Metal-X

The 2012 Metal-X was Odyssey's release credited to Austie Rollinson, described on record as Principal Designer for Odyssey Putters, and it reached professional tours first, with hagginoaks.com and prnewswire.com both placing that debut in early February. Retail arrival is less settled: hagginoaks.com lists availability as April 13, while mygolfway.com gives a release date of April 15, and hagginoaks.com elsewhere repeats April 13 for release_date as well. Tour uptake was reported as immediate, with hagginoaks.com and prnewswire.com both citing 13 players putting various Metal-X models into play in the model's first week on the European Tour, and prnewswire.com and mygolfway.com naming J.B. Holmes and Danny Lee among the pros using it, with mygolfway.com adding Alvaro Quiros and Niclas Fasth to that list.

The putter's identity centers on its face. Editorial sources describe a milled-style face (golfalot.com) built from a lightweight aluminum striking layer over a urethane backer, with pluggedingolf.com specifying 6061 aluminum. The face carries oval depressions, described across prnewswire.com, hagginoaks.com, and Golf Galaxy as creating a mechanical lock with the ball's dimples at impact, paired with a textured surface that prnewswire.com and hagginoaks.com say is meant to deliver a truer, more consistent roll. The finish was midnight black throughout, which prnewswire.com reports was chosen to increase durability and reduce glare. pluggedingolf.com lists MSRP at $99 to $149, and prnewswire.com notes a Lamkin 3GEN Pistol Grip.

Reaction on record leaned positive but not uncomplicated. Chris Koske, Global Director of the Odyssey Business, is quoted by prnewswire.com and mygolfway.com saying "Feedback from Metal-X's first few weeks on the world's tours has been phenomenal," and that tour professionals told the company "not only how good the insert feels, but also about how the ball seems to hug the green." pluggedingolf.com called it "Innovative, practical, refreshing," adding that Odyssey had introduced "a feel never before seen from them." Community opinion held in our files runs alongside that praise rather than beneath it: the insert's feel and the ball's tendency to hug the green were both singled out favorably, while other notes questioned whether the milling pattern actually improves roll and whether the middle-ground feel it aims for is necessary at all.