Akshay Bhatia was five strokes back after nine holes on Sunday at Bay Hill. Three bogeys on the front nine. A missed three-footer at the ninth that sent him walking to the 10th tee seething. Daniel Berger, who had led every single round of the 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational, looked untouchable at 15 under.
Then Bhatia did something Arnold Palmer would have loved: he went for broke. Four consecutive birdies. A 6-iron from 191 yards that nearly found the cup for a double eagle at the par-5 16th. An eagle tap-in that swung the entire tournament. And when he and Berger returned to the 18th for the first playoff at Bay Hill since 1999, Bhatia calmly two-putted for par while Berger missed from seven feet. Third PGA Tour win. First signature event victory. And a stat line that rewrites the record books: +16.3 strokes gained in short game — the highest in a PGA Tour win in the entire ShotLink era.
But here's what makes Bhatia's win fascinating for anyone who wants to get better at putting: it wasn't a fluke. The 24-year-old left-hander has spent years overhauling his putting — trying AimPoint, switching putter heads mid-tournament, adding lead tape, and ultimately committing to one of the most distinctive setups in professional golf. Let's break down exactly how Akshay Bhatia putts, what he practices, and how you can steal his methods for your own game.
The Broomstick Revolution: Why Bhatia Went Long
Walk up to any PGA Tour practice green and you'll see 44 players with blade putters, arm-lock setups, and mallets of every description. Then there's Bhatia, standing tall with a 44-inch broomstick putter that looks like it belongs in a different era.
Bhatia didn't choose this setup on a whim. By his own admission, putting was the weakest part of his game for years. Despite being one of the most gifted ball-strikers on Tour — he routinely ranks in the top 30 in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green — he sat at 170th in Strokes Gained: Putting during his 2023 season.
"I felt like I was one of the best putters in junior golf, amateur golf," Bhatia told PGATOUR.COM during his initial broomstick experiment. "I'm trying to just figure out."
After studying how Lucas Glover's switch to a long putter cured a decade-long battle with the yips and led to back-to-back victories, Bhatia committed to the broomstick before the 2024 Valero Texas Open. He made himself a promise: six months minimum, no going back.
"My ball striking was always really good; putting always kind of lacked," Bhatia explained at Augusta National after winning the Texas Open. "When you want to contend in tournaments, you got to make some putts when they count. So we took a chance on switching to the broomstick. I talked to a couple players about it, and they gave me some good advice."
The results were immediate. His stats from the 10-to-15-foot range — the putts that separate winners from also-rans on Tour — "skyrocketed," in his words. And at Bay Hill this week, Bhatia gained more than 10 strokes on the greens, ranking first in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting.
The Putter: Odyssey Ai-Dual Jailbird 1/2 Ball
Bhatia's current gamer is the Odyssey Ai-Dual Jailbird 1/2 Ball fitted with a broomstick-length shaft (approximately 44 inches) and a SuperStroke Zenergy Split grip. It's a mallet-style head from the Jailbird family — the same line used by Keegan Bradley, Rickie Fowler, and Wyndham Clark — but Bhatia's version incorporates Odyssey's latest alignment innovation.
The "1/2 Ball" technology features a white insert that wraps onto the leading edge, creating a semicircular alignment aid the same size as a golf ball. The science behind it is rooted in what visual perception researchers call Prototype Theory — our brains are hardwired to detect symmetry, and the half-circle framing naturally helps you center the ball at address.
According to studies conducted with Clemson University and Baylor University, golfers made 11.3% more putts from six feet using the 1/2 Ball alignment compared to other putters. For a Tour player who might face 15-20 putts inside that range per tournament, that's the difference between winning and finishing 10th.
"If you watch Akshay, he can be a little fidgety at setup," Jacob Davidson, Callaway's VP of product strategy, told PGATOUR.COM. "And now he just said, 'I feel like I have reduced my time at address significantly based on how quickly I feel and know from the feedback that I'm lined up quicker.'"
The dual-layer urethane insert — a soft outer layer bonded to a firm inner core — delivers consistent ball speed regardless of where the strike lands on the face. For someone wielding a 44-inch shaft, where the margin for face-center contact is inherently wider, this forgiveness is critical.
Lead Tape and Feel: Bhatia's DIY Putter Tuning
One of the most distinctive things about Bhatia's equipment philosophy is his obsessive use of lead tape. While most amateurs leave their clubs stock, Bhatia adds slabs of lead tape to nearly every club in his bag — including his putter.
