Method (overall line)

The Method line launched in 2009, the putter that finally gave Nike a serious foothold in the premium putter market after the Unitized series failed to catch on. Our review of the Method noted that Nike won 2 majors with prototypes of their new Method putter, with Stewart Cink's British Open and Lucas Glover's US Open wins arriving before the line even hit retail, and the putter went on to earn a spot on the 2010 Golf Digest Hotlist. As we put it, the only thing these putters share with the Unitized series is the Swoosh on the heel.

The line's calling card was the Polymetal Groove Technology, which our testing found got the ball rolling almost immediately, with a test putter measuring 3.5° of loft rather than the shallow-loft trick some makers lean on. We described the feel as a simple click and it's on its way to the hole, and credited the milled 303 stainless construction and bead-blasted finish with holding up well cosmetically over time. The 001 head, an Anser-2 style shape, was the most common of the five heads in the lineup (001 through 005), and we noted it was no doubt built to be as close to Tiger's putter as possible, with some in the community speculating he'd eventually switch. Putterzone.com's reporting adds detail our review didn't touch on: a ported polymer insert with secondary steel grooves, roughly 30 grams redistributed to the rear perimeter, a Golf Pride grip, a black headcover with silver and red piping and a magnetic closure, and an MSRP of $249, a figure our own review corroborated when it called the putter's price the best part of the package.

Not everyone was sold on the look. Community opinion flagged the styling as either underdone or overdone depending on the head, and pointed to its resemblance to the unloved Unitized line as a knock against it. Putterzone.com was blunter still, calling the styling Nike's constant failure. That tension between a well-reviewed face technology and a debated silhouette is the record as it stands on the 2009 Method.