50 Words or Less
The Scotty Cameron Select Newport 3 putter is surprisingly forgiving but a miss aesthetically.
Introduction
What’s in a name? When it comes to this Scotty Cameron heel shafted mallet, the name comes with a boatload of confusion. Long known as the Del Mar, this style was rechristened the GoLo 3 in the 2014 line. Three years later, it’s taken on the name Newport 3. We set the identity crisis to the side to test this putter and see if it’s worth your hard earned cash.
Looks
I think every golfer – at least every gear-obsessed one – has a piece of gear that they love to look at whether it fits their game or not. For me, it’s this style of heel-shafted putter. While I love this style, this particular version misses the mark for me.
The Scotty Cameron Select Newport 3 is more symmetrical than other similar putter – too much so for my eye. I also dislike the shaping of the cavity. The lines are curved in the cavity then straight on the back of the flange creating a lack of flow. Similarly, I find the “vertical” line across the flange to be visually disruptive.
When you get away from the address position, the Newport 3 looks great. The cavity has Scotty’s signature “cherry bombs,” and the face and sole are very clean and understated.
Sound & Feel
The Scotty Cameron Select Newport 3 is built from 303 stainless steel and has a 6061 aluminum face insert with “vibration dampening technology.” The dampening kills most of the auditory feedback, but it does present a soft, pleasant impact feel. I would describe the sound as a quiet “tock”.
Performance
In rolling putts with thew Newport 3, two things stood out. First is how heavy the head felt. The head weights used by Cameron are standard for modern putters and vary with length, but this design always feels heavy to me. This led to a longer-than-average adjustment period for distance control. Part of that is also due to the fact that the toe hang is completely different than my gamer.
The other thing that stood out is how forgiving this design is. Most of Scotty’s newer putters use a multi-material design to create a higher MOI, but this is the first time that I found the forgiveness really impressive. This is not a headshape known for ease of use, but I saw mishits putts consistently getting closer to the hole than expected.
Conclusion
Despite my love of the heel shafted mallet, there won’t be one in my bag any time soon. If I were to choose a putter with my heart instead of my head, it still wouldn’t be the Scotty Cameron Select Newport 3. While the forgiveness is impressive, the look at address is too disjointed. Coming from a maker who prides himself on aesthetics, this is a surprising disappointment.
Buy the Scotty Cameron Select Newport 3 Putter HERE
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Matt lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with his wife and two daughters.
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It’s a “Dolled” up TPA putter originally designed by Terry McCabe years ago.
I still putt with my Wilson TPA from the 80s. I have the fabulous Scottie copy but it is not as good as far as I am concerned and 350 Bucks will never make a putter great, or the guy behind it. All Scottie does, in his words to me is take a great Putter from History and make it better, right, uh huh, and laughing all the way to the Bank.
I know that Scotty’s followers are legion in numbers and I “get it”. But…..the thought of spending $ 400 on a putter only to promptly 3-putt with it would drive me mad. While there are some exceptions to the rule, I will also balk at buying a Scotty when most “big box” merchants keep them under lock and key. This tells me that Golf Galaxy and the like, are more worried about me stealing a Scotty……than hoping I will buy one.
I agree, the only thing I see going for it is the grip.
Try as they may, no one has been successful at getting me to give up my Bullseye. It doesn’t matter if I try another putter for a while. I always come back to it. And I’m sure this iteration of the Scotty Cameron would be no different. I’ll take my Bullseye!
Do you like the 2013 Del Mar better than the Newport 3? It’s slightly smaller and slightly heavier. I have both and choosing between them.
Cliff,
Sounds like a nice problem to have. :)
I didn’t compare the two head to head, but I generally prefer smaller heads to larger ones.
Best,
Matt
Having owned many different brands of putters this is by far the most exciting to putt with. 34 inch Select 3.
The feel of the grip is awesome, the ball coming off the face has a quality sound and the role has consistency.
To each their own but I have to disagree. I love the symmetry of this putter. I loved the Golo 3 but the asymmetry of the insert/alignment aid at the back of the putter always bothered me. I was concerned with what the next select line would look like and made sure to get one of these while I could.
That said, if I could get this shape with the cross alignment aid from the M1 I would have the perfect putter imo.
September 2020, I never thought I would like this putter for all the reasons stated. I have always been a decent putter but never great and I have owned all the best putters money can buy.
With this putter I am a amazing putter, now it looks like money!
I like money!
I tried putter after putter until this one. Never giving it up!!!
Me too Tim. I am also never gonna give up.
I’ve owned several putters over the years, without much success. I grew to realize my technique wasn’t great. I started to read and view golf shows to improve. I owned the Golo 5, and tried my brother’s Newport 3 Select. I quickly purchased the N3 and will never give it up. I’ve made more putts this past year than several years combined.