Compiled by Multiple-Award-Winning PGA Professional Brendon R. Elliott, PrimePutt’s Director of Instruction and Lead Writer
Sometimes, a putting transformation isn’t about one magical week. It’s about a player finally finding the setup that lets their talent show up when it matters most. Akshay Bhatia’s victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational wasn’t just another win: it was the culmination of a complete putting identity change that started with a bold equipment decision in late 2023 and reached its peak on Bay Hill’s notoriously difficult greens.
Let me show you what Bhatia did with his putter at Bay Hill, how he got here, and what you can learn from a player who went from struggling on the greens to leading the PGA TOUR in multiple putting categories during a signature week.
The Numbers That Tell the Story
Akshay Bhatia won the 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational in a playoff, and his putting statistics for the week weren’t just good; they were historically elite.
Bhatia’s Bay Hill Putting Performance:
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+10.605 Strokes Gained: Putting (1st in field)
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1.537 Putts per GIR (1st in field)
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109 feet, 3 inches of putts made (1st in field)
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23 birdies (1st in field)
To put that +10.605 number in perspective: gaining more than 10 strokes putting in a single week is extremely rare. It’s the kind of performance that happens maybe once or twice a season across the entire PGA TOUR. According to historical data on elite putting weeks over the last five years, Bhatia’s Bay Hill performance ranks 5th all-time in the ShotLink era for single-week Strokes Gained: Putting. Only Patrick Cantlay’s record-setting +14.58 at the 2021 BMW Championship, Tyrrell Hatton’s +11.23 at the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational, Webb Simpson’s +11.10 at the 2020 RBC Heritage, and Denny McCarthy’s +10.94 at the 2023 Travelers Championship have been better.
That’s the company Bhatia kept this week. And it happened on one of the TOUR’s most demanding putting surfaces.
Why Bay Hill Makes Elite Putting Weeks Even More Impressive
Bay Hill Club & Lodge isn’t a place where you accidentally have a career putting week. The greens are TifEagle bermudagrass cut to .110 inches and running around 12-12.5 on the Stimpmeter. They’re firm, fast, and subtly grainy. The average green size is 7,500 square feet, among the largest on TOUR, which means players face a lot of 30-to-50-foot first putts where lag control is everything.
The 2026 field averaged approximately 29.1 putts per round and 1.79 putts per GIR. Those numbers are slightly higher than easier TOUR stops, reflecting just how challenging these greens are. The one-putt percentage for the field was around 41-42%, and three-putt avoidance was about 96.3% (solid numbers) that show how carefully even elite players have to navigate Bay Hill’s greens.
Bhatia’s 1.537 putts per GIR wasn’t just better than the field average. It was 0.25 strokes better per green hit, a massive edge that compounds quickly over 72 holes. For context, every other player in the top 10 also beat the field average in putts per GIR, but none came close to Bhatia’s number. Runner-up Daniel Berger posted a solid 1.686, but that was still 0.15 strokes worse per green than Bhatia.
On greens this large and this fast, the real separator isn’t making a ton of long bombs. It’s never giving strokes away and converting the makeable ones with ruthless efficiency. Bhatia did both.
The Broomstick Revolution: How Bhatia Rebuilt His Putting
To understand what happened at Bay Hill, you need to understand where Bhatia’s putting was before the change, and what he did to fix it.
In 2023, before switching to a broomstick-style long putter late in the year, Bhatia was one of the worst putters on TOUR. He ranked 178th in Strokes Gained: Putting at -0.479 and averaged 29.30 putts per round (145th on TOUR). His ball-striking was good enough to contend, but his putting was costing him wins.
The switch to the broomstick changed everything.
By 2024, Bhatia had flipped to +0.345 Strokes Gained: Putting (33rd on TOUR) and 28.53 putts per round (35th). His putts per GIR improved to 1.737 (37th), and his birdie-or-better conversion jumped to 32.02% (73rd). Those aren’t just incremental gains; they’re the difference between a player who loses tournaments on the greens and one who can win with them.
In 2025, he maintained that progress at +0.277 SG: Putting (35th) with 1.720 putts per GIR (12th) and a 34.41% birdie conversion rate (17th). And entering THE PLAYERS in March 2026, he was up to +0.850 SG: Putting, ranking 12th on TOUR in that category.
