Inside Justin Thomas’ custom Scotty Cameron putter, nostalgic tweak he’s making at PGA Championship

Justin Thomas won five PGA TOUR events in 2017, including the 2017 PGA Championship. This year, he’s been turning back the clocks, partly due to one area in particular: his putting.

In 11 PGA TOUR events in 2025, Thomas has racked up six top-10 finishes, three second-place finishes, and a victory at the 2025 RBC Heritage. He’s currently ranked 20th in Strokes Gained: Putting on the PGA TOUR in 2025, his best performance in the category since the 2016-2017 season (43rd) and the 2017-2018 season (47th). In 2024, just last season, Thomas had slid all the way down to 174th in Strokes Gained: Putting.

Following his win at the 2025 RBC Heritage this season, Thomas publicly credited fellow PGA TOUR player Xander Schauffele with some sound advice, and asking questions that led Thomas back on track.

“I don't do any of the things that I used to do in my best putting years in 2017-18,” Thomas said in his post-win press conference. “…it was more of the questions [Xander] asked me made me realize that I'm trying basically too hard and I'm trying too many different things versus – I think it's a serious, serious, serious skill to continue to work on the things that you do really well and not doing it differently, and I think that's been more of what it is. I have my fundamentals and things that I do and checkpoints, and I'm sticking to them.”

Consistent practice and routines have helped Thomas, and it seems that finding a steady putter to rely on has helped, too.

In recent years, Thomas had been testing various Scotty Cameron prototype putters, from both the mallet and blade categories. This year, however, Thomas has settled into and stayed with a Scotty Cameron T5.5 prototype mallet putter – a familiar head shape for him, but with a key change to the hosel configuration that’s helped put his hands in a better position at address, boosting his comfort on the greens.

Recently, GolfWRX.com caught up with Scotty Cameron Tour rep and putter builder Drew Page, who works closely with Thomas on a weekly basis out on the PGA TOUR.

“So right around the time he was talking with Xander was when he was relaying some feels to Paul Vizanko (Director of player fitting and development at Scotty Cameron), Brad (Cloke, Scotty Cameron Tour rep) and myself, trying to get the right shaft axis for him,” Page told GolfWRX.com at the 2025 Zurich Classic in New Orleans.

“That was one of the important things that we did with him… it actually has a single bend shaft, but a low single bend…it just got his hands to a point, and his eyes to a point that he became most comfortable with, where his lines were clean, and the putter sat square for him perfectly. The mix of that, and having his hands in the right position, just all got him into the most comfortable setup position, and then from there he was in a position of greatness, essentially.”

According to Page, this newfound comfort with the low, single-bend shaft has helped awaken Thomas’ inner athlete.

“This year (his stroke is) much more free, kind of back to when he first got out on Tour,” Page told GolfWRX.com. “And he spoke on that a little bit [at the RBC Heritage] when he talked about his talks with Xander, about going back to his processes in 2017 and 2018 when he kind of had his best years putting.

Where he just simplified things, did certain drills that he used to always do, which were, like I said, a little bit more freeing for him. And that also incorporated into his stroke, as well. He’s much more athletic-looking this year over the ball, not as rigid, and I think that’s good for him, because he’s also a good athlete outside of golf, too.”

In a YouTube video on the official Scotty Cameron channel, Thomas spoke about the new putter with Vizanko, who was instrumental in designing it. Thomas touched on the importance of the sound the new prototype putter makes, and the importance of hosel fitting.

“I mean, the look of the head is obviously something I’m familiar with, and it was like when I first told you, there was something about different necks that I would stroke differently, for some reason, and I didn’t know why,” Thomas said to Vizanko. “And you said it, a lot of it had to do with hand position at setup, which is something I don’t need to know, but it’s something where they get where they need to be, without thinking of it. The sound of it’s the same, which is always, always important to me, as you know. It’s amazing the difference that that has made.”

This week at the 107th PGA Championship, Thomas has made one, minor change to his new putter, that solidifies the 2017 nostalgia factor. According to SuperStroke rep Arnie Cunningham, Thomas changed out his putter grip for a fresh one out of the package early in the week at the 2017 Championship. And, this year, on Monday at Quail Hollow Club, he did the same thing – he replaced his old SuperStroke Pistol Tour “JT” grip for a fresh one, right out of the package.

Thomas is channeling all 2017 putting vibes at the 2025 PGA Championship, and now he sets his sights on the Wanamaker Trophy, yet again.