’s stability and high MOI work hard to maintain ball speed and keep the putt along the target line.
The putter also features perimeter milling, which creates friction with the ball’s outer layer to produce an immediate forward roll without hopping, allowing golfers to control the ball more easily.
Conclusion
For beginners and high handicappers, our top putter for forgiveness is the Odyssey White Hot OG Rossie S putter.
For fans of the straight-back stroke, the OG Rossie S golf putter provides a soft insert that cushions the golf ball at impact, helping your putt find the target line without popping or skidding.
It also provides affordability with its high-grade performance, helping beginning golfers save money for other vital areas, such as their woods and irons.
Easily one of the most forgiving and best putter for beginner golfers we’ve ever tested, the White Hot OG Rossie S offers a classic half-mallet with outstanding features that will help you save strokes around the cup.
You might be interested in our step by step guide: How to Build a Putting Green at Home