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Joe Ferguson from Golf Monthly takes a look at the Odyssey Dual Force Rossie II putter, which Nick Faldo won the Masters with in 1996, and compares it to the modern day equivalent in the Odyssey Ai-One Rossie putter in this series of Retro Review.
Can it still compete with the modern day equivalent?
Filmed at: Frilford Heath golf club.
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Retro review time again and I've got a beauty for you today. Today I'm looking at
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the Odyssey Dual Force Rossi 2 Putter. Now those of you in the know will know this was made famous
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by Nick Faldo at the 1996 Masters and as always on Retro Review we're putting it up against a
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modern day equivalent so I'm looking at the Odyssey Rossi AI1 Double Bend Putter. Now we've
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teamed up with Golf Clubs for Cash, one of the leading retailers of pre-loved equipment. We're
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and see how these stack up against each other. Let's go. So the Rossi II was really the putter
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that paved the way for Odyssey to become what they are today. And paved the way for other models
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like the two ball, like the number seven, the fang that you'll all be familiar
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and loads of familiar Odyssey models. Now, essentially this was a face-balanced putter
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and it came with some really cool alignment aids. So on the top of the flange here, we've got three alignment aids
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that sit on the leading edge and two that sit on the back. So it was really super easy to line up
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And another benefit of that is it kind of helped you with your eye line. I always found if you try and get those two lines
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to match up when you're looking down on them, you could be pretty sure your eyes were in a really nice
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place over the ball. It was one of the first putters ever to use an insert
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which really affected the feel and enhanced that feel. And again, really paved the way for some later technologies
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which you'll see present on this AI-1. So you've got the white hot insert. that's become really, really familiar
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And we've got the AI1 face that sits behind there, which is all designed to increase the MOI
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and increase your performance off your miss hit putts. Loads of other technological advancements here
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We've got interchangeable weights, we've got the Stroke Lab shaft. There's a lot more going on here
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So I think it's time to see whether the technological advancements have made all the difference
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and see if this can still stack up against the competition. So before we get the first impressions here
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let's get the numbers out of the way. I picked this up for £48.99, less than £50 for a putter that's won multiple, multiple majors
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That's a really, really good deal. When you consider the AI1 that I'm putting it up against, retails at around £289.99
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There's quite a significant difference there, I think you'll agree. So in terms of first impressions, down by the ball, I've used this putter a lot in the past
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It was really a very familiar look for me. I love the abundance of alignment aids, as I mentioned
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and they're really prevalent on the top, and it makes it really, really easy to point this putter
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where you want to point it. This is one of the first putters with an insert
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so it'll be really interesting. Yeah, that's really nice. Little low on the blade
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but it still felt really, really soft. So it just ran out of pace because I hit it a little lower on the blade
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But really, with that very simple alignment aid, that super soft feel, just burn the lip there
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That's a really, really nice feeling putter. It's giving me vibes of Faldo 96 already
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I'm really enjoying this one already. Little bit off the toe Still maintained its speed and just slipped out on the left edge So that a really interesting one Let grab those balls back and we hit a couple of putts with the AI and get some first impressions of that as well Okay so the first thing I notice about the AI when I put
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it in behind the ball is it's a little bit deeper so there's more depth to this head. It's a bit
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rounder and it's a little bit larger which is likely to give us a little bit more MOI and a
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little bit more forgiveness. The alignment aids are still very very clear although they've gone
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away from the sort of wider corresponding lines on the top edge to be able to match to the back edge
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so they've lost that kind of as I said accidental training aid if you like although it is still
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really really clear to line up. Secondly I would say it's definitely a much more premium looking
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head the sort of dark navy finish is really really smart and the white alignment aids really contrast
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nicely against that sort of dark navy finish. We've got the very very popular white hot insert
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which is essentially made from the same material as a golf ball, so matching those fields has always been a real winner
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And we've got more features everywhere. We've got a weight plate on the bottom, we've got interchangeable weights in the heel and toe to spread that weight
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and we've got that AI1 face behind the ball, which we know gives us some assistance on mishits
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Not only that, we've got more tech in the shaft, we've got the Stroke Lab technology in the shaft
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So in theory, this putt is packed with an awful lot more features, so it'll be really interesting to see how it performs
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As with the other Rossi, really easy to line up. I would argue that's slightly firmer to the feel
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It's done a great job. It's rolled straight in for me. I would argue that's slightly firmer in the feel
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Coming off really, really nicely. That probably would have gone in had it not glanced that ball as well
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Yeah, rolling really nicely off that face. Arguably, that was probably three out of three
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from this 20, 22 foot range for the newer technology there. So it's going to be really, really interesting to see
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how it gets on when we start putting it on some more official tests. Okay, if you're enjoying what you're seeing
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don't forget to hit that like button and subscribe to the channel. Also, let us know in the comments
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what you'd like me to take a look at in my next retro review. Okay, so I'm down here at Frilford Heath Golf Club
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which is beautiful by the way. I've set up a 70 foot putt on this par three
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So lag putting is crucial to your score, not only to your score, but also to your short putting
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Because obviously the closer you can lay these, the more chance you've got holding the next putt
