It’s rare to see Scottie Scheffler have an emotional outburst on the golf course. But it did happen at the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open. The World No. 1 missed an easy birdie putt on the par-4 13th hole. Over the years, the 19-time PGA Tour winner has missed many putts, such as the 5-foot putt on the 18th hole at the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open. To overcome this problem, Rory McIlroy once gave him advice to use a mallet putter. After the advice came, the World No. 1 switched from a blade putter to the Spider putter, a mallet type, and the results were amazing. While many would believe that McIlroy’s words did the wonder for Scheffler, an insider reveals that it is not true.

Adrian Rietveld, Senior Manager at TaylorMade Golf, was a recent guest on a podcast. One of the hosts, Sam Riggs, asked Rietveld about McIlroy’s comment and its impact on Scheffler’s decision to switch to the Spider putter. “It started way longer before Rory made that comment. And it was really a project with, I do thank Rory for the comment though, definitely like I mean even if it contributed 1% it was needed because Scotty’s a tough switch,” said Rietveld on the Fore Play Podcast Plus.

The Irish golfer made this comment on a CBS broadcast. In his experience, McIlroy had to make a perfect stroke with the blade putter to get it right. A mallet, on the other hand, gives some margin of error. That’s when McIlroy said, “So, I’d love to see Scottie try a mallet. But selfishly, for me, Scottie does everything else so well that he’s giving the rest of us a chance.”

The blade putter is a common choice among many elites. Both Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods have been using it. For Scheffler, though, it was not helping. So, he switched things up by working with TaylorMade Golf. Reflecting on the same, Rietveld said, “If I take you back to day one of that project, I think we visited him at Dallas National. It wasn’t at Royal Oaks, where he normally practices. It was at Dallas National, I think, because they had a really big practice putting green there.”

TaylorMade Golf’s senior manager says that there were four people in the conversation. There was Scottie Scheffler, his coach, his manager, and Rietveld. Scheffler wanted to start with a clean slate, so he asked Rietveld not to copy the spec of his putter. In the end, Scheffler started using the Spider, a putter that TaylorMade sold off the shelf.

The World No. 1 started using the Spider putter in March 2024, making its debut at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Since then, his putting performance has improved drastically. He gained nearly 0.3 strokes per round on the greens.​ His putts per round average dropped from 29.2 to 28.1. He significantly increased his make percentage on mid-range putts (10-15 feet from 26.4% to 33.4%, and 15-20 feet from 21.1% to 27.6%). Moreover, his short putt make percentage (3-5 feet) rose from 83.4% to 89.8% and his three-putt percentage was cut in half from 2.8% to 1.4%.

Scheffler even praised the putter and described how it made putting easier for the 19x PGA Tour winner. “This Spider putter is really easy for me to line up. I don’t have to use the line on the ball. I line the putter up really well, and I line up in the middle of the face, and pretty much as simple as that. Kind of gives me just a really good visual.”

After that impressive display of confidence with his equipment, Scheffler surprisingly stepped away from the competition. The World No. 1 is yet to play in any event since Team Europe’s victory over Team USA at the 2025 Ryder Cup.

Scottie Scheffler’s hiatus from golf since the 2025 Ryder Cup

Scheffler has had an excellent run after switching to the Spider putter. Walking at the 2025 Procore Championship, he was on the verge of making a record for the most consecutive rounds in the 60s. He was tied with Patrick Cantlay with 21 consecutive rounds. However, his first round at the Procore Championship was 70, which means he missed the record. After that, he got an unwanted record of 0-4 at the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.

Scheffler lost both foursome and four-ball games on Friday and Saturday. He called the Ryder Cup struggles one of the lowest moments of his career. “I think it’s hard to put into words how much it hurts to lose all four matches,” Scheffler said.

Since then, Scheffler has yet to play a tournament. He was one of the biggest names missing from the 2025 Sanderson Farms Championship. His absence has left fans eager for the World No. 1’s return, hoping to see him bounce back and reclaim his dominant form soon.