Studio Stock 38

The Studio Stock 38 arrived in 2019 as the compact mallet entry in Bettinardi's Studio Stock line, and the maker's page describes it as "engineered from the idea to bring a more rounded, compact, cavity-back mallet to the SS line, with high MOI, forgiveness, and easy alignment." That's the design brief in Bettinardi's own words, and it lines up with pluggedingolf.com's reporting of a mallet head at 358 grams in 303 stainless steel, with a single long white alignment line and a hint of toe hang.

The face is the headline feature Bettinardi keeps returning to across its own listings: the F.I.T. Face milled "20% deeper for an even softer feel at impact," language repeated verbatim across the standard, Armlock, and blackout listings. The 2019 standard release paired that face with a hand-polished platinum finish and sapphire blue paint fill, per pluggedingolf.com's reporting, a finish the maker's page calls "completely new for Bettinardi in 2019." Grips were deep etched cord by Lamkin in standard and jumbo sizing, and the headcover was dark with stitching and a velcro closure, according to the same source.

On performance, pluggedingolf.com's review was positive, writing that "Bettinardi masterfully combines outstanding performance and top shelf looks in the Studio Stock 38 putter. Soft feel, forgiveness and beautiful milling." Community sentiment gathered elsewhere echoes the soft feel and forgiveness praise but singles out the velcro headcover closure as a point of complaint, a small but recurring gripe against an otherwise well-regarded release. Later editions of the SS38, including an Armlock variant and a black PVD blackout version, would extend this same head and face treatment, but the 2019 standard model in platinum with sapphire blue is where the line started.