On the putter, the lead tape serves a dual purpose. First, it adds head weight, which Bhatia says helps him "feel the club head" during high-pressure situations:
"I like to feel the club head, especially in tournaments where you get so much adrenaline. It's nice feeling that extra weight… you have a little more sense of the face."
Second — and this is the nuance that separates a Tour player's approach from a weekend golfer's — the tape changes how the putter sits at address. Bhatia discovered through Quintic ball-tracking technology with his putting coach that without the extra weight, his putter would occasionally sit open or have the back end ride too high, causing him to hit the ground before the ball.
"Sometimes if I have a little shaft lean, it can kind of sit open, or the back end of the putter can sit a little high," Bhatia explained. "So then sometimes I'll hit it into the ground, which I realized using Quintic with my putting coach."
The lead tape essentially gives him a perfectly flush lie angle at address every time — the kind of micro-adjustment that most golfers never think about but can account for several missed putts per round.
The Deflection Theory: Bhatia's Secret Weapon
Perhaps the most fascinating element of Bhatia's putting approach is something most golfers have never heard of: deflection theory.
In a recent interview, Bhatia explained a concept he learned from working with his caddie Joe Greiner, who picked it up from Bryson DeChambeau. The idea: when the putter face contacts the golf ball, it's not just the putter face angle and stroke path that determine where the ball goes. The ball itself has imperfections — the stamp, the seam, the logo — and if the contact point on the ball isn't "pure," the resulting deflection can send the ball off its intended line.
Think of it like a billiards shot. If you strike the cue ball at a point where there's a slight imperfection, the ball won't travel perfectly straight even if your stroke was perfect. The same physics apply to putting, just at a much subtler scale.
Bhatia's response to this is meticulous ball placement. He doesn't just line up his ball with a Sharpie line pointed at his target. He considers where the manufactured seam and stamp sit relative to the putter face contact point, ensuring the cleanest possible strike.
The proof is in the numbers: heading into the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Bhatia was one of only four players on Tour who was 100% on putts from both three feet and five feet this season. The others? Tommy Fleetwood, Webb Simpson, and Mathieu Pavon. That's not luck. That's obsessive attention to a detail most people don't even know exists.
Green Reading: From AimPoint Experimenter to Instinct Player
Bhatia's journey with green reading mirrors his putter evolution — a story of relentless experimentation. In 2023, he adopted the AimPoint Express green-reading system, the method used by Justin Thomas, Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, and Brooks Koepka. The system involves standing at the midpoint of your putt, feeling the slope under your feet on a scale of 1-5, and then holding up that number of fingers on the high side of the hole to calibrate your aim point.
Bhatia went all-in at the Mexico Open, where the system helped him contend immediately. But he quickly moved away from the full AimPoint methodology, finding it too formulaic for his natural feel-based approach.
Instead, Bhatia has settled into a hybrid approach: he uses the principles of AimPoint — particularly the practice of feeling slope with his feet — but trusts his visual instincts rather than rigidly following finger placements. Watch him on the greens and you'll notice he takes his time behind the ball, walks the full line, and crouches low to read the terrain. But he doesn't hold up fingers or go through the mechanical AimPoint routine.
At Bay Hill this week, where the greens are notoriously the firmest and fastest of the Florida swing, this hybrid approach proved devastating. Bhatia holed everything from short range and bombed in a 58-footer at the 11th on Sunday's final round — the kind of putt that changes tournaments.
The Practice Habits Behind the Performance
Bhatia's putting transformation didn't happen by accident. Several key practice principles drive his improvement:
1. Commitment Over Comfort
When Bhatia switched to the broomstick, he committed to six months minimum. No going back to the armlock when things got tough. This forced his body and brain to adapt rather than retreating to old patterns when pressure mounted. There's a lesson here for every golfer: if you're going to change something fundamental about your putting — your grip, your stance, your routine — commit fully and give it time.
2. Technology-Driven Feedback
Bhatia uses Quintic ball-tracking technology with his putting coach to analyze things invisible to the naked eye — how the putter sits at address, ball roll quality, strike point consistency. This isn't just "hit putts and see if they go in." It's structured, data-driven practice where every session produces measurable insights.
3. Short Putt Mastery
Bhatia's 100% make rate from three and five feet isn't just a stat — it's a reflection of how he spends his practice time. Tour players who dominate inside five feet typically spend a disproportionate amount of their practice time on these "easy" putts, building the muscle memory and confidence that prevents yips under pressure.
