Ray Cook putters can surprise you. Although the Ray Cook brand may not have nearly the same recognition in the industry as a Scotty Cameron or an Odyssey Stroke Lab Putter, there is no reason to cross the Ray Cook putter choices off your list. The Silver Ray Select SR550 Putter is one of the most popular options on the market for a mallet-style putter. As a former PGA Class A Professional, I can tell you that the price of a putter is much less important than the feel and overall performance that you get from the club. In our Ray Cook Putter Review, we will give you a full rundown of what to expect with a Ray Cook putter and some alternatives in case this is not the best choice for your game.
Features and Benefits
To decide if the Ray Cook Silvery Ray Select SR550 putter is a good putter for your game, you need to have the specifics about whether or not the club has the technology you need. To start things off, we will tell you that the Silver Ray Select SR550 comes at a great price. If you are a budget-conscious golfer, you will have no issues learning to love what this mallet putter offers.
Player Handicap
A golfer with a lower handicap almost always chooses a putter with a high price tag. This has to do with the technology offered in the putter; however, sometimes, it is just a marketing scheme in the golf world. The best clubs are not always the most expensive on the market.
As we have mentioned, the Ray Cook Silver Ray Select SR550 is one of the most cost-effective putter choices on the market. Therefore it is typically considered to be a high handicap or beginner type putter. In reality, we think this is best for the average golfer.
Average golfers need a long alignment line, tour style weighting, a more prominent sweet spot, and a fantastic feel. There is no reason to spend hundreds of dollars on other models when the Silver Ray can offer all of this for less than $100.
Regardless of your golf handicap, you should try many putters. The right club is not going to fit into a perfect price range. You will need to find something that matches most perfectly with your putting stroke.
Look/Sound/Feel
Perhaps our favorite feature of the Silver Ray Select SR550 is the overall look and design of the golf putter. The mallet club head is going to look very similar to a TaylorMade Spider putter. The club is rather large and provides more stability at the impact position.
In addition, the Silvery Ray has some extra weight in the club head that helps make it a good choice for both fast and slow putting greens. To say that the putter’s feel is the best on the market would be a bit of a stretch.
When you make contact with this club as opposed to other putters, the feel is a bit more hollow or tinny. This adjustment can be difficult for golfers who are used to a pure feel of something like a Scotty Cameron. However, it is hard to expect much more for the reasonable price that the Ray Cook is offered.
Shaft and Grip
The Silver Ray SR550 comes with a standard putter shaft. Only one major company is offering unique or high-performance putter shafts at this point, and that is Odyssey. However, the standard steel putter shaft is used on professional tours and will work just fine for high handicappers or average golfers.
The grip of the Silver Ray SR550 is a midsize grip, and that helps it to be one of the better choices on the market. The grip on the Silver Ray SR550 helps players to ensure that they are not getting their wrists too involved in their golf swing. Many golfers will try and putt using their hands and wrists instead of trying to use the shoulders and arms, which are stronger muscles.
The best thing you can do to play great golf is to become more consistent. The oversized grip will help ensure that you are able to get a comfortable grip and keep your club on the proper path.
Forgiveness
As you read through Ray Cook putter reviews, you will likely see that forgiveness is one of the best features of the Ray Cook putters. When you first take this club to a practice green, you may realize that the putter head is quite large with a very expansive sweet spot.
In addition to the large sweet spot, this is a great putter for making it easy to line up to the hole. The line on the top of the putter allows you to see the line from the clubhead to the hole with ease.
Although this is not a hard and fast rule, the larger the club head on a putter, the easier it is to play with; this is undoubtedly the case with the Ray Cook Golf Silver Ray. The putter head also encourages a more hands forward offset approach to the ball, which is a great added forgiveness benefit.
Price
You will have a hard time finding a putter for a better price than the Silver Ray SR550. Ray Cook makes it a priority to have great pricing for players that are looking for reasonable golf equipment. Some putters on the market cost more than $500. It is just a generalization that these putters would be considered better.
There are many different style strokes from golfers, and finding a putter that fits your stroke is more important than a high priced golf putter.
Alternatives
Hopefully, you now feel as though you would know if the Ray Cook putter would work for your game. If you think that there could be a better choice out there, we have pulled some interesting options that could be a good fit for your game. These options will not all be as low in price as the Silver Ray, so keep that in mind as you are shopping for putters.
TaylorMade Spider Putter Hydro Blast Single Bend
The TaylorMade Spider Putter Hydro Blast Single Bend is a premium golf putter that is quite popular among a wide range of players. Many will tell you that the Silver Ray SR550 was modeled after the original Spider-designed putters.
The TaylorMade Spider is a tour-proven club head that features the White True Path design on the top of the club head. The True Path helps to ensure that you can keep your eye lined up and the club moving on the proper path.
The X Shape head of the TaylorMade Spider ensures a premium feel at impact. The key difference you will notice between the TaylorMade Spider Putter Hydro Blast is the softer feel and premium materials used. To make the Ray Cook Silver Ray fit into the price category that it does, these premium materials would not be an option.
CPinemeadow Golf PGX Putter
The Pinemeadow Golf PGX Putter is more of a traditional mallet as compared to a modern mallet like the Silver Ray. Although the club head is a bit smaller overall, it does have a large sweet spot with plenty of forgiveness for an average golfer. The Pinemeadow Golf PGX Putters are available to right-handed players that want outstanding balance and stability at impact.
The PGX putter has a white finish that helps it stand out against the background of a putting green. When you address the putter, you will have no trouble seeing which way it is aiming and whether or not it is pointing towards the hole.
One of the things we like about the Pinemeadow PGX is that the club is 380g. The extra weight on the club made this feel less like a cheap putter and more like a premium. With a standard length of 34 inches, this is a club that makes sense for the average golfer.
Odyssey White Hot OG Seven Slant Neck
The Odyssey White Hot OG Putter is another great alternative. The White Hot will fall in between the pricing of the Ray Cook and something like the TaylorMade Spider. Odyssey is always known for having some of the best feel on the market, and part of that comes from the impressive inserts that they install in their putters.
The new OG series from Odyssey has the original White Hot feel, sound, and performance. The two-part insert has been slightly improved but will offer golfers impressive feel, sound, and an overall good shape. There are plenty of OG putters to choose from when it comes to styling, so you will need to find one that appeals best to your eye.
Another great feature of the Odyssey White Hot OG is the fact that you can get either a standard steel shaft or a Tour Proven multi-material golf shaft. The multi-material shafts are an excellent option for the lower handicap player looking for premium technology. However, these shafts come at a much higher price.
Overall it’s hard to compete with the history and the technology that Odyssey brings to the market. If you are worried about the ping sound that the Silver Ray can have, the new White Hot Og Seven Slant Neck could help to solve the issue.
Conclusion
Golf clubs get more expensive each year. Sometimes as a player trying to upgrade your equipment, things can get very frustrating, and you may decide to just stay with what you have. If you feel like your club head needs an upgrade, but you don’t want to pay for the premium pricing, the Ray Cook putters are a great place to start. The Silver Ray SR 550 has a great overall look, impressive pricing and will help to be a more forgiving putter than most others on the market. Whether you are a mid or high handicapper, you should be able to benefit from the Ray COok putter in some way.
