Special Select Del Mar

The 2020 Special Select Del Mar brought back the mid-mallet shape with a following that stretches across Scotty Cameron's archives, this time cut from 303 stainless steel with a mid-milled face machined, as the maker's page puts it, "to proper depth for this new line." The head carries a heel-shafted neck, 3/4 shaft offset, refined concave flange contours, and a narrower, flatter topline than earlier Del Mars, with customizable stainless steel sole weights and tour-inspired cherry rings worked into the cavity. Loft sits at 3.5º and lie at 70º, with lengths of 33, 34, and 35 inches, a left-handed model, and standard fitting adjustments of -1º to +1º loft and -2º to +2º lie. It shipped with a Pistolini Plus grip and sits in the line ahead of the Super Select generation that followed it.

Opinion on the release split along predictable lines. Pluggedingolf.com called it not the most aesthetically pleasing version of the Del Mar shape, pointing to the nearly symmetrical, flat top line and a sightline that crosses the flange as points of friction, while still praising the feel as excellent. Community sentiment echoed that divide: some found the sound soft and solid and the forgiveness in line with what an Anser-style putter offers, others simply weren't won over by the look. 2ndswing.com's take leaned more favorable on performance, noting that the larger clubhead seemed to mute some of the sound and vibration they'd expect from smaller heads, a comment that lines up with pluggedingolf's own description of the strike as landing somewhere between a thud and a soft click.

Where reviewers agreed was that this Del Mar plays it straight rather than reinventing itself. Pluggedingolf.com, comparing it to the rest of the 2020 Special Select run, found it "a good looking putter with above average feel and nothing new in terms of performance," the same conclusion it reached on the Newport 2 and Squareback 2 from that release. For a shape with the cult following pluggedingolf.com credits it with, the 2020 version reads as a faithful, well-milled continuation rather than a departure, which is either exactly what a buyer wants from a Del Mar or exactly what leaves them cold on the topline.