Legend

The Rife Legend line, as our records hold it, arrived in a single year: 2013, with two putters released side by side, the Legend and the Legend Z. Both carry the same bones, dual bars with removable weights for swingweight alteration and horizontal RollGroove face technology, according to putterzone.com's reporting on each. Where they part is finish and presentation: the Legend wears what putterzone.com described as a smooth all around finish with a white contrasting sightline running along the flange between the two bars, while the Legend Z takes a smooth matte black finish with dimpled patterns along the topline and flange, a small blue Rife icon on the face, and a white workmark in the back cavity.

Putterzone.com's review of the Legend Z called it "a standout mallet with a sleek, purposeful look and impressive performance," and the Community notes on file echo that read on the shaping, praising the visually well-designed and finely rendered look and the purposeful 3d alignment bars. That same Community feedback found the feel lively and responsive, with a bit of click, though it flagged the pointed pattern scored around the center sightline as unnecessary, if subtle, and shrugged at the Winn AVS grip as nothing special. A wish for a magnetic closure on the head cover rounds out the gripes.

On this record, the Legend line reads less as a lineage stretched across years than as a single 2013 moment split into two finishes and two personalities, one bright and understated, one dark and dimpled, both built on the same RollGroove face and weighted alignment bars.