Fernando H. Green Blog: First Look: Odyssey Highway 101 Putters

Odyssey's Limited Runs

The Highway 101 putters represent the most recent offering in Odyssey's continuing practice of mixing in some limited offerings with their mass-market releases. Past releases featured unique graphics and unique design elements not found in the other non-limited models.

For example, the limited Lucky 777 release consisted of three Number 7 heads, each with slot machine-like graphics, and unique shaft/neck setups that were nothing like the other Number 7 models.

For your extra dollars, you got some bling and a little something different design-wise. That overall theme continues with the recently announced Odyssey Highway 101 limited edition putter line.

Let's Name it After a Road...

California has long been a hot bed for creativity in design. Down the southern coast is Carlsbad, home of Odyssey Golf and the Mecca for golf club designers. To pay homage to our hometown, we’ve developed a line of putters dedicated to one of the most recognizable landmarks ever in California, U.S. Highway 101.

Seriously, you named the putters after a road? Don't get me wrong, I love the visual theme of the recently unveiled Odyssey Highway 101 putters. The sole engraving actually looks great, and it does an excellent job of capturing Southern California mythology.

On the bottom of the putters there's a surfer, a Torrey Pine tree, and a whole bunch of seagulls, drawn exactly like I used to draw birds when I was a little kid. Connect two curved lines and, voila, you have a sea gull (or a pigeon, or a hawk, or a bat, and so on).

But a road?

Teasing aside, let's talk about Highway 101. There's no arguing that it runs along some of the prettiest areas in California. Top of the state to the bottom, Highway 101 traverses some primo real estate. If you came from out of state and wished to tour California, you could do worse than driving along the 101.

If you live in California though, your take on HWY 101 may be a bit less majestic. The highway's ideal becomes tarnished when you put cars on it. There are lots of cars on 101. Seriously, lots and lots of cars. While the fantasy drive of Highway 101 is motoring along with the top down as the coastal breeze caresses your locks, the reality of that drive is more like inching along, bumper to bumper, with seemingly every other car on the planet, covering five miles in just over two hours.

When I'm getting ready to putt, the last thing I want to think about is driving in LA freeway traffic.

Ignoring my native jadedness, I think that Odyssey actually did a pretty solid job on these visually, especially the Number 7. I'd drive that putter without hesitation.

The Sound Chamber

The aesthetic design is a tribute to the 101, and the technology plays off Odyssey’s heritage of continuous innovation. The key highlight is our latest insert technology that we call the Sound Chamber. Behind the 17-4 stainless steel insert with our patented Metal-X pattern is a uniquely engineered chamber, specifically designed to allow resonation that provides a crisp sound and feel at impact.

Odyssey does typically up the design game with the limited edition putters and there is a new piece of Odyssey tech hiding inside the Highway 101 putters: The Sound Chamber. According to the press release this new feature is designed to create a specific tone at impact, ultimately influencing feel as well as sound.

What does it sound like? Can't tell ya. Hopefully soon I'll have these in hand to give you the full rundown. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this "uniquely engineered chamber" makes them sound different.

My other question is will this Sound Chamber find its way into the non-limited offerings in the future, or if it will only be found in the Highway 101 line? If these are the only ones that will ever have the Sound Chamber, that does boost their uniqueness level, perhaps even unique enough to swallow the $400 price tag.

One other thing tech-wise to note is that both of the mallets feature the slant-joint hosel design like we saw in the Lucky 777. That's one bit of tech that did not as of yet find its way into the general release putter design.

Putter Info and Specs

Limited Release Offering
Pre-Sale on 05/20/16
Available at Retail on 05/27/16
3 Unique Head Options
- #2 – Slightly larger heel-toe blade with crank-neck hosel
- #5 – Half moon mallet with single-bend, slant-joint hosel
- #7 – Progressive mallet with weighted alignment wings and a single-bend, slant-joint hosel
Precision milled 1020 carbon steel body
17-4 stainless steel insert w/ Sound Chamber inside
Satin chrome finish
350g headweight
Loft: 3º
Lie: 70º
Length: 35”
Right-handed only
Genuine Cabretta leather Red Midsize Master Grip w/ Black Baseball Stitch
Stepless steel putter shaft
Highway 101 themed headcover
$399.99

Head out on the Highway

While I may have given Odyssey some grief about naming these after a congested freeway, to be honest, the more I look at these, the more excited I am about them. The thematic graphics are unique and interesting, and that makes a putter fun to bag, but there are also unique design elements in the Highway 101 putters, making them likely very interesting to roll as well.

I want to know how removing the material from the lower rear of the Number 5 affects its play. What about the slant-joint hosel's affect on play? What's the impact of the material loss from Number 7's fangs? What does a Sound Chamber sound like? How comfortable is the leather grip? Can I custom order my Number 7 a half inch short and 2° flat?

As a lover of putters, questions about how a putter plays speak to my level of excitement. At first, I was ready to dismiss these as a cosmetic cash grab, but the longer I looked at them, the more I came to realize that Odyssey's Highway 101 putters are more than just aesthetics.

Take some time and check out the photos below. Really look at the heads and you will see where I'm coming from. If you are a putter freak like me, I bet that you will get a little geeked out about these as well.