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So it's really, really important. In theory, the tech behind the new modern putter
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the AI1 face, the Stroke Lab shaft, everything that goes into this
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should make it a little bit more forgiving on these longer putts. And this is where people generally
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miss the center of the face when they're putting more swing and more oomph into the putt
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So in theory, this is where it should come into its own. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to hit six putts with each
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I've got my handy tape measure with me here and I'm gonna measure each single putt
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I'm gonna add them up each, so I gonna get six with each add them up The cumulative total in theory obviously the one that got less distance will be the winner in this test So let go I gonna start with the AI1 putter
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And as I said, in theory, this should be significantly more advanced
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in this test with its technology. I've blocked that one a little bit to start with
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Just a little bit shy of pace. Actually that did better than I thought. That's an interesting one
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That's quite low on the face. so I'm wondering whether a bit of AI1 technology
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helped me there. Let's see if we can get a little bit closer this time. Really good for pace
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Two pretty good there, one a bit iffy. I'll go and measure them, then we'll go again
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Right, so I'm not too displeased with those. One particularly poor strike to start with
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but I think I was flattered a bit by the A01 there. I had 5.92 meters in total for those six putts
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So let's see if the old one's still got the magic. It's a very different look to look down on
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We've got slightly different alignment aids. But it is comfy. It's like a familiar feeling
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I gamed this putter. That was a nicely struck putt, really good for weight
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That's a great start, a little kick in there. Okay, great, another one's stoned out
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I'll go and measure those and I'll get back to you. Okay, there you go
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So the old Rossi came in at 5.3 meters versus 5.92 from the AI-1
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So really interesting there, in this test at least, a small victory for the old Rossi II
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best part of 30 years old Rossi II there. Now it's not necessarily a hugely fair test
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because when I went first with the AI1, obviously I'm getting a feel for the pace
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and a feel for the line. So if I wanted to be 100% scientifically accurate
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I'd probably do it a few more times and vary the sort of the order that I go in
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to make that fair. But for the purposes of this test, We're calling it a victory for the old Rossi
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So that's a long range test, but we all know, and you've probably seen from some
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of my long range putts there, occasionally I leave myself a little more than a tap in
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So I need to know these putters can do their business from short range
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And this is a really crucial point. This is eight foot, which for those of you who don't know
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is the 50-50 point for the PGA Tour averages. May seem strange, you might think they hold everything
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from here, but on the PGA Tour, 50% of these putts go in and 50% miss
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So this will be a really good barometer for how these putters are performing
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So I'm gonna go with the AI1 first this time to give it a slightly better chance
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I gonna hit 10 putts with each of these and I wanna see how they perform under pressure out of 10 how they do So I going to go straight away with the hour one and get into it So this putts a little bit
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off the right so it's probably right edge and that's a really nice solid start. I remember
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watching Mark Brooks, the American Mark Brooks, win the US PGA with the old Odyssey Rossi so this
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has given me good feelings. He held out really well that time. Slight pull there. Okay, that's two out of three
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I'm gonna speed it up now, take you through the 10, and see how we get on. Okay, so that's six out of 10 there
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So that's above PGA Tour average. I'm not displeased with that at all. So it's a reasonable start from the other one
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Let's have a go with the Rossi 2. So I mentioned Mark Brooks there. He was another USPGA Tour player
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who had this original dual fourth Rossi 2 in. Another one of my favorite players of all time
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Annika Sorenstam, she used this putter a lot, and she was one of the best holer outers I've ever seen
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So I'm gonna try and channel my inner Annika here and see if I can beat six out of 10
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that's it so a tougher start there for the original Rossi 2 but when it needed to like in 1996 when
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Nick Baldo at the Masters it came up clutch under pressure delivered me a really good finish there
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and it tied the AI1 at 6 out of 10 both just above PGA Tour average which I'm quite pleased with
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and for a putter that's cost me less than 50 pounds, when you couple that with the long range test we've just done
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that really is quite interesting. So that was a lot of fun. It's always nice to pick up clubs that I've used before
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and see how they stack up against modern day competition and I think you'll see from the tests we did there
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this can still very much cut the mustard. For £48.99 versus a putter that's costing £289.99
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in those tests at least, it did a really, really good job. Now I can hear you in the comments below
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already saying, well, maybe those aren't fair tests. You need to do more
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There needs to be a longer test period to get a fair reflection. And I think you're probably right
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From the technology behind this, and I've used this pattern as well quite a lot
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I think over the course of time, the extra forgiveness, the extra MOI
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would probably come through and start to show itself over some longer periods of time
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And undoubtedly, from an aesthetics point of view and a premium feel point of view
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the A01 is still very much probably the superior putter. But you should never count out the underdog
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The Odyssey Dual Force Rossi II, it's won majors, it started off a whole era of putting for Odyssey
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and like I said, for under 50 pounds, I think that's exceptional value
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