4. The Caddie as Coach
Joe Greiner isn't just carrying the bag. He's a swing and putting resource who brought the deflection theory from his work with Bryson DeChambeau and provided the emotional coaching that fueled Bhatia's comeback at Bay Hill. "Go play the next hole pissed off," Greiner told Bhatia after the missed three-footer at nine. Then after birdie: "Go play this one pissed off too."
5. Aggressive Green-Reading on Fast Greens
Bhatia's approach to Bay Hill's notoriously slick surfaces was to stay aggressive. Rather than lagging putts to avoid three-putts, he attacked the hole — a mentality that produced the 58-foot bomb at 11 and the overall +10 strokes gained on the greens. Speed control on fast greens requires practice and trust, and Bhatia clearly had both this week.
Want to Practice Like Bhatia? Here's How to Do It at Home
You probably don't have a 44-inch broomstick putter (yet). But several elements of Bhatia's putting philosophy can be practiced on a quality putting mat at home:
Ball Placement Drill (The Deflection Drill)
Take Bhatia's deflection theory and put it into practice. Mark a consistent contact point on your golf ball — not just a line, but a specific spot on the equator. Ensure that spot is always facing the putter at address. Putt 20 balls with careful placement, then 20 without. Track your make percentage from 5-6 feet. You may be surprised how much the detail matters.
The Alignment Reset Drill
Bhatia's biggest gain from the 1/2 Ball putter was faster, more confident alignment. Simulate this at home: set your ball, step behind it to confirm alignment, then address and putt within three seconds. No fidgeting, no re-alignment. The goal is to trust your setup. A consistent alignment process is worth more than any equipment change.
Gate Drill for Stroke Path
Bhatia's lead tape adjustments ensure his putter sits flush and tracks straight. You can train the same stroke path precision with the classic gate drill — place two tees just wider than your putter head and stroke putts through the gap. If you're clipping a tee, your path is off. This is the single most effective stroke-building drill in golf, and it's perfect for a putting mat.
The 100% Zone (3-5 Feet)
If Bhatia is drilling 100% from three and five feet, you should be putting in serious reps at those distances too. Set up at three feet on your putting mat and don't move on until you've made 10 in a row. Then step back to five feet and repeat. The goal isn't just making putts — it's building the unshakeable confidence that Bhatia brings to every short putt under pressure.
Speed Control on a Mat
Bay Hill's greens are among the fastest on Tour, and Bhatia's distance control was immaculate. Practice the ladder drill on your Chiputt mat: putt to the 5-foot mark, then 8, then 10, then the full length. Each putt must finish past the previous ball. This builds the feel for pace that translates directly to the course — especially on fast, stimpy greens.
The Bigger Lesson: Commitment to Change
What makes Bhatia's story compelling isn't just the equipment or the techniques — it's the willingness to look honestly at his weaknesses and make uncomfortable changes. He was a prodigy who turned pro straight from high school, skipping college golf entirely. He made his PGA Tour debut at 17 and competed in a Junior Ryder Cup, Junior Presidents Cup, and Walker Cup before he could vote.
But when he arrived on Tour, his putting wasn't good enough. So he tried AimPoint. Tried different putter heads. Added lead tape. Switched to a broomstick that drew strange looks and even cheating accusations from armchair critics on social media. He stuck with it because the data told him it was working — and because he made himself a promise.
At Bay Hill, all of those experiments converged into the most dominant putting performance in the ShotLink era. +16.3 strokes gained in short game. First in the field in putting. A five-shot comeback on the back nine. A playoff victory over a player who had led every single round.
The red alpaca sweater never looked better on anyone.
Upgrade Your Putting Practice
Akshay Bhatia gained more than 10 strokes putting at Bay Hill because he puts in the reps — with purpose, with technology, and with total commitment. You might not have a Tour-level putting coach or Quintic ball-tracking software, but you can build the same short-putt confidence, stroke-path precision, and speed control on a Chiputt Tour-Grade Putting Mat. Tour-grade surface. True roll. Zero excuses.
Need more length for distance control drills? Add the Chiputt Extender and practice ladder drills the way the pros do.
About Chiputt Golf
Chiputt designs tour-grade putting mats and training equipment for golfers who take their short game seriously. Our mats are used by players in 30+ countries who understand that the fastest way to lower your scores is to practice with purpose — at home, every day. Visit thechiputt.com to see the full range.
