BB28 Slotback

The BB28 Slotback arrives in 2024 as a single release, and its own name tells you where it comes from: Bettinardi's page calls it a follow-up to "a successful debut in the last BB line," with RJB taking the original BB28 back to the workshop for what the maker describes as "artful and game-changing modifications." This is a line with one entry on record so far, but that entry carries a predecessor's shadow with it, a putter built explicitly as a refinement rather than a fresh start.

The changes the maker lists are shape changes before anything else. The wide-body blade is drawn slightly more compact, with shortened heel-to-toe and pocket lengths, and taller muscles and bumpers added to the profile. The slotback cut into the flange does double duty as both the visual signature that gives the release its name and, per Bettinardi, a natural alignment aid at address. The maker also points to a reshaping of the bumpers and shoulders as the mechanism behind a Center of Gravity shift, meant to align more naturally at setup and unify weight distribution across the face.

On finish and face, the 2024 release is consistent: Black Pearl PVD over what Bettinardi's page lists as 303 Stainless Steel, milled with Perpetual Flymill Face Milling, verified at an MSRP of 450 USD. The neck treatment is where the line immediately branches within its debut year rather than across years, offered in Spud Neck, Center Shaft, or Armlock configurations, each carrying its own loft, lie, and offset per the maker's individual product pages.

With only the 2024 release on record, the BB28 Slotback's arc so far is a single, deliberate iteration, a putter positioned by its own maker as the refined second chapter of an existing shape rather than a new one.