Then came Bay Hill, where all that work produced one of the best putting weeks in recent memory.
What the Broomstick Actually Does
Bhatia has been open about why he made the switch. He said his previous putting style “was good,” but “it just wasn’t as consistent,” which led him to take a chance on the broomstick after talking with other players.
At Bay Hill, he used an Odyssey Jailbird 380 in a 44-inch broomstick build. Earlier in 2026, he had also tested an Odyssey Jailbird 1/2 Ball version, showing that while the head can change, the long-putter concept stays intact.
The broomstick setup gives Bhatia three key advantages:
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More face stability – The anchored feel reduces unwanted hand and wrist action, especially under pressure.
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Better pace control – Bhatia has specifically said speed control feels easier with the long putter, particularly on longer putts. On Bay Hill’s massive greens with 30-50-foot first putts, that’s a massive advantage.
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Less mental noise – He’s talked about feeling more free and less judgmental about results, trusting the process instead of overthinking mechanics. That shows up in his stroke: calmer face control, quieter wrists, and a more pendulum-like motion.
There’s also a data-driven component to how Bhatia works on his putting. Reports from 2023 and 2026 reference his use of Quintic technology with his putting coach to analyze how the putter sits, how the ball rolls, and strike consistency. This isn’t just a feel-based change; it’s measured and intentional.
The Playoff and What It Revealed
Bhatia won in a playoff, which means his putting had to hold up under maximum pressure. That’s the ultimate test of whether a putting transformation is real or just a hot streak.
His overall stats for the week back up the clutch performance:
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SG: Off The Tee: -3.637 (45th)
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SG: Approach to Green: +1.235 (23rd)
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SG: Around The Green: +5.664 (1st)
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SG: Putting: +10.605 (1st)
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SG: Total: +13.867 (T1st)
He didn’t win by striping it off the tee or hitting every green. He won by being elite around and on the greens. His 56.94% greens in regulation (T38th) and 48.21% driving accuracy (46th) were both below average for the week. But his 84.62% sand save rate (2nd) and 74.19% scrambling (7th) kept him in position, and his putter finished the job.
That’s the profile of a player who has learned to win with his short game when his long game isn’t perfect, and it’s exactly the kind of golf that wins at Bay Hill.
What You Can Learn From Bhatia’s Transformation
Bhatia’s putting evolution offers three lessons for players at any level:
1. Equipment changes can unlock real improvement if they match your nervous system.
Bhatia didn’t switch to a broomstick because it was trendy. He switched because his previous setup wasn’t giving him the consistency he needed. The broomstick gave him more stability, better pace control, and less mental noise. If your current putting setup creates tension or inconsistency, it’s worth exploring alternatives, whether that’s a different putter style, grip, or length.
2. Elite putting weeks are built on lag control, not just making putts.
Bhatia’s 1.537 putts per GIR is the headline stat because it shows he almost never wasted strokes. On Bay Hill’s massive greens, that meant rolling 30-50-foot first putts into tap-in range over and over. You don’t need to make everything. You need to never give shots away.
3. Consistency over time matters more than one hot week.
Bhatia’s Bay Hill performance was historic, but it wasn’t a fluke. He’s been a positive putter for two full seasons now, and his ranking has steadily climbed from 178th in 2023 to 12th entering Bay Hill in 2026. That’s the difference between a hot streak and a real identity change.
Your Takeaway: Build a Putting System That Holds Up Under Pressure
Akshay Bhatia’s win at Bay Hill wasn’t about making every putt. It was about finding a setup and stroke that let him stay calm, control his speed, and never give strokes away, even on one of the TOUR’s toughest tests.
If you want to improve your putting, focus on the same three things Bhatia did:
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Find equipment that matches your nervous system
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Prioritize lag control and two-putt efficiency
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Build consistency over time, not just one good round
Quick drill (15 minutes): “Bay Hill Lag Control”
Set up five balls at 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 feet on a practice green. Your goal: finish every ball within 3 feet of the hole. This is the exact skill that separated Bhatia from the field at Bay Hill. If you can consistently lag long putts into tap-in range, you’ll almost never three-putt, and that’s how you build elite putting weeks.
Pressure Putts drops every Monday with the week’s best putting stories, stats and drills from the PGA TOUR, LPGA and DP World Tour. Got a putting question or drill request? Drop us a line.
