It’s not everyday that PGA Tour players call out Internet commenters on their wrong takes. Well, that is until you start speculating about Paul Casey’s putter, I guess.

After GolfWRX photographer Greg Moore posted photos of Paul Casey’s new Scotty Cameron putter, GolfWRX members and Instagram commenters began theorizing about why there was a weight plug in the heel. There seemed to be a general consensus that Casey was trying to remove weight to make the heel section lighter.

Ahead of the 2022 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event, I caught up with Casey to explain exactly what’s going on.

Before we get to his response, first a bit of the backstory.

Before the weight (on the top), and after.

For years, Casey had been using the same Scotty Cameron GSS Proto putter, with a smooth sole. In 2022, however, Casey started using a very similar looking Scotty Cameron GSS Proto putter, except this one had a weight plug added to the heel. This led commenters to speculate on the reason for the added weight plug.

The only problem is, they were wrong.

When I cornered Casey at the WGC Dell-Technologies Match Play to get his take on the matter, he had already seen the posts and he was seemingly just waiting to respond. Here’s what he had to say…

“People have no idea, it’s quite funny. I read a post the other day, some guy claiming he knew what was going on.

There’s a post on there, the guy is like, ‘Oh, he drilled it out and he removed weight from the heel.’ 

First of all, no.

So what you got to remember is – go ask Scotty – every time you see a plug, it’s adding weight, it’s not removing weight. If you remove weight, you just grind it off. You never see it. To remove weight, you just shave the bottom.

So that plug is… he drilled a hole. You lose about 6 grams. That plug is about 12-13 grams. That gives you about a net gain of about 6-7 grams. Adding the weight to the heel is like adding weight to the heel of a driver. It makes the toe lighter, and it makes the toe faster. In other words, it makes the putter rotate more.

My tendency through the years, and why I went cross handed a while ago, is that I tend to – I don’t shut the blade going back, but it’s probably shut to the path. I don’t rotate the putter. I don’t open the putter as much as I’d like to. So that weight in the heel and lightening the toe allows the putter to rotate better… Look, everybody’s an expert, but I know why I did it.”

Additionally, ahead of The 2022 Players Championship, Casey also added a dot to the topline of his putter, whereas his previous putter had a blank topline with no alignment markings.

According to Casey, after he posted an Instagram video of his putting stroke in February, he noticed that he was aligning the golf ball too much on the toe of his putter. After watching the video back, he realized that he needed to add a dot to the top. 

Before the dot (on the left) and after.

“There’s an Instagram post I put out probably the beginning of the year in February or something like that. I was just doing some gate work, and I was filming my putter from behind. I didn’t notice until I actually put the post out that I was setting up with the ball toward the toe, which is a habit of mine that I’ve had for awhile. You can see it’s on the toe.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Paul Casey (@paul_caseygolf)

“I didn’t notice until I put it out there. I said it’s too much towards the toe. So I just went with the dot. I don’t like a line on the putter. The dot is just nice and simple because then it gets the ball in the sweet spot…everything else stayed the same. Same loft, same lie, same grip. Same stampings. The weight appeared at the beginning of the year, and then the dot appeared the week of The Players. I asked for it three or four weeks before, but sometimes it takes time.

My existing putter has a little Sharpie dot on the top and I practice with it (laughs). I just put a black Sharpie dot. It’s in the locker right now with a black Sharpie on top. The one I’m using now has an official dot.

We just put it on there to see what it would look like. You can always get some acetone and wipe it off.”

And there you have it. There’s no better source for why Paul Casey made changes to his putter than Paul Casey himself. It’ll be interesting to see if any commenters dare correct Casey on this one.

It should also be noted that the switch worked, since Casey finished 3rd at The Players (and won $1.38 million).

To join in on the forum thread about Casey’s new Scotty Cameron putter, click here.